I haven’t been very good about
writing up my rides lately, but then again I haven’t done anything really
exciting up to this point. The weekend
ride started with breakfast at the Kettle in College Station where I expected
8-10 riders. When I arrived, I was
surprised to find 13 bikes, 1 car and 19 people ready to head out for the
weekend. The weather promised to be
great so after filling out bellies with eggs, bacon pancakes and coffee, we
were ready to head out.
The group’s past president led
the ride so we knew we were in for a lot of back roads and some good food…we
were not disappointed in the least. I
won’t bore you with repeating the many farm-to-market roads, ranch roads or
smaller state highways we took, because quite frankly, I can’t remember. Suffice it to say, you would really have to
look closely at a road map to find some of them.
After passing through Caldwell
and Giddings on main highways, we shot into the country side on some FM or the
other through Servin, Smithville and Rosanky.
Some of the towns we went through on this trip had a name on a sign at
the city limits but never told the population.
The State must have established a minimum population before putting it
on the sign because it was obvious whatever that minimum is, these towns did
not meet it.
After topping off the tanks in
Rosanky, we continued through the countryside headed south towards New
Branufels where we were scheduled to stop for lunch at Clear Springs
Restaurant. We went through Delphi,
McMahan, Lockhart, Geronimo and Barbarossa before pulling into the parking lot
at Clear Springs. We still have 13
bikes, 1 car and 19 folks…good news.
Other than the slightly interesting scenery and weaving back roads, the
only interesting site I had never seen was Lake Falling Star somewhere around
Geronimo.
We had a great lunch at Clear
Springs and continued our trek westward.
After enduring the traffic through New Braunfels and Gruene, we turned
right onto the River Road, which winds westward following the Guadalupe River. We crossed over the river 9 different
times…yes, I counted…between Gruene and Canyon Lake. Everyone one of these bridges is a very
simple slab of concrete…not even wide enough for two vehicles to pass each
other…one to four feet above the water.
When the rains come and the river rises, none of the bridges would be
passable, especially on a motorcycle.
Two of the crossings were probably for a minor tributary of the Guadalupe
as there was only a dry creek bed, but the sign said “Guadalupe River” so I
counted it.
Speaking of rivers, the first day
we crossed over 5 rivers…Brazos, Colorado, San Marcos, Guadalupe and the
Pedernales. As I mentioned above, we
crossed the Guadalupe 9 times, but we also crossed the Pedernales twice…we came
upon a road closed due to construction outside of Fredericksburg and had to
double back to find another way.
After getting off the River Road
from Gruene, we rode along smaller roads, crossed Hwy 281, through Kenalia and
Sisterdale…bypassing the small winery there…to Luckenbach. No trip to the Hill Country is really
complete without a stop in Luckenbach.
This particular weekend the area was hosting a huge vintage/classic
motorcycle rally. There were motorcycles
of every shape, size and description parked in the lot…there was easily over
1,000 motorcycles and that didn’t count the ones parked around the camping
area. It looked like a large gypsy
camp. The event was a 3-day event and by
the looks of all the campsites…the majority of them used tents…a lot of people
were there for the entire three days.
After looking around a bit, getting something cold to drink, we headed
out for the hotel in Ingram. That’s when
we found the closed road…Hwy 9 I believe.
At least there were detour signs to follow but I’m sure our fearless
leader would have found a suitable route if not.
We skirted the edge of
Fredericksburg, went through Grapetown and Comfort until we hit I-10, just east
of Kerrville. Our plan was to minimize
riding on interstate and major highways but this was the quickest way to the
hotel. We made good time for the next 25
or so miles until the exit for Ingram, southwest of Kerrville. Ingram, as it happens, also is on the banks
of the Guadalupe River so it is a very touristy type of town. Fortunately for us, this was not tourist season,
although there were a lot of folks out enjoying the beautiful weather one more
time. We arrived at the hotel around
5:15 after about 300 miles of riding.
Near Grapetown we passed the
entrance to the Old Tunnel State Park. I
had no idea what that was so I made a mental note to look it up. As it turns out, it’s a great area for hiking
and bird watching during the day but at night the bats come out…literally. The park’s namesake is an old abandoned
railroad tunnel where approximately three million Brazilian free-tailed bats
make their home. Every night, May
through October, they emerge from the tunnel to go hunting for dinner. The park is open 365 days/year so there’s no excuse.
The hotel in Ingram wasn’t the
best I’ve ever seen but the sheets were clean and the television worked. I slept well after a great meal at Mamacita’s
in Ingram. I highly recommend it, but
get there early and be prepared for a wait.
Day 2 started with breakfast at
the Hunter House Inn café…it actually was pretty good. We hit the road at 8am, this time with only 8
bikes and 1 car. Part of our group
stayed in Kerrville and decided to take a different path on Day 2…we never saw
them again.
On the edge of town is what’s
termed Texas Stonehenge or Stonehenge II.
It apparently is the brainchild of a couple of farmers from Hunt,
Texas. In 2010, the owner of the land
wanted to sell so he started looking for someplace to move it to. Only 2 of the stones are real, the rest being
plaster over a wire mesh frame. The
whole creation was moved to Ingram after the Hill Country Arts Foundation
raised enough funds to make it happen.
Along with Stonehenge, there are two 13 foot tall Easter Island head
replicas, placed a respectable distance away from Stonehenge. Stonehenge II is 90% as wide as the original
and 60% the height. However, it’s still
an interesting sight to see.
After leaving Stonehenge II and
Ingram behind, we headed west following the Guadalupe River once more to the
little town of Hunt. The town looks like
an old tourist location but with a little charm. In fact, there were still a lot of campers
taking advantage of the weather. We
drove west and north for a while, passing through some pretty Hill Country
scenery in the early morning. We went
through Lost Maples, made a quick stop at the Lost Maples State Park and then
through Vanderpool until we hit one of the famous Twisted Sisters, Ranch Road
337. The other famous “sisters” are
Ranch Road 335 and 336. The one we took
has slightly less sharp turns but it is still winding and has nice farm/ranch
scenery. The other interesting aspect of
this particular area is that it is a free range area…meaning that the livestock
roams free without any fencing restrictions…only cattle guards on the road
every once in a while. The importance of
understanding “free range” for us motorcycle riders is that you might have a
close encounter with a cow or two so keep your eyes open. On Sunday our only encounter with the Hill
Country wildlife…or domesticated life as it were…was a lone donkey eating grass
on the side of the road and some wild turkeys here and there. We saw several deer but they were no longer a
hazard to us as they had already had run-ins with cars during the night…if you
know what I mean. The local buzzards
were having a feast.
We stopped briefly in Medina at
The Apple Store. This store is a very
popular stop for tourists in the area…in fact, I’ve been there 2-3 times
before. Inside the small establishment
there are things to buy…mostly girl things…and yummy apple pie and apple
turnovers. There’s a small snack bar in
the back where you can order other food but we didn’t partake. Outside under the trees there are picnic
tables where you can eat and enjoy the fall weather. The store also sells several variations of
apple trees to anyone interested. No one
in our group tried to strap a tree on the back of his bike on this trip.
During the morning ride, we
crossed rivers once again…there’s a lot of water in the Hill Country as several
of the smaller rivers in the area have their headwaters there. We crossed the Sabinal River twice, the
Medina River three times and the Pedernales River once again as we neared
Fredericksburg. There’s no way I could
list all the creeks we crossed as they were many. I’m sure the creeks, many of which were dry
this time of the year, feed into one of the many rivers at some point.
By 11am on Sunday, we had made a
huge loop west and north and then back to the east to Fredericksburg. Although we didn’t stop in town, it was nice
to drive through. With the weather as
beautiful as it was on this particular weekend, the town was full of people
walking around. We took State Hwy 16 out
of town to the northeast towards Llano, although we never made it that
far. Somewhere along Hwy 16, we turned
off on the Willow City Loop. This poorly
maintained, twisty little road is actually on private property but is open to
the public. Motorcycle riders love it
because there’s hardly any other traffic and you can enjoy looking at the
scenery. The loop is probably about
10-15 miles long and then pops out at Willow City…I guess that’s the name
because I never saw any signs. There we
stopped at Harry’s, which is one of those little bars you see sometimes that
you’d never ever go into alone. However,
once inside I was surprised at how unbar-like it was. It was really a place to cool your heels and
get something cold to drink…water, cokes, tea, beer, etc…and talk. The owner was a 30-something who loves
airplanes. He was told us about the lady
next door hosting a bunch of old Vietnam pilots who flew F-105’s with her
dad. They come in for the air show at
the Fredericksburg airport every year and she gives them a big party
Anyway, after a rest stop at
Harry’s…by the way, the owner’s name is not Harry but we didn’t ask where the
name came from…we headed to Marble Falls where we were stopping for lunch at
the popular River City Grille on the banks of the Colorado River. After going through little towns like Sandy
and Round Mountain we coasted into Marble Falls and into the parking lot of the
restaurant. However, due to the great
weather and everyone wanting to eat out on the deck, the wait was about an hour
and a half so we opted to go next door to Chili’s. The food was good and no one complained.
We left Marble Falls around 3:30
for the last leg home. We left town on
FM1371 which wound through the hills west of Austin going through towns names
Smithwick, Travis Peak, Vista Lago, Jamestown and then Cedar Park…no I didn’t
see Lauren. It was nearing Cedar Park
that the traffic picked up and we didn’t make very good time. Eventually, we made it through Round Rock and
the traffic eased off, especially since we got off the main roads. We continued to take back roads around
Taylor, through Noak and Lexington until we hit Hwy 21 just west of
Caldwell. At this point, even the leader
was ready to get home so we cruised straight through Caldwell on 21 all the way
to Bryan. At Riverside where 21 branches
off to Hwy 47, the group split up and went their separate ways.
Almost 36 hours to the minute
from when I had left home on Saturday morning, I pulled up to the house at
7pm. My odometer showed a couple of
tenths short of 670 miles for the weekend.
Once more, it was an interesting ride with sights I had never seen
before…guess that’s what keeps me going.
This state is huge and I may never see everything there is to see but
I’ll keep working on it, slowly but surely.
Thanks for joining me via this
blog. Hope to add other trips to it soon
so keep checking.
