Twisted Sisters - Day 1

Last month at a meeting of the local Harley Owner's Group (HOG) it was announced that a group would be headed to the Hill Country in October so I signed up to go.  I have been to the Hill Country but never past Fredricksburg so I thought it was an excellent opportunity.  The trip was being planned to a place just south of Kerrville called Koyote Ranch...a series of cabins and camping sites...along with a restaurant/bar/outside club...a good jumping off place for riding the roads in the area...specifically what's called the "Twisted Sisters", a series of three  Ranch Roads that are very popular with motorcyclists of all types.

The plan was to leave on Friday and return on Sunday.  I took the day off and arrived at the appointed location at the appointed time...McDonalds, 8:45am, Friday, October 21st.  I arrived early...about 8:15...to find several people already there.  By 8:45, there were 15-16 motorcycles and about 20 people.  After a short briefing, we left the parking lot a little after 9:00...headed for the Hill Country.

This weekend wasn't all about the destination but the journey as well, thus, we did not take a direct route.  We went through Lexington, Noack and Round Rock...stopping for water and/or necessities...ending up in Marble Falls for lunch at the Riverside Cafe...great hamburgers!  It overlooks Marble Falls Lake...and I guess a river where it gets its name...although I'm not sure what river.

The weather was great...starting at about 50 in College Station warming up to the mid-80's by the middle of the afternoon.  I gave up trying to follow along with all the different roads we took but eventually we entered Johnson City and I finally knew where we were...for a while.  Out of Johnson City we headed to Fredricksburg and I figured we were headed to Luckenbach...can't go to the Hill Country and not stop in Luckenbach.  Well, I was right. 

When we arrived, the area was packed with people and motorcycles of all description.  As it turned out, it was the annual rally for  European and Classic motorcycles...ours didn't fit either description.  Many of the attendees had brought their motorcycles in by trailer and were camping nearby...it looked to be quite a weekend.  After we took some pictures, bought t-shirts...or whatever...and had something to drink, we were off to our final destination...Koyote Ranch.  On the map, it was located about 10 miles outside of Kerrville.

I almost forgot to mention that we took a little short cut between Johnson City and Luckenbach along Ranch Road 1, which parallels Hwy 290, crosses the Perdenales River and then runs along side of it and on the other side of the river we could see the LBJ Ranch.

As we left Luckenbach, we headed back up FM 1376 towards Hwy 290 so I thought we were going to go through Fredricksburg on the way to Kerrville and Koyote Ranch...boy was I wrong.  About half-way back to the highway, we turned left on Luckenbach City Road that merged into Old San Antonio Road, and then I lost track of where we were until we popped out on Hwy 16 that took us to Koyote Ranch.  There were many sharp turns, steep ups and downs, twists and turns...it was a very entertaining route.

We arrived at Koyote Ranch about 5:30pm, checked in and went off to find our cabin.  Dinner was at the ranch...fried catfish and chicken strips...followed by some local talent singing outside.  Us old guys went to bed about 8:30pm...tomorrow's going to be a long day.