Texas Hill Country – April 2008
Their number was small – only 3 riders stepped up for the challenge of the Texas Hill Country ride to and among “the 3 Sisters” (www.hillcountrycruising.com/the3s.html). Dan on his '95 Honda 750 Nighthawk, Andy on his '84 Honda Goldwing (dubbed “Vespa”), and Stuart (that's me!) on his '80 Yamaha XS850SG (name: Piglet).
But they were determined. The week before the trip, Dan had his bike in the shop for a new tire. The shop found a damaged rear sprocket (ah, the joy of shaft drive!) and the resultant bad chain. He picked up his ride Friday evening – just in time for our Saturday departure. Andy got a wee bit careless in traffic on his Harley and ran into the back of truck, damaging the fairing beyond use – Friday afternoon.
He was able to ride the bike home, but had to run up to Huntsville to pick up his Goldwing from his brother. Made it back in time to meet Dan and me at the Burger King for our 7 AM KSU on Saturday, April 19th, 2008. Tough, good guys that I'm thankful to call my friends and have along for this trip.
Andy's wife (Gail) and mine (Joan), and our 2 dogs (aged Jake and young Maddie) went with our pop-up camper, to provide us bums good chow for morning and evening.
We pulled out at 7 AM, Piglet recorded 29,514 on the odometer. Our route to Lost Maples was all back roads, except for 18 miles on US-290 to get us out of the Houston area. Google maps indicated 315 miles and 7 hours in the saddle (http://tinyurl.com/2u6ca3). We headed to LaGrange via TX-159 and met the women for lunch at a Oma's Haus, a very good German restaurant in New Braunfels (http://www.omashaus.com/).
We approached Lost Maples via RR-473, TX-27, & TX-39; arriving at 3:40 PM with 29,859 miles on Piglet – 345 miles and about 7 ½ hours (not counting the lengthy lunch break). We were just in time to help the girls set up camp, as they had arrived about 30 minutes before us – and were waiting. The weather was great the entire trip – mostly to partly cloudy with no precipitation.
Chilidogs for supper – great time of fellowship in a beautiful part of God's wonderful creation. Near complete fire ban in place at the park: propane only, no wood or charcoal cooking.
We reviewed our plans and routes to maximize time on site.
Sunday, April 20: The day dawned with fog and a heavy mist in the air. After a good breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and bacon, we decided to hit the Bracketville loop (http://tinyurl.com/64nzwt), heading out at 9 AM.
The mist had quit and the weather was very nice the rest of the day. We rode south about 15 miles to Utopia, stopping for fuel. FM-187 between Vanderpoole and Utopia is a fine ride. Piglet flooded at the gas station and made us wait about 15 minutes before really getting on the road. sigh. Once Piglet fired up, we headed West on FM-1050, then South on US-83 to Uvalde. From there, NW on TX-55 to RR-334 which took us further West to Bracketville.
Riding through town, we spotted a sign for Alamo Village, an RV park built around the movie set of John Wayne's Alamo. We intended to tour the set, but decided $11 per person was a bit too steep.
No fuel stop there, so we rode 7 miles back to town for fuel and chow – at the Krazy Chicken Cafe, where you get great food and don't pay until you've enjoyed the vittles.
Andy thought Piglet's tires were a bit low, and he proved right – as they each had a measly 22 PSI. I had meant to check that before we left. Good thing I had bought and brought a Slime brand compressor. Pumped up the tires to 32 and 35 PSI and we headed North on RR-674 to Rocksprings and SE on TX-55 towards Camp Wood, where we picked up RR-337 through Leakey and on to the park. While there are 5 miles of unpaved road just east of Leaky, RR-337 is a wonderful ride! 674 near Rocksprings and 55 near Camp Wood are also not to be missed. Along the way, Dan was attacked by a small bird – a sparrow, we think – and defended himself valiantly, killing it with his knee. There were more than a dozen road-kill small deer on the roads today, collecting lots of buzzards. On RR-674, we spotted an exotic ranch sporting zebra and other beasts as well as some wild turkeys which were trying to get on the safe side of a fence.
We grabbed the girls and headed a mile South on FM-187 to Lone Star Motorcycle Museum http://lonestarmotorcyclemuseum.com/ Lots of great, old bikes to gawk at, with a neat cafe. T-shirts for $10. Owner is a very cordial fella from Australia who owns all but 3 of the bikes in the museum. All the British bikes had oil drip pans under ‘em, only one non-Brit bike did.
Dinner was a delightful chicken dish – chicken breast in
mushroom soup, stuffed with asparagus (except for mine:-), on a slice of
onion. Wrapped in foil, intended to be
cooked in a bed of coals, it turned out great on the stove. Piglet went past 30k miles, ending up at
30,122. And there was much rejoicing -
yea!
Monday, April 21 began much more dreary than Sunday. The fog and mist stayed with us all day.
Breakfast of biscuits & gravy and bacon brightened our moods. We enjoyed a visit from a member of http://viragotechforum.com/phpBB/ who we rode with in late 2006 in another part of Texas Hill Country. Mark was healing up from surgery and drove out in his car from San Antonio with his wife. We sat around and had a good time talking and planning another ride once Mark is properly healed, the annual Harvest Classic Rally http://www.harvestclassic.org/ is on the calendar for October.
Dan and my wife headed out to a fishing pond, and around 2 PM, Andy and I headed out for a ride, only to run into rain a mile out. We decided to go back to camp. Dan likes catch-and-release; I don't like to fish but I really don't comprehend why anyone would sit around trying to convince a fish to jump on a hook and then NOT EAT IT! He caught a couple good-sized fish and let them go. sigh
The sun broke out at 6 PM and all three of us headed West on RR-337 a few miles for pix as the sun was setting. Although a short run, it was lots of fun. We got back to camp just in time for steak and potatoes. Ending mileage on Piglet was 30,147. T-bones fried on the stove (no fire) were fantastic! Red potatoes and some other (forgettable) vegetables on the side. Rich people, blessed by God, we are.
Tuesday, April 22: Dan's plan is to head back today. We wake to mist. Cereal for breakfast. Lots of coffee. sigh Dan “prophesied” that the skies would clear at 10:39 and the angelic realm of the Lord would burst forth in Heavenly song to announce it.
Weather cleared around 11 AM, Andy and I stoned Dan (with a couple of pebbles) and we hit the Old Tunnel loop (http://tinyurl.com/4erty5).
Dan split off at US-290 and Andy and I headed into Fredericksburg for burgers at DQ. We then rode to Kerrville, through Ingram, and met the girls at TX-Stonehenge II (www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-StonehengeII.html).
Can’t take the women anywhere J
We met a rider from New York who was visiting family in San
Antonio and had rented a Harley for the trip to Stonehenge. He had seen the original Stonehenge and
recently visited www.naturalbridgeva.com/foamhenge.html
He had now seen “all 3 Stonehenges”. He
was most excited to see Piglet, having owned an XS750 triple as his first bike.
While FM-41 is nothing to write home about, FM-1340 is worth the time. Back to camp around 3:30 PM with Piglet recording 30,340 miles. We beat the girls home from Stonehenge, as they meandered through Hunt lusting after the beautiful hill country homes. Dinner was hamburgers – prepared by Andy and me :-) Time for a walk in the park.
Wednesday, April 23: The weather once again, breaks bleakly, heavy mist. Breakfast of eggs and bacon (bikers and dogs love pork). Andy and Gail have to head home today. They left while the water was still in the air, having made sure the Vespa's shocks were pumped up.
Andy and Gail were cruising through the hills on 473. At Sisterdale, they stumbled upon Sister Creek Winery (www.sistercreekvineyards.com/). They took the tour, tasted the wines, fell in love with the stuff. Spent the night in Bastrop and headed home in the morning – arriving safely, I later found out.
At 10 AM, the mist had cleared up enough to make riding fun, so I headed off on an ad-hock route (http://tinyurl.com/5quocf).
A wee bit of rain past Hunt on FM-1340, but dry roads and great conditions for the run down RR-335 – lots of belly-ups as my wife would say. Stopped to “water the weeds” north of Camp Wood, saw a dead antelope that bugs had eaten but had no apparent hide damage from vultures. When I hit FM-337 at Leakey, heavy mist again – all the way to camp. My $2 compass jumped ship – it was always wrong. Back to camp at 2 PM with mileage at 30,533.
Thursday, April 24: Woke up to beautiful, clear skies! Piglet's left petcock was leaking fuel through the gasket between the petcock housing halves. I tightened up the petcock housing, which slowed the leak greatly, but did not stop it. My wife already had dibs on this day, so off we – with Maddie – went on a 4 mile hike up the East Trail, to an altitude of 2,200 feet. Lots of bird watchers along the trail – including some very serious types from England looking for a near-extinct black-headed something. We left out at 10 AM, leaving the old dog in the camper, and made it “home” at 1 PM – pretty good pace for a middle aged couple and a puppy.
I left for a quick trip (http://tinyurl.com/37kw64), finding TX-16 between Medina and Bandera a treat – with a few bikers approaching from the other direction. FM-470 is a great road, with about half mile unpaved (in three or four sections). Arrived at camp around 3 PM with 30,613 miles on Piglet.
Some daylight left for rest and relaxation.
Friday, April 25: We decided to head home today, to allow time to get the camper properly squared away and stowed. Light mist and a talkative Park Ranger kept us from leaving until 10:50 – as the mist lifted. The ride home (http://tinyurl.com/6ku48c) was a mixture of bumpy, winding, swooping roads that covered a new route from LaGrange to Bellview. FM-1291 between Fayettville and Frelsburg is 10 miles of swooping turns and slight elevation change that is every bit as fun – if not as scenic – as RR-337. Going to plan a one day ride (from Houston) that takes in FM-1291 and FM-390 near Somerville Lake.
I arrived home at 5:10, beating my wife and the dogs by nearly an hour. Final mileage on Piglet was 30,921. The ride home was 308 miles at an average speed of 49 MPH. Total miles for this trip = 1,407 for a daily average of 201 miles. Although the weather could have better and it would have been nice for 337 to have been paved the whole length, we had a great time of fellowship and a lot of fun on some of the best roads on God's green Earth. We have much to be thankful for.