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The following is my ride report for the TeXSive Hill Country Rally 2005. Only posted the ride for Friday Oct. 7th for now. The rest will come later as I finish them.
Im no writer by any stretch but I hope you all enjoy.
Friday Oct. 7th '05:
Can’t sleep, too excited.
It has been too long since I rode the Texas Hill Country and I just can’t wait to get there. Someone described the Texas Hill Country this way…
I couldn’t say it any better.
Nancy and I left The Woodlands around 6:30am. We had loaded up the Valkyrie and were ready to hit the road.
The first major cold front of the season was just passing through causing heavy cloud cover and the morning low to reach the upper 50’s. It was a welcome relief as it was in the upper 90’s just a few short days ago.
We meet Mike (Tinman) and Robert (GrayWizard) with his wife Linda at an I-hop in Katy at 7:30. They were already there with their Valks as well. We had some breakfast and talked about the route we would take. We made it a must to stay as far away from the Interstate as possible so we found as many back roads as we could that would meander all the way to Austin and beyond.
Well feed, we slapped our kick-stands up a little after 8:30 and headed up I10 west the short distance to Sealy.
Once in Sealy we hit FM-1094 to New Ulm and then on to Fayetteville via FM-1291. This is one of my favorite local areas to ride as there are nice smooth roads with lots of sweeps and chicanes.
We arrived in Fayetteville and stopped in the town square for a quick break. Nancy took a quick photo opportunity, and we were once again on the road.
In Fayetteville Texas
We continued westward down FM-1291 to Hwy 71 in Lagrange.
Lagrange is just one of many Texas towns settled by Czech and Moravians in the 1850's, but it was made famous when a local Houston news reporter started a campaign to close the “Chicken Ranch” a local whorehouse that had been in town longer than anyone could remember. You may know it by the Hollywood feature film “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.
OK, back to what’s important here, riding.
From Lagrange we headed northwest down Hwy 71 to Austin. About this time we started to notice that as the day went on the clouds seemed to get thicker and the temp was getting colder. And sure enough, while at a gas stop in Austin the sprinkle began.
It started as just a few small drops and I kept telling myself that it was going to pass. But as we continued past Austin the sprinkle became steady.
“I knew I should have brought my rain gear!”
Well, I didn’t and Nancy had none either. So onward we went.
From Austin we hit 290 west. It was getting colder and colder and the rain began to seep thru my gloves and my Joe Rocket mesh jacket (that’s right MESH!). The Valk was fishtailing slightly from time to time. Hwy 290 west in Hays county, near Dripping Springs, isn’t the best for motorcycling in the rain. But as miserable as it was, I was still happy as a lamb, I was on my bike, I was in the Hill Country, and I had a 3 day weekend ahead of me, so BRING ON THE RAIN!
We finally made it to Hwy 281 south to Blanco. Once in Blanco we found a Dairy Queen with covered parking and decided this was as good a place as any for lunch. Before we could even order our meals the covered parking area was full of other bikers looking for shelter from the cold windy rain. We ate, dried off a bit and waited for the rain to stop and it soon did.
With my hands once again a natural temperature and fingers moving normally, we headed south on to Boerne. We stopped at a local hardware store so I could buy some new gloves. Found some good ole deer skin work gloves. They worked great and kept my hands warm the rest of the weekend.
From Boerne it was on to our final destination, Bandera. We took Hwy 46 south from Boerne and hit Hwy 16 west to Bandera. The rain had stopped and blue sky was even trying to peek out here and there. This part of the ride was quite nice, a wonderful preview of what was to come.
We pulled into Bandera around 5:30 or so. We found our lodging, the Old Town Square Hotel. Not a bad looking place… at first glance. Turns out, all who stayed at this particular hotel have some sort of horror story to tell about something going wrong with their room. Mine and Nancy’s worst was merely a toilet backup issue that finally got righted that same night. Others were not so lucky. Greg (a.k.a. Skippy344) lost most all power to his room Friday night with no one in the office to help him out. Others spoke of shower faucet handles falling off, noisy neighbors (the walls were paper thin) no hot water, the list goes on. But we persevered and made the best of it. Besides we were there to ride not hang out in some hotel room.
Other riders started drifting in later, where I met Keoki (webbcraft2150) on his 80 XS11 tourer and other riders with him staying at the same hotel. Later on that night, most of us meet up for the dinner at a local BBQ joint. There we found Danny (Dragonrider), Greg, Cody (MAXIMAN) and his friend Miles, both whom came down from Oklahoma. Also heard that David (pathfinder) and Dave (HippeDave) both made it down but were staying in Kerrville for the night. We would catch up with them the next day.
And so the first day was done. We said “see ya in the morning” and off to rest we went. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
to be continued...
Im no writer by any stretch but I hope you all enjoy.
Friday Oct. 7th '05:
Can’t sleep, too excited.
It has been too long since I rode the Texas Hill Country and I just can’t wait to get there. Someone described the Texas Hill Country this way…
“The Texas Hill Country is a beautiful 14,000 square mile area in the heart of Texas…
…Imagine a place where crystal clear streams and towering oak, maple & cedar trees meet the majesty of the hills. Add to the beauty, a place where visitors are always greeted by a friendly "howdy y'all" and you have found the wonder of the Texas Hill Country. It's is a little slice of heaven offering breathtaking beauty and a relaxing atmosphere. The Texas Hill Country is truly just like a whole other state.”
…Imagine a place where crystal clear streams and towering oak, maple & cedar trees meet the majesty of the hills. Add to the beauty, a place where visitors are always greeted by a friendly "howdy y'all" and you have found the wonder of the Texas Hill Country. It's is a little slice of heaven offering breathtaking beauty and a relaxing atmosphere. The Texas Hill Country is truly just like a whole other state.”
Nancy and I left The Woodlands around 6:30am. We had loaded up the Valkyrie and were ready to hit the road.
The first major cold front of the season was just passing through causing heavy cloud cover and the morning low to reach the upper 50’s. It was a welcome relief as it was in the upper 90’s just a few short days ago.
We meet Mike (Tinman) and Robert (GrayWizard) with his wife Linda at an I-hop in Katy at 7:30. They were already there with their Valks as well. We had some breakfast and talked about the route we would take. We made it a must to stay as far away from the Interstate as possible so we found as many back roads as we could that would meander all the way to Austin and beyond.
Well feed, we slapped our kick-stands up a little after 8:30 and headed up I10 west the short distance to Sealy.
Once in Sealy we hit FM-1094 to New Ulm and then on to Fayetteville via FM-1291. This is one of my favorite local areas to ride as there are nice smooth roads with lots of sweeps and chicanes.
We arrived in Fayetteville and stopped in the town square for a quick break. Nancy took a quick photo opportunity, and we were once again on the road.
In Fayetteville Texas
We continued westward down FM-1291 to Hwy 71 in Lagrange.
Lagrange is just one of many Texas towns settled by Czech and Moravians in the 1850's, but it was made famous when a local Houston news reporter started a campaign to close the “Chicken Ranch” a local whorehouse that had been in town longer than anyone could remember. You may know it by the Hollywood feature film “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.
OK, back to what’s important here, riding.
From Lagrange we headed northwest down Hwy 71 to Austin. About this time we started to notice that as the day went on the clouds seemed to get thicker and the temp was getting colder. And sure enough, while at a gas stop in Austin the sprinkle began.
It started as just a few small drops and I kept telling myself that it was going to pass. But as we continued past Austin the sprinkle became steady.
“I knew I should have brought my rain gear!”
Well, I didn’t and Nancy had none either. So onward we went.
From Austin we hit 290 west. It was getting colder and colder and the rain began to seep thru my gloves and my Joe Rocket mesh jacket (that’s right MESH!). The Valk was fishtailing slightly from time to time. Hwy 290 west in Hays county, near Dripping Springs, isn’t the best for motorcycling in the rain. But as miserable as it was, I was still happy as a lamb, I was on my bike, I was in the Hill Country, and I had a 3 day weekend ahead of me, so BRING ON THE RAIN!
We finally made it to Hwy 281 south to Blanco. Once in Blanco we found a Dairy Queen with covered parking and decided this was as good a place as any for lunch. Before we could even order our meals the covered parking area was full of other bikers looking for shelter from the cold windy rain. We ate, dried off a bit and waited for the rain to stop and it soon did.
With my hands once again a natural temperature and fingers moving normally, we headed south on to Boerne. We stopped at a local hardware store so I could buy some new gloves. Found some good ole deer skin work gloves. They worked great and kept my hands warm the rest of the weekend.
From Boerne it was on to our final destination, Bandera. We took Hwy 46 south from Boerne and hit Hwy 16 west to Bandera. The rain had stopped and blue sky was even trying to peek out here and there. This part of the ride was quite nice, a wonderful preview of what was to come.
We pulled into Bandera around 5:30 or so. We found our lodging, the Old Town Square Hotel. Not a bad looking place… at first glance. Turns out, all who stayed at this particular hotel have some sort of horror story to tell about something going wrong with their room. Mine and Nancy’s worst was merely a toilet backup issue that finally got righted that same night. Others were not so lucky. Greg (a.k.a. Skippy344) lost most all power to his room Friday night with no one in the office to help him out. Others spoke of shower faucet handles falling off, noisy neighbors (the walls were paper thin) no hot water, the list goes on. But we persevered and made the best of it. Besides we were there to ride not hang out in some hotel room.
Other riders started drifting in later, where I met Keoki (webbcraft2150) on his 80 XS11 tourer and other riders with him staying at the same hotel. Later on that night, most of us meet up for the dinner at a local BBQ joint. There we found Danny (Dragonrider), Greg, Cody (MAXIMAN) and his friend Miles, both whom came down from Oklahoma. Also heard that David (pathfinder) and Dave (HippeDave) both made it down but were staying in Kerrville for the night. We would catch up with them the next day.
And so the first day was done. We said “see ya in the morning” and off to rest we went. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
to be continued...