GST Day 2 - Kerrville to Del Rio - 225 miles

We had a leisurely ride through some of the best roads in Texas - TX-16 south of Kerrville and the Three Twisted Sisters (RR-335, RR-336, and RR-337). For those of you not familiar with Texas’ naming practice for roads, ranch roads (RR) and farm-to-market roads (FM) are named to reflect that ranchers and farmers donated the land for the state to maintain paved roads that would make their respective agricultural endeavors more feasible. As a result, the roads follow the property boundary lines at the time, which results in some really cool sweeps and twisties. True American collaboration. These roads are my favorite...low traffic and lots of scenery.

Best Western Sunday House - Kerrville

A great stop on TX-16 is the Medina Highpoint Resort (formerly known as Koyote Ranch). The place was built as a RV resort and campground by a commercial real estate developer out of Dallas. During construction, he noticed a lot of motorcycles going down TX-16, so he added a bunch of cabins in hopes of capturing the bikers enjoying the Texas Hill Country. Long story short, he ended up losing the business in 2010 and I was two weeks too late in making an offer for the real estate out of receivership, with the intent of turning it into a motorcycle resort, similar to Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge in Western North Carolina. You win some, you lose some. The place still has a cool grill/beergarten, and an outdoor entertainment venue. The pisser always gets a laugh...

Medina Highpoint Resort - TX-16

Beergarten

Pisser - Ice and Targets!

In Medina, we turned west on the bottom half of the first sister. Lots of curves and elevation changes. I love the waist down of a woman, and this sister does not disappoint. We had hoped to stop-in at the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum in Vanderpool, but he is only open Thur-Sun this time of year (today is Wed). We continued to Leakey (pronounced in these parts as “Lake-ee”) where we refueled and checked out the smoked meats, a tribute to the German settlers who settled the area. We rode the Three Twisted Sisters counter-clockwise, a first for me...and I now prefer that routing. Northbound RR-336 runs through a lot of free-range ranch land. So instead of having fencing along the side of the road, the cattle are free to roam all over (including on the road) and the ranches are separated by cattle guards across the road. Cattle guards are essentially pipe laid across the road that keeps the cattle from crossing the boundary (cattle only like walking on flat, stable ground). 

FM-336

The northern boundary of the Sisters is TX-41, then we turned South on RR-335, which parallels and cross-crosses the Nueces River. In many places, the road is cut into the side of the mountains (hills to those who live in mountainous areas) and it is a combination of twisties and a roller coaster ride. Motorcycle heaven. 

We ended up in Camp Wood, a small community on the SE corner of the Sisters that is part of the Edwards Plateau. Camp Wood was a military outpost in the 1800’s and has two other claims to fame. In 1924, Charles Lindeburgh and an assistant had to emergency land his plane in a nearby ranchers field due to low fuel. They partially refueled and attempted a take-off, but the field was too soft to handle the load. So they unloaded all the luggage and Lindeburg, and the assistant was able to land just south of town on a gravel road which was the major road to Uvalde in the day (now TX-55). They refueled again and attempted a take-off, only to clip a telephone pole and crashed into the town’s hardware store. It took a few weeks to get the repair part shipped-in and they were finally able to fly-out.

The second claim to fame is a little more macabre. Remember the most hated woman in America, Madalyn Murray O’Hair? Ms. O’Hair was an atheist and filed federal lawsuits to have school prayer removed from public schools. Yeah, well in 1995, she, her son, and her granddaughter were kidnapped and later murdered. Their dismembered bodies were found stuffed into 55-gallon barrels just south of Camp Wood...about a mile south of where we enjoyed BBQ today. Today, Camp Wood is a quiet, peaceful where people move to be forgotten.

Heading south on TX-55, we turned west on the Twisted Stepsister, RR-334. Not much exciting about this road except is passes by some of the largest ranches in Texas...we’re talking THOUSANDS of acres. If we had more time and a lot more $$, we would have stopped and driven some BIG military equipment at DriveTanks. The closer to the border we rode, the more U.S. Border Patrol presence we saw. We ended the day in Del Rio, a mere four miles from the US/Mexico border. 

We enjoyed happy hour by the pool and a fantastic authentic Mexican food dinner.

Tomorrow, lots of miles, two border patrol check points, and Big Bend National Park...