Mercy Riders to the Rescue - Vol 2

We settled on staying at Baron's Creekside in Fredericksburg. We wanted to stay in the romantic log cabins crafted from 200-year-old timber from a Swiss barn, but they didn't have two available or one that could hold two couples, so we settled for the Victorian, a quaint little house that had been relocated from its original Main Street location. The Baron's Creekside B&B is owned by a Swiss national who stumbled upon the Texas Hill Country and now splits his time between his homes in Switzerland and Texas. 

We agreed to meet at the B&B around noon, then would spend Thursday making the Willow City Loop and spending the evening in Luckenbach. Friday was reserved for running the Three Twisted Sisters, and on Saturday, we were headed to the San Marcos area to take in some of the festivities at the Texas State HOG Rally. Scott reserved his bike rental and everything things was set.

Or so we thought...

As the week of the trip approached, so did the clouds. Seems even the threat of the Mercy Riders coming to town causes the weather gods to bring their game. In the past five days, several inches of rain had fallen and more was on the way. The 10-day outlook indicated thunderstorms on three of the four days of the trip. Not bad odds when you're riding with Scott and Karen, but a concern nonetheless. By Monday evening, the threat of rain was only building, we now had a 20% chance of rain on the remaining "dry" day. Considering the cost of the bike rental and the additional air fare to bring Karen down, plus the already sunk deposit for the B&B, Scott began to question the trip.  A few showers along the way were tolerable, but four days of riding in the rain was a little much. We agreed to make the final call on Tuesday evening.

While the locals claimed the weather was "goin' round Fredericksburg", weather.com continued to indicate rain most of the weekend. So the Mercy Riders decided to back-out. Within 24-hours, the weather gods acknowledged their decision and parted the clouds. The revised forecast showed rain on Thursday only. Liz and I decided to make the trip anyway and began looking for someone to fill the open bedroom.

Enter my buddy Bill, aka "Iron Butt". Bill decided he'd join us for the night, riding down from the Dallas/Fort Worth area on Thursday, only to return Friday evening. That's over 1,200 miles in less than 48 hours!! We were honored to have him there.

True to forecast, we had a few showers on Thursday, but that didn't stop us from holding a beer summit at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar in Bandera and taking a run over to Luckenbach, Texas. The Luckenbach visit was a hoot. As best I can recall, Kent Finlay was leading the picker's circle that evening and the music was great. We spent most of our time sitting under the rooster tree talking - rather laughing - with Walt Perryman, who is also known as The Cowboy Poet. 

Walt has an interesting way of telling his life's stories and every single one of them is true - he swears! If you ever get the chance to hear him, do so. But please, PLEASE...don't ask him about the little puppy he had as a kid unless you have some tissue nearby cuz you'll laugh till you cry! 

The Rooster Tree - Luckenbach, Texas

Photo by Ralph Wranker

Now, you may have caught my reference to the rooster tree earlier. Seems Luckenbach has more fowl than folk. So many that the hens and roosters run free-range style. These birds of feather are quite colorful and apparantly, have learned to mimic the lonely cowboys that come in off the local ranches. Put bluntly, it seems the roosters are eager to screw anything that walks around on two (chicken) legs and don't mind doing so right there in the middle of the crowd. Anyway, the bar sits under a HUGE oak tree that provides shade for the temporary residents of Luckenbach and the fowl like to jump on the picnic tables, then up to the tree to watch the crowds. A word of warning to the wise, if you're lookin' up at the chickens, do so with your mouth shut. Likewise, it's a good idea to keep your beer covered as well.  

Just ask Walt, he has a story 'bout that too...

© 2009 TRHG Holdings LLC

Mercy Riders to the Rescue - Vol 1

A couple friend of ours, Scott and Karen, are transplanted Texans living in the Washington DC area. Looks like they are headed to Texas on business the week of September 21 and considering staying over the weekend of September 24-27, which just so happens to coincide with two large motorcycle rallies that are being held in the Hill Country - the Texas State HOG Rally in San Marcos and the Thunder on the River Rally in Bandera. And so begins the planning of another trip to the Hill Country in search of property!

Normally, planning a trip is a non-event, the normal querying for what do you want to do / see, how long and where, etc. But planning a trip with Scott and Karen gets complicated. It seems that no matter where they plan to ride or the season, they bring rain. They did it when we went to Hot Springs, when we met them for the Blue Ridge Parkway cruise, even when they take a dinner run in DC. We're not talking about a few little showers here and there...we're talking frog-choking downpours.  On the Blue Ridge Parkway trip, we couldn't see twenty yards ahead and were forced to take cover for the entire day! 

We call them the "Mercy Riders" and now, they're coming to Texas to save the Hill Country from the two-year drought.

So it's not enough to plan some really cool rides, but I also have to plan for alternative activities in the event Noah is being summoned, if even for the day. I also have to find B&B accomodations that are motorcycle friendly - no gravel / dirt roads, convenient to shopping and restaurants, and all of the other things that barely come to mind when you're planning a caged adventure. We decide on Fredericksburg as the base camp for this trip and build a short-list of alternatives for all to consider and comment upon. 

Let the planning begin...

© 2009 TRHG Holdings LLC

This is THE place!

Day 3
We awoke to partly cloudy skies on Wednesday, so we steered west through Ingram, Hunt, and points yonder on TX-39. The first 20 miles out of Kerrville are nothing short of awesome - rolling hills and gentle curves as we follow the creeks through the valley with a tree canopy overhead to soften the morning sunshine. It's a little cool, so we resist the urge to stop and dip the toes in the spring-fed creeks, we'll save that for the return trip.

Yesterday was good, but this is it, I thought. We've found "THE place" for Thunder Road. Hell, "THE place" is all around this part of the Hill Country! Wow, look at that 6-point buck in the woods! You get the drift, we were already into sensory overload and hadn't eaten lunch yet. Once we pass the FM-187 turn-off, we leveled off to a classic scene from an old cowboy movie. "Home, Home on the Range" begins to go through my head...I'd be able to actually hear it on the XM radio had I bought the Ultra yesterday.

Yet another thunderstorm was brewing about 50 miles out and headed our way. With nothing but longhorns and an occasional ranch hand's truck in sight, I twisted the throttle back to race the storm to US-83, then TX-41 where we would turn back east for our return loop. We beat the storm, but it was gaining in intensity. Coming south on FM-1340, we began to descend through the canyons, passing the summer camps, and we came upon...well, what looked to be Stonehenge! The site attracts a fair amount of visitors each day, but we opted to keep cruising to stay ahead of the rain.

We spent the afternoon looking at property in and around Bandera, ending up in the 11th Street Saloon for a beer briefing. We’d seen some good site options, but need to look further. "Can I get another beer, please?" I ask as I'm looking around the bar whose walls are lined with bras of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Rodney Carrington's Titties and Beer song immediately comes to mind. Maybe these cowboys are on to something...

Day 4
We headed south on our new favorite road, TX-16, for breakfast in Medina. On a whim, we stopped at The Rusty Rooster, a tiny cafe located in what used to be "the" gas station in this tiny, quarter mile long town. OMG!! Get Ride Texas or Texas Highways on the phone, the food was awesome and the proprietor was very friendly! Note to self, we'll be back tomorrow...and this time, ask his name!

Today was reserved for the Three Twisted Sisters. RR-337 is a dream road - starting with gentle rolling turns, then heading up the mountain pass (OK, a Texas mountain pass) and along the ridge for 36 glorious miles. The road is in great condition, but not too many places to pull over and enjoy the views or water the flowers. As you come down from the final ridge, you cross a (normally) flowing Frio River and into Leakey. A word to the wise, if you don’t pronounce it “LAY-key”, they’ll figure you’re a tourist and charge you double at the counter.

We make a pit stop and run into Ralph and Doris, a retired couple from the valley (South Texas). Ralph wants to buy a motorcycle, but Doris seems to think he's too short and fat to hold it up...and she's not about to get on the back of one of those things! Does she really think that was his intent? Sometimes loud pipes have a purpose.

We continue on RR-337 towards Camp Wood and about 10 miles out, come-up on two bikers ahead of us...and a herd of Axis deer in-between. LOTS of deer - probably 12-15 of them of all sizes! The problem was, they were scrambling along the left shoulder of the road, where they kept bouncing off of a game fence and back towards the road. Not wanting to become roadkill ourselves, we slowed to allow them to disperse and cross over to jump the low fence on the right shoulder. Note to self, I responded admirably, but could have reacted even better if I had that new Ultra with ABS brakes.

While refueling in Camp Wood, we met the town jester. He was about 75 years-old and pulled up on his little 50cc scooter that he uses to go down to the senior center for a hot lunch with the ladies. He was born in Camp Wood but saw the world in the military.

The gentleman gave us a quick historical tour, pointing out the old hardware store that Charles Lindbergh crashed into back in 1924. They ordered a new wing for his plane and once installed, he crashed again on take-off after he hit an overhead wire. Apparently, the third time was charm and he never returned. For those more macabre, the chopped-up bodies of the famous atheist Madelyn Murray O’Hair and her son were found in a barrel in the gravel pit down the road in 2001.

He was also full of jokes, but the best was his closing line about why he likes to ride his scooter while wearing baggy shorts, “I like the feeling of the wind on my wiener.” Perhaps no truer words have ever been spoken by a seasoned biker.

RR-335 is often referred to as Roller Coaster Road. Once you get into the hills, the road criss-crosses and follows a ridge overlooking the Sabinal River. It is an excellent scenic tour for the passenger, a little less so for the rider given the curves and constant terrain change, but a must-ride road for anyone on an iron horse.

After a boring, but short eastward run across TX-41, we turned back south on RR-336. I can’t really top the descriptions about the other Sisters, but RR-336 brings in a new challenge…cattle guards. You see, this road cuts through several large free-range ranches, where there are no fences along the roads. So when you’re moving from one tract to the next, you cross through a cattle guard.

Where there are cattle guards, there are...well, cattle. Now, cattle aren't inclined to jump into traffic like deer might, but they also don't clear the road just because you happen along into their world. That's safety lesson of the day #1. Safety lesson #2 is for you foreigners who ain’t ridden' across a cattle guard before. Here are three words of advice – slow and straight – especially if the roads are wet! The road gets really interesting as you descend from the plateau, with lots of switchbacks and terrain changes to keep the thrill factor high.

By the time we got back into Leakey, we needed a pit stop and a cold brew. Both were ready and waiting at the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Stop.

We spent the remainder of the day cruising through the Frio River Canyon and Utopia, then headed back to Kerrville for some much needed showers. Probably could have handled another 100 miles had we been on the Ultra.

© 2009 TRHG Holdings LLC

Destination: Texas Hill Country

Every April, I open up the map and start looking for an interesting destination for a 'Bring in the Spring' motorcycle getaway. This year, the Texas Hill Country is the destination of choice and it looks like May 25-30 is the perfect time to make the trip.

We've been to the Hill Country many times, but usually spend most of it in the Highland Lakes area and Marble Falls because it's such an easy ride down from the DFW area. This year, we're going to ride the pinnacle of motorcycle roads in Texas...the Three Twisted Sisters, also known as the Twisted Sisters, The Sisters, or, in Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) lingo, FM-335, FM-336, and FM-337.

We'll make Kerrville our base camp, figuring any road worth taking is within a day's journey. Will also need to spend a little time in Bandera, I understand there is a watering hole or two worth visiting in the Cowboy Capital of the World.

Each weekend, thousands of bikers converge on the Hill Country, so I expect we'll see some old friends and make a few new ones too. Time to get the bike cleaned and road-ready.


© 2009 TRHG Holdings LLC