Colorado Cruiser: Texas Big Bend Ride - Day 6

I'm not sure you can have a more perfect day of riding than we had today.

We started fairly early. We grabbed breakfast at the Quality Inn which featured Texas shaped belgian waffles. The hotel wifi was still on the fritz, but I got enough working to send my trip report without pictures. I know that's just bit everyone skips over to get to the pictures. But that's all I could make work.

When I start a trip, all of the clothes in my bags are clean. I've usually taken the time to roll or fold things nicely and pack really tight. Then as the trip progresses the things change from all clean to mostly clean and some dirty. Then to half and half, and finally to mostly dirty with just a bit clean. And my packing from night to night is usually just "cram it in and lets get going". So that near the end of the trip I'm bulging at the seams trying to get everything to fit. And heaven forbid I buy anything to take home with me.

So this was the mostly dirty morning and stuff was crammed into every spare corner of my luggage, saddle bags, and even some in John's bike (that Harley is filthy with storage room).

This was the morning to pull all the dirty stuff out, carefully roll it and pack it tightly into the bags, not to come out until I reach home. It's amazing how much room I have once that is done. Maybe I should have bought gifts for my wife and grand kids (forget it kids, you're all too old for gifts now anyway right?).

Once all was packed, the breakfast eaten, and yesterday's email sent, it was time to ride.

The air temperature was high 50s or low 60s. There was just a bit of a nip in the air. We had thick cloud cover over us and the smell of rain in the air. The forecast was for clear skies in the morning and a chance of rain in the afternoon, but that's not what we got. Leaving Uvalde we got spit on a bit, but just enough to spot the windshield, helmet visor, and my glasses. Wiping it off with my gloves just left nice streaks across each.

BUT WE'RE RIDING!! NO TIME TO STOP AND CLEAN!!! At least that's how it feels, so I lean left, tilt my head to the right and peek between spots and keep going till it all dries.

The ride from Uvalde to Leakey is only 40 miles but it seemed to just fly by. The road was empty, the temperature perfect, the sights along the road changed from scrub to nice green trees and the terrain rose around us. That must be why it's called the "Hill Country" duh.

The speed limit on the road was 70 (almost all Texas is 70mph speed limits, even school zones I think). John said he was so enjoying the ride he didn't feel like riding the speed limit and slowed into the 50s. John has never met a speed limit he couldn't outdo, so that's saying something.

We pulled into the gas station in Leakey to top off. We don't know where we can get gas, so we figured we'd get it when we could. While we sat there, another group of riders pulled in and one of the guys was on a bike that looked identical to John's. John made a comment about him having a great looking bike and he returned the complement. This kept going for a few seconds, then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the guys wife. She patted me and said "Yours is pretty too". "Thanks" I said, and she walked into the store.

Today's ride was the main focus of this whole trip. We wanted to come ride the "Twisted Sisters" in the Texas Hill Country.

The Twisted Sisters is 3 roads that form 3 sides of a square. State highways 335, 336, and 337. They aren't main highways, so they aren't traveled by anyone in a hurry to get anywhere, those people would take the highways paralleling these roads. They were built long ago so they follow the land rather than flattening and straightening it. Lastly they are in a rural area so there are beautiful views without urban blight on them. They make a wonderful ride out in the country.

Leakey is at the bottom right corner of the square formed by the roads with highway 41 crossing the top of the square. We road the route counter clockwise starting at Leakey in the South East corner and going up 336.

Within 3 miles we came across the first of many wildflowers we would see. Huge swaths of yellow flowers lined both sides of the road with occasional patches of purple flowers. Some of the fields along the road were also filled with the flowers. It's hard to capture on film exactly what it looked like, but it was beautiful. At various times I saw orange, pink, and red flowers as well, but never in the quantities as the yellow. I think there were 3 or 4 different species of yellow flowers because some were taller than others and some were in bunches and others single blooms on a single stock. The purple also varied and many were thistles with tall stalks.

We saw no other vehicles on 336 until the very end of the road. It was kind of fun to have the whole road and we flipped U turns or stopped in the middle of the road several times to take pictures. The first half wound up a small valley with some beautiful homes scattered along beside the road. Then it began to climb up a hill, across the top, then descend another valley.   This became the theme for 336. Climb, Crest, VIEW, descend. All the while twisting with the landscape. Trees along side the road and sometimes hanging over the road.

Up near the end of the road my phone beeped reminding me that I would soon be missing a meeting at work. I love being reminded that I'm NOT going to a meeting. This particular meeting is a weekly status meeting, so I figured I should participate. We found a nice section of road with some woods nearby, some goats, and wildflowers. I pulled off the road into the flowers and John took a picture of my weekly status which I texted back to my boss. I hope they appreciated my efforts to participate.

At the top of 336 we turned left on highway 41. It was almost a shock to see other cards and to speed up to 70mph. But even that was nice. It was a big wide highway with 6 foot tall fencing along the road to prevent deer from committing bambi-cide. Even though there were other cars, they weren't too obnoxious and we zipped along happily anticipating the next leg of the sisters.

We turned back South onto Highway 335.   As we rode, the clouds thickened and we began to see lightning in the distance. One particular bolt kept striking over and over for 5 seconds. It was long enough I almost could have taken a picture had I started when it first struck. We didn't hear much thunder though because we at the top of a hill and it must have been 10 or 15 miles away. It began to spit rain a bit, but not enough to reach the threshold where we'd stop and put on rain gear. Over the years I've been soaked to the skin several times by rain that didn't come down hard enough to warrant rain gear. I guess it's like that mythical frog in a pot of cold water. I keep getting wetter and wetter until before I know it, I'm boiled.

Well, we kept riding and kept lightly raining on us.

Highway 335 was different from 336. It seemed to cling to the side of the valley with a river/stream/swamp off to our left. We'd go up the side of the valley, then back down. With the rain and lack of sunlight, none of the few pictures I took came out well. Even with the rain, the lightning (which continued to grow closer) and the lack of light, I was still grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of it. Roads and views like this are the reason I ride. It's just not the same from a car.

At the end of 335 we came to the town of Camp Wood. There was a steady drizzle by now. We passed a gas station filled with motorcycles. They were all crammed under the little bit of shelter the station provided, but we kept riding. We turned back East on 337 toward Leakey. After a mile on 337 John pulled over and we talked about what we should do. Go back to Camp Wood and look for shelter, get an early lunch, suit up, keep riding? I had John pull my chaps out of his bags so I could wear them. They would waterproof my legs at least. It was too warm to put on my heavy jacket, and I couldn't bring myself to put on my Teal colored rain coat. It's for emergencies only.

I then dried my windshield, helmet, and glasses. By the time I'd done all of this, the rain stopped and didn't come again for the rest of the day. Typical.

I kept the chaps on because besides keeping my legs dry, they also helped warm them a bit. It wasn't freezing, but the 60 degree air blowing on my damp blue jeans made them feel cold.

337 had a different feel again. It cut across the hills between valleys, and often did that with deep clefts into the hills. I had put my camera away when I changed, so I didn't get photos of the first half of the road. I stopped when I saw a beautiful view down into the valley and got the camera out.

When we got near Leakey John pulled over at what I thought was a motorcycle dealership. There were about 40 bikes parked all over under the trees and along the building. It turned out to be a store & cafe named Frio Canyon Motorcycle Shop.

We walked through the store admiring the t-shirts and went into the cafe area.

They sold burgers, steak sandwiches, and hot dogs. They were Harley themed, so I bought a Fat Bob burger. It had bacon and pepper jack cheese on a jalapenio and cheese bun. It was very good. But it was so big I couldn't finish it.

The cafe had big rollup doors on each side and a large picnic area outside. Since the rain had stopped people were starting to move from the inside out to the picnic area. We opted to stay in and avoid the wind. While we ate we noticed a big poster for a recent motorcycle ralley. It happened at the first of April, and featured wet t-shirt contest and naughty nighty. I looked around and commented to John that if the current clientele was typical then I was very glad we'd missed both those competitions. John said I was going to get us beat up and kicked out, but he agreed.

After lunch we looked through the store, trying to find a t-shirt. John gave up, but I found a couple I thought would do. Most of the shirts had suggestive phases on them making jokes about the various things that could be done with "twisted sisters". I picked one with a map of the roads and with 3 women's faces on looking kind of like Mt Rushmore.

Thus far we had completed a left hand loop of the 3 sisters, now we began a right hand loop out to the towns of Vanderpool, Medina, and Bandera. Then back via Tarpley, Utopia, and back to Vanderpool. It started East from Leakey continuing on highway 337 (more of the road we just arrived on). Not only had the rain stopped, but the clouds were clearing. It wasn't getting much warmer, but it felt more open.

These roads weren't as curvy as the sisters were, but they were nice, the sun was shining, and the weather was wonderful. We rode a little bit faster and had more traffic. I think many of the riders are late risers and because we were on the road so early, we had gotten spoiled to have the roads to ourselves.

We saw one very large field of flowers and stopped to take pictures of it.

Once we were back in Vanderpool we stopped to decide whether to return to Leakey for gas, or to chance going on North and hope for gas. We had decide to go North, but as we went through Vanderpool, John noticed gas pumps at a small convenience store. We flipped a U turn (or John flipped a U turn, I slowed and gently turned the bike). I get nervous on narrow roads with no shoulder.

We pulled into the store by the pumps, but a group of riders over to the side told us the pumps don't work.   Instead, they were clustered around a horizontal tank suspended 6 foot in the air on 4 legs. "This" they said "is the gas pump". We rolled the bikes over as they moved out of the way.

It was all gravity fed. John twisted the guage around until it read zero. Then opened the valve on the tank and stuck the handle into his tank. He pulled the trigger and gas slowly drained into his tank. I then took the handle and put gas into my tank. We got 3.2 gallons between us and just like Langtry yesterday, we went in, told them how many gallons and they told us how much it cost.

Then continuing the Langtry comparison, we found the bathroom to be filthy and disgusting. In fact, it was far worse than Langtry. Back at the bikes John offered me a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. I wanted a giant bottle of it but used what I was offered.

We were on highway 187 and would take that all the way to Kerrville, our day's end point. But just a few miles North of Vanderpool was a motorcycle museum where we'd planned to stop. We paid our $5 each to get in, then wandered through the old Indian, BSA (which doesn't mean Boy Scouts of America), Harley, and other classic bikes. It was pretty cool, but not really worth $5. Although, if we'd waited on the bathroom, it certainly would have been worth it.

After looking at old bikes we went outside and sat in the shade of the front porch and enjoyed the cool breeze. We listened to several groups of riders come and go. Compared notes on which roads who had ridden and in what order, and admired some cutom painted motorcycles that were probably worth $30K.

Finally it was time to move on.

We mounted up and turned the bikes North and away from the sisters. We could easily spend another full day in the area and probably will in the future.

We rode up 187 and merged onto another highway. The are began to be more populated with homes, and eventually with emaculately lanscaped yards. At one point John flipped a quick U turn and came back toward me. I wondered what was up until I noticed the fences along this section of road. Every fence post was topped with an old boot turned upside down and stuck onto the top of the post. It was an odd sight for sure. There was nothing to indicate why someone had put 200 boots on fence posts. Maybe just to get idiots like us to stop.

The last of the ride parallelled the Guadalupe river, which again, was bigger and more impressive than the Rio Grande. It was lined by beautiful lawns and homes. We crossed back and forth several times before arriving in Kerrville.

Our hotel was The Inn of the Hills. I was shocked by its appearance. I figured John had found some cheap dive, but it was a beautiful hotel with 3 pools and several restaurants. We checked in and put our stuff away. I finally uploaded my pictures from yesterday, then threw together an email with the pics.

The wifi in this hotel is the fasted wifi I've ever used (bar none). It feels as fast, if not faster, than my home or work direct wired internet. I uploaded a total of 70 megs of pictures in about 4 minutes. And it works in the room, by the pool, and everywhere else I tried around the hotel. Very very nice.

Once that was done, we headed off for dinner. John had noticed a restaurant on the way into town and we headed over there. Billy Gentry's. But what caught John's attention was their slogan. "Flavors of the Texas Hill Country". I commented that if it was anything like this afternoon's "Smells of the Hill Country" that we'd experienced in Vanderpool, I didn't know if it was such a good idea.

The lady at the desk asked us if we'd mind sitting on the patio because it would be 15 minutes before a table inside was available. We opted for the patio. It turned out to be a narrow patio under an awning, and facing the river that ran behind the restaurant. It was great. Still nice temperatures, beautiful views, and when it came, great food.

We both got the special, eye of sirloin steak, potato, vegetables, and shrimp. They sure know how to cook a good steak there.

We sat contentedly eating, texting, and chatting as the sun slowly set. At some point, some lazy parents in the restaurant sent their kids out to the deck, I'm sure because they didn't want all the noise by them. The 4 boys begain to play and throw rocks out toward the river. They stayed for about 10 minutes, then mercifully their family left.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and I began sorting and uploading today's pictures. Then wrote this gem of a ride report.

Texas waffle maker....