Colorado Cruiser: Carlsbad and Texas Hill Country Ride

Woke up this morning to a dreary sky and distant sounds of thunder. It was very cold for what I expect from Texas, in the low 40s. I was a bit slow getting going because we wanted to let the temperature come up a bit. After a good hot shower, I went to the lobby for breakfast.

Several other riders were there and we were comparing notes about where to ride, when a massive flash of lightning struct nearby, followed by a boom of thunder. It had been sprinkling for a few minutes, but now it started to come down in bucket loads with lightning and thunder almost constantly striking.

About this time John came running around the corner and into the lobby as the wind started to whip up. We heard the first solid pings of hail hitting the roof of the building and it quickly went from a scattered pattern to a solid roar of hailstones hitting. Everyone in the lobby got quiet as the noise built louder and louder.

Several cars pulled off the road and under the overhang to avoid the hail as well. It lasted for about 15 minutes, then began to taper off until it was once again a good heavy rain.

I was watching weather radar maps and trying to figure out if this was a day long storm or a fast moving storm. It seemed like it would move on fairly soon, but the cold temperature would last all day. We talked about just hanging out in Kerville for the day, but neither of us wanted to do that.

The roads we want to ride are 30 miles to the west of us, and the storm is moving north east, so if we can get out from under the storm I think it will be clear riding all day.

So as one storm cell moved off, and before the next storm cell could move in, we headed out. We had to go due west out of town. Any where south and the next cell would catch us. We must have eluded it ok, because we didn't get any rain as we left the area. When we left the hotel, the temperature was 45 degrees. John had on thermals, chaps, balaclava, and his heavy jacket. I had on my heated gear and my heavy jacket.

We rode out of Kerville on highway 27, then turned onto hwy 39, our first destination road. Hwy 39 follows the Guadalupe river. The road twists and turns along the river bank with trees forming a canopy over us. It's a great way to start a day if only it was a bit warmer and not so cloudy. After 30 miles of bliss, we intersected major highway 83 and turned north for a few miles until we could turn west again on highway 41.

Just a few miles down 41 we suddenly rode out into sunlight. We had completely escaped the storm. The ground along the roads was completely dry, so rain hadn't even touched the area (which is bad for Texas, but good for riding). With the sun out, the temperature also started to rise. It quickly warmed up to 50 degrees which might not sound like much, but made a difference. Another few miles brought us to highway 336, our second destination road.

Highway 336 is one of a group of roads known as "The Twisted Sisters", and I'm not referring to Nancy, Nina, Nola, or Nita, my sisters in law. The Twisted Sisters are part of the old farm to market highway system that Texas built to help farmers move their goods around. They connected various towns together, but they were build with a minimum of heavy construction, so they tend to follow the terrain rather than blast through it the way modern highways do. This means they twist and turn and rise and fall with the landscape, and that's very fun on a motorcycle.

We stopped for a picture at the start of 336, then began the ride that we'd come nearly a thousand miles to make.

John and I rode this same area 2 years ago and enjoyed it so much we're back for more. But last time, the shoulders of the highways were filled with wild flowers. This year the rains haven't come as heavy and the shoulders are bare. The trees, bushes, and grass is also brown compare to the vibrant green last trip. But the roads themselves were still a blast to ride. I stopped a couple of times to take panoramas, but mostly we just enjoyed the road.

When we reached the town of Leakey, we stopped at the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Shop to buy T shirts and eat some lunch. The last time we were here 2 years ago, the parking lot was packed with bikes, but this time it was completely empty. The lady, inside, told us the reason it was so empty was because it was Monday, cold, and rain in the area. She said they were very busy over the weekend, but Mondays are always slow, and the weather makes it worse. She was very sad that the rains hadn't come farther west to give them some moisture. (I wasn't)

We ordered lunch and ate in their little lunch area where it was warmer. The sun might be out, but it was still in the low 50s. Another group of 3 riders came in just as we finished eating. They didn't seem interested in chatting, so we left them to their meals and went out to the bikes.

By now it was over 60 degrees and I shucked off the heated gear and the heavy coat for my mesh jacket and gloves. We gassed up the bikes, then headed west on highway 337, the second of the Twisted Sisters roads.

As we rode 337 we chatted on the CB radio about the GoPro camera that John has been using. He mounts it low on the front of his bike and has been taking some video of me riding ahead of him. I suggested that we try to mount it on the back of my bike, pointed back at him, so we stopped to try it. We wound up zip tying it to my luggage rack, then continued down the road. He said it seemed to be working, but we couldn't check the quality until we got back tonight.

At the end of 337, we turned north on 335, the third and last of the Twisted Sisters roads, and as it turns out, the best of the 3.

The road feels like it's carved into the sides of the canyon walls. Not canyons like Colorado with thousand foot drops, but 80 foot high Texas walls with the road going up and down and around like a big roller coaster. In fact, several places really give you that roller coaster zero G feeling as you come up one side, over the top and immediately drop down another big dip.

The roller coaster ride went on and on as we followed the road north along whatever river ran along the bottom of the walls. About half way long, John called over the radio to say that the camera had run out of battery. We hope it caught some good footage, but there's no way to know right now.

When we finally reached the end of the 335 I pulled over to get pictures by the sign, and to give my throttle hand a rest. You can't put it on cruise control on roads like this, and you constantly have to adjust to the varying road conditions so my write can get very tired after a while. In fact my whole body was shaking a little from the constant shifting and turning. It was a great ride, but it leaves you feeling wrung out, but in a good way.

We stood around for a while talking and figuring out what else to do. It was nearly 4:00 by now, and we had a couple hour ride back to the hotel, so we decided to head back via highway 41 and 27. Highway 27 is almost like highway 39 that we took this morning. It follows a river with beautiful views all along the way. By the time we got back to the hotel we were both ready for a good break.

For dinner we figured,1) we're in Texas, 2) we've been riding hard all day, 3) we're tough motorcycle riders, so of course, we decided to go have Korean BBQ.

Actually, John served a Mormon Mission to Korea some 30 years ago, so it wasn't that odd. The food was great, except for the aged Kimchi that John hogged to himself (because I wouldn't touch it). The Bulgogi was great with the fresh kimchi and other condiments.

By the end of dinner, it was 8:30. We walked over to a cool deck overlooking yet another river. John's wife called and hey began chatting, so I just hopped on my bike and headed back to the hotel to get a few things done, including this ride report.

The morning started with a nasty storm, probably bad Karma from me being glad I missed a Colorado snow storm yesterday