Our morning started out a little damp on Saturday.  It was nearly 70 degrees, so we didn't have any complaints about that.  There was just enough moisture in the air to coat our windshields and the road, which made for slippery conditions.  We were in Fredericksburg by 10 a.m. to grab some breakfast and get back on the road south toward Kerrville.

Highway 39 and FM 1340 are just west of Kerrville, and run 27 miles along the Guadalupe River.  This is a great route to take while on your way to ride The Three Sisters.  Once you make it west of Ingram, the roads begin to wind along the river with some fun curves, and a dozen or so river crossings. One of the bad things about touring on a motorcycle, is that there are very few opportunities to stop and take pictures.  We didn't take a single picture along the river, but I plan to go back in the Spring when everything is green and will take plenty of pictures then.  It also looks like a great place to stay for a few days to do some tubing, and stay in one of the many rentals along the river.  The scenery this time of year looked much like the picture below.

Then it was on to The Three Sisters, which begins another 17 miles west on 41.  Our day of fun pretty much ended with the Alamo Springs Cafe near Luckenbach.  It was 5 pm, so from Johnson City back to Cedar Park it was dark, and I'm not a big fan of riding in the dark.  I am also not accustomed to riding much in December, and Kent and I found a new hazard to riding this time of year.  We were riding in fairly heavy holiday traffic on 620 near Austin, and I was in the left lane while Kent was a few cars back in the right lane.  I saw what looked like a piece of rolled up carpet get shot out from under the truck in the right lane beside me.  Kent could not see it coming, but he happened to change lanes at the perfect moment to miss it.  When we stopped at the next light, Kent said, "Did you see that Christmas tree in the middle of the road?  It missed me by 2 feet!"  To which my response was, "'Tis the season!"

On our way back to DFW on Sunday, we took our time by taking the back roads back to Cleburne where we split off to go home.  On the way, we stopped at Horny Toad Bar and Grill in Cranfills Gap where we grabbed a burger and a beer.  It's a cool little biker bar in a very small town.  The food is great and it's a nice place to stop and take a break from riding.

From there, we took the quickest route back to DFW, as a cold north wind had started blowing.  We couldn't have asked for better December weather, and the weekend was filled with some of the best roads I've ever ridden in Texas.

The Three Sisters

There are 3 great motorcycling roads in South TX called The Three Sisters, or The Twisted Sisters.  The roads are Ranch Road 335, 336, and 337.  The roads create, roughly, a 120 mile loop (if you include their step sister, TX-41).

Kent and I started with RR336 at about 12:30 today, after leaving Austin around 7:45 this morning.



RR336 is literally a road through a ranch, with cattle guards included.  She was by far the curviest of the 3 girls, and an excellent way to begin this section of our ride.

I'm sure my mom won't like the photos below, but we didn't think that was a very high number considering the number of motorcycle riders that travel these roads every year.

 

 

The second of the sisters was RR337.  She was fairly straight and shorter than the other two ladies.  We were running low on gas after this one, so it was a good thing there was a gas station in Camp Wood.  Rider beware...this was the only gas stop we saw on the loop.  There's also a nice looking biker bar & grill in town, but we didn't have time to stop.  We had our sights set on the Alamo Springs Cafe near Luckenbach.

The last of the sisters was RR335, and she was like a roller coaster.  This one consisted of a lot of straight aways with hills that would take your stomach at the pinnacle, and the g-force would push you down into your seat at the bottom.  Of course it takes speeds of 60 to 75 miles an hour to accomplish this sensation, but it was the closest thing to Six Flags, without all the long lines and bratty kids.  We came up on a couple of guys on full dressers doing about 40.  I'm sure they were having a great day too, but they really don't know what they missed.

The step-sister, TX-41 is a necessary evil.  She runs between high-fence exotic ranches, so there's no concern of a deer jumping out in front of you.  She's made for speed and we found a little while we were shooting back to complete the loop in exactly 2 hours.

On the Move

I'm about to be off on another two-wheeled adventure.  My friend, Kent and I are heading south to ride The Three Sisters (AKA Twisted Sisters) this weekend.  This is supposed to be one of the the top motorcycle routes in the state, and I've never been.  The weather is supposed to be great, and we will cover somewhere around 1000 miles over the weekend.

Our home base will be Janie's house in Cedar Park.  My GPS link will be active if you want to follow us, or check back later for a blog about the trip.

Fall Camping

 Over the past few months, I've had a little extra time on my hands to travel and spend more time with family.  Cody and I were able to break away a few weeks ago for a camping trip to Tyler State Park.  The weather and fall color were perfect.  We spent most of our time relaxing, playing with fire, and laughing.  We did get one good hike in that was about 6 miles.  Here are some photos from the weekend.  Cody and Courtney's dog, Marley, joined us as well.

Vicksburg National Military Park

I started this blog to chronicle my motorcycle trips, as well as other adventures, and I've done a poor job of it.  I never finished my blog from August when I rode to Florida, so here goes.

When I arrived in Vicksburg, all I wanted was a couple of beers, a meal, a shower, and a bed.  Not too much to ask, right?  I planned to eat at Cracker Barrel next to my hotel, so the beer would need to pick up a 6-pack somewhere.  I stopped at 2 gas stations where I found nothing other than your run of the mill big brewer 'American' beers, and that just wouldn't do.  I figured I must need to go to a liquor store to get a good beer.  I struck out at the 1st liquor store, and at the 2nd they didn't even carry beer, I asked the owner if there was anywhere in town where I could get a good beer.  In the best Indian accent that I can do on paper, he responds, "What do you mean good beer?"  My response, "You know, craft beer?  Micros? Any good local stuff."  Owner:  "No, we don't have local beers.  You have to go to gas station across the street, and they have plenty of good beer there.  You should try Bud Light Platinum.  It's very good and high in alcohol."  So I went across the street and settled for a 6-pack of Red Stripe.

The next day, I planned to meet up with Cody and Courtney in Shreveport, but not until later in the day.  I made the most of the morning by heading over to Vicksburg National Military Park.  The park, which has been around since 1899, is the site of the Battle of Vicksburg and many other Civil War battles that took place nearly 150 years ago.  The weather was perfect, and I spent about 3 hours touring the park on my Harley before heading to Shreveport. 

 

 

This is the USS Cairo.  It was sunk in 1864 and recovered over 100 years later.  I don't know much about boats, but this boat seems huge for it's day at 175 feet long, 51 feet wide, and weighing 512 tons.

The Vicksburg National Cemetery is a very humbling site.  There are nearly 20,000 graves here, all Union soldiers.  Confederate soldiers were laid to rest at another site in Vicksburg.

The battles around Vicksburg were fought in the trenches.  The photo below shows the remaining signs of trenches that were dug across the hillside.

The photo below that is the same hillside from a different angle.  A fort stood at the top of the hill where the ground is raised.  The Union troops dug into the hillside from either side (valley's in pic) to get within a few feet of the fort.

 

There's an audio tour that can be played via cell phone.  It's a very interesting tour that I would suggest if you find yourself passing through Vicksburg, MS on I-20 and have a couple of hours to spare.

Starting the Ride Home

The trip to Florida ended up being a complete washout.  We managed to have fun and eat some good meals, despite the rain.  The house where we stayed had a smoker on a covered patio, so I spent a day smoking a brisket while reading a book and watching it rain.  The Summer Olympics kept us somewhat entertained, as long as synchronized water dancing or ribbon twirling weren't the day's events.

  

The ride back wasn't looking good from the start, considering I had seen rain every day since leaving Dallas a week prior.  I decided to stick to my plan and hit the scenic coastal roads and head to New Orleans to see my friend Brian, who is a good friend from college.  I knew the ferry was closed in Mobile the previous day, so I would have to head north at Gulf Shores to get around Mobile Bay.  After passing Ft. Walton Beach, the sky got really dark and I could tell there would be heavy rain ahead, so I detoured north through Eglin AFB to miss the rain.

I was just delaying the inevitable though.  Just east of Mobile, the sky turned black again and it was as dark as I've every seen it in the middle of the day.  My phone was not in a waterproof case, so no pics.  I powered through the rain, and luckily the deluge only lasted for a couple of minutes.  After passing through the tunnel in Mobile, I hit another storm. This one was much worse.  It was the heaviest rain that I've ridden in, and not safe conditions at all.  Cars were throwing their hazard lights on, people were slamming on their brakes, the water on the road was deep and visibility was horrible.  It didn't help that my visor and glasses had fogged up.  I took the first exit that I could find and called it lunch.  By the way, D'Michaels has excellent cheese steak sandwiches and is just west of Mobile if you're ever in the neighborhood.

After making it past Mobile, I was back to the beach roads, which turned out to be a really bad idea.  The wind was blowing in from the water at a good clip, so I was sand blasted from Mobile to Gulfport.  It was physically painful, since I had stowed my jacket in Mobile.  I tried to get a pic of the sand dancing across the road, but the photo doesn't truly capture it.

Once I reached Gulfport, I checked the weather and contacted Brian.  I was only 80 miles from NOLA, but it looked ugly.  I ditched the idea of meeting up with my friend and headed north to get out of the rain.

There were several more showers throughout the day, but it was minimal compared to what I had been through earlier in the day, so I powered on to Vicksburg for the night.

Interstate of Mind

Yesterday was a little boring, as far as scenic riding goes. It was nothing but interstate riding across 4 states. Riding on interstate is noisy and windy, and can be a beating after 7 hours. I managed to fix my headphone cord issue, which took the annoying aspect out of the new iPhone setup on the bike.

One highlight was my first ride through an underwater tunnel. I've been through the George Wallace Tunnel in Mobile a few times, but never on a bike. It's really cool how the freedom on a motorcycle can completely transform a familiar experience into something new.

I was able to dodge the heavy rain today, thanks to a tip from Les to bypass Destin to avoid some traffic and double back. I missed the traffic, and as I pulled into Santa Rosa Beach, the rain bands were dark gray in the direction that I would have ridden.

I'm settled in now and looking forward to a few days of relaxation on the beach. I have a much more scenic route planned for the ride home, and will be avoiding the interstate highways. Good times to come!

A Day in LA

It was a fairly uneventful day on the road. I left the house around 8 and made good time to Louisiana, thanks to the new 75 mph speed limit.

Before leaving home, I installed a new mount for my iPhone on the handlebar. I wired a power cord to the mount, but didn't think about the location of the headphone jack. About 20 miles into the trip, I was already tired of the cord flailing around in front of my face. A trip to Best Buy and $5 later, I won't have that problem tomorrow. It was really annoying for 450 miles, but my tunes were more important.

By the time I made it to Natchitoches, I was ready for some of the town's famous meat pies, and they did not disappoint. The weather was not bad this morning, but by the time I finished lunch, the heat index was 104. It took 3 hours before I found bearable riding conditions. Not too long after that, I spotted a bridge in the distance that was not on my GPS. I made a u-turn and headed for the bridge, and it was well worth it. It cut some time off the ride and it was the coolest bridge I've ever seen. With a $409 million price tag, it should be. The Audubon bridge crosses the Mississippi, and is a similar design to the new Large Marge Bridge in Dallas, but the Audubon bridge actually goes somewhere. I saw thunderstorms building nearby, or I would have stopped for some better pictures.

I circled the city of Baton Rouge for an hour, trying to find a way to avoid the thunderstorms. The lightning was popping all around me and the thunder made a sound like the sky was ripping open each time. I finally gave up and unpacked the rain suit, so I could make it to my hotel. I drove through rain that was heavy enough to slow the interstate speeds to 30 mph, but only had to spend 20 minutes in it to make it to my final destination for the day.

After a shower and shave, I headed to Chimes for dinner on the LSU campus. I had never been to LSU, so I took a drive through campus at dusk and it is beautiful. I cruised around University Lake, and that campus is amazing.

After a good burger and a couple of IPA's, I'm ready to get some rest and do it again tomorrow.

Beach Bound

It's been a while since I've had any two-wheel adventures, but I'll be heading out early Saturday morning for Baton Rouge, with a final destination of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.  The return trip will include Bourbon Street, Louisiana swamps, and a few stops to visit with old friends and family.

The Harley is in tip-top shape after a full service, new battery, new stator (charging system), and new exhaust.  The old exhaust cracked all the way through, but I reaped the benefit of some sweet sounding Vance & Hines True Duals that paired nicely with the existing Sreamin' Eagle mufflers. 

If you would like to follow me, there is a link on the page to my GPS tracker.  I will report back with pictures of my adventure, and hopefully a few good stories.