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.