Hill Country Ride

2007-04-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

More shots of the 3's. Right before this point we came upon a downed motorcyclist. We stopped to offer aid, but they already had help on the way. Looked like he came into a turn to fast, locked up the rear brake, and then high-sided. Don't know how bad he was hurt. We passed the ambulance on the way down. These roads have some very tight dangerous turns.

2007-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

More shots along the 3's.

2007-04-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Several exotic animal ranches along 335. As we pulled up to the kangaroos a baby kangaroo crawled into the pouch of the kangaroo in the middle.

2007-04-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

City park in Camp Wood.

2007-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we got up and left Leakey to ride the 3's or "Three Sisters", "Twisted Sisters" whatever you want to call them. The 3's are Ranch Road 337, 335 and 336. These are by far the very best raods in the Hill Country. Great mountain twisties!!

2007-04-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Looking up at our cabin from the river.

2007-04-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Shots of the Frio river outside our cabin. This water had a greenish-blue tint, but was crystal clear. All these rocks on the beach were bright white.

2007-04-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

We stayed outside Leakey in a log cabin overlooking the Frio river. This place was too cool, and no more expensive than the motel rooms we had been staying in.

2007-04-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

More shots of 337.

2007-04-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Shots of Ranch Road 337 from Medina to Leakey.

2007-04-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Bandera County courthouse.

2007-04-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

The John Wayne room and the salad bar at the Old Spanish Trail.

2007-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is what we came to Bandera for. The Old Spanish Trail restaurant. This is the oldest continuously operated restaurant in Bandera County. It was opened in 1921. Bandera bills itself as the "Cowboy Capital of the World." The food was great!!

2007-04-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

We found this outside Medina. I thought it might be perfect for my daughter Sara. She always wanted a four wheel drive truck. We might be able to afford this one. I can probably load it on the motorcycle and carry it home.

2007-04-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

We made a pit stop in Medina for gas, and some apple cider. Medina is home to several large apple orchards.

2007-04-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning we got up to beautiful skies, so we decided to head over to Bandera for lunch. After lunch we headed on to Leakey. These shots are of Hwy 16 on the way to Bandera.

2007-04-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

A Japanese float plane. One of only three known to exist. This was not on display, our tour guide was kind enough to show us this.

2007-04-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

PT-309. A fully restored wood plank "Higgins" boat. The PT's were 78 feet long and powered by 3 supercharged Packard V-12 engines. In calm seas they could run up to 50 mph.

2007-04-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Me standing next to a "Fat Boy" bomb. This was one of the 10,000 back-up atomic bombs like we dropped on Japan.

2007-04-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Some of the big guns on display at the museum.

2007-04-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

This is the Peace Garden at the museum. This was donated by the people of Japan.

2007-04-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we toured the Pacific War Museum. This place is great. These are shots of the Memorial Wall.

2007-04-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

No picture to this post - Ok it finally happened on Sunday April 22nd about 3:30 in front of our Hotel. We checked in earlier but our room wasn't ready so we rode over to Luckenbach. When we got back all we had to do was pick up our keys. We pulled up under the canopy at the hotel and Lisa was going to go in and get the keys. As she started to get off I got off balance and down we went. YES! I dropped the motorcycle. Right on it's side in broad daylight. Luckily nobody saw, and nobody was hurt. The most damage was to the big flower pot Lisa fell into when she came off, and maybe a little bruised pride. I reached down and picked it right up just like they taught us in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course I took. Never knew it could be so easy to pick up a 900lb motorcycle.

2007-04-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

There are several of these small houses in Fredericksburg called "Sunday Houses" which were built by the ranchers in the late 1800's. The ranchers would bring their families into town on Saturday to spend the night so they could go to church on Sunday -- thus the Sunday House.

2007-04-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Luckenbach Texas--no Willie, Waylon or the boys, but there were two girls playing guitars and singing. Pretty cool place.

2007-04-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

These shots are of some of the old building on Main St in Fredericksburg. All of these were built in the late 1800's and are on the National Historic Register.

2007-04-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

Overlook on the Willow City Loop. Distant fields were covered with bluebonnets.

2007-04-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

All these shots were taken on the Willow City Loop. About a 20 mile loop on county road that runs thru private land. This is rated as the #1 wildflower viewing area in Texas. The camera can't do all the wildflowers justice!

2007-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

This awesome building was built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in 1936 and served as the administrative building for the Longhorn Cavern State Park. The stone stairs lead up to a lookout. It was retired in 1967 when they built a new visitor center.

2007-04-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

More pictures from the Devils Waterhole Overlook.

2007-04-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Me and the Wing at Devils Waterhole Overlook.

2007-04-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

State Park road 4 in Inks Lake State Park. Bluebonnets were in full bloom, and all over the side of the road.

2007-04-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Vipers on Hwy 29 in the Hill Country.

2007-04-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

Bluebonnets and other wildflowers along Hwy 29 heading to Inks Lake State Park

2007-04-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Dali LLama and friends. We saw some awesome cattle ranches and a whole lot of cattle including longhorns, but these were the only llama we saw. I stopped on the side of the road to take a picture and they all came up to the fence to see what I was doing. They were real curious untill I started walking towards them, then they walked away.

2007-04-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Texas Hwy 7 going thru Crockett National Forest.

2007-04-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

Group shot of my Uncle Clyde and Aunt Ethel before we get back on the road.

2007-04-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

More shots of the BBQ. They had a live band playing George Jones, and Merle Haggard. Great food, neat rural setting, you couldn't ask for much more. Maybe a cold beer.

2007-04-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

My Uncle took us to a local fire dept fund raiser for lunch. They had BBQ brisket, chicken, and sausage. REAL Texas BBQ, the food was plentiful, and good.

2007-04-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Cool hot rod on Hwy 59 in Texas.

2007-04-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

More shots of I-30. We took I-30 to Texarkana, then 59 to Marshall, TX then Hwy 43 to Henderson, then Hwy 259 to Nacogdoches, TX to visit my aunt and uncle.

2007-04-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

On the road to the Texas Hill Country. We left Little Rock about 6:15am. This was shot somewhere on I-30.

2007-04-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

This blog follows our motorcycle trip to the Texas Hill Country from April 21st to April28th. Our plans are to leave Little Rock about 6:00am on the 21st and head down thru East Texas. I have an aunt and uncle in Nacogdoches, TX we are going to stop and visit. I will try and update this blog whenever I can get a WiFi connection. Hope you enjoy!!