Hill Country Ride IX

The Hill Country Ride IX (HCR IX) took place in 2006 between April 26 - April 30. Many attendees arrived on Wednesday but I made it to Fredericksburg on my usual day - Thursday. Rode from Frisco to Fredericksburg with Mark Rowe and his wife and Rooster and his significant other. Rooster planned the ride and led as far as Llano where he broke off for bbq at Coopers. Mark and I continued on to Fredericksburg. We didn't leave Frisco until about 11:30 am with the intent of riding straight through with only stops for gas. We took TX 121 to Ft Worth and picked up US 377 in west Ft Worth which we rode all the way to Comanche. In Comanche we hooked a left onto TX 16 which we took all the way into Fredericksburg. That was the first time I had ridden that route and it was a great way to get to Fredericksburg. In addition to some great roads it was also the shortest distance I have ever found to get there - 275 miles.

Somewhere along the way the air breather on my front carb slipped off. I managed to get to Fredericksburg ok . Could not find another filter that would fit anywhere in Fredericksburg so I ended up fashioning an air filter out of a piece of a window air conditioner filter and a piece of a shop rag. Worked pretty good but I had no power in 4th gear.

My oldest son, Kurt, planned to meet me in Fredericksburg so we could ride together on Friday and Saturday. Everything that could go wrong with his day on Friday did. Then the rain and hail came to Fredericksburg so we decided it was best that he not try to make it to the Hill Country Ride. I would ride to Houston to see him there instead. So, Saturday morning I had breakfast with Fergy and Stan, said my goodbyes to all and left on 290 for Austin and Houston. Except for having to hit the reserve twice and heavy traffic east of Austin the ride was uneventful. On Sunday after un unsuccessful search for a new air filter in Houston on Saturday, I pulled my a/c filter off and replaced it with a piece of nylon hose. Worked much better. Kurt and his riding buddy, Jeff, led me through some great back roads north of Houston and into Willis, Texas. We parted company and I rode old US 75 (now Texas 75) from Willis to Richland. It was 87 miles of beautiful road with no traffic. In Richland, Texas, 75 merges into I-45 and I rode the rest of the way back to Dallas on the super slab .

Although I only spent two nights and one day at this year's HCR, I had a great time. Thursday nite a group of us had a great German dinner and the traditional Friday nite HCR dinner was great. The food was great and the raffle was even better ( I won a raffle prize). A group of us toured the Nimitz Museum on Friday during the off and on showers. We spent about two hours there and didn't get through the whole museum. I recommend everyone try to squeeze in a visit to this museum if you are in Fredericksburg. After a lunch at another German resturant the weather broke and we decided to ride to Enchanted Rock. Took a road back that none of us had ever ridden before that was a great road except for the low water crossings. I bottomed out front and back on the first one.

Met a lot of riders I had never met before and many I had not seen since last year. All in all, a great weekend.