Hill Country Ride X

April 26 to the 29th we gathered in Fredericksburg, Texas, for the tenth annual DFWVROC hill country ride. We had great weather for riding all four days, the blooming Texas wildflowers were the best they have been in years and the participants were the usual great bunch.

I decided to ride to Fredericksburg by myself and left Plano about 9 am on Thursday. I rode I-45 to Corsicana where I picked up Texas 31 to Waco. At my first gas stop in Hubbard I ran into the Hannah's and Hugs sister and her husband at the same gas station. We rode as far as Waco together where they split off to go to Austin and I continued west on US 84. I knocked a footpeg loose somewhere along the line and borrowed a wrench in Evant, my second gas stop, to tighten the nut. I continued on to Star where I turned south to Lometa, Bend and Cherokee. This is a great route with very little traffic. The picture on the left above was taken between Star and Lometa. At Cherokee I turned south on Texas 16, stopped for gas in Llano and then on to Fredericksburg.

Son, Kurt, arrived in Fredericksburg about 8 pm with his Suzuki GSXR 750. A group of riders had left earlier for a resturant I had never heard of and Kurt and I headed up US 87 to meet them at the Hill Top Cafe. We both agreed that the crab cakes, shrimp and pork chop were the best we had ever eaten. The food was moderately priced and worth the 10 miles from Fredericksburg.

Friday morning Kurt and I decided to have an easy day on the bikes since neither of us were in good riding shape. We began with a slow ride up Crabapple Road to the road to Enchanted Rock. From Enchanted Rock we continued on to Texas 16 and back to Fredericksburg for gas. We then rode up US 87 towards Mason, cut off to Doss, Texas,and then down to Harper, Texas. We ate lunch in Harper at a great bar b que joint, Easy Pickens Bar B Que.. Meat was outstanding but no dessert available. From Harper we went south towards Kerrville and then cut east back to Fredericksburg. We then rode up TX 16 to the Willow City Loop to look at the wildflowers and back to Fredericksburg for a days riding of about 200 great miles.

Friday nite was the traditional DFWVROC group dinner. This year it was held at the Nimitz Museum. Of all the places the dinner has been held in the 7 years I have attended HCR, this was the best place yet. An easy walk from the motel and a large enough venue. Piper did a great job as MC. Turnout was a tad low but a good part of that was due to the DFWVROCers who were getting married the next day and had their rehearsal dinner at the same time.

Piper said he would like to ride the 3's and he was welcome to ride with us. We left about 9 am and headed for Kerrville and I-10. We detoured around Kerrville and caught Harper Road with took us down to Ingram and Texas 39. This is one of my favorite roads in the Hill Country as it winds up the Guadaloupe River to it very source. There is a multitude of low water crossings across the river and there seems to be an old German low water dam above or below each crossing. The lower part of the river is rimmed with old cypress trees and the water gets shallower and clearer as one climbs to the top of the hills. We stayed on 39 to US 83, which we then took south to Leakey, our first gas stop. From Leakey we headed to Camp Wood where we stopped at BJ's for a good lunch outside under the awning.

From Camp Wood it was up FM 335, a few miles on Texas 41 and back to Leakey on FM 336. We went south to the road to Utopia to avoid some road constrution outside Leakey only to find the road out of Utopia was also under construction. From Utopia we headed up to Vanderpool and over FM 337 to Medina. From Medina we cut over to Camp Verde, Center Point and Comfort and then up the Grapetown Road to Fredericksburg. We had a great ride with good weather, lots of flowers, excellent camaraderie with Piper and 300 miles of great roads.

After a brief rest, Kurt and I headed to Luckenbach to attend the wedding of Richard and April. Then back to Fredericksburg for dinner at Mamasita's Mexican Resturant for some very good Mexican food.

Kurt and I packed up and departed for home at 9:30 am on Sunday. Kurt got back to Houston about 1:30 and I got back to Plano at 2:30 after an uneventful ride.

A big pat on the back to all who stepped up and put this years DFWVROC Hill Country Ride together after some upsets early on. They did a great job under difficult circumstances.