Last week, a buddy of mine, Dave asked me if I felt like going to ride the Three (Twisted) Sisters in South Texas. Of course I said yes! That was last weekend. I did 915 miles measured from the door of my garage in Leonard, TX and back. We actually made it to Fredericksburg, TX Saturday night, a grand total of 280 miles. That was the goal and we did it. It got down into the low 40s and it was pretty chilly. I am really glad of the Garbing’s jacket liner. The only time I was cold was when I turned my head and the wind passed over my bare neck. Dave was not so fortunate and he paid the price for scoffing at my cold weather gear. I had to get a tire before we left. I thought I actually had some tire left. (What do I know about Q2s?) We were meeting at the Honda dealership and since I could see the cord in the center line I had them throw a new rear tire on there. That kind of ate into my trip funds but better safe than sorry. With the new tire it was easy to see how much tire I was using in the twisties and I am happy to report that I was within ¾” of the edge which is a good enough chicken strip for me. We left a little later than we intended and so did half of the riding in the dark. As I mentioned it was cold but our lights also picked up the dear standing in the brush next to the road. Riding at night is not one of my favorite things to do. The goal was to go meet some friends in Fredericksburg, listen to some music, then check into our Hotel. We missed the band even though it was only 11:00. (What kind of band packs it in at 10:00?) So it was off to bed. You have to understand that this is a tourist town. We had booked the only room available and it can only be described as the bridal suite. It had a kind of Pepto Bismol look to it but we were too tired to care. We checked out of the Honeymoon hotel and proceeded on to Comfort, Medina and then on to Leakey Texas and the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters or the Twisted Sisters refer to a triangle of three roads, all of which are curvy. It starts in Leakey TX and you take 337 to 335, across on 41 and back down to Leakey via 336. The roads are both twisted and have these great hilly sections. There are lots of dry gulches and dry low water crossings since the mountains are all rock every drop of rain that falls is run off. There were flood gauges standing in what looked like desert. I am sure you CA guys see this all the time. After a full day of riding some challenging twisties Dave wanted to go to Luckenbach, TX (made famous by the Willy Nelson tune of the same name.) He took me down the WORST paved rode I have ever been on. He was on a Triumph Tiger and he actually enjoyed it. The VFR did not like it one bit. It was really too narrow for two way traffic. It was pot holed, wash boarded and had parts that Dave got air born on. I didn’t because I was creeping along with a sore throttle hand. I could feel every bump as my brain rattled around in my skull! Luckenbach itself was a Harley haven. It’s like a cartoon version of a Texas town with beer. Dave likes it because it has free music (stage with open mic) and he was able to get his wife a trinket in the gift shop. I think that’s why we went in the first place. My wife would not appreciate any of the fare at the gift shop so I was able to leave with loot in my pocket. I was really very tired at this point. I needed food and a bed. We decided that we could make it to Marble Falls which is about 50 miles closer to home than Fredericksburg, where we stayed the first night. We hit Marble Falls just at dusk. We pulled in to a parking lot that had a Chilis Restaurant and next door was a Hampton Inn. I said “Look. Let’s see if they have a room. Then we can unpack, change, eat and drink beer without worrying about riding.” He was all over that so we had dinner on the outdoor patio overlooking the Colorado River. Actually it is more like a chain of lakes created by several dams. I was really nice. We stuffed ourselves, drank Texas beer (which is rare for me) and ordered desert. We were on vacation after all. We walked back to our room and hit the rack. It was the best night of the trip. Monday was just a riding day. Breakfast was complements of the hotel with some type of rubber egg omelet things, cold cereal, do it yourself waffles, breads and rolls and juices. I thought I ate a lot but Dave is in his 30s and he had like 3 of everything. He put me to shame grocery wise but it was just as well because he has a different food time clock than me. We didn’t stop for lunch and I was really ready to eat. I should have tanked up but I like to eat kind of light on the road. We just motored our way back to Dallas. We were making pretty good time until we got close to the city. We realized that on Monday they work on the roads and traffic got heaver plus drivers in Dallas be crazy. I am ready to do it all over again. I couldn't have had a better time. Even the road to Luckenbach seems like fun now that I am not riding on it.
Cool story. Glad to see the rest of the country starting to ride again. I did a little over 200 miles today. A little curves, a little coast riding, a little rain. It was not a bad day. After all I was riding.
Great ride report Dave - keep them coming. Thanks! The talk of washboard roads sounds familiar - as over winter the snowploughs have ripped chunks out of the surface and it will be late summer before most are filled in. Whilst there is still heaps of snow around, it has now cleared from the major passes, so over the weekend we managed to hold our first barbeque meet for 2014. It seems the club president got carried away and had new wheels fitted to his BMW, and afterwards we enjoyed a very pleasant run by the lake. As you can see Spring is here also, and it was not a bad day too! SkiMad
