Spring 2012 Big Ride - Day 1

Thursday
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We had, as you might expect, a delightful day. The first half of the trip featured breathtaking views of the most prolific crop of bluebonnets and other wildflowers either of us had ever seen...and that includes the great crop we had a few years ago.

We rode relatively slowly, rarely as fast as 65 MPH and both got great mileage. We stopped for gas in Llano, for no particular reason except to shed some cold weather gear. Temps had climbed from 57F to 70F but had fallen back to 66F. Still it was plain that we would be too warm pretty soon. The wind was pretty stiff, from the south. Flags were mostly blown straight back from their masts most of the day.

9 AM Departure (more or less)

1431 Westbound outside Burnet (Wow)

Enchanted Rock by 11 am

We made Fredericksburg a bit after noon. The street were pretty packed so we parked a couple of blocks behind the Nimitz Museum. We needed the walk. We headed south, crossed Main and found "Sugar and Smoke" a combo bakery and BBQ place. It looked pretty classy...too nice to have good BBQ. Wow...I could not have been more wrong. The waitress recommended their rib special. KILLER. Who knew.

After lunch we made the hop to Kerrville where I let the GPS mis-direct me to Medina. I had intended to go via 16 but realized she had sent me the wrong way too late. No big deal. When we got there 30 minutes later, we rode 16 back towards Kerrville...and turned around and rode it back again. Perfect! 16 between Kerrville and Medina is a great road. It is so steep and sharp in some places the highway department has installed rumble strips and radar speed signs to warn folks to get it down to 15 MPH for the curves. FUN!

Our destination for the day was Camp Wood, the hub of the Twisted Sisters (335, 336 and 337). We jumped onto the first sister in Medina and headed west. Approaching Leakey is spectacular and the ride from Leakey to Camp Wood is wonderful too. Big canyons, tight curves (some marked for 10 MPH) and steep hills with great views make 337 a world class ride.

This is a view from a scenic overlook along the way.

Looking southeast on 337 (One of the Twisted Sisters) near Leakey.

A lady wearing her husband's new boots takes our picture...

I met a kamikaze bug heading for camp wood... He came in just over my windshield, just under my visor and caught me right on the nose...with a big splat. Steve suggested that I avoid saying it took a lot of guts for him to do that, so I will.

The Woodbine Inn in Camp Wood is basic but clean. We and a a couple of guys running a drilling truck seem to be the only guests but the WiFi works and the Mexican food place is just down the street. I notice they offer biscuits and gravy for breakfast, so I guess we will be going back in the morning!

I need to check into why Camp Wood has a larger compliment of stars than Austin. Seems like the Capitol of Texas should get a larger allocation.