Last weekend when I got back from my ride in the
Ozarks, my Ol' Lady told me that she wanted to go for a ride. It has been almost a month since she has been on any real trip, mainly because I was in India for 3 weeks and when I got back I took my "mancation". She defiantly had a point, besides, who am I to argue about jumping on the ol iron horse for the weekend.
I had heard so many people talking about riding the Twisted Sisters down near Leaky in the Rio Frio canyon, I even have seen t-shirts about running the "Three Twisted Sisters". I have been in that area several times (never on these roads) and it is absolutely beautiful country but, I never realized how GREAT the riding is down there. This passed weekend the ol' Lady and I found out what all the fuss is about.
The plan was to go down to the hill country, not the hill country west of Austin that I ride all the time but the hill country that is south of I-10, and run the three twisted sisters. We decided Kerrville would be our base for operation and we would ride from there. While we were planning the trip we asked some friends of ours (Alex and Jamie) if they wanted to make the trip with us. We have heard them talk about wanting to go down there several times but there is never enough time to run down there for a day and make the run. This time we were staying the night so we had plenty of time. Needless to say they accepted our invitation, not because of our sparkling personalities but, who would turn down a weekend in the saddle?
The Sporty gets drafted: Alex and Jamie both ride, however they only have one bike. Last time they made the twisted sister run they rode two up and Jamie told Alex this time she wanted to ride her own bike. Their plan was to rent a bike however it was going to cost way to much. During bike night, I offered the use of my Sportster to them if they wanted to use it. They weren't sure if they wanted to take it cause it has ape hangers and is only an 883. (HEY! quit picking on the 883's this bike road 3,338 miles to Sturgis and back!) After bike night we ran back to the house so they could sit on it and test it out around the block. When Alex got back he was like "MAN! that is comfortable." So, the sporty was drafted into action. I have to confess I was a little nervous about letting someone borrow my bike even if I was with them. Two reasons for this, one I NEVER let anyone ride my bikes and two over the years the sporty has developed a "personality", meaning you have to treat her just right or she won't work for ya.
Saturday morning came and the plan was to meet at the Starbucks for coffee and breakfast then head out from there. The route was simple, 1431 west, 281 south, sandy road west, 290 west, 16 south. First stop we made was in Sandy Texas. Mainly cause we wanted the photo op with the sign for my S-N-L Sandy. This stop took all of two minutes and then it was on to Fredricksburg for a quick break. After our break we saddled up and headed south, we were in Kerrville in no time. We stopped for fuel and one last bio break cause it was going to be a while before we stop again.
Once we got south of Kerrville the ride starts to get good. Immediately the view turns from good to great, the road starts to tighten up, the turns get sharper, the hills get steeper, your heart starts to pound a little, and right about now that grin comes over your face. We took 16 down to Medina and that is were we started the twisted sisters loop which consists of TX 335, 336, 337. We headed down 337 and found an over look and decided to stop for a quick photo op and to grab the camera for Nez to take some photo's while we were riding. She took pictures of everything, road shots, herself, patches on my vest, her boot she got everything. I guess she was a little bored on the back of the bike.
Next town was Leaky, which is where we should have stopped. There is a place called the
Motorcycle stop this is a really cool place, however we didn't stop cause if we did, we would not have had time to make the entire loop without rushing so we just drove right on by. After more twisties we got to Camp Wood where we stopped for gas and a quick snack. After gas and snacks we headed north on 55 and then picked up 335, the second sister. On this road there is some really cool wild life, camels, kangaroos, deer, and other deer family, keep your camera out for this section of the road. We didn't keep our camera out cause we decided we had enough pics of the ride already, big mistake. This road was great it was a roller coaster ride through the canyon. Once we finished 335 we picked up 41 which takes you over to 336 and then south back to Leaky. Again the ride was GREAT! and beautiful scenery, I think the best part about riding out here is the fact there is almost no traffic except for the occasional farmer running to town for supplies.
At this point it was getting to be around 3:00 and we just finished the sisters.
Next stop was Vanderpool to visit the motorcycle museum and get a bite to eat at the cafe there. When we got there we were all hungry and found out tha the cafe closed at 3:00 and it was now 4:00 ugghhh...
However they had pie :) so I had a slice of pie and we all had something to drink. After looking around and talking with Allen (the owner) we saddled up and headed north on 187 to pick up 39 which snakes along the Guadalupe river. This is a beautiful ride, lots of trees along the road and nice curves.
When we got to hunt we made a quick pit stop at Stonehenge, Jamie and Alex have never seen it so we stopped. When we got there and parked Jamie asked "What are we doing?" I asked " what do you mean?" she replied "Are we lost?" I said "no its right there" and pointed across the street. Jamie had a duuuuuhhhhhhh moment.
While we were there another group from Waco showed up and we got to talking about the rides down in the area we were at etc. One of the ladies mentioned "we even got t-shirts..." I was like huh? t-shirts? I inquired as to where they got them, and it was at the Motorcycle stop, like I said the place we SHOULD have stopped. At that point it was starting to get dark and there was no way we were going to attempt the drive over to Leaky and back in the dark. It was decided that if it's not raining in the morning then we would make the run over to Leaky and pick up t-shirts and patches.
About this time we were all getting hungry and tired of getting eaten by gnats, we headed into Kerrville and ate a great Mexican place call Mamacita's, it has good food and drink. It is located on the east bound side of 27 between Ingram and Kerrville.
After dinner we headed to the Best Western to check in, it was about 8:00pm when we checked in. I couldn't believe how late it was, looking at the map it doesn't look like it would take a full day to do this run. I am glad we planned two days for it cause we would have never made it back to Leander before the deer came out at dusk. After check in we unloaded the bikes and relaxed in the room talking about the ride, looking at the pictures and planned out the next day. We all were in agreement that we would get up early and head over to Leaky to get patches and a t-shirt if it wasn't raining. Forecast called for thunderstorms in the area and I was definatly not looking forward to riding in the rain again.
Next morning it was not raining, however it rained a little during the night which was ok with me. We got up and had some coffee and breakfast and then headed to Leaky, we decided to take the "fast" route over, but it turns out the fast route was an absolutely beautiful ride. The scenery was unbelievable great wide open spaces and hills, I love it down there.
We got to the shop and looked around a bit picked up our t-shirts and patches and just relaxed before the ride home. About this time it was getting to be lunch and we decided to head up to Llano for some coppers BBQ. As usual it was excellent food and good times. From here we headed home down 29.
This was an excellent trip and one that I would defiantly do again. We rode around 600 miles and the riding down there is excellent, it was just as good as the riding we had up in the Ozarks and a lot closer too. The trip was a great follow up to the Ozark trip, it was nice to get out and do some riding again. More pics can be found
here
You'll probably start seeing more and more about my Dad in the blogs going forward... Now if I can just come up with a good road name for him... ;)
Bad, Bad Company till the day I die... One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the Grand opening and stay the night in Temple was the lead singer for Bad Company was playing and I love their music. Unfortunately the rain from earlier in the day made the field that was in front of the stage turn into a huge mud puddle, so we just hung out up on top of the hill in the parking lot. We could hear just fine. We sat there and visited and sang along with the band and had a few drinks. Good times all around.
After a few cold beers we saddled up and headed for home. We had a great ride through the hill country and good times for everyone. Till next time, keep the rubber side down! More pics of the weekend can be found here
