Hill Country Weekend

Alright Ladies & Gents,

So we head out on Thursday, March 17th for San Antonio. Our intentions are good, we leave early to get out of Houston and to our hotel before dark. Yeah Right. Ole Murphy and his law stepped in and we waited on the Harley guy for over 2 hours. Here is the pic before the ride began.From left to right: Raul (R1200GS)we called him the Blue Power Ranger all weekend because of his Aerostitch Suit , ME (R1200C), Jason (K1200RS), and Lou (FatBoy... The bike too)



We break out heading towards to beltway and get stuck in traffic. Finally we get to the beltway and I-10... More traffic. Our trip down I-10 (in 40deg temps) ended in San Antonio at aprox 10pm.

So we party for a bit that night and get back to our room around 3am, and wake at 8am, get some coffee (lot's o'coffee) and breakfast, then head out for the hills.

The roads progressively become more and more challenging as we go. Honestly I had no idea that there were roads like this in Texas. The elevations were constantly changing as if you were on a roller coaster, and the speed limit at twists were posted at a reccomended 10-15 mph. The most annoying is when you get to a great bunch of twisties and your stuck behind gramps and his fifth-wheel (argh).

Our first stop was at a small river crossing right outside of Banderra.




There we notice that someone decided to put up a sign that says Pedestrians are not allowed to stop there??? We are like WTF ???? then realize we are not pedestrians, and if there were pedestrians, they would have had to walk a pretty long ways to get there :-b Notice the hill in the background... I find it hard to believe Texas is not flat





From there we cruize on heading for 335 (the west side of the loop) when our rider up front notices a something in the corner of his eye...



A FREAKIN' CAMEL!!!! What the heck is a camel doing in the the Texas Hill Country? Then we see why, there is a mansion sitting on the side of a hill in the far distance (pictures did not do it justice), We tried for what sempt like hours to get the camel over and spit on the Harley, but that sucker was stubborne as hell. However, here is a pic of the Beemer Boys (nickname for beemer riders at NASA) in front of the camels.



We are now on our way to the 335 side of the loop, and the day is passing fast. We get around the west side and stop for some lunch at the Motorcycle stop.



Funny thing here, there were lotsa Harley's, but mostly BIG Baggers like Goldwing 1800's and Yamaha Royal Ventures. There was also a 1979 BMW R100 (me thinks). But the bikes that drew the most attention from everyone around were the R1200GS and my R12C. People were snapping picks of my bike like it were and alien from Pluto! Now that was funny

Anyway, from there we finished the west side and decided there was no more time left in the day to do the rest, and we decided to head on out to Austin for some night-life. Too pooped from the day, we ended up going to a comedy house and drank water to get rehydrated from a long day of riding.

Needless to say, I have the Hill Country bug now and guarantee myself that I will be visiting a few times each year.

Video's Here I am still learning how to do this & still trying to perfect the mounting of the camera, so none of them are perfect.Plus, I had to shrink each to 10mb due to restrictions with earthlink. Enjoy

Clip One

Clip Two

Clip Three

Clip Four


The last clip of me following my buddy... He was tough to keep up with on that K12RS !!!


ENJOY

Great report!

... and great job on the video, too. Music track and everything.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I had the same reaction you did the first time I rode through the Texas hill country.

... and, um... ya'll were hauling ass! I am going to have to remember that emergency flashers for the slowpokes trick.

Ian

great report! that place with the camel has a giraffe as well. it's one heck of a spread that dude has.

if you liked that part of texas, i recommend you push on to the davis mountains and also get down to see big bend.

since youre in houston, have any ride reports about east texas? i always ride out in the hill country, but seldom cruise through east texas. (took a fun ride to galveston once, but the only thing that made it fun was not worrying about time, and avoiding houston completely.

Fantastic Ride Report And Video....Thanks For Sharing....

Coool. Now to get home and watch the videos.... that connection is faster than work.

Great report. Thanks for sharing!

I only watched one video so far, but I thought you did a great job!

Excellent report & videos


Keep them coming...
one question? Was the camera helmut mounted???

Thanks for the reply

Ian,

Yup, we were haulin. These were not the most interesting roads, there were more. However, I screwed the video in a couple shots. I topped out on my spedo (120), but it reads about 8% high, so I estimate 110. My buddy on the K12RS was hard as hell to keep up with... SmOkiN'

Username,

I have tried looking for good roads through East Texas, but to no avail. There are a few through Sam Houston National Forrest and Big Thickett, but I still have some exploring to do. I have a video from a ride in Big Thickett and will try to post it soon.

Karl,

The camera is a Canon MiniDV Cam and it is sooooooo small that I took a scrap piece of 2x4 and used an 8x32 screw through the bottom with a rubber mount between the camera and 2x4. From there I mounted the assembly on my handlebars. I would like a Helmet cam, but they are too expesive. I am actgually going to make another mount because I am still getting too much vibration.

Thanks again all, and I plan on reporting more rides.

Every winter we try to sneak away to Hill country for a couple of weeks. The riding IS wonderful! Off season (Jan,Feb,March) condos can be rented dirt cheap. We usually stay around Marble Falls. I am looking at my Texas map but it doesn't show the good roads. Next trip, check out the Marble Dome. Every little town has a least one great place to get real BBQ. For night life, I really like San Antonio. The River Walk offers great food, live music and more. Man, now I'm starting to feel bad because my work schedule prevented me from getting there this winter!

Loved the report and the video. Thanks!! Wouldn't mind seeing a shot of how you mounted the camera and the 2x4 on the handle bars. Can you switch the camera on and off while riding? I'm wondering if there's such a thing as a remote button.

One small Hill Country hint: If you can manage to ride it from mid April to early May, you'll be in a sea of Blue Bonnets not to mention a few other amazing wild flowers.

Geoff Miller said:

Next trip, check out the Marble Dome.

Click to expand...

do you mean
enchanted rock?

RT RANDY wrote, " Loved the report and the video. Thanks!! Wouldn't mind seeing a shot of how you mounted the camera and the 2x4 on the handle bars. "

I'd be interested also. I'll take a photo of my helmut-cam and post it when I get home. It's good for a few laughs
Thanks again H-Town Kruzer.

Thanks, Username! I remembered that it was, I believe, the world's largest marble dome. The road to the park is way cool. I spent an entire afternoon climbing the rock formations. I have definately got to get back down there soon! I messed up last time by not carrying a camera with me. Everybody needs a shot of their bike sitting in front of the store in Luchenbach (sp?). I spotted a really nice wrought iron Texas star that would look great on my wall. That alone is a good enough excuse to head back!

we're ready and waiting for you, so hit the road.

to pick a nit - it's granite and other igneous rock, not marble, and it's a tad north of fredericksburg. marble falls is sort of due east of e-rock, as i used to refer to it back in the days when i climbed.

i don't expect you to keep track of every detail though. your job is to remember that you like visiting and try to get back when you can!

Helmut Cam


This should be good for a laugh...









But it works, of course you have to look down a bit, takes practice...

only problem is wind noise.

Great report. Thanks for that. I'll look at the video when I find a high speed connection. I love the custom hemet mount.

BMW Rally in the Hill Country

ANy of you guys planning on going to the BMW gathering in the Hill Country the week of April 11th thru the 17th? I am debating on whether or not to scrub work and go

i won't be there, i'm headed out for a trip the 20th and need to get caught up on work and home tasks before bailing. i'm halfway tempted to ride out for a half day visit, but i'll just have to see how it goes. they look like a fun group.

what they said

excellent report. i am giving you an A. i liked the videos, too. 110 mph? dang, youse is out of my league. ride on and write on.

H-Town Kruzer said:

ANy of you guys planning on going to the BMW gathering in the Hill Country the week of April 11th thru the 17th? I am debating on whether or not to scrub work and go

Click to expand...

I'll be heading down to the rally from Omaha on the 13th, come on down!