Ennis Ride 102108

Ennis Ride 102108

We started off just a little late as Courtney thought she might be able to come but one of her kids’ baseball game ran late so she chose not to come so Jim, Tammy, Philip and I took off. We made one stop about 17 miles outside of Ennis. When I saw the place I wanted to go I did not know it was a one way street but it was so small and isolated we proceeded down it about 100 yards where I wanted to be. Here are a few of the shots.




I took a little walk and found this barn like building that was freshly painted and closed up.




As we came up on Ennis I was not really sure where to go so I decided to take Business 287 and see where we end up. Well sure enough as we drive through town Philip notices the blow up thing for the kids and we start looking for a spot to pull over. Well sure enough there was this empty spot we parked our 3 bikes and to make it even better this from the outside run down looking place turns out to be a bar that is really open. It is called the Wooden Nickel. So we go inside to call John aka. Mr RocknRoll who lives down here and he says he is on his way. So it is beer and Bloody Mary time while we wait. First Tammy orders a Bloody Mary and we all taste it and the next thing you know most of us, order one. It was really great and not too much alcohol to mess you all up.




We then walked down to the festival. Here are some of the shots. We did buy some stuff of course that made the bike now fully loaded.






Well as I walk around I find pay dirt. An old car show, now we are talking.



You will see some pictures of this next car later on as we talked with Ron & Carol the owner of the car. Actually this is Carol’s car but Ron helped us with some shots later on. They were really nice people and I thought the scene they had was cool. For those of us who are a bit older can relate to the props. But more later on this jewel.



Here are some more of the cars they had out there.






I went back to Ron and Carol’s car and he closed the hood and trunk so I could get these shots. I got his card so I could copy him in on this report so he can get the pictures. Hope these came out the way you wanted Ron.




We headed back to our bikes and decided we were getting hungry so it was time for lunch. We asked the great folks inside the Wooden Nickel where they would recommend and they said Marsala  spelling might be off. Anyway I shot a picture of the outside of the Wooden Nickel.



We rode just briefly down the road turned right on I think was 46 and there it was. Here is a couple of shots for inside the restaurant and man the food was inexpensive and everyone enjoyed what they ordered. Val even found a way to load some leftovers into our already very crowded saddle bags.




After eating we started heading back to our part of the woods but Philip wanted to stop at the HD shop down on 20 and 360 while Jim and Tammy decided to keep on riding home. So we waved goodby to them and headed for the HD shop. While at the HD shop it was busy as usual but they had some helicopter rides going on so I took a few shots of that as well. Of course Val found more stuff to stuff into our bike. Man she can be resourceful when she needs/wants to be. I need to make a mental note of this.








It was a great day for riding, the weather was perfect and got to hang with some good friends and talk with some very nice folks along the way. What more can you ask for other then getting home safe and sound which we did. Have a good day ride carefully and savor the moment!

Pj

New Braunfels – Last Day

New Braunfels – Last Day

We all got up and Paul and Gail were ready to leave early and wanted to take the hwy home while we, Jim, Tammy, and mostly me and Val were moving a bit slow. We also wanted to try to load my bike and Jim’s on the trailer and just cage it home but with my engine guard I could not get both bikes on the trailer. Jim insisted on riding his home so I loaded up mine and I drove the Mini Van with my bike on the trailer. We got out of there at about 11 AM and as we went along we found these riders that kind of road with us for part of the way home. Paul and Gail later reported that with the wind and the construction on the north bound side of the road they did not have much fun.

Well here is a few shots of Jim on his scooter with our new found riders. They really were a bunch of nice guys and they road with us for awhile and in fact Jim was tempted to pass them but decided to just fill in with them.




We lost our riders when the pulled off for a stop and we stopped for gas. They then too pulled in for gas as we were leaving. We found this little rest stop and decided to take a short break.





We then got to Hico and stopped at the Koffee Kup. I would say stop there for their pies but not for their food. The pie’s were fantastic but the food was ok I guess.



We found another little rest area just before getting close to home that has a little scenery so we stopped.






Well we got home safe and sound, we dropped Jim and Tammy at their house and off loaded the Van of their stuff so Val and I headed home. It was great being home but it was a fantastic ride with great friends we will remember for some time to come.

PJ

New Braunfels - Marble Falls Saturday (Day 5)

New Braunfels - Marble Falls Saturday (Day 5)

Man did we over pack for this trip and I mean we! Today we planned to move our base camp from New Braunfels to Marble Falls and we did not get out until about 11AM since me and Val had so much stuff to put into the Mini Van. We had to do some rearranging as Val and Tammy planned to ride in the Mini Van while Jim, Paul, Gail, and I rode the bikes on up.

Val shot some pictures from the Mini Van of us getting ready to roll.






As we were driving along, Paul signaled that he wanted to pull over. He seemed in a bit of a hurry to do so. He found a little drive way where we all pulled into. It turned out his throttle cover lost it grip with the throttle itself. Sometime pretty decorations can do that kind of stuff. Anyway here is a shot Val took of us looking over the problem. At first he thought he broke a cable and we would have put his bike on the trailer no doubt an ugly thought to him. To make matters more interesting after a few minutes the gate behind us closes so now we are locked in. Now we are just laughing like what the heck. Well the shop (this was some kind of metal works place) was open with a few workers in the garage so we knew we were not really messed up. Paul went down there to get some electrical tape to help the grip problem and they told him to just pull up to the gate and it will open for us. We rigged his grip and were once again on our way with a now once again smiling Paul.



We were on the road again towards Marble Falls and he found this little rest area dedicated to Joseph Wilson Baines. I will let you read the sign. This was a nice rest area just outside of Blanco.








We get to our hotel and off load some of our stuff and then decide to eat a late lunch early dinner so we discuss taking Hwy 4 around Lake Buchanan but most of the folks were fairly tired and most of us have been on that hwy so we decided to take 1431 to Kingsland. Now I would recommend that if you have not done Hwy 4 around Lake Buchanan and are not too tire I would take that route, but if you’re tired you might want to think twice. The last time I took that road, I almost got clipped by a Pickup Truck as both of us were going just a little to fast and some of the turns at the bottom of the hills are narrow but big time fun! It was a nice short ride to Kingsland as we have been riding now 5 days. You can see my blog and ride reports from last year to see the shots of Hwy 4. Here is Kingsland pictures. Oh, and if you know me, I can sniff water or rocks out a mile away and sure enough I saw this little sign about a park next to the water and decided to head down that way.

I turned out to actually be an RV park and the sign said all visitors must check in so I went inside and told them all we wanted to do is look around and take pictures. They had no problem with us looking around but sure did ask a lot of questions about the pictures; hence I will not state where exactly we were. They wanted to know who did I shoot for, and what is the purpose of the pictures and yada, yada. They let us in however at the end.






Well we head down the road again still towards Kingsland and sure enough I find a place called Look Out Mountain, oh heck rocks and water, pay dirt!!!! That’s the Colorado River Below.









We just get into Kingsland and I notice a little white sign saying “Kingsland Community Park” well that might mean water or rocks so we turn around and head that way. The road was not too bad but a lot of sandy and fine grit spots but nothing to be concerned about and sure enough there is water so once again pay dirt.









Well by now it was time to eat and a few of us have had some poor service at this place on “Lake Marble Falls” (a dammed up part of the Colorado river) and the last time we were there we thought next time we would eat at Chili’s next door. So we headed that way and after some zig zagging only due to my trying to find a short cut we found the place. Here are some shots and I must say the service and food was great!

Here are some shots from the deck from which we had our late lunch early dinner.








Well we get back to the hotel on our last night and decide to break out some Colorado Bull Dogs and other drink types. Heck I brought the blender.





Of course after 5 days of riding and a few foo foo drinks its time for the hot tub!




It has been a great ride and we will be heading back home tomorrow. The next report will be the ride back home.

Pj