Legendary Father of Hill Country

March 25/2018  Weather 85, low 62. 

At the Y.O. Ranch Road entrance

When you are in downtown Kerrville you will see the Schreiner name everywhere.  University.  Mansion.  Bank.  Y.O. Ranch.  Mercantile General Store.  Captain Charles Schreiner immigrated from Alsace-Lorraine in 1852.  Well isn't that interesting;  he was an Alsatian.  Never heard of that part of the world till this winter.   Alsace is in the eastern border of France adjacent to Germany and Switzerland.   Funny.  We have friends staying in Castroville which is an hour south of here and it is an old Texas Alsatian community....
With Captain Schreiner we could not get the connection of the ranch/cattle brand.  What did the Y.O. stand for???  The Y.O. brand was first used on the Texas gulf coast in the 1840’s by Youngs O. Coleman of the Fulton Family Ranching Empire near Rockport. The brand changed hands and made its way to hill country near Kerrville.
In 1880, The “Captain” purchased the Y.O. Ranch, its brand, and its cattle from Taylor and Clements with profits he made by driving more than 300,000 head of Texas longhorns “up the trail” to Dodge City.

Historical Monument to Captain Schreiner

Exquisite Yucca

What started in 1880 as 27,000 acres emerged 20 years later to almost 600,000 acres by 1900.   Five generations have split and divided the land since then.  Today the headquarters have been sold off away from the 132 years of legendary family land ownership and leave 5,784 acres.  We pulled into the road and gated ranch to see how far down we could ride.  The Y.O. Ranch Road shows on the county map as a thorough fare but it only goes so far and is fenced and gated with a lockout code.  Currently the ranch is known for exotics.  You can make a reservation to tour the exotic animals, stay and hunt, overnight in the lodge, go horse back riding and much more.    Well maybe another day we might get in for a tour or horseback riding.  Keep that on the list of things to do in Hill Country.

As far as we can go without having a reservation and get coded inside

That's crazy

Do you see what I'm talking about?  That's crazy.  Really, don't you think it is crazy?
Take a good look.
Bare bread as in "crustless".  No Crust.........    
It never ceases to amaze me what I will find in the grocery store in the USA. 

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder

March 24/2018 Weather 86, night 60.   A hot day with hot bikes!

Bev and Dave on 337

Friday, Saturday, Sunday is Thunder in the Hills weekend; a motorcycle rally in Hill Country.   We hooked up with Dave and Bev from the park and took a ride on old Medina highway and then turned onto one of the "twisted sisters/337" to the tiny town of Leakey.   There is not much in Leakey but even on a quiet Saturday afternoon there are usually at least 20 to 30 bikes at the Bent Rim Bar and Grill.  So wonder how many are there today???

back parking lot at Bent Rim

eye candy

What a pretty ride it was; through the low hills and rocky cream coloured  outcroppings.  Bike, after bike after bike purring by.  During the day the motorcycles were making good use of the warm day and curvy roads.
Well it appears we will not be getting a burger and beer at the Bent Rim today,,, but lots of eye candy for the guys.  No - not the girls, CHROME !  Well maybe a couple of girls.  Haha.  

more bikes, cool Indian

It's funny how we always get to this bar/grill in Leakey and have never stopped anywhere else.  Today being so busy forced us to find some food somewhere.  There are just a few places and we stopped at Mama Chole's restaurant which was super delicious home cooked Mexican.  My guacamole jalapeno cheeseburger was yummy.  So good things happen when you change up your routine. 

crossing the river

Guadalupe River and creamy limestone cliffs

We made a loop back to Kerrville, heading north and then east along the Guadalupe river.   The water crisscrosses the road every few miles and it is like blue turquoise.    As you get closer to the village of Hunt (yup everyone here hunts, like animals)  there is a ranch with wooden fence posts and each has an old cowboy boot.   Dave was so pissed off with his cowboy boots the other day; as in they were killing his feet he drove out here and put his boots on the posts.  He thought they could finish out their miserable life out here upside down!!!  Hilarious.  As we drove by Bev pointed out the boots.  Oh my gosh, what a laugh.  You know some look pretty good, hey maybe we should stop and get Billy a used pair?

There is one of the boots, may he stay upside down forever!

Going to the Bat Cave for a Bat Burger

March 22/2018  Weather cloudy but warm enough 77, night 52. 

No fast food here

Our fearless leader Dan the Man was craving for the big burger.

5 in the ride today

A scenic ride through ranches, creeks, quiet sloping roads pretty much to the middle of nowhere.  Here you will find Alamo Springs Cafe.  Right next door is the Old Tunnel State Park which is an abandoned railway tunnel;  now home to thousands of bats from May to October.  Thus the Bat Cave.......

hungry?

The Cafe is famous for burgers and onion rings.  So, you may have to go over the hills, cross the river, and through the woods, but in the end, you’ll find Alamo Springs Café is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.

you have to chuckle at some of the signs inside the Cafe

Alamo Springs Cafe

Get our Cowgirl On

March 21/2018  Weather sunny, 77, low 52. 

Couple of Cowgirls Stepping Out (Rosey & Pam)

Tonight we get our "cowgirl" on.  Blue Jeans.  Cowboy Boots.  Cowboy Hat. 
A night of country music, cold beer, slab of beef on the BBQ and fun.  The 11th Street Cowboy Bar and Grill is so much fun.   You just have to go; and you never know who will show up.  Lots of wanna be cowboys and cowgirls and then the  real thing.  Tonight did not disappoint.

Ingram Grocery & Market

For the BBQ tonight we had to get two nice ribeye steaks from a small grocery with a butcher shop in the back, just like when we were kids.   I remember my Mom taking me to Merlin where she would get the weeks groceries at Shirley Campbell"s or Cedar Springs to the Red & White.  Both had butcher shops and a few aisles of groceries.   Tonight is a Bring Your Own Meat!

Our table, bellies full, cold beers in hand, people watching

Billy and the guys took the meat to the communal BBQ grills while the girls got the side fixings.  The sun went down and the band started playing the Texas two step and the night was in full swing.   The dance floor was full and then we spotted a fellow that was undeniably the real deal.

having a good time on the outdoor dance floor

During intermission Billy says "see that guy over there with the neck bandana, beard, mustache, cowboy hat & boots - now he looks like a real cowboy".  Turns out he is somewhat of a local celebrity cowboy.   Sitting across the dance floor was Trail Boss James E. “Hoot” Gibson.  In 2004; Hoot rode his horse along with two partners from Bandera, Texas all the way to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  About 2500 miles.   The journey took almost 5 months;  through the heart of Texas, across a corner of New Mexico, skirted the eastern edge of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, over the windy flats of Wyoming, into the spectacular and well named Bear Tooth Mountains of Montana, and finally across the border and up the “Cowboy Trail” of Alberta (Highway 22) into The Calgary Stampede.  The partner along on the adventure has it recorded in a novel called “The Eye Reckon Freedom Ride Trail.” 

James E. "Hoot" Gibson

To end the night somebody just had to get on the Long Horn......

Rosey wants to be a cowgirl.....

Spring Time in Hill Country

March 18/2018  Weather 87 today,,,, Hot.  But we couldn't resist poking around again on some more back roads today.

Live Oaks framing the old highway

The heat is really bring out the flowers now.  Not sure what these red ones are they are as big as bushes sometimes, and the Texas Mountain Laurel are full out; but don't get too close the bees are loving the blooms right now.

so pretty, no idea what it is called

Mountain Laurel

We are surprised how every ranch has a water windmill and most are still working.  This may be a bitter pill for some Texans to swallow, but it was not invented in this State, nor the Colt Revolver.   Nope to barbed wire.   All three are Texas icons credited with taming the wild west.  The windmill and the revolver were both invented in Connecticut and barbed wire in Illinois, allegedly by a farmer trying to keep chickens out of his wife's garden!

this windmill looks new

definitely been here awhile, along with the fence and the old pickup

this is ranch we ride by on White Oak, looks like it hasn't changed in a 100 years

Favorite Little Texas Town called Comfort

March 17/2018  Weather hot today, 84 and the night a low of 50.  Bit humid.  

back road into Comfort, looks like a laneway doesn't it?

We have been several times to the town of Comfort but it is so darn cute and the ride to it is so relaxing on the Harley we just have to go again. 

beautiful old iron work scrolls on High Street

boutique Hotel Faust on High Street

These Crows on the Roof are they Real or not Real? 

We take the back roads and then walk around downtown, in and out of little antique shops, the old Bank which is now the visitor center, a bistro for some great lunch,

Inside the Tinsmith's Wife shop = Look closely,,,, see the cat sound asleep hahaha

pretty cool - the owner took my skein and wound it into a usable ball of yarn

my ball of yarn

Wow, she has all kinds of funky knitted scarves

and the Tinsmith;s Wife shop for a ball of yarn.... and did we ever spot the "Clown Jabbers" today walking around the block; this big old guy was just watching us~!~.  I guess it's just a normal day in Hill Country Texas.  Ahhh.

And no one is going to argue with you!

Get The Guy

March 14/2018 

The Spooky TV

For a few weeks we have had some weird disturbances going on.... 
In the middle of the night the TV comes on.  At 3 in the morning, Billy will wake up and say "it's on again".  He gets up and turns it off.  During the day we go away and come back and the TV is on.  Hmm.  Then when we  turn it on it will not stay on.  Then it comes back on by itself.  OK, OK, OK.  What the devil is up with that?
We called Jensen the manufacturer and they decide since it is 10 years old, we should just get a new one......   Now the thing is that it is attached so tight to the entertainment center woodwork Billy is afraid he might damage the wood trying to get it out.

Billy could not figure it out, he even bought a plumbers camera scope to look behind the TV.  And he asked when my next colonoscopy was since he now had the tool !!!  It says right on the box that it is not to be used for medical purposes!!! Geez.

TV ready for the garbage

So we hired a TV fellow that we saw working on a coach next to us; just to have a look and tell us what we should do.  In 5 minutes he had the TV out!  We had a new one delivered and he will be putting it back into the coach too.   The moral of the story is GET THE GUY.

Fun Abounds at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort

March 16, 2018  Weather ~  we had a few cloudy days and the the sun would pop out.  Temps were 68ish to 70 and then today it was 84.   We road 3 days this week, just wandering the back roads with the biker friends at Buckhorn Lake RV.

get on the bus

There is lots to keep busy here with the park too, we have been on the resorts bus to Bandera 11th street cowboy bar and also on the mystery dinner trip.   It's so great not to drive around at night, we worry on the highways  there are so many animals (deer especially).

you bring your meat and cook it up on the BBQ

the 11th street cowboy bar;  hmmm looks like some fun now!

outdoor country 2 stepping

The 11st street bar is a busy fun place on Wednesday night; get your cowboy hat on and boots for some country 2 step boot scootin, cook your own meat, and enjoy the country music.    The mystery dinner took us to Bandera again to TJ's at the Old Forge.  Fun night and food was great.

The Forge put 37 of us upstairs for dinner

And the ladies in the park got together and made a Quilt of Valor one day; which will be given to a veteran in Texas.  We had it stitched up in a day and now it can go out for the final quilting.  What a proud event to be a part of.

Red, White, and Blue

 

A Timmie's Run

Mar 10/2018  Weather is a beauty today - high of 90,,,,,, and tomorrow they say a north wind will put us back to 65; so we are loving the ride today.

driveway into a ranch lined with blooming pear trees

redbuds are on fire everywhere in Hill country

Tree Spring blooms are everywhere along the ride from Kerrville to Bandera.  We take the winding road, Old Medina Hwy 16, this is a great bike road but not for large trucks or towing trailers, just a few hair pin turns.

A real bag of Tim Hortons Coffee under the Live Oak tree on 11th Street

We have a mission today to make a "Timmies Run" for fellow Canadians.  By now you must realize there is a drug in the coffee that "we Canadians" cannot live without.  Our Ontario friends Jim and Paulette are meeting us in Bandera which is nicknamed the Cowboy Capital.  The lore of the town is that it is a place where rodeos reign, dude ranches abound and real cowboys mosey through town!

Courthouse and the Clown Jabber

Bandera was the southern starting point for the Texas cattle drives

Many of the local buildings are built with the beautiful creamy limestone from the local quarries.  We walked down to take a look at the Bandera County Courthouse and Jail from the mid 1800's.   Billy was talking to a fellow the other day and he kept saying to keep an eye out for the clown jabbers........ it took us a while and then it hit us that he was talking about the longhorn steers....  hahaha ~ get it?  Clown Jabbers.  Don't feel bad it took us a while to figure it out too.

Old Chuck Wagon