Quick, quick, slow, slow

April 10/2019 Weather 92/63  HOT, HOT, HOT

throw those steaks on

It's never been this hot here when we have have been in Kerrville, Texas.  And tonight is the 11th Street Cowboy Bar.  The bbqs were fired up.  You bring your own meat and use the BBQ's and buy your fixins and ice cold beer. 

Nice Bottlecaps baby

The bar is so crowded on steak and dance night you have to visit when it is empty to see all the crazy walls and especially the ladies washroom in the front bar. The decorating is hysterical.  I will show you some pics at the end of this posting.  After our supper the band kicks up and the dance floor is packed.   Quick, Quick, Slow, Slow.... The Texas Two Step.

A couple Texas two stepping before it got crowded

There was a singles group in tonight and another bus load besides our bus from Buckhorn Lake RV Resort.  Super deal getting on the bus from BLR so we all go together.  We would never drive here on the Harley at night with all the wildlife out at night.    Ok here are the ladies bathroom walls..... crazy, crazy, crazy..... you sit on the toilet and look right at this, can you read what it says: "you are re-entering the wild kingdom home of the untamed male predators"  and "wanna straddle my hog honey"  and "nice jugs"  and so on and so on.  OMG.  Ha,ha.  

 And then you are still sitting on the toilet and look up to the side and there is a window with 3 guys watching you!!!!

So you can see why we love the ambiance of this bar!    Best cowboy bar in Texas 

Harley's and Horses welcome at the 11th street bar

Texas Hill Country Wildflowers

March 25 & 26/2019  Weather   Gorgeous!  80 high/59 low

the flower power bike gang- the bluebonnets go on up the hills like carpet

the bluebonnets this year are thick from the fall flooding

We are doing "the loop"  back to back 2 days.  It's the old Willow city loop which is one of the most popular spring wildflower roads in the Hill Country.  Just outside of Fredericksburg you can catch the one way 11 mile ride through private ranch roads.

along the highway Indian Paintbrush and Bluebonnets

   One day we went north and the next day friends said lets go again and we rode it south.  Incredible wildflowers.  We cannot think of anywhere we have been lucky enough to be in Canada or the USA where the flowers are so predominant along the roadside. 

fields of white poppies

Not our Jeep..... Haha

Rollin On

March 18/2019  Weather 68 sunny, low 38.  
We are out and about getting the bike fueled up to ride.  This fellow beside us was telling us he just rebuilt the cage on his Jeep after he rolled it for a second time!  He takes it off roading out on a ranch, rock climbing, hill climbing, river running, whatever he can find.  What a ride in Hill Country, Texas.

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

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

Willow City Loop

wild Texas bluebonnets

March 28/17 Weather high into the 80's, low 60.  This week is solid warm weather.  After the rain last night the Windmill riding gang thought it would be the  right day to head over to the Willow City Loop near Fredericksburg to see the Bluebonnets.   In 2016 we went several times to see the wildflowers and they were ``spectacular``...... this year they seemed quite a bit thinner.  Apparently the flowers need plenty of rain in October for germination and unfortunately it was a very dry month in 2016.  Lots of rain came in November and December but just not at the right time.  Really it is hard to believe that has to be so exact but the stand of flowers does show the difference.

That Texas star is everywhere!!!!

First stop was for lunch in Harper.  Just have to show you what I found in the ladies restroom.   Another Texas Star...... Love it :)

winding down towards an old mill

Back on the bikes we wound our way through the back roads with a couple of turn arounds and a few stops to check the county map to find another road across the back country.

flowers along the cattle guard crossings in the Willow City loop

Then we popped out at the Willow City Loop.  The ride is about 15 miles and part of it ventures into private ranch property; this is a very popular tourist attraction every spring.  We respect the signs posted and do not stop and park and walk into the fields.    Usually this is the best viewing of the Texas bluebonnets, white poppies, and several fields of a yellow flower that we are not able to name.  The little pink flowers that are everywhere are so pretty - named Winecups or Poppy Mallows!

winecups or poppy mallows

field of yellow and white flowers along the way

Dangerous Curves Ahead

Sign at the local motorcycle shop

March 15/17  Weather 77, night low of 55 - the day starts cloudy then breaking into sunshine.  Seems everyday is cloudy in the morning then the sun comes out and it's great.   So we mosey on out about 10:30 or 11:00.  One thing about Texans they love Texas.  Every ranch gate has a Texas Star or Flag.  Same with the stores and diners. 

Texas Flag outside The Core in Medina

One of our favourite rides is hwy 16 from Kerrville to Medina.  The road had a few switchbacks throughout the rocky hills and drops into canyon areas that run along the rivers and creeks.  We stopped for coffee in Medina and went to The Core this time.  We heard that's where the locals gather.  It was packed.  Food smelled wonderful.

Beautiful quilted wall hanging in the ladies restroom

Billy got the coffees and came back with a huge warmed up cinnamon bun to share!   Oh Yeah.... that's my man.

our bike parked in Medina, all the buildings are the Texas Limestone

Texas Landman

 

One of our Favourite Places

Mar 6/17  Weather 70's with intermittent sun, humid (80%), nights at 60.  Not much of a drop in temps at night due to the clouds.  Our bodies are not used to the humidity, being in the desert all winter long.  We noticed it right away.

Hill Country Texas

Hill Country Texas has a great RV park called Buckhorn Lake RV Resort.  We have been here before and love this area for motorcycle riding.  There are so many little ranch roads that meander along creeks and streams and hills.  What is amazing is that the roads are paved.  Many people we meet ask us "Where is Hill Country?"  It is like a hidden gem.

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort

The second day in we met out front at the Windmill for a motorcycle ride.  Groups go out everyday around 10:30 am.  So friendly. We rode for a couple hours zigzagging in the ranches.   Our GPS did not show any of these rancher roads !!!  So fun.  Jimmy (who is 83 years old) led the ride over to Alamo Springs Cafe which is located next to the Old Tunnel State Park.

Alamo Springs Cafe #3 Burger in Texas

 The abandoned railroad tunnel that gives Old Tunnel its name is home to up to 3 million Mexican free-tailed bats.  Not a big fan of bats so we did not enter the tunnel or go near it, guess they come swooping out at night.  Still we know they are in there!!!
The Cafe is definitely a bikers destination as the parking lot was full of motorcycles.  This is what brings us back to Hill Country, the great motorcycle roads.

barnyards have that old patina

riding a ranchers road

The Biggest Little Bar in Texas

Wednesday nights in Hill Country  - Yee Haw!!!   great weather.
Every Wednesday you can go to Bandera, and be a cowboy.... or you can want to be!  The 11th Street Cowboy Bar has live country music for your boot scooting pleasure.   You take your cooler with your beer, your steak and a couple of steak knives.  Really......   The bar sells a side plate of salad, baked potato, roll.      You sit outside by the stage and have a good time visiting, dancing, drinking and eating!!!   How great is that???    Such a cool cowboy bar.    And definitely bring your steak knife, we forgot and cutting our T Bone with a plastic knife was a little difficult.   I think our fellow park friends had a good laugh watching us; shortly into our steak we were given one of their real steak knives:) 

11th Street Cowboy Bar

the cowboys and wanna be's at the cowboy bar

boot scooting

grilling your steak for dinner

The Camels were here too???

April 2/16  Weather sunny  80, night 48.    

Texas camel

Just south of Kerrville is a new general store and restaurant in Camp Verde.   The new Camel iron statue is odd we think.  Why would there be a camel statue?
What's interesting is that it commemorates the site of the Old Camp Verde.

New General Store

  Old Camp Verde was the headquarters for the U.S. Camel Corps in 1856.  "Hey wait a second this sounds very familiar".........   Last winter when we were in Quartzite we saw the cemetary and monument where Hi Jolly (the camel driver) was buried.  So this is where it started!   The experiment started in Kerrville.  In 1861 the Confederate Army had about 90 camels and 9 years later when the Union army reoccupied the camp there were 66 camels still here.  At that time some of the camels were sold to circus owners and many were sent to Arizona where they eventually perished... along with Hi Jolly.  In about 1869 the Camp was abandoned and now a National Historic marker is left behind.  

Welcome Y'all