South to Texas for warm-weather motorcycle riding

After 35 years in the information technology business, I have learned that not much happens in the IT world between Christmas and New Years. Sure, help desk and NOC’s have to stay open and servers still crash, but for the most part, not many IT departments plan major expansions, cutovers, or purchases in the week after Christmas. Which makes it a great time for a vacation.

One of my goals for 2020 was to ride my motorcycle more than I had in the past couple of years. We accomplished that goal, but we decided to add one more week of riding to the mix. And where is a good place to ride in the winter that is nearby? Texas, of course.

So Kay and I loaded our BMW motorcycles in the back of my Chevy Silverado and headed south. First stop was lunch in Fort Worth, and then head for the Texas Hill Country.

We loaded our motorcycles in the back of my Chevy Silverado and took the back roads south out of OKC. We always like taking Highway 77 near Sulphur and Davis, passing Turner Falls on the way.

We never take a direct route and avoid Interstate highways whenever possible. Rather than take I-35 south to Fort Worth, we meandered down Highway 77, only using I-35 to cross the Red River before jumping on other state highways to get to Fort Worth.

We stopped for lunch in the Fort Worth stockyards area. I had heard of the Cow Palace but never had been there before this trip.

The Fort Worth stockyards brought back memories of my youth, when I rode horses, chased cattle, and competed in rodeos around Oklahoma.

The pandemic meant no rodeos, darn it. I would have loved to see a rodeo in the Cow Palace.

Kerrville, TX

Leaving Fort Worth we headed southwest towards the hill country. Our original plan was to stay in Fredericksburg, but driving through the downtown tourism district we decided it was WAY too crowded, especially during a pandemic. The streets and sidewalks were jam-pack, and many people were not wearing masks. The few remaining hotel rooms were twice as expensive as nearby Kerrville, so we decided to drive 20 miles south and explore the home of the Mooney airplane. I had visited Kerrville about 20 years ago in my Cessna twin and remembered it as a nice town. We were not disappointed on this trip.

Kay and I went running along the Guadalupe River each morning we stayed in Kerrville.

We were pleasantly surprised by this Texas town. We ran the river each morning, and rode our motorcycles in the afternoon once it warmed up.

Bankersmith TX – Population Zero

Like normal, we didn’t have any firm plans for a ride. No routes. I had a general idea of where we wanted to ride for the day. We just jumped on the bikes, founds some side roads, used my Garmin GPS as reference and picked our way north out of Kerrville towards Fredericksburg – and stumbled on a cool little place called Bankersmith.

We made a lucky find in Bankersmith TX. Just happened to wander past and stopped. Glad we did.

We mostly stayed on small two-lane blacktop roads, with the occasional gravel road thrown into the mix.

Bankersmith had a population of one camel, several goats, and a donkey.

Mr. Camel in Bankersmith was sure thinking about spitting on me.

We ate a BBQ sandwich in Bankersmith. What a great little place to visit.

Luckenbach TX with Waylon, Willie and the Boys

We hopped back onto the two lane blacktop and rode about 20 miles further and came to the well-known small town of Luckenbach, made famous by the song. It was much more well-known and busier than Bankersmith and had a population of three. Kay and I had been to Luckenbach before an enjoyed the music, but the band this day was not very good so we only stayed about a half hour before leaving.

Motorcycles get to park right up front at Luckenbach – as it should be.

You can get a hat in Luckenbach. They are a bit hard to carry on a motorcycle.

Gotta have a COVID mask to buy a hat in Luckenbach.

Obviously dogs don’t need masks to buy hats in Luckenbach.

We sat under the tree and listened to country music. On our previous visit the music was fantastic and there was even a rooster crowing in the tree above our head. This year no rooster and not very good music.

This is our route for our ride on Day 1.

Day 2 in Kerrville

Our second day in Kerrville started out again with a morning run and a tour of Kerrville. Kay discovered that master jeweler James Avery was from Kerrville, and his main home store and production facilities were nearby, so we stopped there so she could look around. Afterwards we took a loop west of Kerrville along the Guadalupe River.

We started out our second day in Kerrville with coffee and then a walk around town.

We ran across this old Volvo parked downtown.

I love the limestone masonry in the Texas hill country.

We took a low-water footpath bridge over the Guadalupe River.

Our first stop on our motorcycle ride was at James Avery production facility in Kerrville.

I browsed the attached James Avery museum while Kay looked at the jewelry.

Kay spent a bit of time shopping while I learned about the history of James Avery.

We rode west out of Kerrville to Garven. There is not much in Garvin. The roads were great for motorcycles.

This rooster was about the only thing in Garven, TX.

At least we had directions to places OTHER than Garven.

The ride along the Guadalupe River was very scenic and winding. Perfect for motorcycles.

After looping back towards Kerrville, we made a few stops along the Guadalupe River.

I can’t remember the name of this small town along the Guadalupe River, but the artwork was interesting.

A miniature Stonehenge in the Texas hill country.

We had fun with filters.

East to Corpus Christi

Cold winter weather was heading to the Texas hill country, so we loaded the motorcycles in my truck and headed for the Gulf Coast and warmer weather in Corpus Christi.

Kay decided to explore the beach in Corpus Christi while I went for a ride. I quickly learned that riding southwest meant huge boring cotton fields. At least I got some gravel road riding.

I decided to head back to Corpus Christi and explore the port and industrial area.

I spent an hour watching huge ocean-going ships move in and out of the port of Corpus Christi.

The next day we decided to drive north along the Gulf Coast towards Rockport.

At one point we were able to drive our Silverado along the beach.

While waiting on a ferry we watched this huge liquified natural gas ship pass us by. It is the first time I had ever seen an LNG ship. This particular ship was built in 2018.

We rode the ferry from Mustang Island to Port Aransas.

At first I thought this deep-water drilling rig was drilling in Port Aransas, but after closer observation I realized they floated these rigs into port for repairs and refitting, and later floating them back out into the deeper waters of the Gulf for drilling.

New Braunfels and Gruene

Rather than spend another night along the Gulf, we instead drove to New Braunfels and spent the next day exploring the area southeast of Austin. We were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the cool little town of Gruene.