Spring 08 TX Hill Country Ride Part 1

[henzilla]

Finally getting around to doing some ride reports...took me awhile to figure out the stream of pictures,but with some advice from SNC1923(Tom M) I gave it a try with Foggy TX Ride the other day and it worked! Also BeerTeams beautiful reports make me try harder too!

Sitting inside instead of breaking Helen's 1150 down for a spline lube and TB rebuild sounded good today...only 34 here today,but for me that's too cold!
So, here is last Springs ride in the area NW of Frederickburg...Mason,Castell, and LLano to mention a few.

Leaving Austin headed west...found the construction zone right off the bat



Left LLano and headed west on CR 152 towards Castell, found this marker in the remnants of town honoring veterans and Texas Rangers from the community



Crossed the Llano River and stopped on the crossing for a few shots,one the remnants of a bridge long gone...these rivers in the Hill Country flash flood in heavy rains with quite the force making these low water crossings impassable for hours or days...today was dry







On the other side of the river was a historical marker,this area of Central Texas is heavily German settlement influenced.





I continued north from Castell to HWY 29 and headed west towards Art and RM 1900. Turning onto 1900 I stopped at this pink granite uplift...lot's of this in the area,they used this in building the Texas Capital among other notable buildings in the major cities...Marble Falls has the largest quarry still operating in the area.



further up the road was an intersection with RM 2618..I hung a right



Shortly saw this



then this! MOOOve!





continued up Fly Gap road to town of Fredonia...not much here except Post Office in the old store



Headed away from Fredonia towards LUNCH in Mason,the county seat, passing this ol'boy



Mason,TX...ranching town,county seat and starting to see artsy-fartsy rebirth of downtown...not a bad day ride if you are out this way...several eating options along the town square.
this from a previous ride

This rides choice...Tacos...

left lunch and rode a little around town


couldn't get a side/underneath look,seems I was on someones property and they were eyeballing me



anoher old German families home...bank president maybe?Forgot the sign!



Left Mason headed Southeast on US 87,crossing the Llano River again on RM 1723 as it turned to gravel towards RR 783

[henzilla]

this is the concrete truss bridge...



continuing on gravel road that was RR1732,


i took a right at intersection with RR783,this is another German named town that is all but gone, also lot's of these style family homes from German heritage I assume dot this region...lot's of family workers for the ranch/farm...this one is in really great shape





Headed south on RR783,crossing US 290 in Harper,veering south again on RR2093 which is a great alternative to busy US 290 headed east to Fredericksburg...it is twisty & hilly and very lightly travelled..this picture sucks!



The Gillespie County Airport in F'Burg has a neat restaraunt and hotel,the latter being a restored hangar...have not stayed here..YET! Have eaten at the diner...was reasonable and tasty







left F'burg and headed east again,making the usual stop in Luckenbach for a cool drink taking the Old San Antonio Road and Grapetown Rd just south of US 290
I live 24 miles from L'Bach now, this trip I was still near Austin and still 65 miles to go.This parking lot is usually full of bikes and peoaple...especially in summer...not today!



Dang Rooster always checks my bikes out! Glad it isn't a big ol' dog!



That's all on this trip...rode into Austin with rush hour building...parked and called it a day...the trip was around 180 miles with a few pics along the way...Lot's of side roads to check out...most are paved and get you away from the point A to B rush of the major highways...c'mon down and check them out sometime. I use RR designations on most of my abbreviations...a lot, that is short for Ranch Road,a Texas Highway numbering scheme... also some signs say RM...Ranch to Market...depends where in Texas you are...some are FM...yep,Farm to Market.

Steve

[PGlaves]

Great photo's Steve!!

[TIMBA]

Nice report! I know some of those areas, but there were a lot of new places to see too!

[Visian]

continued up Fly Gap road to town of Fredonia...not much here except Post Office in the old store

awesome report.

freedonia.... where's tessler?



ian

[EGRAHAM]

Why don't you submit this for an article in your local BMW newsletter, well done. Graham

[henzilla]

Why don't you submit this for an article in your local BMW newsletter, well done. Graham

Hi Prez Guess I could do that huh?

[CATHDEAC]

very nice, Steve... love those roads.. they are hard to ride on the LT....

[BeerTeam]

Steve, how about some more Texas reports. I know that you have been riding a bit, how about some Ride Reports.

Another Hill Country day ride Part 1


Another Hill Country day ride Part 2



Central TX fog