Wednesday, June 6, 2007

June 2, 2007 Ride

Gruene River Road



On this day, Jim, Don and myself went riding our motorcycles on the "Gruene River Road" ride (Kevin couldn't make it because he was going sailing with his daughter). The ride would take us through Wimberly, to US 281 (South of Blanco), around the West side of Canyon Lake, New Braunfels and Gruene and then San Marcos.

We started at the HEB on Slaughter Lane at 7:30 and fueled up the motors. The ROT Rally in Austin was in full swing and we anticipated a lot of the rider brotherhood on the roads. We took FM 1812 to Elder Hill road for a scenic ride to Wimberly. Elder Hill road was a with many turns and beautiful farm/ranch land scenery. The road passes by La Ventana, a very upscale subdivision in rural Hays county. With all the turn we barely got our of 2nd gear most of the time. The road also had alot of gravel, which made us slow down as well. Still the road was very scenic and worth driving again.

We stopped and ate breakfast at Wimberly's Cypress Creek Cafe. I had the special - two eggs, two pieces of bacon and a biscuit for $2.99. What a deal. We even got the waiter to throw in a couple of pieces of bacon and gravy with the deal. I knew I was going to be burning up the calories, so I ordered a side of hash browns as well. We all agreed that CCC would be a regular stop in the mornings for us.

After a nice breakfast, we got on our motors and headed west toward 281. Since it was the first of the month, we ran into a little traffic jam with Wimberly Market Days event. We to Fischer Store Road out to US 281.


From 281 we started heading back east on Rebecca Creek Road. Since it had been a very rainy month of May, the low water crossing with the Guadalupe River on Rebecca Creek Road was impassable. Here are some pictures of the water - That's water crossing over the Road.


If you look closely, there were a couple of cyclist that crossed the water.

We met a interesting lady who you would probably see at Whole Foods a lot. She appeared to be very much into organic stuff.



We had to back track onto 281. Then we headed out to Gruene. I really wanted to go to Gruene Hall, but the May rains and a low water crossing prevented us from getting there. We so so close as you can see by the picture.

Disappointed, we went to nearby establishment and drank some beverages. From Gruene we when through Hueco (pronounced "Waco")Springs Road and River Road onto San Marcos. River Road hugs the Guadalupe River beneath a canopy of Oak, Pecan and Bald Cypress trees. This I would say was the most beautiful part of the ride. There's is camping and tubing places all around this road - Don's family used to camp around this area several years ago.

We then drove by the east side of Canyon Lake, Devil's backbone and 12 to San Marcos.


We stopped by the Canyon Lake dam. The very wet 2007 May was evident by these pictures of the spillway at the dam.




We wanted to checkout the dam overlook as well. Don lost his helmet off the back of his bike - he's always loosing something each trip :). Here's a picture from the overlook.

At San Marcos, I found the city the most pleasantly fragrant of all those during the ride. There was a sweet smell of flowers at several places in San Marcos.

We ate late lunch at the San Marcos River Pub and Grill. Lunch was good (although my Tilapia dish was a little overcooked). The restaurant had a great view of the San Marcos river.


After lunch, we decided that we really haven't had enough riding yet. So we decided to cruise out to Wimberly again for some Ice Cream via Devil's Backbone (since the landscape views were pretty nice). We had Blue Bell ice cream at the Old Mill Store. I think that this place too will be a regular stop on our rides.

We stopped at a roadside picnic area on Devil's and took in some views of the hill country. Another group from the ROT Rally was there (we saw hundreds of bikers during the trip).





At the park, Don had to suddenly take off for reasons I can't discuss. Nonetheless, this spot (where we lost half of the map) will probably live on in infamy.

We ended the ride by going back to San Marcos on to South Austin. We tried to take Lime Kiln Road, which according to our map (what was left of it) and GPS would take us to I35. However the last 1/2 mile was private and we had to backtrack and take another route.

By the time we all got home, it was a 13-14 hour ride. We were exhausted and had some aches at the hips, but very happy that God gave us this day to ride.

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. —Psalm 118:24

No comments: