Where the Buffalo roams

[SilverBuffalo]

Hey y'all, my wife and I got to Kerrville Texas yesterday and decided to shack up here for a couple of days,

to give you a little background:

I bought a Bushtec on E-bay, in Houston and planned a trip out to pick it up and then make a big clockwise circle and take the trailer for a ride through the Ozarks with plans to make the Iron horse rendezvous in North carolina.

Well things didn't work out that way, some of you may have read my post about how 40 miles into our trip my final drive failed.
That situation was a bummer but at least it happened close to home where I had the most resources available to me, between waiting for parts and that other inconvenience called a hurricane our time line got set back a week and a half.

We decided to do our trip counterclockwise, so we rode on up to the Blue Ridge Parkway with hopes of seeing some fall foliage, not this year, everything was brown and cold 30 degrees, a couple of days of that was enough,

we rode #64 across Tennessee into Arkansas and up towards Branson Missouri,
that's where the fun began we rode 7 down through the Ozarks and found the foliage we had been looking for, 7 is a great road lotsa up and downies with left and righties at the same time, we liked it so much that my wife and I seriously talked about turning around to do it again.

But there was a trailer that had been paid for waiting in Houston,
when we got there the old Cowboy that was selling it treated us with some Texas sized hospitality, what a great guy.

After I got the trailer hooked up and wired up we took all the stuff I had loaded on the bike and stuffed it in the trailer, I think I heard the Buffalo give up a sigh of relief, it sure handles better without all that weight stacked up on it. I have only pulled that Bushtec for a few hundred miles but I am sure impressed with it.

The old Cowboy supplied me with detailed maps of the Texas hill country, we got here yesterday,

now I'm gonna tell y'all something these Texas boys have been holding out on us, if you are like I was and think that Texas is nothing but cowboys and cactus you'll be pleasantly suprised by the hill country, its the Blue Ridge Parkway with a western motife, constantly changing, we like it so much we're going to stay in one place for a couple of days, more on that later.
I need some sleep.

[Dick]

Hey, Hans - good mornin' to ya. Sure glad you're enjoying this ole cowboy and cactus country. Sounds like you had a good trip gittin' here (albeit the leetle hiccup when you started out!). And yeppir - that AR #7 road is a good'n; ranks right up there at the top of my list of do-overs!! Some of those other AR roads ain't bad either!

Lissen - I knew you were heading this way, butt somehow lost track of your agenda, so I'm ill-prepared to do much more than offer you this .com welcome and some more hints of thangs to do. Sorry 'bout that, butt the 'waitress' serving my calendar plate has overloaded it, cuz Thanksgiving month is 'her' month.

I'm sure your map suggestions from the trailer feller included riding the 33Xs around here; 335, 336 and 337, along with some of the tangent roads in the area. Add to those, the TX 39 west outta Kerrville alongside the Guadalupe River will get ya to Hunt, where you can visit the TX "Stonehenge in the Hills", a downsized replica of the real thang. Then back on 39west over to 187south and drop in at the Lost Maples State Natural Park - an area of mis-placed maple trees that are beautiful when the color changes (don't know if it's been cold enough yet to start the change). Then back out on 187south and go by "out in the middle of nowhere" motorcycle museum owned by an Aussie feller, with some excellent examples of vintage bikes of various brands (highlighted by an Ariel Square Four and a Vincent Black Shadow) that he has restored. May not be open during the week, butt if you see any evidence of activity, knock on the door and see if they'll turn the lights on for ya.

Then - if that puts you there around noon, continue south on 187 down thru Vanderpool (yeah, blink and miss it!!) to Utopia and have lunch at the Lost Maples Cafe. Usually good burgers and pies!! After lunch, back north on 187 to Vanderpool and take a left on 337 over to Leakey. Some nice twisties there - be careful. As you come into Leakey, there is a m/c friendly place just across the main road (TX 83, which btw, is a ?Veteran Memorial Highway? and runs USA border to border, north/south) for a cold soda stop. Take 83north outta Leakey and stop at the Baptist Camp reststop and overlook on your right, about 5 miles outta town. Get off the bikes and walk down to the fenced-off cliff area and take a look straight down at the East Frio River bottom. Don't even think about riding the bike down to the campgrounds - the road runs down IN the middle of the river and vehicles are guided along by cable borders showing the path to stay in!! Yikes! (I do think they have another way in and out of the camp in case of emergency, butt I don't know where it is). Anyway, after scoping out that scenic overlook, you can continue north on 83 and take a right on 39, which will bring you back in to Kerrville. A full days riding and enjoying the great weather you guyz brought along!!

Well sir - I'm gonna regret not meeting up with y'all, butt I hope the South Central Tejas communities, rides, and folks will leave you with a desire to come back sometime in the future. I promise to be in riding mode then! Have a great time here, and a safe ride back home, Hans. We'll be looking for a wrap-up report later on.

Best

[gulfxray]

Sounds like a great ride so far Hans...

I went down in the Hill Country area in April and met some of the gang as well as riding the 33xs - it was fantastic! The wildlife was out the mornign I rode - deer, turkeys, vultures, etc - and there was almost no traffic. Make sure to start out with a full tank of gas. That overlook Dick mentions is impressive...

I know you are going to enjoy the Hill Country. I managed to 'miss' enough of the sites that I'll have to go back - darn!;)

Glad the new trailer is pulling well for you - sounds like a great decision to get one.

PS - Doesn't Dick make a grea tour guide? What to see, what rodes to ride, where to eat - thanks Dick!