Weekend trip to Austin and the to Bandera?

[mbrew]

My retirement from the Air Guard will soon be here and I go to Austin to complete my paperwork next Thursday. I plan to stay at the Austin Motel and probably eat at the Oasis or Iguana grill unless someone gives me another good suggestion of a place that would have good food and maybe a view. I'll finish my evening by visiting 6th St. I've heard there are some good roads around the restaurants I mentioned, but I don't know what they are. I think I heard someone talking about a loop out of Austin that was a nice ride but that's all the detail I got. I'd appreciate any info that you nice folks could fill in for me.

Friday I expect to head towards Bandera where I'm considering staying at the W Bar Ranch (my second choice) which I was told was nice. There's not much on the internet about it, any of you have any info? We'll probably stop in Fredricksburg for lunch on the way down there. I was down that way a while back and rode the three sisters and I could have a ball doing that for a couple of days, but if there are other must ride roads, I'd appreciate hearing about them. I'll be riding 16 a bunch too I'd imagine.

Thanks for any tips,
Mike

[Richard_]

Mike,

West of the Oasis Restaurant is Lime Creek Road, the best twisty road in the area and an absolute joy to ride. Take it easy, there are lots of driveways, reducing radius curves, etc.

From the Oasis:

North on Oasis Bluff Rd
West (left) on Bullick Hollow Road
South (left) on Volente Rd
North (right) on Lime Creek Road.

When you get to Hwy 1431, turn around and run it all again backwards.

Repeat as desired.

[Eric2Tex]

I suppose your first choice was kyote ranch? Right on 16 in the heart of the curves http://www.koyoteranch.com/ I've stayed at neither but heard good things about kyote

The Oasis certainly has views, and pretty good drinks. Food? notsomuch. Both of the county line bbq places have decent views, good food, and a/c. The oasis does have lime creek road (lcr) nearby, but its turned into squid mecca.

road choice depends on what you want to do, making time stick to the highways. I prefer backroads for the curves, and lack of law enforcement.
I would make a stop at luchenback, winding my way down roads by sandy. then maybe on to centerpoint via back roads

hth!

[bsquared]

Lime Creek Rd. is a great road & s/b lite traffic on a Thursday, way more fun on a sporty bike than a cruiser :rider:, but watch for gravel on that rd. Lime Creek dumps into 1431 & that road going west to Marble Falls is a good ride; better than 71 which goes same direction, just on the south side of Lk Travis. 1431 is more rural, less traffic, great road. You could get to Luckenbach darn quick from Marble Falls taking 281 south to Blanco & then west on 1623, 1888 & 1376. From Luckenbach take Grapetown Rd west to Old San Antonio/Old Hwy Nine Rd & run that south to 473, then 473 & I-10 west in Kerrville & then 16 down toward Bandera.

If you do take Old San Antonio I recommend eating at Alamo Springs near the Bat Tunnel :eat:

My favorite roads in the whole area are still 16 from Kerville to Medina, 337 from Medina to Camp Wood & 335 from Camp Wood to where it Ts into 41, but there are great roads all over out there.

I second Koyote Ranch as a good place to stay, but it's a bit north of Bandera.

My 0.02; wish I was headed out there this weekend.

Congratulations on your retirement.

[fortbriscoe]

I live here, and I'll tell you, the finest food around is August E's in Fred'sburg. Most fun is the Hill Top Cafe west of Fred'sburg on 87. Take the Ranch road next to the cafe down to Doss for an awesome ride through canyons and cattle crossings. Back up to Harper and over to Kerrville. Koyote Ranch is biker's paradise, but for being able to look out and watch your bike and enjoy a good night's sleep, Sunday House or Inn of the Hills in Kerrville. I live here and try to ride every day weather permits, and honestly there are a thousand great rides out of Kerrville. Go to Destination Cycle on the loop (534) in Kerrville. Bob or Mike will mark a map for you with some awesome rides or help you set a GPS.

[bsquared]

I'm in Houston Area & only wish I could ride that area every day...but am taking notes for my next time there...thanks fortbriscoe

[HoopleHead]

I second most of FtBriscoe's suggestions... especially the one about Destination Cycle... this is one of the best dealerships in Texas and they seem to be more interested in making you like dropping by than selling you a bike... though I'm sure they'd be happy to do that as well.

Rides? They're everywhere and most of the best ones are online... even on my own camping page (http://www.impakt.net/~edscott/camping/) (down the page a bit).

Roads to be careful about at the moment:
337 between Vanderpool and Leakey has several miles of loose gravel on the Leakey end... the small rollypolly size stuff that scares the heck out of you... no idea why they did that and hopefully they intend to re-top it.

336 (last leg of the three sisters loop) is full of nasty cattle guards with big bumps at speed... and that road is one of the least scenic. I'd suggest staying on 41 and hooking into 39 into Kerrville or 187 back down to Vanderpool, stopping at the motorcycle museum at least to look around... but they're only open Fri-Sun.

I love the "Sweet 16's" between Kerrville and Koyote, but they've washboarded up pretty bad lately due to people locking up their brakes.

My favorite eating places:
Kerrville... Classic Burgers and Moore on 16 in the south side.
Koyote (http://www.koyoteranch.com/whiskymerc.htm)... great grill chef!! He'll even come out and check the quality with you... best fries in the world.
Utopia Joe's (http://www.utopiajoes.com/) is a coffee and sandwich joint in Utopia, but they let you sit in overstuffed easy chairs which are pretty nice after riding.

And for the climax of places to eat, everyone should at least one time make Saturday night reservations at the Laurel Tree (http://www.utopiagourmet.com/bio.htm) Guest Table south of Utopia on 187... this is a place Gordon Ramsey would rave about... best place to take the person you care about.

Less impressive looking, but still outstanding cuisine is Mac & Ernie's in Tarpley on 470 between Bandera and Utopia.

[mbrew]

Looks like I'll probably check out LCR while I'm in Austin. I've ridden 1431 before and enjoyed it a bunch. I've taken notes on all of the restaurants and will likely wind up eating at what I'm close to. It seems like there's a bunch of good places to eat down that way.

The cabin I had picked out fell through but I found another one just north of Bandera on 16. I probably should have stayed in Kerrville as I expect it would have been cheaper, but I got the cabin for Beth this time.

Thanks for the suggestions and I'd be glad to read any more that come up,
Mike

[varnado]

Be carefull on LCR. One of our riders went down in freshly layed gravel. The warning sign was just past where the gravel started. Be sure and do a scouting run before you make your "fun runs". If your in town on a Monday or Tuesday, give me a holler. I can ride with you and show you some of the better roads.

Randy

[kurt]

LCR no longer intersects 1431. It now ends at Anderson Mill Road which intersects 1431.

[TexasShadow]

LCR no longer intersects 1431. It now ends at Anderson Mill Road which intersects 1431.Which is a bear of an intersection now. I remember when nothing was there, not even Anderson Mill Road :mrgreen:

Oasis is good for the view and the deck chaos. It's like an m.c. esher hovering over the edge of the lake. Sunsets from there are fantastic, but the food is not so fantastic.

County Line, oth, is very good food. I waxed nostalgic about that last weekend when going through Austin and thought to myself that I need to do an Austin weekend, hitting all of my old hangouts.

I hope you had a good trip, mcbrew!