HOUSTON: Clear Lake Harvest Classic

*** UPDATE 10/16/2017 ***

A few of us are headed to the Harvest Classic October 20th and 21st. To take this chatter off of the Clear Lake thread, I thought I would start a separate thread. Like last year, we plan to stay at The River Inn. Information and a map are on their web site.

Since we are coming from so many diverse directions and either riding or driving, we should all plan to get to The River Inn on our own schedule. Cell phones don't really work well there, that's a good thing! If you arrive and I'm not there, just give them my name and they will give you a key. After 5pm, the office closes and there will be an envelop tacked onto the bulletin board outside the office with my last name, ahhh ... "FINK". Take a key and find your room. Leave the rest of the keys in the envelop on the bulletin board. If the office is closed and there is no envelop, it means I am around somewhere, probably on the left side as you look at the complex from the street.

You may want to get some dinner before getting to the the River Inn, as there is no food service or restaurants there. The Hunt store is about the closest place for eats, about six or seven miles down the road. I have attached routes for Friday and Saturday with a map, see Post #11 below.

So far those who have indicated an interest are:

1) me (Thursday)
2) Jeff (Thursday)
3) Rob + Susie (Thursday)
4) Jesus (Thursday)
5) Anthony (Thursday)
6) Tom (Thurday) & Cheryl (Friday)
7) xxx - Chris had to bail

I have made the reservations. We will total the bill, then divide by attendees and numbers of days. Last year it was something like $57 / night.
Of course, most the fun will be sitting around the fire at night and talking about all those who didn't come.

You can remove the (I think)

I believe I have one "two bedroom" and the rest are either one bedroom or studio. Is there anyone who would prefer a two bedroom? I think most will be on the west side, where we normally stay. Let me know ...

I was thinking of riding down to Sanders breakfast on Saturday, but then I thought some more... May be we want to make a scenic ride around Fredericksburg. Thoughts?

Since we may have a truck (thanks Rob), one night (Friday or Saturday), we could do a cook out dinner? I enjoy these, a steak, potato, veggies on the grill. Some beer, wine, beverage of your choice. Cowboy TV (campfire for those uninitiated). Just need to go to the store to get the fixings ... Thoughts?

Routes ... Last year we had a couple groups; those who enjoyed the excitement and those who wanted to smell the roses. I am still working on coming up with some routes, but what are the thoughts for this year? Do we still want to ride the sisters or are there other preferences?

A cookout dinner and ride the sisters sounds good to me or are these one or the other.

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You know me, Mr. Flexible. Dinner and riding the sisters can both be done, even on the same day.

I vote for all of the above! Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make me regret not being able to attend as much as possible.

jbird710 said:

I vote for all of the above! Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make me regret not being able to attend as much as possible.

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Y'know, Blain has a sidecar now

So, how about this for an itinerary?

1) Thursday, those that can, get there Thursday night. Dinner on your own.
2) Friday, breakfast at Hunter House, Ride the sisters, dinner at the River Inn (group buy). Bring your own beverages.
3) Saturday, ride a loop around Fredericksburg, stop at Hill Top Cafe for lunch, then Luckenbach. Ride back to the River Inn on your own schedule. May be dinner at the Hunt Store.
4) Sunday, leave on your own schedule.

Sounds like a good plan, Joe. Suzie and I plan to be there Thursday, and I believe Jesus (and possibly his wife) will be driving up on Thursday also, but won't be leaving until after work. What time are you planning to be there?

Tough question to answer for a retired guy. Right now I am thinking of getting there sometime mid-afternoon.

Here's a preliminary map that shows the basic routes for the weekend. Also attached are Garmin and GPX files. I have no pride of authorship for these routes so we can change, add, delete whatever anyone wants. Also, some folks like to venture out on their own, so don't feel obliged to join in.

We are getting closer to the Harvest Classic. I have 10 rooms reserved, checking in on Thursday 10/19 and checking out on Sunday 10/22. Scott, at the River Inn, did say that they have a wedding party that weekend and if there were any rooms we can release, he could probably rent them out. I see we have six folks right now and Tom also indicated he might be interested, so seven rooms. I told Scott that I would get back to him early next week with a firm number.

So, let me know if you are NOT coming. Thanks

jfink said:

Tough question to answer for a retired guy. Right now I am thinking of getting there sometime mid-afternoon.

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LOL, yeah, hard to keep track of time when you're retired, eh? Reason I ask is for how you plan to get us the room assignments / keys. Will the office have this in case we get there before you? Any instructions as to what we need to do? Really keeping an eye on the weather too; hope it's a nice weekend

Rydah said:

LOL, yeah, hard to keep track of time when you're retired, eh? Reason I ask is for how you plan to get us the room assignments / keys. Will the office have this in case we get there before you? Any instructions as to what we need to do? Really keeping an eye on the weather too; hope it's a nice weekend

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I will likely be there in the afternoon, but if you get there before me, just give them my name and they will give you a key. After 5pm, the office closes and there will be an envelop tacked onto the bulletin board outside the office with my last name, ahhh ... "FINK". Take a key and find your room. Leave the rest of the keys in the envelop on the bulletin board. ** I've added these instructions to the master in post #1 **

Yeah, the weather up there is a lot different than here. It could be raining down in Kerrville and sunny up in Hunt or visa-versa. But hey, we ride motorcycles, it may be windy, hot and sometimes rainy!

I plan to call Scott at the River Inn today to release the rooms we don't need. Right now I have 10 rooms reserved. If we don't release any rooms the total cost would be about $48/night for each of us. If I release the double and two of the singles the cost should be around $25/night for each of us or about a hundred bucks for the 4 nights.

Also, let me know please which night you plan to arrive. I have listed the ones I have already heard from in the master list in post #1. Thanks

For me it will be Thursday night Friday night and Saturday night.

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Yep, same here; we're planning on 3 nights: Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. Really getting nervous about the weather forecast though...

Rydah said:

... Really getting nervous about the weather forecast though...

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Yep, the forecast says a 50/50 chance of morning showers, Friday through Sunday. Forecasts up in the Hill country can change VERY quickly. But, I may trailer up with the Suburban, and as an alternative, we can make a group "drive" to breakfast and then ride in the afternoon.

Chris from N. Richland Hills had to bail; so, there is one extra unit. If I don't hear anything from anyone who is interested, I will release it back to the resort tonight.

This is probably overkill, since most of you have been to the River Inn before, and know how this works. But hey, I'm retired and awake at 6am, so I thought I post this up.

There isn't a place to eat or buy groceries near the River Inn, so we are on our own for fixins'. When I ride up, I have to stop at the grocery store on my way in and buy what I need. But, since I am driving, I am bringing a cooler. I thought I would post up my grocery list, in case you would prefer to bring a cooler too.

In a perfect world, my dining recommendations would be:

Thursday
- Dinner - on our own
Friday
- Breakfast - Hunter House in Ingram
- Lunch - Somewhere on the three sisters
- Dinner - Cooking at the River Inn, bring your own
Saturday
- Breakfast - at the River Inn, bring your own.
- Lunch - Hill Top Cafe - Fredericksburg
- Dinner - "Pint and Plow Brewery", "The Grape Juice" in Kerrville or "The Hunt Store" for ease
Sunday
- Breakfast - on your own, since many are leaving this day

Unfortunately there is weather, so I am bring some contingencies on my grocery list for breakfast and certainly coffee!

Grocery List
- Coffee
- Cream
- Sugar
- Bread
- Bagels
- Cream Cheese
- Milk
- Cereal
- Water
- Beer
- Wine
- Butter
- Steak
- Asparagus or Broccoli
- Pistachos
- Charcoal
- Aluminum Foil
- Potato, Sour Cream, Cheese, Scallions

Obviously, those of us who are driving, can take home whatever we don't use.

Hope y'all made it there with no problems and have a great weekend. Had a serious frog strangling gully washer here last night.

Made it home about 12:30p. Hope everyone made it back with no problems. I had a GREAT time! Some very good riding, good food and good company. It was nice to meet Cheryl and it was good to have Susie along.

I really enjoyed the two baseball games we got to watch! I would have enjoyed them, just as much if the Astros hadn't won ... (YEAH RIGHT!). I wonder if the guys in the wedding party who watched the game with us instead of the reception, ever got out of the dog house?

Rob sent me some photos via Text, that I loaded into an album. I know "officially" we are supposed to start a thread in the "Story Telling and Tire Kicking" section but I'm old and lose track easily so I will leave them in this thread.

Here is a link to the entire Google Album where I am placing the photos! >>>LINK<<<

Here are the pictures:









There has got to be some good captions for this photo!!!






My Happy Face!!!

"There has got to be some good captions for this photo!!!"

You sure that's a Ninja turtle? Looks like Anthony's helmet to me.

or

All hail the mighty KLR!!

All credit for photos go to my lovely passenger, Suzie. I still have hand cramps from holding on while trying to keep up with Joe.