My Harvest RR
I wasn't in a real photo-ey mood Saturday so all I have to show is a handful of snapshots. No polarizer either, so I'll leave most shots of gleaming chrome to somebody else
.
Somewhere past Driftwood, TX... and darned cold. I made a tactical error in not fixing my DS helmet with the clear face shield and had to wear my Arai with a dark shield. It was really dark at 06:30 and I could feel the presence of critters just itching to cross in front of me. Needless to say, it was slow going until the sun came up and by then I was too cold to go fast.
After warming my hands up on the engine I made it to Blanco. This is the Blanco River... it was probably much more exciting a few days ago after this area got up to 9" of rain. I chowed some authentic Huevos Rancheros and texted Mr. Longhorn who was still sitting on his duff sucking down the coffee in Austin waiting for Sleepylu, who was apparently still... sleeping?
Speaking of longhorns, this was the biggest longhorn I'd ever seen. The fence and the angle of the light make for a crappy shot, but I wasn't about to go tell him to move. He was hanging out on Trainer Wuest Rd (CR 103) SW of Blanco... a very cool road. I briefly chatted with an older HD rider at the end of 103 where it meets 1623 and then headed for Luckenbach at a rather brisk rate... or so I thought. In a very short period of time I felt somebody breathing down my neck and looked in my mirrors to see the HD rider on my butt. I waved him by and he took off like the proverbial bat... leaning that big bike into the many curves like it was his JOB. This HD rider was no slouch.
I don't think he wanted a $3,500 blue Japanese dual sport in front of him
.
One of the first things I saw upon arrival at Luckenbach was a line of Ducati 1100 Hypermotards. That I got to demo.
3x the horsepower of my DR and only what, 20 or 30 lbs heavier? The ride leader kept everybody sane, but I could see the potential for serious hooliganism and snuck in a little wheelie here and there. I rarely get to ride other motorbikes and really only have DS-type bike experience, so this was a real treat. At first I couldn't get it to turn, but once I stopped trying to
make it turn and just
let it turn, it was effortless.
After the demo ride I proceeded to take in the sights. This gentleman said one night he decided to clean the rust off the fender and three years later, this is what it looks like! It was beautiful... the leather in the side car was amazing.
An OLD Indian. Anybody know the year?
Obviously someone's labor of love.
There was a handful of sweet old dirtbikes. I vaguely remember these from when I was a kid in the early 1970s. There was also a bunch of trails riders running around three or four different stations, some of them very good and some even on vintage bikes, but I never did get a good picture.
A cruddy shot but an interesting bike... one motor wasn't enough.
I quickly got tired of wandering around and took off. Next time you're on 1888 (Blanco River Road) heading back from Luckenbach, look for this road on the north side before you hit 1623. Really fun! After that I tried to cut through from Hye-Albert Rd, down Lange Rd and through to CR 205 and Flat Creek Road. Some maps show this as complete. It's not. I had to stop and apologize to a rancher for trundling around on his land. And my hard case flew open and scattered my clothes down the dirt road as I jumped cattle guards. And my rack lost a bolt and I had to use a bunch of zip ties to secure it to the bike...
I finally made it to Flat Creek Road and was cruising along when I passed these two guys. The goat has his head stuck through the fence and his horns had trapped it in there good. His wingman the llama was trying to ascertain my intentions before he bit my face off. I rescued the goat and all was right with the animal world. Hopefully this also squares the karmic debt I had for trespassing on the aforementioned rancher's place...
After Flat Creek Road I popped into Johnson City and ran into these two characters. I'm pretty sure Longhorn has the kitchen sink in one of the other boxes just in case. Him taking a picture of me (with his eyes closed? am I that ugly?
)
And me taking a picture of him (stolen from him
).
And the other character, Mr. Sleepy himself, with his Tonka truck TKC-80s. I tried to convince them to take Cypress Mill - Old Spicewood - Fall Creek but they didn't get the message in time. Note to self (and others) regarding Old Spicewood Road. Ya know some of those big round hills you fly over where you can't really see the bottom because the slope keeps increasing? Sometimes there are cows standing down there.... luckily for me, right off the side of the road, but the skid marks indicate that isn't aways the case.
I ended up with a little over 200 miles for the day and had a great time.