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East/Central Texas - Sunday 7/5 - Tracing Navidad and Lavaca Rivers

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MotoTex

MotoTex

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I know this is a little last minute, a change of plans presented the opportunity, and having company along is always good on such jaunts.

Meetup at the Courthouse Square in La Grange for kickstands up at 08:00.

If anyone else has a hankering to join this ride on Sunday July 5, I've mapped out a route from La Grange down to Ganado, then back up to Smithville that is mostly paved (minimizing those with paint) and enough unpaved sections to make it fun (there could be sand on some stretches). The path will follow the Navidad down, crossing it several times, and then stalk the Lavaca back up, crossing it a few times, and the Navidad again as well.

The attached routes start and end at Winchester, I just figured LaGrange would be easier for a meetup.

Basecamp indicates roughly 225 miles and estimates about 7 hours. Weather will top out near 100F at the end of the ride. Lunch midway at the Ganado Cafe, which currently indicates they have Dine In available so we can suck down some fluids in air conditioned comfort. I've attached the routes as .gpx files.

If anyone is interested, post up, and we could meet on the Courthouse Square in LaGrange at a convenient time. I'd like to be rolling by 8:00 to get a head start on the heat, and can be flexible if an interested party or parties are feeling more Masochistic, or, just need a little more time to get there.

If this is too short of notice (understandable) and still sounds like fun, give these routes a try some other time if'n you wanna.

GPX viewer

GPX viewer
 

Attachments

  • Navidad-Out.gpx
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  • Navidad-Return.gpx
    172.2 KB · Views: 153
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And I thought you did this today, Im not a very good reader :giveup:I wanted to see the route but I cant make it work.
 
feliz_navadid.jpg


I aim to please.

And, I did do this today. Your reading comprehension is fine.
At the last minute I had a change in plans that turned this into a day trip and figured I'd toss it out there.
 
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A successful adventure. Note to self: If BaseCamp says 7 hours, from here on I'll just figure on it being more like 5.

Though I'm really very glad that they rebuilt the Piano Bridge, I miss it being able to play a tune as I ride across it. That bridge was the true beginning of the ride, crossing the headwaters of the East Navidad. After crossing I-10 and getting onto Old Highway 90 (not to be confused with Highway 90) I got a little air crossing the railroad tracks at 70 or so, one of my favorite things to do out that way as a rambunctious youngster. On a gravel stretch outside of Oakland I came across a small Yamaha dirt bike facing me, parked right there square in middle of the left track. Looked to me like some kid forget to top off the tank this morning. ha ha. Nobody around, so I figured the rider had hoofed it back to the house already and I tooled on down the road.

Lavaca County Roads 146 & 147 were my gravel faves on the way down, and they lived up to the moniker of their eventual terminus, Sublime.

Shortly after that there was some really nasty, smooth pavement that went on for miles. Somebody had painted stripes on it, I suppose in an attempt to make it look nice or something. Eventually I was able to get back on good road, with patches, bumps, and even some more gravel.

Just before reaching Ganado to gas up and get a couple of tacos I came upon a whole mess of buzzards that took off and scattered all around me. Not so odd in and of itself, but the tune playing on my headset just queued up that helicopter sequence that leads into Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. Which turned it into a rather surreal experience as they fluttered about filling my peripheral vision. Very cool. I love the swirl of helicopter buzzards in the morning! (apologies to Apocalypse Now). BTW, the tacos at the Ganado Cafe were excellent.

The route back was fabulous, with lots of gravel most of the way from Ganado, through Morales, and on up to Ezzell. It was loose and a little sandy in places, as expected. Lots of open range and cattle guards. I then took a detour to swing by and brush some leaves off my folks' headstone in a nearby cemetery before heading on into Hallettsville the back way. Back in my high school daze I was sweet on a gal on that road from Ezzell and spent a lot of time on my bike riding out to see her. It runs from H'ville out to Ezzell and has lots of curves. Back then I honestly couldn't say whether I enjoyed better the road, or the little redheaded girl that lived on it. Today, it was definitely the road.

As for the river count on the way back, I crossed the Lavaca several times, then the West Navidad a couple of times. Picked up Boulton Creek Rd. SW of LaGrange (a local fave of mine) and meandered on through more back roads (many paved since last time out there) to Smithville to top off the tank before arriving back home at about 13:30, quickly moving on into the air conditioned comfort of home.

That was not a bad way to deal with COVID at all. I might just be able to get through the pandemic with more applications of this technique to avoid exposure.
 
What roads did you take from Morales to Ezzell ? I assume you took CR1 to Halletsville ? Have you ever seen the Doppler radar tower east of CR 1 ? I've been woking in one ranch for the past week or so close to CR1 and CR14.
 
Looking on the track, I came in on Jackson CR 283 and 285, which looks like it turns into Lavaca CR 14a. Then 14, 15a, and 15, which rolls straight onto CR 1.

Didn't see the Doppler antenna, or, at least if I did I didn't recognize it as such. I did see a parade of filthy 4-wheelers on trailers coming home from a weekend at Mudbuddy's.

At Ezzell I headed west on 531 a mile or two to pick up CR 456a and 456 for some gravel to get back over on CR1 into Hallettsville. There are a ton of roads out that way I have yet to explore between the Lavaca and the Navidad.
 
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14 , 14 A , 15 and 15 A used to be better before they worked on some low water bridges .
 
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