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Ride, swim, eat, repeat.

Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
8,250
Reaction score
36
Location
Big sky country; Ronan, MT
First Name
Bruce
Last Name
Taylor
It was our day off work so after a couple calls were made a plan came together. Our normal 3rd, bajabum, is out for the summer weekday rides with the kids out of school. Missed 'ya Chris. So that left myself and Perry, NomadicNorseman for the day. Expecting temps above mid 90's we rode with cool waters in mind. The first Oasis was west on 71 from Austin and tuning right to Spicewood; Krause Springs. A privately owned and very well manicured cool spot in the hot hill country. First a nice shady spot to park our steeds.

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Next we were greated by the butterfly garden. A lush fountain/waterfall with numerous wind chimes; the big ones with real mellow sounds. Very nice and relaxing.

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After paying our $5 admission we made our way down the steps to the spring fed pool. This sucker feels cold when the air is hot but you get used to it.

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Moving on down the stairs to the river.....

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there are two options. 1.the dammed section above which is like a kiddy pool about 2 1/2 feet. 2. the river with it's waterfalls and huge Cyprus trees. we chose option number 2.

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Under the waterfall is a fairly large cave. Big enough to swim into and not be able to see 'cause you loose the light. We swam downstream and back. Of course swimming makes one hungry, and it was noon by now, so on to Marble Falls for lunch. We took 404 out of Spicewood, the back roads. Ended up at the River City Grille.

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The nice hostess encouraged us to sit on the lower deck (bikers? no need to scare the regular folks :lol2:) and it was a good suggestion.

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Great veiws and with the breeze and shade we could have stayed much longer......

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but we had more riding to get done. :rider: Back through Horseshoe Bay and up 71 to Llano. North of the bridge we turned left and stopped at the city park, another nice swimming hole on a hot day.

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Even Mr. Police came by and didn't bother us for parking under the shade tree on the grass. Thanks. Stripping of our riding clothes (we generally wear swimming shorts under our mesh pants this time of year) we made our way down to the dam. Several young, probably middle/high school kids were jumping off the dam into the river below, looked like fun. They were excited about showing us the spots to jump from. One marked by a steel beam sticking out of the downstream side, the other deeper hole marked by an arrow in the top surface of the dam. We took the taller leap on the southern side of the dam first, maybe 20 feet, tops. No problemo. On the way back to the north bank we took the short leap, maybe 12 feet. This time I touched bottom. Be careful on this one. Those of you that ride low water crossings across limestone low water crossings know how slick they can be. The top of the dam was slick with the usual slime as well as the rocks along the edges of the river where water was flowing. Well, while climbing up through the rivulets I lost my footing, stuck my hand out to catch myself and that slipped too. BAM! Face plant into the rocks. I could hear the kids around us gasp as the old man bit rock. Luckily I had enough adrenaline still flowing from the jumps and didn't feel much of anything. I could taste a little blood in my mouth and P said I had some outside as well. :shrug: Here's the photo evidence of my Llano River face plant.

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We joked about not wearing ATGATT and took a vow to wear a full face helm next time I climb on slimy rocks.

Next stop was supposed to be Inks Lake for another swim, but we were running out of time. Had to get home to cook dinner, don't ya know. :eat: We made a pass through the park looking for a friend staying there. No joy on that. Stopped at the store for an ice cream, thanks Perry, and headed to the house. A good day of riding in the summer heat.
 
Great little ride report. I had no idea that first spring pool was there. Might have to go investigate that one.....

ATGATT from now on, right? Glad your face plant wasn't more severe.
 
Thanks for the report. Convinced me to include a swimsuit on my trip next week.
 
Great little ride report. I had no idea that first spring pool was there. Might have to go investigate that one.....

ATGATT from now on, right? Glad your face plant wasn't more severe.

Thought about you as we were leaving the store at Inks. The song from your "banned" video was cuing up from Willie's Place on XM.

I was just glad all teeth were present and in their proper place. :lol2:
 
Thanks for the report. Convinced me to include a swimsuit on my trip next week.

and a pair of sandals. Riding boots don't cut it. ;-) I'll wear my shirt into the water for the evaporation cooling effect under the mesh jacket once back on the road. It lasted for the whole hour long ride back to P'ville.
 
Nice little ride, definitely something to do as the weather gets hotter.
 
Thanks for sharing the ride, looks like fun. Let us know when you do it again so we can get pictures of the ATGATT dives. :mrgreen:
 
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