Three Sisters, Two Fat Boys & The Kangaroo

Recon Viper 1

Well-Known Member
I was hoping to meet up with Lickety Split and some of the Austin (Keep Austin Weird) riders enroute to Leakey and the Sisters but it didn't work out timewise. Maybe next time.

I live right on TX 16, in Pipe Creek, and there was a lot of motorcycle traffic on the road but I don't know where it was going except it was going both ways.

This was our first day of predicted moderate temperatures and the predicted high of 88 degrees was exactly right on the head. I headed west just after 10am and saw very few bikes after I passed the bars and tony restaurants in Bandera. The road to Vanderpool was all mine and even the Real Country radar Constables took the day off.

It never was my intent to set any land speed records and I was pretty much at the speed limit, perhaps a bit "sporty" in the corners.

I was sitting at a picnic table at the Vanderpool General Store when the entire 4th Armored Division roared by. Or maybe it was a couple of HD's. Shortly after, I left westbound for Leakey and was exactly on the speed limit but where the curves started, Team Harley decided that discretion was the better part of valor and they didn't want to tear up their training wheels.

So, I'm hanging a polite distance back and just maintaining postion except that it's hard not to creep up on them when they are braking so much. I was just backing off the throttle for the corners but they were keeping a steady flow of juice to the brake lights.

First legal chance I had, I politely and legally passed them in two leaps. Big Daddy Poppa Boss was well in front of his "pack" and had his feet stuck way forward and spread out. I knew he was too cool but I passed him and just maintained the posted speed to Leakey.

No visible FZ1's at D'Rose. Team Triple Hog did manage to catch up and surround me in the 45 MPH zone though.

Kept on to the Bent Rim and went in there. Nice enough place and the lady in charge was very pleasant but it certainly targets the HD crowd and is very neutral to others. I ordered a burger and fries but gave up on that after a few days and just left. I wasn't in danger of starving to death, I just wanted to eat sometime today. I'll pass it by in future.

I suspect that it exists purely due to the HD crowd and they do specifically do what they can to attract the biker crowd but I'm not convinced it's really a great place to stop. I'll place my bet on some funky little place that caters to the locals and couldn't exist if the food, service and prices weren't attractive and fair.

Back on 337, westbound for Camp Wood. I went around one curve that seemed to be about 720 degrees of turn, with my helmet rubbing the rock wall. Neat little town. Entering town, I saw "Two Fat Boys" BBQ on the right but kept on into town where I could see some Police activity ahead. DPS, Sheriff and others were assisting in loading a bent Gold Wing onto a flat bed tow truck. According to what I heard, the rider stopped at "the" stop sign and then continued on his way although his view to the right was obstructed by a parked truck carrying huge hay bales. Well, ...........he did stop.

I cruised "downtown" and even had the temerity to ride by the Oh Fishul HD Outlaw Approved restaurant. They didn't invite me in but they did watch me ride by with looks of approval in their eyes.

I decided to go back to the first place I saw and I did and it was a great choice! Two Fat Boys BBQ is a typical rural Texas funky, get down, easy going BBQ place. The "decor" is what you'd expect, the courtesy is exceptional, the service is great and the food is hometown Texas. Chug runs the place, and is a biker, but he's on an HD and I feel sorry for him. He's really exceptional as far as hospitality goes.

The prices are fair, the food is good and I will be back. The beans are not your typical Mexican charro (frijoles de la charra) beans and they're not Boston Baked beans but they are Nueces Canyon beans and I thought they were pretty danged good.l Help yourself, just to the right.

Put them on your map. On the right, just entering Camp Wood.

I headed north, through Barksdale, nothing to see here. The junction with RR 335 is just north of there and that's where I split off. Pretty country, nice ride, lots of exotic homesites and high game fences.

I spotted a bedded down herd of big critters with long straight horns and I've done some research since then that convinces me that they were "Greater Kudu" antelope. They don't look like what I figure antelope look like but they look somewhat like nilgai, with long straight horns.

I was just filing that in the old "whaddya know" mental file when I saw him looking at me. He wasn't hostile or threatening, just looking at me and I thought "wow, that's the first kangaroo I've seen today". Laying by the fence, by the road and just looking at me. Watching me go by.

I know enough about roos from Oz and I think it was a Red but it was the very first kangaroo I'd seen that day and I thought I should make a note of it.

The rest of RR 335 was mostly narrow and tight and often with a vertical rock wall on the left and guardrails on the right. Nice scenery though.

Got up to TX 41 and it was a boring 15 miles at 70 MPH but it put some wear on the center of the tread and that hadn't happened up to that point.

I'm getting smart enough, don't laugh, to mentally plot the next maneuver and fix the predicted odometer distance so that I can anticipate the next turn and I was ready for RR 336. I headed south and thought the general view and scenic appreciation was a little higher here than other places and continued south across open range and crossed many cattle guards.

The road was quite nice, compared to the obscured corners of other roads, and I was enjoying the ride until I found myself in an open, sweeping right hander and saw a cattle guard in mid-turn. I did a momentary straighten up and a quick pull-it-back-down maneuver and made it without incident but the enhanced pucker factor pinched a large circular cutout of vinyl out of my motorcycle seat. Once I have it removed, I may see if I can have it sewn back in place.

Back in Leakey, it was pretty quiet and I stopped at Hog Heaven for a Diet Coke. I sat outside, it was quite pleasant, and I could watch all the HD and low-pro Honda Davidson pilots put their feet down and slide them 400 feet to the intersection. You can't be too careful.

A wayward Gold Wing pilot and his lady showed up looking for the way to Medina and we left there in formation. He was good, maintained his interval and was tight in his slot. I left them in Medina.

I got home about 7 hours and 225 miles after I started but that includes numerous stops. It was a good day, a good ride and a good motorcycle under me.

Next time, and there will be a next time, I hope a few of us can hook up and do it all together.
 
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