Beautiful start today. Sky was mostly clear and temps were right around 70. Didn’t need my jacket or sweater. Got loaded up and headed to our first stop for the day, another Stonehenge in Ingram, just a few short miles away.
If you remember, our first stop on this tour was a Stonehenge in Odessa. That one was built “as it stands today”. This one is built as it would have originally looked thousands of years ago. It’s pretty large but only about 2/3 the size of the real Stonehenge. There’s also a couple of Easter Island statues on site. Dad and I happened upon this site on our way down to run the 3 Twisted Sisters in 2012. No changes to the place that I noticed.
I left out and followed the same road as before. Much of this road follows the south fork of the Guadalupe River and crosses it several times. There are plenty of tree covered sections and lots of riverside homes. Before long I’d reached the spot Dad and I stopped at to get some pictures. A small river crossing that leads to I don’t know what. There’s a dozen of these crossings but I knew this one as soon as I saw it. It was here that we built our inuksuk. An inuksuk is a figure constructed by the Inuit and made of piled stones. They were (are) used to communicate with humans throughout the arctic. We got the idea from a book we both read, The Sourtoe Cocktail Club by Ron Franscell. A very good read and easily one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.
I motored past as the memories flooded my thoughts and continued to the next spot I wanted to see again, Boot Hill. I don’t know anything about Boot Hill other than it’s here. It’s a wood post and wire fence that runs a few hundred feet long. Most, if not all, of the posts are topped with boots ranging in style, color and size. Boot Hill was another site Dad and I just happened upon, I was looking forward to finding it again.
The road continued and, as I said, crossed the Guadalupe several times. Lot’s of turns and ups and downs on this road. As we get closer to our turn towards Leakey the road rises away from the river and through a huge ranch. This place has got to have several thousand acres as the road runs several miles through it. Some of the land is covered in trees and some is open, just a few trees and bushes. I remember seeing some exotics out here last time, some kind of African deer or antelope. Didn’t see any this time.
We made our turn south towards Leakey and found our way to our next stop, the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Shop. This is basically the Twisted Sister hub. They sell all the t-shirts, hats, sweaters etc. They also serve food and cold beer so lunch is here. It’s my kind of place, motorcycles everywhere. I’ve seen next to none the last several days, but then again, who’s crazy enough to ride in the cold and rain?
After lunch we headed out on 337, one of the roads that make up the Twisted Sisters. This leg isn’t a part of that run but is just as awesome. There’s more leaning than straight-a-ways on this road. Slow going for most of it, but left leans switch to right leans and rock facings are close enough you can literally reach out and touch them. The main photo for today’s post was taken off this road and is mediocre for this area. It’s very slow going on this road and the 50 miles to Bandera takes a while, but it’s time well spent. The Hill Country is one of the best places to ride, or drive, in Texas.
The Flying L Ranch is our stop in Bandera. I just need a photo of one of the signs so I’m back on my way quickly. Left out of town and headed down Texas highways towards Boerne. The landscape was much like that of the huge ranch we rode through before. This leg is only about 30 miles and before long we make it to I-10. Run a few miles south and eventually spot Alamo BMW Motorcycles, the next stop. It’s on the other side of the interstate so I’ve got to find a turnaround. Construction caused me to make a couple of quick stops to check Google maps on my phone, Libby’s GPS is losing it’s mind in all of this. We finally made our way into the lot and I gotta admit, it felt a little awkward pulling up on a Harley. But, got the photo I needed, checked out the inventory and carried on.
My next two stops are about 60 miles away in Seguin. Interstate through San Antonio. I’ve mentioned in the past just how much I hate riding in the big city and San Antonio is no different. Most of the way is just regular traffic moving at speed but eventually we hit slow stuff. Traffic never came to a halt but was slow going for a few miles, just congestion. We finally get out of it and head down I-10 to Seguin.
Our first stop is Seguin is the Juan Seguin Burial Site. I was a bit disappointed with this one. There’s the burial site which is maybe 5’x5′, a very small plaque and three flag poles for the American, Texas and Mexican flags. All three still at half staff. That doesn’t really take away from the site but it bugs me because they should be back to full staff today.
Our next stop is just over a mile away. The World’s Largest Pecan. It’s not real of course but is five feet long and two and a half feet wide. It sits in front of the Guadalupe County Court house. Though it claims to be the largest, it’s actually not. The biggest, as far as I have found, is in Missouri and there’s actually a one twice as big in town. It’s built on a trailer and used for events and parades.
On to the last two stops for today. We’re headed towards Hallettsville. Back on two lane Texas highway. It’s another 60 miles to town and much of the land out here is green. A lot of ranch land and open fields of grass. Very little yellow and no brown at all. It’s very green on this stretch. There’s two stops in Hallettsville. The first is the mini Statue of Liberty. There’s bound to be hundreds of replicas across the nation, I haven’t seen any but this one. This one actually has the pedestal and base replicated.
Our last stop for the day is another couple of minutes away. The Vietnam Memorial here in Hallettsville. The Cobra helicopter here is real and was obtained by the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter. We’ve now hit 22 stops and only need three more to “finish” the tour.
Tomorrow we’ll head north to Navasota and make our way into East Texas. More gorgeous riding I hope. I’m so happy to be back in the sun.
Today’s photos below.
The Motorcycle Diaries of an Easy Rider 