2025 Republic of Texas Tour – Day One

It’s hard to believe that a whole year has already passed. But it has and here we are, back out on the road. This year I decided I wasn’t going to rerun a trip Dad and I did together, but rather run the Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas again. For those who have been joining me on these trips, you might remember the 2020 trip where we ran up to North Dakota to complete all 48 states. I believe 2020 was the first year of the tour and I had a great time running around the great state of Texas, stopping at some really neat landmarks along the way.

A quick run down for those who don’t remember or have not read posts from that year. The Motorcycle Grand Tour of Texas runs from March until November and consists of 50 stops throughout Texas. Every rider is given a number placard and at each stop that placard is to be posted somewhere on the bike and the bike photographed in front of each stop on the tour. Photos are submitted and points are rewarded for each stop. This is not a race so no points are rewarded for finishing first or fastest. It’s meant to be an at you leisure tour. Most stops change every year so your not running the same thing year in and year out. A few though do stay the same, these are sponsors like bike and leather shops. Spending money at these sponsors also gives you points. The top 3 points earners win prizes. I have no aspirations of winning anything other than the patch that comes with completing the tour.

The tour director makes little changes every year, aside from the tour stops. This year he added a secondary tour, The Republic of Texas Tour. This tour is five separate stops outside the current border of the state of Texas. At one point in time, Texas stretched all the way up into what is now Wyoming and also parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, what was then known as the Republic of Texas. So instead of just riding around my own state, I get to see more of these United States with one tour stop in each of those states.

So, let’s get to day one. I spent my Friday evening much like every Friday evening before day one. Mowed the yard then piecing together everything I need or want to bring with me. My checklist changes slightly every year but for the most part stays the same. And it’s an actual printed checklist. I did post a packing video last night but everything get brought into the garage and place around the bike before getting checked off the list, then gets pack onto Laurelin. Once the packing was done it was off to bed, I gotta get up early.

I woke very early this morning. I don’t remember the time but was 5:00 or 5:30. My little girl has to be somewhere before I leave out and if I don’t get up early I won’t get to tell her goodbye. So I was up, gave her hugs and kisses then returned to bed. Up again about 7:30 for a quick shower, my last in my home for a while. Then a quick goodbye to the rest of the family before they head out to follow my daughter. My oldest was the only one home when I finally rolled out. That’s the first time that’s ever happened and it was a weird feeling but also kind of relieving in a way. It was much easier to leave with no one there.

The plan for today is to run south to Corpus Christi then over into Victoria for the night with a total of seven stops. It’s short run to I-35 where we head south towards Austin, one of my favorite cities to ride through (sarcasm). It doesn’t take long as traffic is moving quickly and I soon make it into Round Rock and past Central Texas Harley-Davidson, a dealership I’ve become familiar with. It’s a sister dealership of Dallas H-D where I rescued Laurelin. The maintenance plan I bought isn’t accepted at my local dealership so whenever I need service I have to head to Round Rock. Not a bad deal really, I get to get out on the road for a little bit. Service does take a while though so I have to hang out in the showroom while I wait.

Austin comes quickly and with it, stop and go traffic, why I hate riding through big cities. I one point I am joined by another rider, a sport bike that pulls up next to me in my lane. He startled me but I was stopped so no safety concerns. We puttered along together for a while before finally making to the cause of the back-up, some issue with an 18-wheeler that pushed everyone into the far left lane. Back into a good pace and we parted ways.

I’ve already completed 5 stops on the tour but the first for this trip is the Caldwell County Courthouse in Lockhart. Lockhart is the self proclaimed barbeque capital of Texas and rolling through town, it smells like it. There a few really good barbeque joints here and they’re all cooking. The courthouse, like many old courthouses, in the center of the town square and three sides are under construction. The open side I couldn’t find a good spot to stop and had to back in here to get my photo. The side of the road slopes and there’s lots of loose gravel. If I’d pulled in straight I’d never have been able to back Laurelin out.

Just before arriving at the courthouse I passed a small diner called Load Off Fanny’s. I really wanted to go back and stop in for an early lunch but unfortunately they weren’t open yet. One of Dad’s favorite songs was The Weight by The Band. If you don’t recognize it look it up, you might have heard it before and it includes the lyrics “take a load off fanny, take a load for free”. It’s the only song that I will refuse to let anyone change when it comes on. Perhaps I’ll make a run down to Lockhart, not for barbeque but for Fanny’s.

Our next stop is the Edwin Wolter Memorial Museum in Shiner. Edwin Wolters was a respected businessman and community member of Shiner, Texas. There are a lot of respected community members all over but I don’t know why he gets a museum, I didn’t go in. I did however get up close and personal with a very large insect shortly before arriving. On the front fairing, just below the windshield is an air vent that allows air to get to you. It also allows everything else to get to you. It can be closed but generally stays open. Something rather large, I can only assume, smacked Laurelin’s nose and exploded through the vent creating a shotgun blast of yellow guts right to my face. My glasses were covered but I was still able to see. Unfortunately the remains of whatever that was did not just land on my glasses. This, this right here is why you never see a motorcyclist smiling. After arriving at the museum, which is in the middle of a residential street, the first thing I did was towel off my face and clean my glasses. Wasn’t pretty.

Next we head for Karnes City. It’s hot now. It’s about lunchtime as we pass through Cuero, a small town about half way to Karnes City. I find the Texas Monster Burger Sports Bar & Grill that looks perfect but unfortunately it’s closed due to some family emergency. Nothing else looks good nearby so we continue on to our next stop, I’ll find something there. The Karnes County Courthouse was completed in 1895 and still has what I assume are hitching rings on the front wall. Look closely and you can see the shadow of one just left of the telephone pole on the right. There are several of them on both sides of the stairway.

Our next stop will be the Harley dealership in Corpus Christi. I’ll be passing close by a few while on this run and am stopping to add to my poker chip collection. We’ve been on two or four lane back roads since before Lockhart. It’s slower moving but I don’t need to be at interstate speeds to get around Texas. It’s only about 90 miles to Corpus and about halfway there we get back on the interstate and start moving quicker. After just about an hour we pull into the dealership and this place is popping. Bike and people all over the place. I get my chips and find out they are having a bikini bike wash with free beer. Good way to draw a crowd. I give it a quick thought but no, I’m not going to unload and reload my gear for a wash that’s going to be ruined in 15 miles. I do however get recommendations for lunch. It’s 3:00 now and I still have yet to eat today. I’m told to head to a couple of places that are just near my next tour stop.

The next stop is the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Again I didn’t go in. I love a good museum but this isn’t one I feel the need to spend time on, not this trip. Now it’s on to food. I’m hot, dehydrated and hungry. I don’t feel like eating but I know I’m hungry, and certainly know that I need to. I was told to check out either Pier 99 or Blackbeard’s, both just over the bridge and on the way to the next stop. Just a couple of miles away but it took a good twenty minutes to get there. The cause? Construction. No traffic, just signs stating that certain exits were closed and that I took as I needed to find a way around. I spent that twenty minutes riding around the same single square mile, fighting with Google maps and orange signs just trying to find a way across the channel. A construction SNAFU if ever there was one. SNAFU as it were, has always been a fun little word for me knowing what it means. SNAFU came about during World War II and is an acronym for “Situation Normal – All F*cked Up”. Just about accurate for this situation. If you didn’t know that little tidbit, now you do.

Disregarding directions from Google and following orange signs to the seaside district, I finally make it to Pier 99. Again I spend a few minutes driving in circles trying to find parking. Everything down here is paid parking, including the restaurants. I make my way around and pull into the parking lot for the restaurant. Parking is $5. Drop a fiver into the slot for your parking space and you are good for the whole day! Behind me is the Gulf of Mexico (I can’t call it the Gulf of America and we won’t get into that) and the USS Lexington, a U.S. aircraft carrier converted into a museum. It’s an amazing sight and I would love to go in but I don’t have time right now. The Pier 99 is absolutely packed. Wait time is 40 minutes and thought they have a bar, they don’t serve food at it. No food for now. I don’t have time for an hour and a half lunch. Turns out it is Labor Day weekend and I am not the only one to think to come to the coast so I figure Blackbeard’s is probably the same. On to Victoria and the dealership there.

It’s another 90 miles to get into Victoria where we’ll pick up more chips and find a place to stop for the night. So far I’ve been blessed with dry weather but soon find rain just off my path. I can see it falling and can’t remember a first day that I didn’t hit a storm or some form of rain. Technically I guess that’s still true. The rain cloud I saw wasn’t large and wouldn’t dumped on me for long but I’d get wet for sure. I did start seeing wet spots along the roadside so I was sure the rain had passed before me and I would miss it. I was wrong. I did get some. A small spattering of rain that lasted all of about four seconds, barely enough even feel but the cloud cover did lower temps for small amount of time.

During ride planning and looking at maps, I got the impression that Victoria was a decent sized city. But coming into town I don’t feel that. I do pull up to that Harley shop and it looks like just that, a shop. I don’t think it’s a dealership but just a merch shop. I could be wrong but they were already closed when I got there. Time to find a place to stay.

As I’m looking for a room I realize that I’ve missed a stop. I was supposed to head from Corpus into Rockport and skipped it. It’s 50 miles back but luckily there’s five alternate stops on the tour, I can sub one in for the miss. I decide Motel 6 is where I’ll head to. It’s just down the road and they leave the light on for you. But this part of town, and the motel, and others in the area, all look a bit run down. I’m trying to get out as cheap as possible this trip so less than $100 for lodgings is my daily goal. I also am trying to spend less than $100 on food for each day. Since I missed lunch I decide I can get a hotel in a better looking part of town. Hilton Garden Inn is where we are. Now typically the first night is camping but LSU is playing Clemson, a big game and I really want to watch it without sitting at a bar all night.

Dinner is at Froggy’s Grub & Pub. This joint is jumpin’. The lot is full and the place is really cool. Quite large with plenty of seating and bar space. TV’s everywhere with football or baseball on all of them. Even a couple of pool tables. Dinner is a pork chop with a salad and mashed potatoes. Chop was good but the potatoes weren’t much to my liking. They had a sweet tone to them that just wasn’t for me. Not enough to knock the place, I’d go back. I also hit more rain on the way there. Still not much but heavier than before, lasted just a minute and still not enough to get wet which is good because I don’t want to sit in wet clothes at dinner.

Back at the room I’m watching the game which has by now ended and the outcome was better than I was expecting. Tomorrow is a somewhat short day, only projected to run about 350 miles. Our end point will hopefully be the KOA in Rusk, a place I’ve stayed at a few times before. It’s also one of the tour stops so win win. It’s close to bedtime now so I am going to jump in the shower, wash the road and bug off of me then hit the sack. I wanted to edit some of the video I took today but that’ll take time. Tomorrow night maybe. Don’t expect more than just ride footage though as I am still learning a new camera and it’s capabilities, both filming and editing.

One last note: subscribing to this site will send you an email every time I submit a post so you won’t have to look through Facebook for the link everyday. You don’t have to, I will still post the link but it’s there. That said, goodnight. We’ll see you again tomorrow. Same bike time, same bike channel.