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Location: DFW, TX

Friday, October 28, 2005


Fredericksburg Tx. Ride
It started out with the largest group of riders we've had on our annual fall weekend ride. The date was set for the 7 -9th of October. The whole week they had been saying the weather was going to be sunny, clear skies, and temps in the 70s ( who could ask for more ). Well, come Friday morning Checo ( my cousin ) showed up at my house at 6am. We were going to be meeting up with friends at 7am, have some breakfast and then all of us ( half the group ) were going to be riding down to Fredericksburg about 6 hours away ( we took the long way ). When we opened the garage doors it was still dark outside but no rain ( WOO HOO I thought ). But as I was getting the bikes ready ( Checo was going to be riding my Warrior ) Checo said," hey, you do know its raining in south Dallas." I thought and hoped he was kidding. He wasn't! You all know how it goes: you spend the whole day before getting your bike to look good before the trip and Murphy's Law hits ! Yes, we had rain all the way down and it was a cold rain. By the time we made it to Lano, Tx. for some GOOD BBQ at Coopers ( the best in Tx. ) we were so cold and wet. After eating we hung out by ther fire pits for about a good half hour just trying to warm up and dry out some. Most of us had rain gear but a couple of riders didn't ( crazy ). Lucky for us all we were only an hour or so away from Fredericksburg.

Here in this pic we had pulled over to warm up a bit and to ask how far it was to the next gas station ! From left to right : Valerie, Mike, Russell, Rusty, Billy And Checo. Valerie and Mike are married and I must say," Mike, you did good ! " Through the rain, the cold and ... Valerie hung in there and never complained. And as you can see Billy, Russell, and Checo had no rain gear. And by the way the rain gear Rusty has on is mine. My bike had a lot more protection from the rain then his did so I let him use my gear. Rusty you still owe me ! ( LOL ). I bet by the next trip they will have some rain gear. So after Coopers we headed out to Fredericksburg. It was just over one hour away and we were all looking forward to a hot shower. Fredericksburg is a great town with some of Texas' twistiest roads. But it also has one of the highest populations of deer. Most of all the motorcycle deer strikes in Texas are in the Hill Country. Routes 337, 336, and 335 are a motorcyclist's play ground.
Lucky for us the next day (Saturday) was just great. You couldn't ask for better weather and we had 13 bikes and 15 riders going down the road. We did lose one of the Gold Wing riders but we pulled over and I went back. I found him about 10 miles back. He was the last one to get gas at the station and... well we just left him ( MY BAD ). But we got back to the group and on we went. It was a great ride. Sean and I were up front with Russell behind us most of the time. And the rest of the group behind him. We stopped at Mama Chole's, a mexican food restaurant. The food was good and the service was friendly and fast. They are a very biker friendly place and I recommend them if you're ever in Leaky, Tx. After we pigged out we all headed up Route 336 ( route 337 takes you into Leaky ). It wasn't more then 30 min. into route 336 that I hit a deer on my Honda St1300. And I still don't know how Sean missed the one that crossed in front of him. But I got his friend as both deer came running ( more like hauling ass ) across the road right in front of Sean and me. Luckily I was able to keep control of my bike. The deer hit me just in front of my left leg and the left side of the faring and then he just shattered my left hard shell saddle bag. I had the street covered with stuff: plastics, sweater, camera ( yes, my camera was in there too ), a half -moon helmet, and ... Russell said he had a hard time missing all the stuff in the road as he was coming up behind us. All said and done there was $2,100 worth of damage to the bike, but the bike was still rideable so we just pressed on.


The rest of the ride went without a hitch except for Russel's licence plate getting sucked up between his rear tire and the fender. But we got that fixed in no time. We all made it back to town with no more problems. Later we all enjoyed an evening out in the town. The next morning we all packed up and headed out to Enchanted Rock. We all kind of took different ways there. Checo and I took the long way. The girls , well they took another way and Henry and Sean and the rest took another way. But we all made it there just the same. As you can see from some of the pics. it was a very nice place to ride. And as you can also see by some of the pics. "Bambi "can be around every corner. When we got to Enchanted Rock , some of use climbed it. Afterword we all headed up to Lano again for some more BBQ. To my surprise almost everyone rode back most of the way. It was a great time like always. And everyone came back safe. It was a great group of riders and we all had a memorable time.

I hope you guys enjoy the pics and the short story. If you would like to add to it just let me know and I will update it.

ELIO

1 Comments:

Blogger Randy Masters said...

Excellent stuff! Great photos to ice the cake! And what a lot of cake there is - it must be the massive cc's of your motorcycle that draws the women to you, Elio. That or they have an interest in leather.
I enjoyed your write up on the Hill Country and am happy you fared so well in your encounter with the deer (small though it was).
Keep ridin' and keep writin' (and sharing those photos!)
Pushin50

2:23 PM  

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