We had a short drive on March 17, to reach our new campground in Kerrville, in the middle of hill country.  As we drove along, I admired the landscape with the hills in the distance.  I could almost see a line of Comanche or Kiowa appearing along the ridge line and John Wayne riding across the sage!

Our friends Jan and Phil, who we had met in Los Fresnos were camping about 4 miles from us. They came over on Sunday afternoon for a beer. It was great to see them again.

On Monday, we got the bike out and took a short route (although it took 40 miles to get to) and drove the Willow City Loop. This is on a private road where they warn us of loose livestock.

Although we did not see any livestock, we did see many beautiful wild flowers, which this loop is known for. The Blue Bonnets are coming to their peak in some areas. These will grow to about a foot high. The rest of the flowers will mature in waves but we were still able to catch glimpses of them. Some are Indian Paintbrush and they come in a variety of colors. I was unable to learn the names of the rest.

After our ride, we reached the town of Fredericksburg. We stopped for a refreshment at the Buffalo Nickel Bar. We did not spend time exploring the city because we knew we would return later in the week.

We have noticed a few things that we did not know about Texas. Some of the ranches have simple gates to their homes, to keep in livestock. Others have ornate iron and stone gates with pillars and walls. It seems the more ornate the gate, the less chance you are to see the house. We wondered if the house is as lavish as the gate or if they put all their money into the entrance and live in a modest house!

Some of the gates show what is raised on that ranch.

 

Other interesting things are the number of wineries and also the type of livestock that is raised. We saw elk, antelope, emu and lots of lamb and goats. Texas leads the nation in goat population, much larger than Florida which has the second biggest goat population.

We often see large water gauges, giant measuring sticks, beside bridges and other low lying rivers. The rains can come in torrents and the rivers and streams overflow their banks.

The next day we took another ride through the hills, getting to Bandera where we stopped again at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar. As in Fredericksburg, we did not want to explore too much because we had plans to return again.

We spent Wednesday with Jan and Phil. First, Jo and Jan had a “Girl Day”. Jan took me to Fredericksburg, where we visited the Wild Seed Farm. Normally, there are fields and fields of wild flowers but they were not blooming yet, except some Blue Bonnets far away. We still had fun looking around the neat gift shop.

Then we toured the historic downtown and checked out more gift shops. It was basically a browsing only day. We stopped for lunch at Pasta Bella Restaurant where we ordered the small plates of salad. Oh my, I would hate to see the large plates!

 

We returned to Bandera later that evening, to the Cowboy Bar, with Jan and Phil. On Wednesday evenings, they have 3 large charcoal grills going. You bring your own meat and grill it yourself and can buy a salad and baked potato to round out the meal. We had a steak to share; Jan and Phil had yummy looking pork chops.

We were disappointed when we arrived. The sunny outside patio was completely full or reserved. People had arrived before us, to eat and listen to the band. We made our way inside, found a table and chatted for a while, before the guys headed to the grill and Jan and I went to get in line to buy the sides.

While we were in line, we felt a couple of sprinkles but rain was not in the forecast so we were not too concerned. We barely made it back to our table, with the guys timing the cooking to arrive at the same time, and it started to POUR! That was really loud on the metal roof, which also leaked at the seams. The tables outside cleared quickly. Some people next to us had their food on the grill as the rain started so they lost their entire meal.

I guess we were lucky after all, to sit indoors.

Dave and I saved our longest ride of the week, about 230 miles, for Thursday because the temps were forecast to be in the id 70’s. This was fun with several curvy, hilly areas and lots of beautiful scenery, including the Three Sisters or Twisted Sisters route.

Before setting out on this ride, we had to stop for gas. All pumps were busy so we sat back waiting our turn. Pretty soon, a guy in a BMW convertible motioned us over. He admired the vintage bike and wanted to fill our tank on his dime! Wow! He gave us his card and said to call him if we had any problems on our ride. He is a Retired Sargent Major, living in the area.

Because it was such a long ride, we left home before lunch. We stopped in Leakey, at the Mill Creek Cafe, for a yummy Enchilada lunch. We had forgotten that I had a crockpot of Taco Soup cooking at home, for supper!

We stopped about 65 miles from the end of our ride, back in Leakey, to fuel up, both the bike and ourselves. We never would have found this bar without help from the gas attendant. It was behind the gas station in an old metal shed with large garage doors. Inside, was a bar, restaurant, compfy seating area and library. This was Leakey Bears Den 6.

On Thursday, Dave and I decided to climb Enchanted Rock.  I was expecting some type of path.  Boy was I wrong.  We literally climbed straight up rock.

This marker is at the highest elevation.

On Friday evening, we met Phil and Jan at the Wildass Hey Barn for a fried catfish supper. The food was fantastic and so was the company.

This bar is situated on the road right in front of our campground and features interesting bar stools. Each seat is from a boat, mounted on unique stands.

Saturday morning, our last day in Kerrville, we headed out to see the mini Stone Henge, right here in Texas. There was no need to go to England!

We spent one more afternoon with Phil and Jan, visiting Luckenbach, population 3, made famous by Waylon Jennings. Neither Willy Nelson nor Waylon were there!