A Hill Country Weekend

[Lisa White <wlb@xxxxxxx>]

Well, Friday morning (or should I say early afternoon), Richard & I left
Houston for Garner State Park, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country,
by way of San Antonio.  We got out of town later than expected because
my running lights (rear) decided to die that morning, so off to the
dealer we went for replacements.  My ST looked like a major packrat.  I
had all three bags, the tank bag, a tail trunk, and a sleeping back
strapped to her.  Richard just had a tail trunk, a sleeping bag, and a
1.5 man tent on his bike :-(!

We FLEW to San Antonio along one of the most boring stretchs of road
ever -- I-10.  Once there, we collected Richard's ride for the weekend
- -- a BMW R1100R.  It was a free rental he won from Tex-Moto drawing from
Alamotorcycle Rentals.  Great folks, and the carry BMWs in addition to
some Harleys.  They will also be getting in some Buells soon and after
sitting on Richard's ST, I believe the owner will by test riding one of
those as well, and we all know what happens when you test ride an ST
;-))!

Anyway, off we went to some great roads!  We ended up at Garner just in
time to throw the tent before dark.  We road into Leakey for dinner,
keeping an ever vigilent eye open for any bambis that may want to spoil
our weekend.  While eating, three other motorcycles pulled up, including
one Legend.

The next day we went on hwys 55, 135,136, and 137.  What roads!  If
you've never ridden the Texas Hill Country, you must give it a whirl.
Richard loved the BMW's suspension, but he thought the engine was a bit
gutless.  I personally perfer the ST all the way, and I even road her
fairly loaded all weekend.  Saturday, most of my riding was done with a
cooler in the top box that carried a six pack of evening libations, 4
water bottles, 3 gatorades, cheese, butter, and 2 porterhouse t-bones.
Not bad!

On Sunday we made it to Bandera in time for lunch at OST, and then on to
San Antonio were we talked for an hour with the owner of Alamotorcycle
Rentals.  If any of you fly into the area and want to ride, I'm sure
they'll treat you right.  He said they were currently talking with the
local B&B association to see if they could work up a package with them
and Southwest Airlines for a weekend of riding and staying in Hill
Country B&Bs.  I'll let you guys know when we hear more about this.

The ride back to Houston on I-10 was nerveracking.  About 100 miles out,
people started getting more stupid than usual, traveling at 80 mph,
three feet off the bumper of the car in front of them who was three feet
of the bumper of the car in front of it who...  You get the picture.  I
was glad to get off that interstate alive.  I told Richard I didn't care
if it took us an hour longer, next time we were travelling by back
road.  Of course, we did have the ulterior motive of wanting to catch
the superbikes at Philip Island on Speedvision that evening. . . .

My ST performed perfectly, as usual.  I will need to take her in for the
18,000 mile service in the next week or two, as she now has 17,800 on
her.  I'm hoping that Triumph carbon fiber can will come in so I can
have it installed at the same time ;-)!! I can't wait for that!

Ride safe!

Lisa White
Houston, Texas


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