Vintage Motorcycles and Fredericksburg TX Views

Saturday morning we set out for the Texas Hill Country.  Dave was interested in going to the Harvest Classic European and Vintage Motorcycle Rally at Luckenbach, TX.  He went a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  An added benefit in his mind was the fact that they were adding a swap market this year.

We headed out across San Antonio on 1604.  Major mistake on our part.  They have been working on the interchange with 281 for a while now and, generally, there isn’t a problem getting through.  San Antonio does a lot of road work at night in order to disrupt traffic as little as possible.  This weekend they doing something that required funneling down to one lane going west and then a job onto the access road.  We wasted over an hour there just to get through.  Had we known, I would have gone cross country on 46.  Once we got through, sailing was smooth.

After we hit I-10 and made it to Boerne, I did head cross country to Luckenbach.  The roads are great although they don’t have shoulders if that bothers you.  The curves and hills plus the view make it a wonderful drive.  We went through Sisterdale but didn’t stop at the winery there.  There were more motorcycles on the road (we were in the car) as we got closer but then, the Hill Country is a big draw for motorcycle riders at any time.

Click on Harvest Classic European and Vintage Motorcycle Rally Flyer to learn more about the Rally and Harvest Classic Rally Map to see the layout at Luckenbach.  The plan was to drop Dave off and then head on to Fredericksburg for a little site seeing and people watching for me.  I only got one picture as I went past the Rally site and Dave doesn’t take pictures.  There were a ton of people at the rally; many of them camping in tents and RVs in the big meadow in front.



Finding a place to park in Fredericksburg was a real challenge as I don’t think I have ever seen as many people there.  I finally ended up in the city parking lot.  It is free, convenient, and there is a rest room there as well.  If you have never been to Fredericksburg, you may be interested in the Nimitz Museum but don’t think you will be through it in an hour.  There is a lot to see so plan plenty of time.



This is the original building but there are now several other buildings on the grounds.  Notice the widow’s walk on the top front?


Charles Nimitz purchased the building for a hotel and home for his family.  After being sold by the family, it was eventually turned into a museum honoring Admiral Chester Nimitz and his crew from WWII. 


Beautiful building, isn’t it?  Fredericksburg has a lot of interesting old buildings but most of them are stone.


By now it was mid-afternoon, and I found myself in front of Tootie Pie Gourmet Café.  This company is headquartered in Boerne, TX but they have quite a few locations across Texas.  It all began when Don Merrill read an article about Ruby Lorraine “Tootie” Feagan in the newspaper. The article was about Tootie’s many awards and how she had been featured in numerous publications; singing the praises of her wonderful pies. The article also said that Tootie wanted to sell her little Medina, Texas bakery and retire.

Seeing an opportunity, Mr. Merrill contacted Tootie and arranged a meeting, where he tasted for the first time, Tootie’s famous six pound “Original Apple” Pie. Tootie Pie Company, Inc. was incorporated on June 16, 2005 and in September the Company purchased all of Tootie’s pie recipes, customer lists, the right to the “Tootie Pie” name, and the related baking equipment, and building located in Medina, TX.

Now that you know about Tootie Pie, let me introduce you to Pie Shots.  It is an afternoon special.  You get four “shots” of pie (of your choice) and a coffee for $4.99.  Here you see (l to r) Heavenly Chocolate, Pecan, Lemon, and Pumpkin Pie.  Every restaurant in town had a waiting line so I offered to share my table with another couple.  Nice way to meet someone.


Then off to see the sights and do some people watching.  Lots of gourmet goodies here along with bagged pecans and interesting metal signs inside.


This shop was new since my last visit.  I’m not sure he is getting the message. lol


I love the flowers and plants all along the street.


And there are places to sit along the sidewalk.  This is in front of the “General Store” not to be confused with the "Five and Dime" just up the street.  Dave's favorite place is "Rustlin Rob's" but I have it a pass since he was not with me.  They have samples of hundreds of jams, jellies, relishes, etc.


I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked but with all the cars and people traffic, they just wouldn’t have been as good.  I did take a turn down around the far end of Main St.  This is one of the places everyone goes to have German food.


It was just about time to head back to Luckenbach to pick Dave up from the Rally.  I found this interesting historical marker along the road.  I had never heard about the Easter fires.  It seems that when the whites and the Comanches signed a major peace treaty in 1847,  the Comanches lit huge signal fires around the hills.  One of the German mothers, in order to calm her frightened children, told them that the smoke was from the pots where the Easter bunny was using flowers to dye the eggs.


I picked Dave up out by the road.  The Rally was in full swing so going in was not an option.  Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to take several small roads cross country to Blanco, and then go south on 281 until I hit 318, which is a short cut I use to cut some mileage off when I intend to go on 46.  What a great drive, one I had not taken before, and traffic was minimal.  That’s why I keep a Texas map in the car.