A Wild Ride

My son surprised me the other morning. He called and asked what I was doing and said we needed to head out together for the day. So off we went. He brought his dog Angus so I took Willy along as well.

We headed out around highway 46 towards Boerne, across I-10, and on to highway 16 north to Bandera, the Cowboy Capital of Texas. We stopped just long enough to  get a coffee at the Dogleg Coffee House, appropriate right? It was too chilly to sit at the tables outside and Steve said we had a long way to go so we moved on north on 16 until we got to Medina. I thought the Apple House would be a good stop for lunch but Steve had an agenda.

We turned left on RR 337. Steve wanted to show me the route he and his Dad took on their motorcycles a couple of weeks ago. He kept saying how fantastic the road was and that he didn't know there were places like that so close to San Antonio. I told him that it was indeed a neat road as I had taken that route to get to Lost Maples State Park. He kept saying just wait. I love road trips so I was already enjoying every minute. The road has some great overlooks off into valleys, some really decent hills, and some great scenery. There are also some neat log cabins grouped around some small lakes on private property.

We got to Vanderpool which is where I had turned off in the past to head towards Lost Maples. We continued on RR 337 towards Leakey (pronounced Lake-y). This is where things really begin to get exciting. This is part of the Three Twisted Sisters (RR335, 336, and 337) ride of motorcycling fame. Once you get past Vanderpool, this is absolutely NOT a road for RVs....probably not even for the faint of heart in big cars. It twists and turns with switchback after switchback going uphill and downhill. It is beautiful, scenic, and exciting. Make sure you have great brakes and don't head out without a full tank of gas as stations are few and far between. I am so disappointed that I didn't get some great photos of this part of the road to include here....unfortunately it was very overcast and dark but it was still a great way to spend the day.

Whew!  It was getting way past lunchtime once we finished this part of the ride so we stopped at the The Pen in Leakey. It is a motorcyclists favorite but there were no riders due to the time and temperature.

We were going to sit on the patio with the dogs hoping the building would block the icy wind but the manager said to come on in as there was only one other customer and he didn't care.

Angus is keeping a close eye on Steve while he is over at the counter ordering some brisket sandwiches for us.

Willy was equally observant.  Of course, both of them know they aren't getting the people food but hope springs eternal. After a delicious lunch, we continued down the road.

We decided to head back towards San Antonio on Highway 83 rather than backtracking as it was already about 3:30PM. Just down the road, we spotted this sign. Garner is one of the most popular state parks in Texas even though it is a bit out of the way. I've never been there soooooo....of course, we had to stop for a tour.

It has on it's winter face but there would be lots of nice shade and it is a large park with several campgrounds. One of them had quite a few RVs while most of the others were empty. I'm sure that won't be the case next week when the first round of Spring Break hits Texas. In the summer, they have dances in a big pavilion that are very popular. These are screened shelters.

There are also quite a few nice looking cabins.

Swimming here is in the river and, even in the middle of the summer, it is quite chilly so a very refreshing dip. We saw a number of flyfishermen out enjoying the day.

Once we were a bit further down the road, the road was quite flat and the hills we just twisted our way through shrunk in the distance. There were fields with irrigation equipment ready to roll.

I had a wonderful day. The scenery was fantastic and, of course, so was the company. Thanks so much Steve for sharing the ride you loved. Angus and Willy both got in a lot of snooze time sharing the backseat but I know they really enjoyed the outing too.