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ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 19 Mar 2014 10:19
by ajayhawkfan
Tomorrow, Thursday, I am leaving on motorcycle trip to Texas. I'm riding to Austin to visit my daughter for the weekend and then meeting Mike Farmer (dirtfarmer) and Gene Ray (2whelmen) in Fredericksburg on Sunday. The following week the three of us are going on a 1200 mile dual sport loop through the hill county ending up in Austin on Friday March 28 and then riding home the next day.

You can follow us on my Spot Tracker if you have an interest. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... jE7BvI9uVB

Eddie

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 19 Mar 2014 23:27
by kendall_smith
I'm holed up in Kerrville for the time being if you want anyone else to ride with. We've done a tiny bit of dual sporting around here, but we seem to keep hitting dead ends because of all the big ranches out here.

Give me a shout on my cell phone number in my signature if you want.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 27 Mar 2014 23:58
by ajayhawkfan
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Staying at the YO Ranch a world class place. It had been a fantastic trip.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 07:36
by katbeanz
8) Have fun!

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 07:51
by ajayhawkfan
Morning at the YO

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Maybe jump in the pool.

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And the lodge

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Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 21:51
by bird man
WOW....some seriously good mounted wildlife.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 07:15
by troy
It is a little unsettling that Eddie's final spot point is not at his home, which suggests his ride ended along I-35 near 119th street. I guess if the SPOT lays down a point every 10 minutes.....he might have gotten home from 119th in 10 minutes, but that seems aggressive.

Welcome home, Eddie?

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 10:03
by ajayhawkfan
I am back. We had a great ride. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

I can recommend the Texas Hill Country to anyone as a destination. We did about 1200 miles over 5 days of riding. the area is beautiful and a great place for a big ADV bike.

Eddie

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 10:08
by troy
ajayhawkfan wrote:I am back. We had a great ride. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

I can recommend the Texas Hill Country to anyone as a destination. We did about 1200 miles over 5 days of riding. the area is beautiful and a great place for a big ADV bike.

Eddie
1,200 miles? So obviously not including the 1,400 or so round-trip to ride down there and back. 1,200 over 5 days sounds like some relatively easy days unless you had a lot of slow going, technical sections. I imagine a lot of scenic, dirt roads running 30 to 50 MPH? Did you get lucky with the weather for your week?

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 31 Mar 2014 14:44
by ajayhawkfan
troy wrote:
ajayhawkfan wrote:I am back. We had a great ride. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

I can recommend the Texas Hill Country to anyone as a destination. We did about 1200 miles over 5 days of riding. the area is beautiful and a great place for a big ADV bike.

Eddie
1,200 miles? So obviously not including the 1,400 or so round-trip to ride down there and back. 1,200 over 5 days sounds like some relatively easy days unless you had a lot of slow going, technical sections. I imagine a lot of scenic, dirt roads running 30 to 50 MPH? Did you get lucky with the weather for your week?
The 1200 miles were the time the three of us were riding the Hill Country.

The days were relative easy, we started around 9 and ended around 4-5 each day with the exception for Friday. We stayed around the YO Ranch all morning on Friday, fixing a tire and exploring some of what the ranch has to offer. We also had very leisurely and took time for pictures.

Like anyplace there are places you need so back way down on your speed such as the creek crossings. Many are extremely slick such as the very long James River Crossing. I went down once, Gene went down three time in about 10 years. Mike dog paddled his way across. After the James River we were very cautious with every crossing.

Another thing that slowed us down were gates. There are quite a few in a number of places. I know there were 5 while we went through on ranch. I believe there were 15 on that entire road.

With the exception on the last hour on Wednesday and Thursday morning the weather was very nice. It sprinkled a little and had some fog on the days mentioned.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 09:45
by ajayhawkfan
Here are some pictures from Texas.

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We ate well the entire trip.

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This is about .15 mile James River Crossing. It is SLICK!

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Gene had a little trouble getting across in his new water cooled GS. The GS was water cooled 3 times getting across the James.

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After I went down once I took a different track.

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You never knew what you would see around the next corner.

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There were lots of water crossings. The gravel bottom crossing were never a problem but the solid rock and cement crossing were all covered in a green slime that was very slick. All crossings need to be entered with some caution.

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Dead coyotes:

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Blue Bonnets were starting to bloom everywhere while there.

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The Texas Hill Country is a great area to ride. I urge anyone that wants to see some beautiful countryside with fun roads to give it a try.

The three of us are already planning on going back next year.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 10:25
by bonanzasteve
I enjoyed your pictures and checked on your spot occasionally. I really must get down there sometime!

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 11:14
by kendall_smith
ajayhawkfan wrote:Here are some pictures from Texas.

Dead coyotes:

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The Texas Hill Country is a great area to ride. I urge anyone that wants to see some beautiful countryside with fun roads to give it a try.

The three of us are already planning on going back next year.
Alissa and I rode right by those coyotes on our short dual sport trip out of Medina. It looks like you guys had a good ride down there. If we ever go to the area again I'd like to get the dual sport ride guide that a local rider put together. Our Butler map was good for paved riding, but was about worthless for gravel road riding.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 18:10
by Creekside
Nice!

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 01 Apr 2014 18:33
by katbeanz
ajayhawkfan wrote:Here are some pictures from Texas.

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8) :mrgreen:

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 23 May 2014 10:38
by ajayhawkfan
I'm leaving Sunday for Minnesota but don't need to be there until May 30th. I'm going to take the long way to get there by heading east. I have only an idea as to the routes but nothing set. If interested you can follow me on my spot. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... jE7BvI9uVB

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 25 May 2014 21:33
by katbeanz
8)

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ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 May 2014 13:56
by ajayhawkfan
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We are at the Harley Museum in Milwaukee. They must of drained all the oil from the bikes became none are dripping.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 08:24
by ajayhawkfan
I went north again. I'm along Lake Superior in the UP. Heading to Copper Harbor area today.

It is 52 degrees with a high of 72 predicted.

Re: ajayhawkfan heading South

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 08:46
by troy
ajayhawkfan wrote:I went north again. I'm along Lake Superior in the UP. Heading to Copper Harbor area today.

It is 52 degrees with a high of 72 predicted.
Enjoy the ride. Enjoy life. 8)