Billy Gregg, one of our good High School buddies passed away this past year, and in his memory a few of us headed down to the coast to fish and remember him.
Loaded up the scooter and got on the road about 9:00 .
It’s about a 200 mile run from Austin to Fulton, south down through Lockhart, Smiley, Yorktown and Goliad. To make it more fun we had a constant 20-30 mile an hour south wind all day – made for a pretty good work out.
I stopped off in Lockhart and picked up a couple of pounds of smoked shoulder clod from Smitty’s.
And then got back on the road headed south. I cut off 183 in Lockhart and ran down through Harwood into Gonzales – that was a nice little road.
Lots of long, quiet road heading south towards the Coastal Prairie
I stopped for lunch in Goliad – not many more historic towns in Texas. This is where Colonel Fannin set out with his failed attempt to relieve the men at the Alamo, and where his small force was captured at the Battle of Coleto creek a couple of weeks later, and he and all 350 or so of his men were executed. That’s why the battle cry at the Battle os San Jacinto was “Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad.”
Anyhow – I don’t think it’s necessarily related to the massacre – but they made a good chicken fry in Goliad.
Excellent Chicken Fried Steak at the Hanging Tree. The carrots were amazing.
And across the street is the Hanging Tree on the courthouse lawn. This tree was the official gallows for the county from 1846 to 1870.
The Goliad Hanging Tree
Full of CFS I made the rest of the run into Fulton. The wind was a bear – but the Ural handled it. It would take a long time to get up to speed, but once there it held steady at 60 or so right into the teeth of the wind.
The motel pier in Fulton.
We stayed at the Sportman’s Manor in Fulton – room was $50/night – with a stove and fridge – pretty nice place – and a great pier – so fishing would have been good if I hadn’t left my dang fishing rod next to the door in Austin.
But somehow we managed to find something to do.
The motel had a nice BBQ area, covered, with tables and plenty o'standing around the BBQ pit
It was a nice night – the breeze was good when you were standing around yakking and drinking beers.
Insuring the fire was ok
Here’s Carl, Tom C. and Tom G. getting it all figured out.
John talks to Tom C.
Carl works on his cigar and wonders where the heck Ruben is.
The scooter and shrimp boats
I was a little pudoed the next day, and no fishing, but we sure did have an excellent time talking about the old days, remembering Billy and all the crap we got into as kids. I got up early, ate some Huevos Rancheros and ran down to the boat basin. That got me ready for the run home. The wind was up again, but it was mostly at my back – so it wasn’t as much work as the run down.
Excellent Expedition.
Go ride
Kevo