Hot Oil Ride

Posted on January 27, 2012 by kjolly

I was coming up on my 37,500 oil change – and needed to do a run to get the fluids nice and hot, so I did a run out to Bartlett, Texas to try Lois and Jerry’s Bar and Grill.

Hot oil route

Hot Oil Route

I ran out through Coupland, then up to San Gabriel and into Bartlett on Alligator Road.

Church of Christ

There was a real pretty little Church of Christ in Coupland, so I had to stop and take a picture.

The Steeple

As you can see, not a cloud in the sky. It was in the fifties – excellent riding weather.

Alligator Road

My favorite road of the day was Alligator Road. Long and lonely. The cotton and sorghum fields were all cleared.

Puddle!

And something strange – puddles! We just got about 4 inches of rain which we need bad. There was water in the ditches and the fields were nice and wet.

Downtown Bartlett

Bartlett is an old cotton town – it was pretty prosperous up through the fifties – but almost the only thing open downtown now is Lois and Jerry’s and a bunch of antique stores.

Bartlett Bank

This is the Bartlett Bank. Back in the early 70’s a group of would-be revolutionaries from Austin came out to rob the bank and get their hands on some of that cotton money. They planned it all out – stashed getaway cars in Granger and Taylor – got all loaded up with guns and masks – and rolled in on the bank. Sad for them the bank had closed and moved into a new building.

Lois and Jerry's

Lois and Jerry’s is a nice small town bar and grill. Really friendly folks.

Lois and Jerry's Burger

Sorry for the bad pic – but it was a great burger. Fresh ground beef, well seasoned, toasted bun. And great onions rings to go along with it.

Bartlett Bank Eagle

By the time I got back to the house I’d rolled on another 200km, and the oil was plenty hot.

Go ride!

Kevo

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Goodbye Tom

Posted on December 11, 2011 by kjolly

Tom Miller was one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. He recently died at the age of 96 and I rode over to Kerrville for his memorial.

Riding out I went down through Kendalia and Comfort, and coming back I ran through Fredericksburg and back into Austin – about a 220 mile round trip.

McCall Creek Road

McCall Creek Road (CR411) is an excellent dirt road that cuts between Hwy290 and Hwy281.  Not a lot pf pics today since I was on a timetable – and it was cold and damp.

Friggin Cold

It was about 40 when I left Austin, and it got colder as I ran west.

Running southwest on CR411

But with roads like this and no traffic all day, it was worth it.

The JB CLassic at Classic Burger

I hit Kerrville about noon, and stopped at a great local place  – Classic Burgers – for lunch. This is the JB Classic – big dang beef patty, tons of bacon, cheese, grilled onions, whole leaves of lettuce, whole slices of onion. This is a hundred mile burger, I believe.

Steve Black at Tom's Memorial

Steve Black did a great slide show about Toms life, and several folks spoke about Tom. This bottle was given to Tom’s father when he born in 1915.

Tom' s Birthday Whiskey

You can see it’s “Straight Kentucky Whiskey of the Topmost Class”. Tom had saved it his whole life – never opened. So Steve pulled the cork and we toasted Tom’s long life and how lucky we were to have known him.

Headed Home

Here’s to Tom.

Kevo

 

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Kendalia General Store

Posted on October 26, 2011 by kjolly

Took the day off work today to ride out to Kendalia and have a burger with Dan and Glen and Anne. Weather was great, ride was great, and the visit was better than great.

The route out to Kendalia

I did about a 90 mile route out, cut down through Bee Caves and took Crumley Ranch Road south to Fitzhugh Road – and ran that all the way to Johnson City. From Johnson City I took Flat Creek Road to Rocky Road and then south across the Blanco on Crabapple Road. The segment from Johnson City to Kendalia was the best route of the day – no stripe no shoulder – about a third of it was good caliche and more than half the route was unfenced open rangeland.

Fitzhugh Road headed West,

The weather was supposed to be cloudy – but it was gorgeous.

The Pedernales River crossing on Fitzhugh Road

We’ve had a little rain in the last couple of weeks, so there were some puddles in the channel of the Pedernales River. We’re still more than 20 inches behind on rainfall this year.

Looking east from Flat Creek Road.

Flat Creek was a great road – open – hardly any fences and great views as you skirted the tops of the ridges.

Rocky Road headed south towards the Blanco River

Rocky Road was a great road as well – about half paved – rough enough to make it fun, tons of cattle guards to bounce over.

Glen

Glen

We all got excellent burgers – but I was too busy yakking to get a picture of the eats. Kendalia General Store is just a great place – the gals at the counter and the in the kitchen really take care of you – and if you need a radiator hose or fan belt – they’re right handy in the dining room. Had a great time visiting with Glen and Anne and Dan.

Dan

Anne

Took off and went by Dan and Nancy’s place on Onion Creek and snagged a couple of bags of organic free range pecans.

Headed for the house

Excellent Day

Go Ride!

Kevo

 

 

 

 

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Ural National Rally Day

Posted on September 14, 2011 by kjolly

Well, September 10, 2o11 was the first annual (I hope) Ural National Rally Day – and I was the rallymaster. We had about 200 folks from all over the world come out and ride that day – you can check out the details at NationalRallyDay.com.  Best of all – I got to ride in the rally as well – and took my son Don along as the monkey.

The route Don and I rode for Rally Day

We did a loop out east of Austin, and back through Laneport and across the Little River, then through Bartlett to Walburg for Walburgers at Dale’s Essen Haus. We finished the day at the Elgin Cafe for pie.

New Sweden Lutheran Church at Sunrise

A great way to start the day, running out to the New Sweden church just as the sun was coming up. The steeple is 122 feet high.  The rally was a scavenger hunt kind of deal – you got points for taking pictures of historic sites, eating pie, etc. You see my rally flag there – #67 – and this was 25 nice looking points.

Don at the Brushy Creek Bridge

Here’s Don at the Brushy Creek bridge just outside Coupland. There was a herd of about 8 donkeys off the road braying at our Urals.

Bridge Over the Little River

Dave met up with us at the New Sweden Church – and he’d found this old Bridge on Google – so we rattled up about 10 miles of gravel road to check it out. The grader operator in that precinct definitely had a hard hand with the blade – it was filling rattling washboard most of the way. And a blast!

Bartlett Grammar-High School

In Bartlett we stopped by the Bartlett Grammar-High School – this was built in 1905 – and has been restored by the community – it’s a gorgeous building.

Don and Dave at the Bartlett School

Don really wasn’t as miserable as he looks – it was a gorgeous day for riding.

Charlie goes at his Walburger

Charlie came down from Plano the night before and we planned to meet at Dale’s Essenhaus in Walburg between 11:30 and noon. As we rode in from the east at 11:45 Charlie rode in from the West – we all turned into the parking lot at the same time. Almost as if we’d planned it.

Dave comtemplates his Walburger

Dale’s was nice – but there was a pack of old ladies in there when we showed up and it was noisy!

Don munches his Walburger

Note Don’s red pocket protector. I think he choose red to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Ural factory in Irbit, Siberia.

The Walburger

OK – so here’s my Walburger and rings. Pretty good. Half pound of fresh beef, well seasoned, well cooked . Bun was a little smashed up – but the rings were decent. I think out in this area Andice General Store is still the place to go – but this is probably a 30 mile burger.

Lemon Pie

After the Walburgers we hauled back over to 95 and jetted down south to the City Cafe in Elgin for pie. Lemon for me – and it did me in. It was just at a hundred degrees then – so we fled to the house and fell asleep in our recliners.

Excellent ride, excellent company, excellent rally.

Go Ride!

Kevo

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FInding Park Road 1-C

Posted on July 10, 2011 by kjolly

I’ve been wanting to ride Park Road 1-C between Bastrop and Buescher State Parks for a long time – so I headed out Saturday morning and did just that.

So, I planned a nice ride – with a little Old TX 20, some county roads, and then a swing into McMahan to try R&G BBQ.

My actual route - about 165 miles

Off Old TX20 I planned to run down Monkey Road, and out to 95 which would take me quickly into Bastrop and the Park.  But I missed Monkey Road somewhere, and ended up on a loop of Old Sawyer Road that was about 20km of dirt and gravel.

Old Sawyer Road - Nice Gravel

It’d been drier (and hotter) than hell here – but it looked like they’d gotten some afternoon t-storms in this area – some green grass – and even a few daisies poking up.

WIldflowers in July In texas are a treat

Old Sawyer Road ended up right on Main Street at the Bastrop City limits – so I rode down through town and out to the park. Park Road 1-C runs about 12 miles between the two State Parks – through the Lost Pines.

All the signs look good for Park Road 1-C

The Lost Pines are a remnant population of Loblolly pines that have survived in the area around Bastrop since the last ice age. The closest pine forests are now more than 100 miles to the east.

Park Road 1-C

Park Road 1-C is a great ride – lots of roller coaster, a narrow quiet road, just a tunnel through the trees really. Most excellent on a quiet Saturday morning.

From Buescher I cut down to Smithville, and then back across 2571/304 and cut south on Lower Red Rock Road – to head to Rockne.

Lower Red Rock Road - Maybe

But, in keeping with the theme for the day – I made a wrong turn somewhere – and ended up on a gravel road headed mostly east.  It was a great road – so what the heck. I ended up near Warrenton – but it was just a short hike back into Rockne.

Historic Structuers at Hibig Park

Rockne is a quiet little place. It was called Lehmanville until the 1932 when the town voted to renamed itself Rockne – after Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. So celebrity idiocy is nothing new. There’s a nice little museum and a park with historic structures.

R&G BBQ in McMahan, TX

Then I rolled down 20/86 into McMahan to try out R&G BBQ. The place  – like all of McMahan – is well run down – so I had high hopes for the BBQ.

R&G Brisket and Sausage

And they delivered. I had moist brisket, sausage and a crispy pickle. This brisket is right up there with the best around. Moist, excellent smoke flavor, well seasoned – but not overblown. It was amazing. They don’t grind their own sausage   – and I couldn’t cage out of them where it was from – but it reminded me of Gonzales Grocery sausage – all beef – excellent – well cooked – natural casing. I’m not a BBQ sauce guy – but I had some at the end on the last bit of brisket – and it’s great – it’s kind of reminiscent of Luling yellow sauce but with a little tomato in it – really good. Well worth the stop – R&G is going into the rotation.

Moore's Corssing Bridge

Full of tasty brisket and sausage I headed back towards the house. With a stop at Moore’s Crossing Bridge. This bridge crosses Onion Creek just south of Austin’s Airport. In 1884 this was the Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin. A flood in 1915 destroyed one of the three spans – and the surviving two spans of the bridge were taken down, moved out to Onion Creek – and erected there in 1922. It was in service until 1997.

All In

By then it was 102 – and no shade on the scooter.

Go Ride!

Kevo

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Crossroad’s Cafe – Schwertner, Texas

Posted on May 28, 2011 by kjolly

My right compliance fitting had gotten pretty floppy – which I blame on the evil ethanol in the gas – so I changed out my compliance fittings this morning.  You gotta do a test ride – so I did a quick run out to Schwertner to try the burgers at the Crossroad’s Cafe.

I didn’t have a real route planned – just up FM973 and then county roads into Schwertner – about 50 miles from Manor, maybe 65 from my house one way.

FM1660 outside of Rice's Crossing

It was high 90’s, and the wind was blowing 20-25 from the south most of the way – which wore me out – so a patch of shade on the side of the road was worth a stop for a drink of agua.

Flip a coin?

I was never lost – I know I was in Texas the whole time – but I did see a lot of roads that I’ve never seen before.

Headed north, on some county road.

The corn is only about 3 feet high out here – but already tassled up – going to be a bad year for these farmers with this drought. We did get some rain this past week – so the grass is almost green for a change.

The Crossroad's Cafe

The Crossroad’s Cafe is at the corner of FM487 and FM1105 – and is almost all of Schwertner.  Nice little country place – when I came in a bunch of local guys were eating lunch and competing for who had destroyed the most expensive  piece of farm equipment – the winner was the guy who forgot to chain down a combine and when it rolled off the trailer on the highway a gravel truck smacked into it.The lady’s running the place were great.

The Crossroad's Burger

The burger was pretty good. Hand formed patty, probably 1/3 pound, well cooked, well seasoned. This is a classic Texas mustard burger. 5 inch bun – well sized for the burger – well cooked – nice char on the meat. My knock on the burger was the lettuce and onions were chopped – so they lose all their texture. This would be a great burger with a piece of lettuce and a couple of slices of onion – so you’d get that nice crunch. As it is I’d say this is a 25 mile burger.

Compliance fittings worked, burger worked.

Go Ride

Kevo

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