Goofenhowzen Express
Adventures in traveling from Southwest Texas.
Seeing Our Country
Famous pancake house in Brookline, NY
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Exploring Lawton, OK.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
July 4th, 2010
As the temps were in the high 80's to low 90's and the bikes were really under the gun to maintain temps (especially the Harley guy ;) ). We loaded up a truck full of members and proceeded on to one of the biggest parades I had been party to in Seguin.
Some 400+ entrants to the parade stretching out a little over a mile long. Almost 1.5 hours in length.
Following the parade, we had a great BBQ provided by our Commander and his family cooking the meats and our Auxilary taking care of sides, desserts and drinks.
A 4th done up right.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Texas Hill Country Fall Ride
Monday, November 02, 2009
Short November 09 Solo Run
What a great day for a ride. Temps in the low to mid 60s expected to warm to the middle 70s. A crisp clear very cool morning for a ride in south of Texas. Usually I am running in the Texas Hill Country, but the Dallas Cowboys will be playing at noon and I have to make it a short trip.
That means I'm running in the farm and ranch lands east of San Antonio and south of I-10. Leaving my house I catch onto FM775 heading west. A couple of miles down the road I pulled over to get a picture (1st pic) of this fine clear morning, surely the Lord's work at his finest. Continuing west I passed through the little town of LaVernia and catch Hwy 81 going north towards Loop 1604, then west again. Seeing signs for Lake Calaveras, I decide to pay a visit as I had not been to this lake in quite a while. $2 entry and I'm in taking a bit of a rest (mostly to warm up). Still pretty much the same as it had been the last time I was here. A recreation and power lake, Calaveras is of a fairly good size with lots of fishing. The 2nd pic is of the scoot sitting in front of a plant (no, I don't know what the plant does) residing on the lake. Checked out the facilities and headed back on the road going west on 1604 again.
This time I'm heading for Braunig Lake a little closer to San Antonio (20 minutes fro downtown actually) just to check it out again as well. Going west 5 more miles, I take a right onto I-37 North and go another 4 miles taking the Lake Braunig exit. Another power/recreation lake, Braunig offers great fishing, picnicing and limited camping (primitive only). Still, a good little lake. A short pause to enjoy the scenery, take some pics (3rd one above) and then I'm back on the road north staying on the frontage road. I have an alterior motive here.
Next year I take over Muster Master for the RV travel Club of which I am a member. One of the duties of the Muster Master is to look for new places for the club to rally to. So I gave the Braunig Lake RV Resort a quick once over, including a chat with the manager about rates, accomodations and such other things before realizing that it was already after 11am. That meant it was time to mount up and blaze a trail home to make the Cowboy game in time. A short run, but a nice one as folks had not yet gotten out onto the roads yet. The only bummer was the throng of Long Nosed Brown Butterflies that have been blanketing the area lately (literally). Thankfully, I'm running with a windscreen. Made it home only 5 mins late to watch the Boys put a licking on the Seahawks. What a day.
Friday, September 25, 2009
VFW 2nd Annual POW/MIA Run
Between 9 and 10 was a meet and greet opportunity where we all checked out bikes and then of course check out Cowboy Honda's inventories of stuff. I picked up a can of wax for the scoot and I noticed a number of other's picking up odds and ends (maybe even a new bike?). Anyway, a good turn-out from Cowboy's point of view as well. During this time I met a couple of enthusiasts, Phil from Flugherville and Jack from McQueeney (both HD drivers) and we struck it up pretty good and figured we would be a sub group on the ride.
At 10am, we gathered around for the POW/MIA ceremony. Being an officer of a veteran's service organization, I have done plenty of these (and honored to do so everytime), but this one was with a biker's twist to it and I thought it was done nicely. Instead of the table with a place setting for one, a bike (the Goldwing) was used with all the items that remind us that there is someone unable to join us, in this instance, for a ride.
After the service, we mounted up and headed out for the first checkpoint. The instructions had us return down I35 frontage road and turn right on Brent Rd and cruise through Kyle to pick up Rebel Rd. west. Ride to the junction of Rebel (SH150) and Kyle Road (RR3237), There was the first checkpoint at a quickstop. After we collected the ticket for this checkpoint we continued west on Kyle road. This leg took us through the town of Wimberly (no stop) and picked up 2325 on the west side of town heading west. The route continued on this rode till we intersected with RR165 at which point we turned left heading for Blanco. This is Hill Country Riding on the main roads, that means fairly good clip on well maintained roads. Nothing super twisty, but fun at the higher speeds (50-60). Beautiful country side with vineyards and medium sized ranches along the way. Often we were at the top of the hills and had some really great views.
Upon making it to Blanco, we arrived at the Sunset Bar & Grill to get our tickets. We were in the 2/3s part of the group, so the pub was fairly full by the time we got there. No big, at the same time Blanco was having their Market Day in the town square, So we ambled on over for some bbq and sausage sandwiches and talked it up with a couple of the locals (who were glad to see a hungry bunch by the way).
The Re-acquaintance Run
So we stuck to rodes close to home that weren't real challenging, but offered all the opportunities to get "back in the saddle." We started out heading NE on Woelke Rd taking a right on Settlers Way, then turning SE on Sweet Home Rd. The roads out here are mostly flat with gentle undulations. Roads are in fair to good condition and are chip sealed, so you do get a little gravel action. Scenery is composed mostly of small ranchettes with a couple fairly large places with horses, cattle, goats and the occassional place hosting some exotic game such as axis deer and one or two places that have small herds of buffalo (I use the term herd loosely, a couple bulls and some cows). The weather was clear sunny, and started with a fair temperature, but became rather warm later on.
Christa was handling the new ride well and hadn't forgotten some of the basics of being a good rider (i.e. not doing strange things on the back of the bike like trying to stand or leaning opposite of the way I was going). My previous bike had a cushy sissy bar for her to lean back on,

About 10 miles up road on 181 we hit a rest stop and decided to take a water break and take an assessment of how the ride was going for Christa. Well, things were OK, but her backside was a little sore. Again the Triumph was not as cushy as the KZ Vulcan. Also, I think I might have adjusted the shocks to stiffly. Next time (will there be a next time?) I'll bring them down a notch. We sat there a little while relaxing as we had a noon lunch date with my sis and bro-in-law at the Texas Pride BBQ joint on 1604.

After leaving Texas Pride we just sort of wandered through some back roads until we arrived home. A short ride lasting only about 3 hours, but a nice break-in run.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Hill Country Ride

Wimberly is a little town, once home to many artisans working in leather, stained glass, furniture, antique stores, little bakeries and coffe shops, wood carving and more, but lately has been seeing a lot of expansion as this is a "a place to be." While there is nothing wrong with wanting to be in a place, the increased population brought in affluent buyers building really gorgeous homes, but at the same time making the place to expensive for many of the local artisans that were craft subsistent and, sadly, they have to move on as tey can no longer afford the taxes. That said, there are still many craftsman in the town and the "old Town" part still has that village charm, though many of the stores are now becoming high end Rodeo Drive type establishments selling imported goods. And there are still some of the stores that I still love to visit because of the quality of the goods that are still made locally. There are still some keen bakeries and diners, and I truly enjoy going in for a bite and maybe a conversation with a local.
After a bite of breakfast and coffee At the Wimberly Cafe, I'm ready to get back on the road. I head out towards Blanco taking RR 165. More rolling hills and a decent road with mild twists and turns creates and enjoyable ride for the cruiser or Tourer. Many ranches lie on either side of the road with lots to see.
A quick drive through Blanco, another small Texas town that has been able to maintain its charm, I hit State Highway (SH) 281 headed for Johnson City, where the LBJ State Park and his burial site are located. A bit larger, I just keep rolling through connecting with SH 290 heading west. Just outside the west side of town on 290 I come across a pretty interesting site. It's a ranchette where a local metal sculpture has displayed some of his works throughout the property. Some unusual and beautiful pieces of work are immediately visible from the road and I stopped to take this picture of a metal Longhorn statue. Sort of a tribute to the old cattle days of central Texas. I believe that the property is open to the public at certain times, but I didn't stay to check it out. I'll save it for another day.

Anyway I continue on towards Fredericksburg, enjoying a nice gently curving 290. Along the way are the customary ranches (big ones) dotted witht he occassional specialy store, fruit or vegetable stands and more than a couple BBQ places that bear investigating in a future ride. Just before making Fredericksburg I turn south on RR 1376 heading towards my real goal, Luckenback, TX. Made famous by Willie Nelsons song of the same name, this is a truly distinctive village, if I can use the term, having an old time Post Office (now a gift Store),



Some really nice bikes and rods were to be seen. I just stopped for a break, a bit of a chat, and then was on my way again. Driving south I picked up Farm Road (FM) 1888 heading back towards Blanco. After Blanco I headed south on 281 to pick up RR 32, affectionately known locally as the Devils Backbone as the road runs along a "spine" of hills with some great views.
Notvery challenging, the road is paved well and has a couple of nice picnic stops where I met a couple of riders chilling on the road side. After a bit of checking out each others rides we elected to cruise back towards San Marcos untill we would split going our own ways. RR 32 eventually intersects with RR 12 and I'm back in San Marcos heading for the barn. All in all, about a 200 mile drive, a beautiful day (though it did start getting pretty warm towards the end, close to a hundred F), and a chance to meet some interestin folks. A perfect bike day. I frequent this part of the country just for this readon. Hope your days are filled with the same.