TEXAS TRIKE REUNION (TTR)

One of the earliest trike get togethers of each new year happens in the month of April in the great state of Texas.  This ride was started in 2008 by George Lewis.  He was trying to see how many trikers he could coerce  down to the town of Kerrville, Tx.  About 12 trikes attended the first year and it  has grown every year since.  Judy and I decided to go this year and even talked my brother, Steve and his wife, Charlene to go with us.  We knew that it would be a good 2 day trip from our home in Central Illinois to the hill country of Texas.  We started our trip on April 16 with temperatures in the high 30’s.  We have family in the Dallas area so our plan was to head to Dallas, spend a couple of days recouping, and then head down to Kerrville.  We packed our lunch, so around noon we looked for a rest area where we could eat and rest.

After a quick lunch, I glanced over and caught my brother writing in his diary.  He keeps an accurate record of our trips.

The second day of our journey was filled with a steady downpour of rain.  By the time that we arrived in Dallas, we were saddle sore and ready to get off and dry.

After spending a few days with family, we started for Weatherford, TX, where we were to meet up with another triker couple that we had met 2 years ago in Nashville.  Ken and Martha Crawford  met us at a gas station and volunteered to lead us to Kerrville.  Ken and Martha are a great couple and easy to be around.  We thoroughly enjoy our time when we are together.

Texas is noted for their BBQ and we were not going to pass up some good BBQ.  I forget the name of the BBQ and even forgot what town it was in.  However, I didn’t forget how good the food was.

We really filled up here and had to waddle back to our trikes.  After loading up, we were again on our way to Kerrville. Our leader and his lovely wife, Martha, are always on the lookout for great wineries.  They located one on the way to Kerrville, and  just had to check it out.

We spent about 45 minutes at this winery then hopped on the trikes to finish the rest of the trip.  We arrived at our destination about 4:00p.m.

After unpacking and meeting up with old friends, our group decided to go to a Mexican Restaurant for supper.  We had a rather large group and I wasn’t sure if they could accommodate us or not.  It was not a problem and they got us right in.

The food was great and I did something that I very seldom do.  I didn’t finish my meal.  I ordered a chicken sandwich.  That thing was bigger than my head.  I ate and ate and finally had to throw in the towel.  I couldn’t eat any more.

After supper, we headed back to the hotel and sat around outside and caught up with old friends, and made new ones.

After a good nights sleep and a great free breakfast, we all met back at our trikes and started lining up for a trip to Luckenbach, some riding in the country, and a trip to Llano for some famous BBQ.  Here are some pictures on the way to Luckenbach and some pictures of the town itself.

Our friends, Johnny, Ruthie, and Shelly sharing a funnel cake.  It looked very delicious but I wasn’t offered any of it.

After spending about an hour walking around Luckenbach, we saddled up headed out riding toward Llano and some world famous Coopers Old Time Pit BBQ.

We drove directly to Coopersspot and saw all of these long bbq pits.

Another day of waddling back to our trikes after some delicious vittles.  The sky was a beautiful blue with gorgeous clouds when we left.

After lunch, we took some country roads to see some of the rock formations and wild flowers.

We had to cross many water crossings.  Our leaders would go over them first to make sure that they were not too deep.  Texas had seen quite a bit of rain and there were a several flash floods.  This was one of the many water crossings.

The area that we were riding in had free range cattle.  We saw some cattle but not a bunch.  We did, however, have to cross over many cattle guards.  Cattle guards keep the cows from crossing from one persons property into the next persons property.

Texas is noted for their famous Blue Bonnet wild flowers.   They only bloom in the early spring.  Lucky for us, we were able to see them in their full bloom.  We were also able to see several other species of wild flowers.

During our ride, we came across a row of fence post that had some old boots on the top of each post.  We were not able to find out what the significance of this was but it was still pretty cool.

The next day was supposed to be the day that we all got to ride the Three Sisters.  The Three Sisters are three highways that wind through the hill country.  They are very curvy and scenic.  We had to meet at a fair grounds in another town, get our instructions from our leaders, and leave from there.  There were too many trikes for us to all ride together so we split up into 3 groups.  Here we are staging up for our ride and getting our instructions.

I’m sure that these critters were not native to Texas but they were there nonetheless.

Below are some pictures from our ride that day.

After a short trip, we arrived at our lunch destination, Neals Dining Room.   Neals Resort is located on the Frio River in the middle of nowhere.  It was started in 1926 and is still owned by the same family that started it.  They have great meals and beautiful scenery.

It was at the end of this meal that my lovely and precious wife, Judy,  started having chest pains.  She had had a heart attack the previous summer and the symptoms were identical to her heart attack.  Our resident nurse and friend, Martha Crawford, took over the situation and found some nitro pills for her to take.  The pain did not go away so we took an ambulance trip to the nearest hospital which was located 30 miles away.  Unbeknownst to us, my brother Steve and sister-in-law Charlene, Ken and Martha Crawford, and Johnny and Ruthie Lane followed our ambulance to the hospital.  It was great having their support when we were so far from home.  After spending 3 hours in the hospital, they discharged her and said that it was a bad case of acid reflux.  The cocktail and medicine that they gave her never took the symptoms away.   Over the course of 2 months, the symptoms continued.  She finally saw her cardiologist at home and he discovered what was causing her discomfort.  He prescribed a timed-released nitro and since that time, she has not had any other symptoms.

The next day, some of the women decided that they wanted to go into Fredricksburg to do some shopping.  Ken Crawford, my brother Steve, and I decided to travel down to a small town called Medina.  We ended up at a small restaurant called the Apple Store.  The had everything apples.  Pies, cookies, T shirts, and some great meals in their cafe.  I had a chicken salad sandwich which had plenty of diced apples in it.  Fine eating.  Steve and Ken wouldn’t let me sit at their table.

On our way back to the hotel, the boys wanted to wade in one of the cool rivers that we had crossed on the way down.  We found one that was damned up and they  could hardly wait to get their feet wet.

We had heard reports about the last night of the Trike Reunion.  I had read about this couple that would bring their BBQ wagon, set it up on the hotel parking lot, and cook BBQ for the riders for a nominal fee.  That couple brought their wagon again and made the most delicious supper for us.  Boyd and Laura Howard had their routine down to a science.  They started in the morning getting things prepared for our supper.  Several times throughout the day, you could smell the aroma of chicken, ribs, and brisket slowly cooking  on the grill.

While waiting for the meal to begin, I looked into the parking lot and saw Johnny Lane’s trike parked in the parking lot.  As was the usual case, the Lehman needed some TLC.  It was apparent from the empty lot that everybody knows to get out of Johnny’s way when he starts working on his bike.

While Boyd and Laura prepared the meal, all of us hungry birds sat around the table with our mouths open just waiting for the go sign.

And then there was the liars circle trying to outdo each other with all of their riding stories.  They were also patiently waiting .

Finally, the go sign that we could all get in line and have some of the best meat that was ever cooked over a flame.  They said, help yourself and boy we did.

 

We all ate until we couldn’t eat any more.  What a great finale for a great weekend.

Great country, great friends, great food, and  great memories.