Tales from the Road: MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 11: Twisted Sisters Washout

Saguaro Country, Day 11
Twisted Sisters Washout
Wednesday May 8, 2019

Texas Hill Country. We've been here quite a few times before and have ridden much of the Hill Country, but never the "official" Twisted Sisters route. This involves three roads, Rt 337, Rt 336, and Rt 335, looping from Kerrville through Medina, Leakey (pronounced lay-key and the scene of the now-infamous Diesel Boi incident), Barksdale and north, then back to Leakey and eventually back to Kerrville. Some of these stretches, particularly Rt 336 north of Leakey, involve some highly technical riding among canyons and steep hillsides without guardrails. That part of the ride I've done several times.

During the night, heavy storms rumbled through the Hill Country. The forecast calls for clearing later today, so we start with a leisurely breakfast at the Branding Iron restaurant in the hotel. The YO Ranch Hotel, just off I-10 at the northern end of Kerrville, was built in 1984 for hunters and visitors to the Hill Country. It's a throwback western-themed hotel with a giant open lobby featuring a large ironwork sculpture and quite a number of mounted game trophies. The whole feeling is "rugged western outdoorsman;" I don't recall staying in any place similar to this.

We watch WeatherBug as the heavy weather tries to move out, but instead of moving out like a "normal" front, the Hill Country continues to spawn more and more popup cells, one after the other, some of which are severe. I contemplate how I've changed over the years of riding. In days gone by, we always had a pact that unless it's unsafe, weather would not affect our plans. Today's rider is a little bit older and a lot less bolder (apologies to Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band). If this were a travel day, we'd suit up and ride -- as witness our rain-soaked journey from Vicksburg to Gulfport, which sounds like it could be a song in its own right -- but for a scenic, camera-opportunity leisure ride, somehow I'm just not feeling the suit-up-and-ride-in-severe-weather vibe this morning. And there's a safety issue: A lot of these Hill Country roads have low spots without bridges (usually well-marked with warning signs and depth measuring poles) where water can rise quickly and dramatically. The ground here is already saturated from weeks of rain, so the probability of flooding is not only a safety issue (WeatherBug keeps alerting for flood warnings on my phone) but could be a route-altering event, as those flooded areas are not likely to be passable on a motorcycle. At least not on a motorcycle under my control. All I can say about this is: I feel the way I feel. I'm not fighting it. There are enough sunny days to make up for it. Don't judge me.

So here we are in the hotel, watching the rain descending in sheets from sodden gray skies. I've looked at the Twisted Sisters route and have deciphered several alternative shorter routes that we could execute depending on what the day gives us. We are the blue pin in the middle of the screen below. Hill Country is to the south and west; that is, pretty much all the places with the yellow splotches.

A little bit older, a lot less bolder

Water is seeping in through our ground-floor patio door sill from a three-inch pond on the patio. This hotel is unusual in that the rooms all feature terracotta tile floors instead of carpet, so the water spreads quickly. We throw a bunch of towels onto our miniature pond and no damage is done, as the water recedes quickly when the rain eases.

The hotel maid comes in and takes the towels. "Maintenance," she says, observing the damp spot on the floor. If our hotel room is flooding, I can only imagine what those low spots in the Hill Country roads are doing!

By noon the skies are finally clearing, and I tell Kitty I think we can think about starting to saddle up in about a half hour. By 1:30 PM we have a clear blue sky, and I estimate the roads in the Hill Country have had some time to settle down, so we set off for a delayed Twisters Sisters route, modified to fit into an afternoon.

Apple Store

Rolling south out of Kerrville, there are a lot of sharp curves with water still in the roadway, or washed-out gravel. It makes for a cautious 25-mile run to Medina, as this road has quite a few technically challenging situations where the road may crest a steep hill while at the same time making a sharp turn. Lines of sight are disorienting, so it pays to stay sharp on this stretch.

Consolation Prize

Our first stop is at the Apple Store in Medina. No, not the the iPhone kind - the Mom and apple pie kind. Here, Kitty has a makeup apple pie (a consolation prize since Royer's was closed yesterday) with some apple ice cream, both awesome. She gets an apple-oatmeal cookie to take back to the hotel.

I'd planned to visit the Lone Star Motorcycle Museum near Vanderpool but removing it from was one of the modifications I made to the route. I point out to Kitty where it is as we make the left turn on Rt 337.

"You could go to the museum," she encourages.

"Nope. If God gives us a half day to ride the Hill Country, I want to be riding my motorcycle, not wandering around in a museum."

After navigating another quite technical stretch to Leakey, I ride up and down the streets in search of the Diesel Pump of Shame, but I can't find it. Perhaps in the intervening years that service station has been rebuilt or replaced with something else. I had planned to get fuel there even though I don't need it, just to prove that I can do it right.

All day we've been passing dozens of game ranches, and often we see exotic horned animals that would look at home on the African savanna. They are too shy for picture-taking, for as soon as we slow or stop, they are generally gone. I have no good photographs of these animals. There are also many goat farms in West Texas, and we ride past large herds of multi-colored goats as well. Sometimes we see large ranch houses perched on top of a hill, accessible by steep winding lanes from the valley below.

The Hill Country roads are unique among all the travels I've done. The road changes around every curve, with a bewildering variety of topography in what at first appears to be the same everywhere you look. There are some stretches of 70-mph roads, and others with 10-mph suggested turn speeds. There are extremely steep short grades as the road wanders down a hillside to a river crossing and up the other side. "Like a roller coaster for adults" I tell Kitty. These are just roads that make me feel good to be here, and I'm especially enjoying this ride because this morning it looked for all the world like the day would be a complete washout.

I've removed Rt 336 from today's shortened ride. That's a really curvy, technical ride for the rider, not so much for the passenger. If I have to make a modification, I'll go with keeping something I know Kitty will enjoy.

After turning north on Rt 335 at Camp Wood, we have a few miles of 75 mph speed limit before venturing once more into the roller-coaster curves that are typical of the Hill Country.

We finish out the ride with a splendid run eastward on Rt 41. With its gentle sweeps, expansive views and 75 mph speed limit, it's nice to stretch it out for about 40 miles. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to ride high-speed sweepers on a good road, and Kitty comments how solid the bike feels at high speeds on these turns. On this route we see the most majestic wildflower carpets so far in our Texas sojourns. Huge fields are literally carpeted in yellow and burnt-orange, with blue and white flowers mixed in just for variety. It's intoxicating, bewildering. And it goes on for mile after mile after mile. It's almost too much beauty for this Pennsylvania mountain boy (transplanted to Virginia) to drink in or comprehend. I've never seen anything like this except in Texas, and I'd never get tired of it. Just absolutely amazing!

"It's been a good day!" we both say as we pull into the hotel after fueling. We did end up riding just under 200 miles in our weather-shortened day.

I've uploaded the GPS track in lieu of SpotWalla because of the much higher fidelity of the GPS track and because I can include an elevation graph (always Kitty's favorite part of reviewing a day's ride).

After dinner at the hotel restaurant, I untether the trailer and reconnect it to the bike, testing all the connections. We rearrange a few things and I think we're ready for the morning. We have two relatively easy days to ride about 750 miles to Bisbee, AZ.