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Ride to the Hill Country
June , 2007
On June 16th and 17th of 2007 some of the brothers
of Montgomery #25, and their ladies, rode to the hill country for the weekend.
This was a first for the lodge as we had never done a ride like this before.
It became known as the
"Montgomery #25 First Annual Fun Run"
and we had a patch made for the occasion.
(With a large thanks to the folks
at
Ghost N Red for allowing us to re-print their blog on our site. )
I belong to a very old
fraternity
that I first joined when I was living in
New York.
One day as we were sitting around the lodge and visiting with each other we came
to the realization that quite a few of us rode motorcycles. One thing lead to
another and that was the beginning of the planning for "the" run.
Thus was born the "First Annual Montgomery #25
Fun Run".
As this was the first run we put together it was decided that only members (and
their ladies of course) of Montgomery #25 would be allowed to participate. Next
year the run will be open to all brothers and their ladies who wish to take part
in the run.
Our Peerless Leader proclaimed loudly -
and often - that it would be "wheels up" at 0800 hours from the
lodge. To
make sure that Lil Red and I did not miss this historic occasion we made sure
that we arrived at the lodge by 0730 hours.
When we got there we found Bro. George
waiting for us.
 We
were soon joined by Bro. Eric and his lady Mary, and Bro. Andy (sorry Andy, we
didn't get a picture of you with the new bike). In fact by 0745 hours everyone
who was going on the run was there - with one exception - yup, you got it - our
Peerless Leader and his lady were
absent.
0800 hours came and went, 0815 hours came and went, 0830 hours came and went
and still no word from Peerless Leader.
After several phone calls to our Peerless
Leader we came to the realization that he was not going to meet us at
the lodge due to the weather between his location and ours. So at 0910 - after
waiting for the rain to pass us by - off we rode (after opening the lodge
building for those oh-so-necessary last minute pit-stops) in the remains of a
Texas rain squall to meet P.L. and
April in Plantersville where we would begin our run to
Fredricksburg which is in
the " Hill Country" of Texas.
P.L. stated that, "there was no sense in
him getting any wetter than he already was in order to come and meet us when we
could travel the five or six miles and meet him". Personally, I think the lovely
April had something to do with that
decision!
Anyway, once we got everything sorted out it was off to the Hill Country!
And what a great day it was for the trip. Overcast with cool temperatures and
even the threat of rain could not dampen our spirits as we traveled out Highway
105 towards
Navasota.
P.L. knows the area very well and - I must say - was the perfect
tour-guide. He took us through all the by-ways and back roads and led us into
Bellville where we made our first stop at Neuman's Bakery located at 504
East Main Street Bellville, Texas 77418. Neuman's is a very popular place for
riders to stop and have breakfast or lunch while on the road. An hour later we
left Neuman's - filled up with coffee, waffles, omelette's, etc. - ready for
some more riding.
I wish that I had photos to show you all of the wonderful country-side that we
rode through, but because Lil Red and I were riding single-up on this trip, we
were unable to take photos while we were on the road. Suffice to say, it was
some of the most beautiful country-side that I had seen in a long time and you
will have to make the trip yourself to see if I am right.
Our next stop was in the town of
Wimberley where we stopped
to have lunch at the
Wimberley Cafe . The food was great, the company fantastic and a good time
was had by all.
Once we were done with lunch, we rode once around the square and then it was "on
the road again" via the back roads, over the hill and through the dale to
someplace that everyone needs to visit at
least once in their lives. This is a town that has a population of 3 and was put
on the map by Willie Nelson and
Waylon Jennings. Yup,
Luckenbach, Texas was our next
stop.
We pulled into Luckenbach and found that even though the population is only 3 it
was filled with a lot of friendly people. As you can see by the photos you can
spend a day there and never be bored or lonely. There is a post office, bar, and
- depending on your point of view - most importantly - a stage where anyone who
brought their instrument can get up and join in the jam.
There is some very interesting information about who
"Hondo" is and why
there is a bust of him in front of the post office.
We knocked back a few cold ones, bought some souvenirs, and listened to the
great music for awhile and then it was "back in the saddle again".
We continued following P.L. - after all,
he hadn't led us into any rain - yet... and after another hour or so pulled into
downtown Fredricksburg and made it out to our motel
  where
we had a few hours to kill before going out to dinner.
We took a break and relaxed while our P.L.
went and made reservations for us at the
Cotton Gin restaurant where we
had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed the company of each other after a long day in
the saddle. Then it was back to the motel and around the pool for some more
visiting. The visiting ended quickly when the heavens opened up on us and we
finally got the rain that had been threatening us all day.
I must say that P.L had managed to keep
us out of the rain by proper prior planning, fantastic foresight, incredible
intelligence and knowing which way to turn on the back roads, i.e. if the clouds
are on the left, turn right. It worked very well as we got to Fredricksburg
without getting wet again (after our first wetting going out to meet
P.L)
Day Two
There is, I think, a certain majesty inherent to dark clouds forming on the
horizon. Watching the beauty of nature while never forgetting the awesome force
contained within the darkness of those clouds is something that I never get
tired of doing.
Of course this natural beauty is also a biker's dilemma for sure. As you ride
you enjoy the beauty but in the back of your mind is the thought that you are
about to get soaked, pelted with bb's of rain and, at its worst, even hit with
hail.
While we managed to miss and/or avoid all the rain and most of the clouds
yesterday, we woke up to the sky that you see in the photo. The weather channel
was predicting/warning of flash floods for the surrounding area and all that
kept coming to my mind were visions of the dips that we went through with the
high-water gauges on the side of the road.
A quick glance out of our second story window showed that our bikes had not been
spared during the night. They were completely soaked from the rain that fell
while we were sleeping. Some of us were wakened from our sleep by the force of
the rainfall but Lil Red and I were lucky, I guess, as we slept right through
all the down-pour.
If you look closely you can see water standing in the button pockets on George's
bike.
P.L. had set the departure time at 0800
hours and we were all outside, ready to go at that time. As we waited for
P.L. to show up I got a chance to take
some photos of the sky in all directions. One of the nicer ones is the one with
the church in the distance.
It didn't matter which way
we
looked, it was going to rain.
We finally got our P.L. up and ready to
roll by warming up all the bikes at the same time (well, we
were parked right outside his window)
after wiping them all down - even P.L.'s,
having morning coffee and waiting for those who had to make thirty-'leven
last minute pit stops.
At long last P.L. graced us with his
presence and swore that he had told us
that "wheels up" was at 0930 hours. Ignoring his bald faced deceit and faulty
memory of what was said the night before, we called a hasty council of war and
concluded that the best thing to do was to make a straight run back to the
Houston area. This we did, taking 290 east out of town, and while it was not as
beautiful a ride as the day before we still had a great time, stopping in
Johnson City for breakfast and
Giddings for lunch.
The rains that were coming up from the gulf coast and through the Houston area
finally caught up with us just as we pulled into Giddings so it was time to stop
anyway.
After lunch and gassing up one more time, it was time for "goodbyes and
see-you-next-times". The main group was heading up Highway 6 back towards
Montgomery while Lil Red and I were heading back to the Cypress area. As we
approached the intersection of Highway 6 and 290 Lil Red and I waved our last
goodbyes and as the main group headed up Highway 6 we headed back to Cypress,
the dogs, the cat, and chilling with a cold one as we relived a great week-end
full of fun people, new places and a great ride.
And how was your ride?
For More Information Contact:
Montgomery Lodge #25 A.F. & A.M.
600 Eva Street Montgomery, Texas 77356
Tel: 936 - 597 - 6927
FAX:
Internet:
sec [at] montgomery25afam [dot] org
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