Other than typical Texas road hazards, one night of freezing Texas riding weather, and one uninvited black squirrel in my cabin, my travels were surprisingly trouble free.
During the days, the weather was perfect for riding. Temperatures around the hill country between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00p.m, ranged from 45-78 F. Ideally, riding during the peak sun hours would be best for me, since I have no heated clothing and have little tolerance for cold.
However, one day, I got a very late start and ended up riding until 11:00 p.m. I was cold, but managing pretty well until the last 50-60 miles when the cloud cover moved out and a front moved in. The temperature dropped into the 20's. I was bitterly cold when I finally found the turn off for the cabin located about two miles down a dirt road.
A map of the area around 1888
This is what the road to the cabin looked like during the day. At night – it is VERY dark and quiet and sort of eerie.
Pretty………. And desolate!
By the time I arrived at the cabin, I was angry with myself and so cold I thought I would never warm again. I turned down the short dirt road drive and pulled to the back of the cabin as the instructions had said. When I rolled around the corner, I saw one of the nicest things I could have hoped for at that time – a fire already started and burning in an outdoor fire pit. The cabin owner had come out and started the fire for me when he found out I was going to be coming in after dark. I managed a smile at the thought of a stranger’s kindness toward me. I parked the bike, unloaded the cases, went inside, checked the place out, and turned on some heat!
Once inside, I could tell this was more of a hunter's cabin/bunkhouse than the chic little cottage as I had imagined it to be. Only one heater in the living area, so I also turned on the stove and oven to try to warm things up a bit faster.
While waiting for the house to warm, I went outside and rekindled the fire to get a warming blaze and then took a picture of the moon in the clear sky.
I slept well that night under three blankets and one sleeping bag!!! The next day, I had a look around the place while I waited for two of my friends to arrive in the afternoon. Neither of the two women ride motorcycles, nor spend a lot of time outdoors, but I knew we’d have a good time just hanging out together. They only stayed one night, but I laughed more in that one night than I have all year, I think.
While waiting on them to arrive, I took the Kawasaki Mule left there for my use, and drove around the ranch.
A couple of the many lakes and the Blanco River on the land:
Overlook of some of the land
Road hazards for women in a Kawasaki Mule on ranch roads. These longhorns did not want to move out of the road. It was a standoff. We won.
Fortunately, no Longhorn cattle were harmed and neither were we! That night while we were sitting and talking in the cabin, a black squirrel came in through a hole in the roof. One of my friends saw it jump into a hole above the wood burning oven. I’m sure you can imagine what it was like for 3 women in a cabin with a wild animal loose in there. The only deterrent we could think of to keep from being attacked by a black squirrel in the middle of the night was to try to trap him in the holes. None of us wanted to get that close – but, well – I drew the short straw. They, on the other hand, stood by me and would scream periodically just to startle me again. I know, I know – it’s just a squirrel. But……. We are women and things like that scare some of us. This was our answer for the black squirrel - Styrofoam cups shoved in the holes. They remained intact the whole time I was there – so it worked long enough.
We all managed to survive the night with the black squirrel. My friends left the next day. I did some more exploring on the ranch and some fishing. No luck with fly fishing – although I’ve heard the average size bass is 5 pounds on this ranch with some even as big as 11 pounds. I don’t know much about bass fishing though, but I assume I should have used something sinking rather than hoping they would take something off the surface since the water was so cold and they were probably sluggish. I still had a lot of fun.
And I found this neat old truck on the ranch later that afternoon after a ride into Luckenbach. I had fun photographing.
The rest of my time, I spent taking rides out from the ranch through the hill country until I had to return to Houston. Below are some of the photos from around the area.
More road hazards
Luckenbach, Tx – a Bike gathering every Sunday. I saw one of the riders later in a ditch off Old Tunnel Road. I think he was fine, but his bike was messed up. Mostly Harley riders – kind of snobbish too.
The obligatory churches
Brenham, TX
Cistern, TX
Some old buildings
Grapetown
LaGrange (famous for "The Chicken House" in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and in ZZ Top's song, "La Grange". The establishment ran 129 years before being shut down in 1973. The place is no longer there, so no photos of "the boarding house". It was moved to Dallas and used as a restaurant or nightclub after being shut down).
La Grange courthouse and visitor center
Colorado River in La Grange
Brenham – JH Faske Co (Big Jewelry store)
Kendalia (grocery store/cafe)
Sisterdale
And some varied roads.
More photos can be seen HERE
I've read of too many instances where people have done the same thing and unfortunately not survived. Glad you did!
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