The Cheese Weasels Do Big Bend, Texas

[Stichill_imp]

Day 5 - 27 March 2018 - Ozona back to Austin



There were thunderstorms overnight, which did a fantastic job of washing all the dust and grime off the bikes.



The weather to the east contained spotty areas of rain. The weather outside was cool, in the low 50s Fahrenheit.



We ate the complementary hotel breakfast and were on the highway by 7:30. We decided to just make time on interstate 10 and then hop off at TX 90 through Harper and on through Fredericksburg.


Stopping to add more layers off I-10

We were running the speed limit of 80 mph to keep up with the prevailing traffic. We came upon a convoy of wide-load chase cars that were all towing another chase car. It looked sketchy because they were small cars towing small cars of equal size. I was leading the group and had gotten out ahead when the the other three had peeled off at the rest area to layer up. I noticed the tow cars were weaving in their lanes as the wind, road surface, and loose front suspension on the towed cars caused them to wander left and right out of their lane. I applied throttle and got past them as quickly as possible.

After I had passed them, I went through a construction zone where speeds slowed to 45 mph and the lanes deviated. Behind me, my group approached the same construction zone, only they were behind the tow car convoy. As one of the convoy cars applied brakes to slow for the construction, it jack-knifed directly in front of one of our riders who was leading the following group of three. The guys said this happened only few car lengths ahead. As our buddy applied brakes and backed off, the jack-knifing tow cars did a 360° minuet in front of him, veered to the right, then sling-shotted back across to the left and into the median. The guys said it was one of the hairiest near-misses they'd ever seen on a bike.

At those cruising speeds, we saw that the Harleys were draining their fuel tanks rapidly. We saw a gas station in Harper and stopped to gas up. The store wasn't open on Tuesdays (go figure) but the pumps were working with credit cards. After topping off, we rode on a few more miles and found another one in Frederickburg to refresh.


Harper


Frederickburg

I made the mistake of continuing east on TX 290 past Dripping Springs to I-35 in Austin. TX 290 at that point becomes suburban stop-and-go. Then I-35 is a wild urban interstate jungle. Would have been better to cut back SE from Dripping Springs, using the same route we had on the way out.

We got back to Cowboy Harley Davidson around 12:30 pm, unpacked the bikes, changed clothes, and called an Uber to the airport.





All-in-all, a grand riding adventure over the incredibly scenic and beautiful landscapes of Texas.


Actual route, run clockwise from Austin