Texas Hill Country: Milton Reimers Ranch Park

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Texas Hill Country: Milton Reimers Ranch Park

To put it in perspective, Texas is twice as large as Germany and 25% larger than France. It is a big place. A lot of folks picture the state as one giant, flat Hollywood desert, but it holds completely different worlds. Most Texans identify far more with their specific region than the state as a whole.



The Hill Country once was a shallow sea. Our small family farm is located there. We often find seashells and fossils in our pastures. Today, we have rolling limestone hills, spring-fed rivers, live Oaks, and historic towns scattered about.  For my first CB1100 ride in the Lone Star State, I decided to travel to the Milton Reimers Ranch Park. It has been 15 years since I rode in Texas. I wanted to reacquaint myself with the twisty roads, narrow pavement, and water crossings. The chip seal and asphalt concrete roads are different than what I rode on in the East Bay. I wanted a quiet ride with no drama.

I was ready when the sun was rising on the farm:



The animals do not know what to think about the motorcycle. This baby deer was particularly curious, or perhaps simply wanted more deer corn for breakfast:



I inspected my motorcycle and gear. Both were good to go, as was my mindset. I still struggle with taking selfies. I guess that is what happens when you do not start until you are in your sixties!





The journey began in Round Mountain, TX, with the Milton Reimers Ranch Park as the destination. The round trip was about 35 miles on back roads. Because I was leaving at dawn, I was confident I would have the road to myself. Later in the day, I would probably share the road with a Ford F250 loaded up with teenagers, listening to Megadeth, headed to one of countless lakes. The road is never congested, but I wanted to stop and take a few pictures without worrying about anything. Also, it gets hell-hot later in the day:



Round Mountain is a community of 200 people. Most are retired. As is common in rural Texas, everyone I have met is polite, helpful, and loves the land. If you stretch the definition, I live in a subdivision with an average lot size of 10 acres. I live at the “top” of Round Mountain on a seven-acre horse farm. Long ago, the mountains gave way to hills. We maintain our own roads, drill water wells, and look out for one another. No one is overtly pushy or aggressive, but we take care of what needs doing without waiting on someone from the gov’ment to intervene. Here is the road that leads to our entry gate, complete with a cattle guard. It is common throughout the area:



Although the maps suggest that the road to Milton Reimers is straight, it actually turns frequently, just not dramatically. It is also “hilly” by Hill Country Standards:



I stopped along the way to take a few pictures to document the scenery and to check out the motorcycle. Both were great:





If anyone has watched Yellowstone, Milton Reimers Ranch shares a similar story arc.



It began life as a 2,500-acre working ranch founded by the Reimer family in 1893. In the 1960s, Milton inherited the ranch. He and his wife had a philanthropic bent and started making portions available to the public. As the years passed, they became increasingly concerned about developer encroachment and the changes that might happen around their property and all that meant for the region.

Although it was a profitable ranch, Milton offered the land to Travis County in hopes that it would forever remain intact and would provide a buttress against subdivisions dotting the landscape. It worked.

I love this ride because once I enter the Ranch, I can park in one of several properly maintained parking lots complete with bathrooms, rest areas, tables, and barbecue pits. I can also hike to streams, ponds, and rivers that have well-maintained paths. Park Rangers attend to everything and gently enforce reasonable rules:





I turned off the iPhone on the way back and used dead reckoning to get home. I was not sure which road I was on, but it did not matter. I knew the direction from the sun, and that was good enough. With plenty of gas in the tank, I let myself indulge.



Welcome to the Hill Country. Happy Labor Day. David