Amarillo Ride May 1, 2008
Day 1 San Antonio to Sweetwater.
A real nice riding day, heading north and west a little, through the Hill Country. We headed up to Boerne, then took 1376 to Fredericksburg. This is one of the nicer roads in the area, and traffic was quiet as we cruised. In Fredericksburg we stopped in front of the courthouse to stretch our legs a little, then on to Mason along hwy 87. We stopped at the town square in Mason to check out the Sandstone Cellars Winery tasting room, got some gas, and headed towards Mason and Brady. The Mason area is real nice. In Brady we stopped at a local diner for a good lunch, then headed out due north, heading out of the Hill Country and into flatter territory. Long stretches of road with ranch and farm land on either side, wide open spaces, and little traffic. As we neared Sweetwater we ran through one of the main wind turbine areas in Texas. There are hundreds of these giants, on both sides of the road. We stopped along hwy 70 and took pictures, then headed into Sweetwater, a day of about 280 miles of great riding.
Now Mother had made the reservations in the hotel based on a phone conversation with the owner who said they loved bikers and didn’t care if we were loud. If you were driving into town to look for a place to stay, you would never stop where we did – lets say the motel does not have much curb appeal. But as these things always turn out for us on club rides, it was great. The room were clean, the beds good, and the people real friendly. Little Jon (aka Mother) in particular struck up a close relationship with the owner, Ms. Hernandez, one of the few grown-ups (she is about 4’11” tall) who looks up to Jon....The bar was tiny but the beer was cold and cheap, and the restaurant dished out some really fine Mexican food. We all relaxed for a good long while. A few beers were drunk, Jim brought out his scotch, and he, Dwaine, Daniel and Scott made sure none was left before we turned in.