Day 12 - San Antonio to Austin, TX

Our route today was all about the journey, taking us through parts of the Texas Hill Country. Our mileage was 370 miles, ultimately bringing us into Austin. After yesterday's scorching temps, we dressed for the predicted 78 high temps for the day. Once we hit the road before 8:30am, we quickly realized that the very gusty winds were quite cold out of the north. We began the day on I10 in rush hour traffic, but it was moving. We turned off to TX-16 West and traffic was much more sparse. The scenery started to change to scrubby trees on the outer suburbs of the city. 

After 30 more minutes, we were both cold and also needed to fuel up the bike. We stopped at a gas station that was also a market and taxidermy business. It was much nicer than it sounds, and clean. Michele put on a fleece and her windproof jacket liner. Rob stayed with what he had on. A decision he would regret as the temps never warmed up. We would both have been better off with jeans instead of shorts under our riding pants, and possibly the heated jacket. We didn't realize that we ride a majority of the day above 1,500 feet maxing out at 2,300 feet, all while the wind was super gusty. Despite being a bit chilly at times, the scenery was amazing! 

We were not expecting so many curvy roads and low mountains. After so much highway driving on this trip, it was a nice change to have some twisty roads. 

This is the Guadalupe River that we crossed over and rode parallel to for awhile. In places it was emerald green in color. 

During our ride we had to stop for some construction work. While waiting on the pilot truck to escort us, of group of 7 motorcyclists caught up with us.

As soon as we got through the construction, Rob pulled to the right side of the road and waved the on by. We didn't want to hold them up on their ride.

We came across this field of flowers. We believe they were blue bonnets. Looking it up later, we think it is part of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center. It looks like a neat place to visit if we come back.  

At Noon we stopped for lunch at Rio Ranch Cafe in Kerrville. It was definitely a local favorite as the parking lot was busy as was inside. As we pulled up, Michele noticed a SUV pulled up in front of another taxidermy business that was across the parking lot. On a platform in front of the grille was a gigantic turkey! We assume they were having it stuffed. Inside, we found a table and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with sauteed mushrooms and melted Swiss, and the tomatoes and lettuce were fresh. Service was quick and attentive. We would definitely eat there again. After lunch a man asked if we rode the bike from Virginia. His son lives in Norfolk. He invited us to visit the saloon he owns “on the highway” but we forgot the name and didn’t know which highway he meant. 

Rob put on his windproof liner after lunch as the temps were still below 70F. A little before 1pm, we were back on the road, continuing along the Hill Country Trail. 

We found Utopia on today's ride.

We also saw the Bandera county court house.

We saw quite a few wineries around Fredricksburg. The number of wineries reminded us of all the wineries that have been growing in Northern VA. Looks like Texas is trying to put their mark on the winery business also. There were also a few impressive breweries and a vodka distillery.

Michele likes looking at the names of the ranch gates. The ones so far on the trip she's liked best are Broken Horn Ranch and Two Toes Ranch. Rob asked what happened to the other eight toes? 

Today we saw a new animal of the trip - buffalo! 

We also saw a Stonehenge like structure.

About 45 minutes from our hotel, traffic really started picking up as we approached Austin. We pulled into our hotel in Buda, Tx (pronounced Byooda according to Rob’s coworkers) at about 3:30pm. We checked in and rested a bit before walking over to the Cracker Barrel for dinner. Michele saw a billboard for chicken and dumplins’ at the beginning of the trip and it’s been on her mind ever since. She ordered the Wednesday special instead, baked chicken and cheesy broccoli. 

Tomorrow we will do errands and maybe a little sightseeing.