Monday, May 19, 2008

20th Wedding Aniversary - Ride

Hi All,

This weekend I celebrated my anniversary with my wife. I have been want to take a long weekend trip on my bike for some time now and decide this would be the perfect weekend to do so. I live in Katy, Tx. with my wife and 2 kids.

We love the Hill Country of Austin, so this is where we decided to go. I made reservations at a Bed and Breakfast and did not tell Kim so as to surprise her. We had 2 rules for this ride, 1 pack light, very light. 2 no schedule. We dropped the kido's of at Grandma's and Granddad’s Friday night. I hardly slept that night; I couldn't wait to get on the road.

We got up at 6:30am and were on the road by 7. It was a chilly 65° so we had to layer up. Rode for about and hr. and had to stop for gas noticed it has started to warm up a little bit Kim was still cold. It was cloudy out and the sun was not real bright but I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. Drove through Brenham thought about stopping for breakfast but we decided to keep going. 45 minutes later we came to Giddings and started looking for a local restaurant (didn't want chain food), looks like the town is going to have a parade and cookout, didn't see anywhere that interest us so we kept on going. I think we are still excited about the ride and not very hungry.

We made to Elgin time to stop and get some gas and stretch our legs. Getting to late for breakfast now so I had candy bar, 1/2 bag of chips and bottle water, breakfast of champs ;-). Sun is fully up by now time to take of the jackets. Made a wrong turn in Austin took us out of the way by 30mins, no worries still just enjoying the ride. Found my way to Mt. Bonnell very beautiful scenery. Rode back down the mountain and headed for the Oasis just outside Austin.



We arrived at the Oasis at 12ish, had a light lunch and a great view of Lake Travis. If you never have been there, I highly recommend it. The Oasis is multilevel decks sitting on top of a hill overlooking Lake Travis. Foods not that good but the scenery and drinks are.

Next stop the Bed and Breakfast in Kyle, Tx. Nice ride hills and winding roads. Ok now this is where I have to explain, I watch to many movies and kept playing a movie over and over in my head where a couple stays in a hotel and watch a video of some murders and realized it was in their room, so yea kinda nerves about it.

We arrived in about a 1 1/2hrs. It sits 1 mile off the road (not making me feel any better). After parking and unloading our bag, Kim was very happy about the surprise, said it was beautiful and it was, but the 1st thing I noticed was a sign that said canceled guns not aloud (yea right, what do you want me to do with it carry it in the open so you can see I have protection. I think the gun will stay out of sight). As we walked up the side walk we were greeted by a young man (Don Hauk) anxious to show us around (good thing he all his teeth or I was out of there). There were 2 main buildings; we were in the first building, a two story on the second floor. It had a community porch in the front and back. The back side had the best view, we could see for miles and one of the best sunsets we've seen in a long time. We stayed in the Katherine Anne Porter Room, very large and spacious.

Very quiet and secluded, which brings up another thought. Where is everybody, this place was booked except for 2 rooms and I got one of them. We cleaned up and relaxed for awhile. Kim is still smiling, except for the fact that her feet are killing her. Note: Break boots in before you go on a long trip!

Dinner was European style seating. We meet 2 couples one celebrating 10yrs and the other still on their honeymoon. They all seemed very nice. Dinner entree was Salmon with Steam vegetables, dessert was a pastry with fresh strawberries and custard. Enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing. Slept very well, and woke up refreshed and ready to go. Breakfast was fresh fruit, bread and blueberry pancakes.

We got on the road for the return trip about 9am. It was a bright sunny day, had to put the sunscreen on. Stopped once for gas in Bastrop and had to stop for a break just outside Sealy. Also stopped in Katy for lunch at Midway Food Market and Bar-B-Que. Parked my bike next to another bike, turns out he works there we had a good talk.

Saw many bikers along the way, didn't get to ride with any maybe another time and another place. Mom stop reading here. In closing I want to give a special THANKS to the guy in black pickup truck for finally seeing us and stopping before pulling completely out in front of us, though we still has to swerve around him at 75mph and Kim wanted to kick his truck, I didn't want anything to spoil the ride so I just kept on going.

Oh yea, I finaly feel better about the Bed and Breakfast. I highly recommend it. We stayed at The Inn Above Onion Creek in Kyle, Tx.


PS. Just kidding about the gun thing.

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