Thcr 2022

[Lee]

Tyson for Cathy's Brewery tour your can check out Pecan Street Brewery in Johnson City.


When we're in the Hill Country I usually buy beer from Real Ale Brewery in Blanco,
I like Devils Backbone.
https://realalebrewing.com/beers/dev...ied=4ce59603d9

I have not been to their Tap room.
https://realalebrewing.com/

https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/...m3!8m2!3m1!1e1

[802Mike]

Hey Lee, if you have any routes across MS and AK, could you share them sometime?
Right now it looks like we drop the truck and trailer off at a friend's house in Abingdon, VA.
From there we'll go south to the GA Mtns and to my daughter's place near Birmingham, AL
where well stay a couple of days and visit Barber. Then we need to head west across MS
and AK to the THCR.
Then we have to figure a way back.

[955i]

Ms Cathy will undoubtedly approve. BTW, she is over halfway to her goal!

[Susan]

[Lee]

Tyson, here's a route for Blanco. If you go to Johnson City you'll have a stretch of 281 and 290 that's busy and not interesting.






Here's another option with a burger stop at Alamo Springs Cafe.

[955i]

Thanks, Lee! Burgers and Beer. Perfect!

[Lee]

Hey Lee, if you have any routes across MS and AK, could you share them sometime?

Alaska is out of the way plus it's too cold in April

I don't know any good routes for crossing Mississippi and Alabama. Tim and Susan or Pete may be able to help.
Curt did a trip a few years ago with some interesting stops.

[802Mike]

Right... wrong abbreviation for Arkansas

[cabnfvr]

Mississippi and Arkansas -- We use the Hwy 49 bridge north of Clarksdale MS to avoid Memphis. Talimena Scenic Highway is a good road in AR. Check out last years ride reports to find places you like.

[Lee]

Another vote for the Talimena Scenic Highway. We've done that the last few years going or returning from Texas.

[Pete_Tallahassee]

Wes liked the roads in north Alabama.
https://theriderspace.com/forum/ridi...o-not-that-one

[Pittsdriverwes]

The Nachos Trace was a really nice ride getting down to Nachez and then just hit the highway over to Houston, Austin, and into HC. Coming back, I told google to avoid interstates fro Biloxi to Atlanta and it gave us one of the best multi-state rides yet including passing through historic Selma Alabama.

[Lee]

Hey Lee, if you have any routes across MS and AK, could you share them sometime?

You could pick up the Natchez Trace somewhere west of Birmingham.
If you have time visit Vicksburg National Military Park.
After Vicksburg you could backtrack 30 miles east and take the Natchez Trace south to Natchez.
Natchez, MS is a good town to see the Antebellum Mansions.

[802Mike]

I thought maybe we could take that road on the way back and go to Nashville.

[Lee]

Yep, it would work better for the return trip since it will take you NE.

[Susan]

If you like Elvis, there's Tupelo. If you're into blues music, there's Clarksdale.

[Capnrip]

Here's what I do, go to Google maps and turn on the terrain feature. Tells you what you need to know.

[955i]

Good plan for a boat captain - your terrain is usually flat! But, you're right, where the terrain goes up and down, the roads usually go round and round.(Hey, that's almost poetic! Hee-hee!)

[802Mike]

Looks like all roads just lead to another town. I found that in Ohio
when I tried to take all back roads to where my daughter lived on
the western side. The roads are like spokes on a wheel. No way
to avoid larger town.

[Lee]

Bluebonnet predictions for 2022.

https://www.jasonmerlo.com/gallery/2...-hill-country/

Looks like 152 and 2323 SW of Llano got enough rain.

Here's 2323 in 2019

[Capnrip]

Hey Lee, Elizabeth wants to know where the best armadillo road kill will be.

[802Mike]

I always thought Blue Bonnet was a substitute for butter.
Man, I like those bikes. If I didn't already have an '84 RS I'd see about getting one.

[955i]

[Lee]

We usually start to see them when we're coming down through Decatur, Mineral Wells and then Hwy 16.

[McFly]

Lee, have y'all stopped to see the old gas station made out of petrified wood & the old tourist camp behind it? If not & you come back through Decatur, it's kinda neat Americana.

[Lee]

Hey Lee, Elizabeth wants to know where the best armadillo road kill will be.

When trying to look up where you might see a armadillo I saw it's the official Texas small mammal and a cousin to Susan's favorite animal the Sloth

Today's useless fact:
The armadillo has an interesting method for crossing water, because its heavy shell causes it to sink. When faced with narrow streams or water-filled ditches, the armadillo will simply walk across the bottom, under water! In wider water bodies, armadillos swallow air to inflate their stomachs to twice its normal size, increasing buoyancy and allowing them to swim across. Afterward, it takes them hours to release the excess air.

[Pete_Tallahassee]

Nothing worse than a farting armadillo.

[McFly]

LOL... ain't that the truth!! ?

Plus, and you wouldn't think it, those little fuckers can run pretty fast & can jump too! On one of my backpacking trips with my dog, he spotted one right as we came into camp & chased him for about 20 yards, only to lose him when the armadillo jumped about 4 feet off the ground over a log & disappeared into the brush. They're very destructive too... if you don't throw down some insect pesticide on your lawn, they'll ruin it looking for grubs.

[Susan]

Possum on the half shell.

[802Mike]

I learned something today:
Possums vs Opossum

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...20a%20squirrel.

[Lee]

Lee, have y'all stopped to see the old gas station made out of petrified wood & the old tourist camp behind it? If not & you come back through Decatur, it's kinda neat Americana.

Not sure how we have missed it. Sometimes we take the bypass and sometimes the business route.
I put it in my GPS as a reminder.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Te...=en&authuser=0

[Lee]

Not sure how we have missed it. Sometimes we take the bypass and sometimes the business route.
I put it in my GPS as a reminder.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Te...=en&authuser=0

Now I see how we missed it.
When going through town we ride through the square to see the courthouse. That route does not go by the old gas station.
I'll check it out this year.

[McFly]

Now I see how we missed it.
When going through town we ride through the square to see the courthouse. That route does not go by the old gas station.
I'll check it out this year.

It's kinda cool & you can check it all out in about 10-15 mins. The road it's on used to be the main road through that area going west, but once the bypass was built, over the years everything went belly up. Back in those days, when you traveled cross-country, tourist camps were places you could stay overnight along the way, where there were no motels. Some of them had attached carports next to some rooms and usually had an area where a family could pitch a tent if they couldn't afford a room.

There's an old mansion just down the way, that's fun to look at too. The last time I rode by, it looked vacant and you couldn't really get close enough to see much. From this Google Maps photo, it looks like there must be some maintenance going on whenever this photo was taken.

[Susan]

When in Texas, check out the Alamo. THCR 2002.

[wildbears]

I was a big fan of Crockett and Bowie as a kid.

[955i]

Susan, I was surprised by how small the Alamo was in person. It just shows that you don't have to be big to be important! The Shrine of Texas Liberty is great, no matter its size.

[wildbears]

something to avoid while in Texas....

[802Mike]

Playing golf.... don't worry, I won't be.

[955i]

Those look like "jumpin' chollas."