Red River BMW Riders Club: Red River Riders' Hill Country Adventure

The Texas Hill Country was crawling with members of the Red River BMW Riders Club over the weekend of June 4-7 as 13 club members and 13 other spouses, friends and former spouses of friends descended on a little slice of Hill Country heaven also known as "Blanco Settlement." Along the way, a rider who was not part of our group asked "Why choose Blanco?" Why indeed?

The boys bond

Is it because it has the only bowling 'club' that we know of that offers nine-pin games complete with children doing the job of resetting pins and rolling balls back to the players? Is it because the one 'upscale' steak house in town seems not to have working air-conditioning? Or is it because the settlement is perched along the charming banks of the Blanco rivulet?

A "rivulet" runs through it.

Hmmm. We think the answer is "All of the above," but a better response may be that it allows club members the opportunity to all hang out together in a pretty area that is close to other pretty areas, and within about 100 miles in any direction to find fun twists, turns, climbs, descents, flowing rivers, great roads, outlet shopping, lavender farms, motorcycle dealerships and chicken fried steak. Truly, something for everyone.

Drew with two Blanco food groups: beer and Oreos

In the truest sense of what makes our club unique, everyone seemed to arrive at the Blanco Settlement via a different route, went in different directions each morning, ate at different establishments, talked to different people and had unique and worthwhile individual experiences. Each evening, all would gather under the towering pinoak to drink beer, wine and softdrinks and embellish each and every daytime adventure in the retelling. The deer along the roadway got bigger, meaner and more aggressive. The roads themselves got steeper and more challenging. The huevos rancheros were the best ever! Ahhh, it just doesn't get much better than that.

The Road to Utopia

The official definition of "Utopia" is an ideally perfect place. Members of the Red River BMW Club have BEEN to Utopia and have an alternate impression that involves a first lingering smell of cow manure but evolves into a great cafe where we were given FREE dessert before our main meals even arrived. Utopia DOES exist!

Bruccini welcomes you to Utopia

A table of Utopians

Members went in all directions each morning--- to Wimberly, Boerne, Austin, Fredericksburg, Marble Falls and Leaky, which the locals pronounce Lake-y and are humorously offended when you say otherwise. Of course, we continued to mispronounce the name of the place we were staying. (It's "Blanko" according to a local, NOT our Louisiana drawled "Blannco.") Ron Franks and the Henderson gang found an incredible road near Lake Travis and Marble Falls. Critcher friends Tom and Sharon went to Austin and bought a beautiful new geezer glide, Dan, Bob, Beau, Todd, Sloan, David and others went to Fredericksburg for some highly-touted pancakes, and Liz and Steve went back 65 million years to a dry riverbed pocked with dinosaur tracks. Anyone who didn't have a big time just wasn't trying.

Tom and Sharon's new ultra road king glide king Harley king bike king

Steve points to a dinosaur print while looking over his shoulder for the really big critter that left it.

Hill Country Truisms

Deer have no brain function warning them to run AWAY from oncoming traffic.They are s-t-o-o-p-i-d.
Anywhere you go you will encounter someone you know.
Stories told later in the day are always larger than those told earlier in the day...even if they happened that day.
Breakfast is always better when it is made by someone else and left in the mini-fridge for you to nuke.
Just because the speed limit on most Texas roads is 70 mph doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to ride that fast. The same rules of stopped cars, blind hills and corners, roadway impediments and dumb drivers apply.