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Good Friday flower hunt with Daniel on the 1200 GS

Tourmeister

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Friday
Howdy,

:tab So this year I got Good Friday off from work. The weather looked to be perfect. I decided to load up Daniel and spend a day wandering over toward Brenham to see if the flowers were blooming yet.

:tab We headed South from Huntsville on FM 1791 and then cut through the SHNF on NF-209. In the past, there have been a lot of Dogwood trees blooming along this road, but there are none at all this time. Not sure if we already missed them or if they simply haven't bloomed yet...

:tab We drop out on Bays Chapel Rd., just east of Richards. From there we run 149 into Richards and then over to Anderson. There are several places just outside of Anderson where the flowers are often nice, but they are thin right now, not really in full bloom. We followed 149 out of Anderson to CR 185. This is another area where there are usually a few nice pastures full of flowers, especially where 187 and 185 meet. Here is what we found this year,

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Daniel attempts to LEAP out of the flowers to avoid trampling any
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:tab The flowers at this spot have usually been pretty thick. I'm thinking we are still a bit early to see them at their best. So we load up and continue on our way down CR 185. It eventually drops out onto FM 3090, where we turn back and head toward Navasota. We make a little side detour on CR 403 and 404 before getting back on 3090 for the run the rest of the way into Navasota. By now, Daniel is telling me he's getting hungry. I decide to just stay on Hwy 105 all the way to Brenham. There are often some really nice pastures in that area.

:tab If you've been on 105 just West of Navasota, you'll know they are building new bridges over the rivers. Just beyond the second crossing, there is a large pasture on the right that is FULL of Indian Paint Brushes. No Blue Bonnets though. I had thought about running down around Chapel Hill, but that would take a while and I'm getting hungry as well. For the rest of the run into Brenham, we see a few small nice patches of Blue Bonnets and a few pastures covered with yellow flowers, but that is about it. Once in Brenham, we head to Must Be Heaven Cafe for lunch.

:tab Apparently, Good Friday is a popular day for folks to get out. Downtown Brenham is packed with people, cars, and some bikes. We find a place to park a few blocks away and walk back to the cafe.

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:tab The line is out the door and pretty long, but it moves fairly quickly. Daniel gets the PBJ and I grab a BLT. About half way through his PBJ, he comments, "I can see why they say this must be heaven!" Apparently, it is a good PBJ! My BLT is heavy on the bacon, always a good thing! We finish up and head back outside. The plan now is to wander Northwest a bit and end up on FM 390, which is usually good for flowers.

:tab We run US 290 W out of town to FM 2679. This is a nice stretch up to FM 390 where we cut over to Long Point Rd. We run that up to Rehburg Rd., and then cut East over to Old Landau Rd. From there it is a nice curvy run over to Hwy 36 on FM 1948. We drop down to FM 390 and head East. 390 is fun, but there is a distinct lack of flowers thus far for the year. This area is usually really good because many of the property owners seed their pastures. When we reach Hwy 50 at Independence, there are a bunch of people wandering around taking pictures at the Old Baylor site, but again, the flowers really aren't even close to being in full bloom yet. So we don't stop and just keep on rolling through town.

:tab We hang a left on William Penn Rd. If you have not been on it, it is a nice little narrow paved road that eventually drops back out on Hwy 105. About half way across, we turn North on McCraven School Rd. I like this road because the trees are in close and it is like riding through a long tunnel in many places. It is also gravel. It drops us onto Lone Star Rd., which we take back South toward the main highway. Just before the highway I head East on Wellman Rd., which is gravel. It too has some areas that are like tunnels.

He doesn't ride this way, but wanted to sit here for the pics
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:tab We get back on Hwy 105 and run it into Navasota. At Hwy 6, we cut South to stay on Hwy 105. About a mile East of Hwy 6, we turn Northeast on CR 446. This is a nice run. It is a mix of broken pavement and gravel. We run it up to CR 405 and then CR 406. Again, this area just South of Anderson often has huge pastures covered with flowers... just not today :doh: We pick up CR 215 and head East, crossing FM 1774. Here the road becomes a narrow paved road that is nice and curvy. At CR 211, we turn North and it is gravel again. A quick squirt on CR 214 and we drop out on FM 2819. We run this back to FM 1486 and up into Richards.

:tab When we pass through Richards earlier, I had noticed a familiar house was missing! There used to be a little white house sitting at the Southwest corner of 149 in town. The grandparents of Chris "AggieVFR" Conrey lived there for MANY years. I would often stop while out riding and sit on the front porch visiting with them while enjoying a bowl of Blue Bell. They ALWAYS insisted I have some ice cream, and I couldn't be rude ;-) They would tell me stories about life in small town Texas as we watched bike after bike come into that corner too hot, freak out, and occasionally run off the road. They were on a first name basis with the 911 operators because wrecks in that corner were so common on pretty days. Now, the house is gone. There are some crosses in the corner. There are a few pieces of bikes hanging on the barbed wire fence. The pavement is also smoother now than it used to be. It used to have a BAD wash board going into the corner right where people would be trying to panic brake as they realized it was getting tighter on them.

:tab When we rolled into town, I decided to head over to Chris's parents home, which is next door to where his grandparents lived. His Dad is home so we stop for a quick visit. It always amazes me how quickly time goes by without me realizing it. However, it seems it has been at least two years since I last stopped by for a visit. In that time, both grandparents passed away, each 92 years old. The old house was left to the daughters and they moved it back out to the family farm just outside of town off of FM 2819. We spent a while catching up on families and then head outside to get a few shots of the Azaleas in the empty lot next door. If you have driven through Richards recently, you should recognize the location.

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:tab We take our leave and head back through Richards to Bays Chapel Rd. We run it all the way to its end at Hoke Rd., then cut over on Pool Rd., to FM 3179. I really like this little run. Pool Rd., has some fun sand on it and I want to see how the new Metzler Karoo 3 rear tire works in the sand on the GS. It does very well and hooks up nicely under acceleration! We drop down 3179 to FM 1791 and run back up to Huntsville. I had promised Daniel some ice cream, but we opted for frozen yogurt at Three Spoons in town instead.

:tab After Three Spoons, we headed up Old 75 toward the North side of town and cut East on FM 2821, our normal route home. However, I still had the itch to do a little more dirt before calling it a day. So I veered North on Rosenwall Rd., and ran up to Pinedale Rd. From there it was a short hop on 247, 2698, and 980 to get back to the house. Daniel was READY to be OFF the bike! We put in about 200 miles and that is a LOT of time for him to just be sitting without doing anything and he was ready to go play with the boys next door.

:tab I think the flowers will be good in a week or two. Perhaps we'll get a bit of rain in there as well. Most of the places where we rode usually have very thick and nice flowers. Hopefully, I will be able to get a day or two off in the coming weeks to take him for another ride.
 
Duke, just curious what it is about that particular shot that you like so much? I was trying to compress the view front to back to emphasize the tunnel effect by using a somewhat long focal length while still getting enough DOF to keep all of Daniel and the bike focused.
 
I like the DOF and the "journey" that is being prepared for. The picture tells me a story, it is not "static", there is movement in the road and their is a sense of adventure and whimsy with Daniel being ATTGATT and sitting backwards.

*clone out the approaching vehicle*
 
I like the DOF and the "journey" that is being prepared for. The picture tells me a story, it is not "static", there is movement in the road and their is a sense of adventure and whimsy with Daniel being ATTGATT and sitting backwards.

*clone out the approaching vehicle*
for me its:
all that Duke said and...
the lines of the edge of the road draw your focus to the subject.
the perfect DOF, just enough to make the background recognizable, but not distracting.
the bike detail is interesting, but not distracting and very uniform/symetrical
great exposure and color balance.
it looks to be a Fibonacci spiral composition, or very close
 
I like that one too, but what jumps out at me is the lack of stickers on the panniers. :-)
 
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