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Finally got around to starting my portion of the Grand Tour of Texas today. I was headed east and figured this would be a good one for the DRZ. Roughly 330 miles and 9ish hours on the skinny (seat concepts) saddle, staying mostly on very unmaintained paved roads. Excellent weather today for the ride though.
I hit a couple of local dirty roads and then meandered north to find myself in Elmo, just east of Terrell. There I introduced a couple of Bumblebees to each other.
I hit a little bit of 80 headed east and then wandered around south just a bit to find my way to my next location. There weren't any Blue Bonnets out this way but there were a lot of the pink/red flowers.
I made my way to Gladewater TX where there were three bonus locations all within a literal stone's throw of each other. Ok, maybe the firetruck needs a better arm than me to get the stone over there but it was close.
First the oil derrick.
Then I ran across the square to get the Gladewater museum.
Then down to the other end of the square for the antique firetruck.
I'd filled up my new rotopax gas can to test having the weight back there and to test if it's sealed up good. All worked out well so I did a quick refuel here to top things off and empty the rotopax.
Red Roof Inn is a sponsor of the Motorcycle Tour of Texas so there's a bonus for getting any of their locations. I'm sure I'll have better opportunities but one of the few in the area is in Longview, right next to Gladewater so I ran down and scooped this one up.
On my way to my last stop in Jefferson, I was zipping down this paved road when I glanced right and saw the most beautiful dirt road. I looked at my GPS and it literally goes nowhere, this would be just an out and back of a couple of miles. Totally NOT on my itinerary, but I turned around anyway. At the area in this shot, it's that perfect level of squishiness. There was standing water in the ditches but it dried out after a bit letting me get some speed up and then it was over. The turn around at the end was all soft sand and I almost lost it there, but alll was good for the ride back to the main road.
I had to meander around Jefferson a little bit to find the rail car, but that's it under the cover behind the bike.
While I was looking for the rail car I passed Joseph's Riverport Barbecue which smelled really really good. I also saw that "Auntie Skinner's Riverboat Club" had good reviews but as I rode by the parking lot was full of HD motorcycles so I went over to the BBQ place. While looking for a place to sit, a couple that had their Himalayan and CRF300L Rally parked out front, offered me a seat at their table. We had a nice chat before I had to be back on my way home. No food pics as I was too busy talking.
I hit some of the same roads going back on the way home but I was tired and ended up doing a 1 hour blast down 80 back into Terrell to get me home quickly. It was a perfect weather day today and I enjoyed being out and about on the DRZ, but the next loops are big mile loops and I'll be taking the FJR for those. Stay tuned as I continue to update this thread with my progress.
I hit a couple of local dirty roads and then meandered north to find myself in Elmo, just east of Terrell. There I introduced a couple of Bumblebees to each other.
I hit a little bit of 80 headed east and then wandered around south just a bit to find my way to my next location. There weren't any Blue Bonnets out this way but there were a lot of the pink/red flowers.
I made my way to Gladewater TX where there were three bonus locations all within a literal stone's throw of each other. Ok, maybe the firetruck needs a better arm than me to get the stone over there but it was close.
First the oil derrick.
Then I ran across the square to get the Gladewater museum.
Then down to the other end of the square for the antique firetruck.
I'd filled up my new rotopax gas can to test having the weight back there and to test if it's sealed up good. All worked out well so I did a quick refuel here to top things off and empty the rotopax.
Red Roof Inn is a sponsor of the Motorcycle Tour of Texas so there's a bonus for getting any of their locations. I'm sure I'll have better opportunities but one of the few in the area is in Longview, right next to Gladewater so I ran down and scooped this one up.
On my way to my last stop in Jefferson, I was zipping down this paved road when I glanced right and saw the most beautiful dirt road. I looked at my GPS and it literally goes nowhere, this would be just an out and back of a couple of miles. Totally NOT on my itinerary, but I turned around anyway. At the area in this shot, it's that perfect level of squishiness. There was standing water in the ditches but it dried out after a bit letting me get some speed up and then it was over. The turn around at the end was all soft sand and I almost lost it there, but alll was good for the ride back to the main road.
I had to meander around Jefferson a little bit to find the rail car, but that's it under the cover behind the bike.
While I was looking for the rail car I passed Joseph's Riverport Barbecue which smelled really really good. I also saw that "Auntie Skinner's Riverboat Club" had good reviews but as I rode by the parking lot was full of HD motorcycles so I went over to the BBQ place. While looking for a place to sit, a couple that had their Himalayan and CRF300L Rally parked out front, offered me a seat at their table. We had a nice chat before I had to be back on my way home. No food pics as I was too busy talking.
I hit some of the same roads going back on the way home but I was tired and ended up doing a 1 hour blast down 80 back into Terrell to get me home quickly. It was a perfect weather day today and I enjoyed being out and about on the DRZ, but the next loops are big mile loops and I'll be taking the FJR for those. Stay tuned as I continue to update this thread with my progress.
