So what a day. Left the Y.O Ranch Hotel @ 7:20 am and got back to it at 6:20 pm!
I ended up riding the whole thing I talked about (Kerrville to Brady, Coleman, Nolan, Sweetwater and Sterling City).
537 miles total in 11 hours.
I don't know why my gps routed me down to Sonora instead of Eden to Junction. Eden would have been 25 miles shorter, but only about 15 minutes time difference.
Was actually very nice this morning, had to put my liner for my mesh jacket on, was too cold without it.
Beautiful sunrise (iPhone does not do it justice:
The trip to Brady and Coleman was actually pretty quick overall. That is why I decided to do Nolan.
Man what an amazing pic LOL. Love the helmet forehead.
And I have always heard of windmill farms, and seen some big ones down near Corpus, but my goodness, that is all that is up in that area. It was at least 20 miles of windmills in all directions.
So it was not even noon when I was in Nolan, so figured why not just do Sweetwater and get the WASP Museum photo.
Since I needed a little break as well, figured I would stop for a bit and eat. Found a place called Big Boys BBQ for lunch, they had some good sausage and some amazing brisket, the kind you can stab with a fork because it just falls apart.
If you are ever in Sweetwater, that is a place I would recommend.
After eating and resting for about 30 minutes or so, I felt really good. Went and got the pic at the WASP Museum and figured out it was only a 1 hour difference going straight back to Kerrville or stopping by Sterling City, so Sterling City it was.
I tell you what, I have never been on a straighter, longer, unpopulated road as Tx 163. One part is 16 miles perfectly straight and not a thing out there.
I was tempted to do one of those bike in the middle of the road pics, but could not make myself do it.
I also found out my Goldwing does not like 80 mph speed limits. Well, actually it loves that (and faster), but mileage suffers badly.
I thought I had enough gas from my last fill up to make it all the way back (would have been 170 miles, 180 is the most I have done and had half a gallon left), but decided to just top off at I-10 at the Loves just outside Sonora. Well, I got to Kerrville and my gauge was showing "E". Got 4.6 gallons (~ 6 gallon tank), averaged 24.7 MPG (usually am around 30-31 mpg at highway speed).
And here are the photo stops for the Tour of Texas:
I also have to admit I am not as sure a I was about doing an Iron Butt run (was planning on doing just a there and back run down I-10). This was basically a half Iron butt, but man am I tired.