Santa Anna Ride

[KsTeveM]

This ride started off as the Brownwood ride. I think @JT planted this seed with me when they did a ride a while back. I downloaded the tracks, played with them a bit and they sat dormant. Several weeks ago I was looking for a destination to get me further north than my usual and this ride resurfaced in my brain as the road not taken. For the past couple weeks I was still planning on going to Brownwood and staying in a dive motel. Figured I would end up riding by myself, who cares where I go to sleep. But I ended up getting a taker to join me and started to visualize the end of the ride day/chilling out with a compadre. Went to google street view for the dive I had in mind….man it looks like a super duper dive, had a 1 Star rating. Dang, that seems bad, even for me ha ha. I poked around looking at the map for Brownwood, at the time the weather was still in the 90s, so camping was out (Lake Brownwood State Park might have worked for camping). About the only thing with 4 walls that sounded “fun” was possibly the Hide Out Golf Resort. Little further north than my dive plan and about double the money. What else is out that way…..I zoomed out and sniffed around some more. The Texas Ranger RV Park and Motel popped up to the west around Santa Anna. Looked at pics on their web site, this is looking pretty neat. Still a little more than I normally spend, but then they gave me a discount while we were on the phone. Pays to be nice. That’s me every time, full of flowery compliments and oozing sweet nothings. Speaking of sweet nothings, check out this ridiculous overgrown dirt bike!

Worked a half day this past Friday and started heading northwest.

Rolled into Llano and met up with none other than @LlanoRiverMan, how fortuitous.

Yeah, I know what it means. Here is a pic of LlanoMano and his bike. My Super Enduro could smell that T7.

And what do you know, @LicketySplit was able to sneak away as well. We rolled out headed north and got it on. Down and dirty in the dirt cutting through a ranch.

Stitched our way into Cherokee, and sniffed out more dirt as we moved towards San Saba.

Got some groceries while here, not much to the north of us. Then decision time, pavement north out of San Saba on a little FM road, or a dirtier route. Come on, you know what we did.

I don’t think Lickety had seen this one before so we stopped and checked her out.

Beveridge bridge is a pre-1940s suspension bridge still standing but not used. The original was built in 1896, the 1938 flood took it out. I think the 1938 flood was the one that had 18” of rain in 4 days….San Angelo was basically under water on that one. Through the years and rebuilds, only the towers are the original 1896, along with turnbuckles and suspenders. Pretty cool if you are out and about in this zone.

Continue on with our good choice on routing….we enjoyed the remote dirt traversing this zone, about 20 miles of continuous dirt.

That got us to the Regency Bridge. We’ve all been here before, but it is still cool to visit and blab about and it was easy to stitch in with the route I was changing up.

It is another suspension bridge (you can feel it moving when riding your bike across), with a 343 foot span and is the last suspension bridge in Texas open to public vehicle traffic. It was originally built in 1903 but collapsed under the weight of a cattle herd (killed a 10 year old boy that was herding them). It was rebuilt and washed away in a significant flood in 1936. Rebuilt again in 1939 in its current spot. I wonder how long the state will keep paying for its upkeep/allow us to drive across it. Super neat. More to come…..

 

[KsTeveM]

We pressed on and I was enjoying new to me dirt in here as we went northwest like.

Last time I was in this zone I was on my Africa Twin headed northeast towards Iredale. I was anxious to see what new things my eyes could see and my nose could smell.

Rolled through a little yesteryear community, Brookesmith. Named after a banker in the 1902 era. Use to have 3 cotton gins until farming played out in the 1950s. Not much going on here these days. We push on hitting back roads, some paved, some dirt. Doing our thang. Rolled past these ruins, no signs other than private property. Wonder what the story is.

I think our rides were starting to smell the barn, shadows were getting longer.

We were winding down and then ran into this water crossing. Oh boy.

Some of us were feeling it, some of us weren’t .

It was a little slippety but we got it done.

Early evening we hit Santa Anna and got some refreshments. About time to try and find our hitchin post for the night. So we pull our horses up to the Texas Ranger headquarters.

We strip down into our camp clothes and chill out in the shade talking about our day as well as talking about the heritage of this place. Let’s get into that. The first Texas Rangers in this area were under the command of Captain Maltby and Major Jones of the Frontier Battalion in 1874. Maltby used the Santa Anna mountains you see behind us as their campground.

I read some more about it and really like this part “many of these stouthearted young Rangers remained here after their terms of service ended to help civilize the area.” Stouthearted…that is a cool word and not one you hear. Some of these men’s last names….Sackett, Elkins, Cross, Grady and Cheatam were big factors in the history of Coleman County. I also have personal ties to this Coleman area as my In-laws grew up here and graduated high school in Coleman in the early to mid 60s. Their graduating classes had like 8 people. I remember looking at the yearbook, my FIL was the drum major, class president, home coming king, quarterback and the wide receiver . Anyway, these early men founded the Texas Ex-Rangers Association in 1920 and would have annual reunions around the state but this spot became their favorite on a 20 acre park on the east end of the Santa Anna mountains. The citizens of Santa Anna raised the funds to buy the land and erect a depression era National Youth Association built stone cabin. As the old Indian fighters died off, the reunions became less and less well attended. The last reunion was held in 1960. That makes me sad. Years later the hall fell into disrepair. In 1975 it was purchased by Sherriff H.F. Fenton and resurrected as a motel using jail house labor. Now that makes me happy. In 2015 The Massey’s totally renovated it and now it is owned by the Virdens.

I went inside the main old building. Bottom floor is the office and the top floor is living quarters for the managers.

We meandered to the pavilion on site and hung out for several hours.

We worked on our grub situation and things really started getting loose. It was a really good evening. I’m digging this place and will be back.

We finally shut it down and got our butts to bed. We had a big ride day planned for the next day.

 

[Zephyr]

"Rolled past these ruins, no signs other than private property. Wonder what the story is."

My mechanic went to school there. He said some rich guys bought up all the ag land. Small holdings disappeared. That depopulated the area.

 

[KsTeveM]

Thanks for the reply.....danged ol rich guys again!!! We figured it was a school/church from the 40s or 50s, just had that look. But man, pretty massive/stout building. It was almost fort like. Seems a shame to not preserve, use as a barn or something. I don't think it will be standing in another 70 years.

 

[bwdmax]

Do you often prep your side dish in a urinal?

 

[KsTeveM]

Isn't that strange....to have a urinal right next to the BBQ pit. I couldn't tell if it was a joke or for real as it was super clean. We laughed when we started using it as a table for our food . It would also make a decent outdoor ice chest if there was a big event going on. Maybe we could use half of it for cold beer and half of it for warm exiting beer ha ha.

 

[KsTeveM]

Got some breakfast at sunrise Saturday morning and headed away from the Santa Anna Mountains.

I just figured the town and the mountains were named after the Santa Anna we all know from the Alamo history and the Battle of San Jacinto. Nope, I be wrong. It was named after an important Penateka Comanche Chief and the first member of his group to visit Washington D.C. I found this written about him “a large, fine-looking man with an affable and lively countenance”. He sounds fun, probably till he wasn’t. But was he stouthearted? Headed south out of town with Ingram as our destination for the day. Glorious morning, cool temps, animals waking up, damp dirt in your nostrils, fun terrain.

Thought this was going to be a contiguous 20 mile stretch of dirt….but the county road started looking like not a county road anymore. But I kept going anyway. Getting interesting.

But this next water feature looked much worse and was a muddy drainage channeling in from a couple different directions to a low spot. Pretty sure this is private land, we turned around. It was a small reroute.

Rocking along. I wanted to check out another bridge, ran into this one first. Pretty cool.

Rolled about another 1/4 mile and ran into a bigger bridge that I had spotted on GE. I read that it is one of few pin-connected truss bridges with this many spans surviving in Texas. The original bridge went up in this spot in 1894 and was destroyed by floods in 1906. A new bridge was eventually built in 1911….destroyed again by that nasty 1936 flood. But the approach spans survived and were repaired along with moving an 1893 pin connected bridge to this location from McCullough County. So most of this bridge is made up of parts from 1893 and 1911. Wow, 131 years old!!!

In July of 2024 TXDOT closed this bridge due to critical fractures. This was the scene as we rolled up.

We for sure didn’t proceed over that dirt pile nor ride across the bridge or exit the other side via another dirt pile.

Started picking our way on some good remote stuff, very two track feeling. I like it when you can sniff stuff like this out that is probably going to be a dead end…..but then it goes through.

We headed east, southeast for a bit on old FM roads and eventually found some more dirt to our liking. I think another 20 mile stretch.

I jumped some turkeys in here, it was close, I actually could see that one almost pooped on me and was like a dumb rabbit staying in my flight path.

We hit an ice house in Richland Springs and headed out of town to find a spot to take a break.

This will work, the San Saba River. What a beautiful day, gorgeous river valley.

 

[KsTeveM]

We traded bikes in here for a bit. I was on the T7 and LlanoMano on my Super Enduro.

I was trying to let my brain register the pivot pegs on the T7. Tried to ignore that as I got a feel for the bike. This particular unit has about every upgrade imaginable and is a very nice ride. I think I could scratch out some big miles on this machine. I was sitting down enjoying the aftermarket cushy seat and decided to stand up and the wind really hit me. I was surprised, looked down and was going 75. Even at 6’1”, when I was sitting that little T7 fairing was doing a really good job, I didn’t know how fast I was going. It is an aftermarket screen that is adjustable….but still cool that it does that good a job with that sort of mini size fairing is my point. Standing was very comfortable. I think the T7’s kind of tall design works well for me. Give me some gas range and an 18” front and a knobbly on the rear, I could probably ride it to Tierra Del Fuego.

Onward, back on my normal steed. Splendid riding, I think this stretch of dirt was like another 30 miles. It ain’t a BDR in the southwest somewhere, but it’ll do. For now.

We made our way into Mason via the Old Mason Rd. Pretty country in here.

This is where we split ways….temporarily. LlanoMano headed towards Junction to fetch his better half for supper later tonight. Lickety and I headed for more mischief. Simonsville, Dossville, SaltBranchville, Funville.

Alright, enough already. Hit pavement in the Harper zone and started bee lining for my Uncle’s place in Ingram where we were all going to meet up for a nice meal and enjoy each other’s company.

Touchdown. Sent JT a text with this pic of me and Lickety from one of the porches overlooking the Ingram river valley….”Red Rover Red Rover, JT come on over”. Which he did.

Uncle @Conejo….now dubbed Uncle Cone Joe, and his girlfriend Rae hosted and cooked up a feast of Polacko Tacos, beef kabobs, roasted veggies, beans, scratch made green chile cornbread and we kicked back and relaxed. Not too shabby of a day and even better evening.

 

[KsTeveM]

Lickety and I stayed the night Saturday and feasted again with a mean breakfast yesterday morning before departing for some more riding as we worked our way back towards real life.

We kept a kind of easterly heading and then split ways in Blanco.

That was a good little adventure and will hold me over for a little while. I probably need to start thinking about a new rear tire….she’s looked better!

Till next time!

 

[JT]

Thanks again to Rae and Don and everyone else for letting me join in, I really enjoyed it.

 

[ConejoDon]

We pressed on and I was enjoying new to me dirt in here as we went northwest like.

Last time I was in this zone I was on my Africa Twin headed northeast towards Iredale. I was anxious to see what new things my eyes could see and my nose could smell.

Rolled through a little yesteryear community, Brookesmith. Named after a banker in the 1902 era. Use to have 3 cotton gins until farming played out in the 1950s. Not much going on here these days. We push on hitting back roads, some paved, some dirt. Doing our thang. Rolled past these ruins, no signs other than private property. Wonder what the story is.

I think our rides were starting to smell the barn, shadows were getting longer.

We were winding down and then ran into this water crossing. Oh boy.

Some of us were feeling it, some of us weren’t .

It was a little slippety but we got it done.

Early evening we hit Santa Anna and got some refreshments. About time to try and find our hitchin post for the night. So we pull our horses up to the Texas Ranger headquarters.

We strip down into our camp clothes and chill out in the shade talking about our day as well as talking about the heritage of this place. Let’s get into that. The first Texas Rangers in this area were under the command of Captain Maltby and Major Jones of the Frontier Battalion in 1874. Maltby used the Santa Anna mountains you see behind us as their campground.

I read some more about it and really like this part “many of these stouthearted young Rangers remained here after their terms of service ended to help civilize the area.” Stouthearted…that is a cool word and not one you hear. Some of these men’s last names….Sackett, Elkins, Cross, Grady and Cheatam were big factors in the history of Coleman County. I also have personal ties to this Coleman area as my In-laws grew up here and graduated high school in Coleman in the early to mid 60s. Their graduating classes had like 8 people. I remember looking at the yearbook, my FIL was the drum major, class president, home coming king, quarterback and the wide receiver . Anyway, these early men founded the Texas Ex-Rangers Association in 1920 and would have annual reunions around the state but this spot became their favorite on a 20 acre park on the east end of the Santa Anna mountains. The citizens of Santa Anna raised the funds to buy the land and erect a depression era National Youth Association built stone cabin. As the old Indian fighters died off, the reunions became less and less well attended. The last reunion was held in 1960. That makes me sad. Years later the hall fell into disrepair. In 1975 it was purchased by Sherriff H.F. Fenton and resurrected as a motel using jail house labor. Now that makes me happy. In 2015 The Massey’s totally renovated it and now it is owned by the Virdens.

I went inside the main old building. Bottom floor is the office and the top floor is living quarters for the managers.

We meandered to the pavilion on site and hung out for several hours.

We worked on our grub situation and things really started getting loose. It was a really good evening. I’m digging this place and will be back.

We finally shut it down and got our butts to bed. We had a big ride day planned for the next day.

You all seem to always find jewels even on the shortest of rides! Nice stuff. BTW: https://gypsyspiritsrides.weebly.com/heart-of-texas.html

 

[Kid2watch]

Great Report…. THX…

 

[humanrace]

Good report. I'm glad you didn't ride over that bridge.