A few weeks back, my wife and I decided to go on a the January pie run. I decided that since I was plotting a course, I would post and see if any other Austin folks wanted to come along. Seems people did, and the next thing you know, there seemed to be quite a beehive of activity in the Austin trip planning area of this board. All was well leading up to yesterday, then our darling daughter decided it was time to get into trouble at school and she got a Saturday detention (somewhere up there, my dad is laughing at me). My wife, then said that she would stay home and I could go.
The plan was to meet up at the 290 Cafe and leave from there. I decided to get there a bit early, have a light breakfast and that way I would be there when people arrived. As people started coming in, I noticed three BMW RTs arriving. I joked that I was glad I didn't ride my RT and brought the Buell Ulysess instead. As they walked into the diner, I recognized them as three members of the local BMW club I belong to. We chat and I find out they aren't there for the pie run, but headed out for a ride smart class. At nearly 7 AM, we all greet each other and, determine that 100 miles is pretty much the extent we can ride without refueling. The plan had us leaving at 7:10 and we stuck to that since nobody had called me and told me they were running late although I'm guessing most wished it started later since it was cold. Art tells me that at one point, his thermostat said it was 24 degrees. I believe it, it was darn cold.
During the planning phase, Art (Aharbi) suggested a slight change in the route, so I made the change and we headed up 973. However, somebody failed to tell Garmin about a change in the road. Even with the latest map updates, there is a stretch of 973, that the GPS tells me we're going across country; very odd.
When we were about 80 miles into our trip, I saw a new Texaco off highway 21 and decided to stop since I really didn't know when we would find another gas station. CaroleAnn was very thankful for the break (as were most of the frozen members of the Austin crowd; myself included in this). Not sure why, but after our stop things seemed to warm up a bit and things went very smoothly. Ironically I never wanted to lead the group, it just sort of happened by default since I planned the route.
We picked up our planned rider in Sommerville (I'm always amazed when a plan works out like that), and headed into Conroe.
The route home was going to be interesting. I hadn't ever been on most of the roads, but Rexter suggested a route and I decided to plot it on the GPS and take it. It ran us up through 149 (scene of the accident -- be we were way ahead of it), which was something none of us had been on. We left short of a couple of people who either took another route or stayed. It was very nice having warm weather to deal with instead of the cold. We stopped at the corner of HWY 60 & HWY 50 to refuel. While we where there, a bunch of cruisers pulled up and somebody jokingly said "I think we can take 'em". I noticed a cross on the back of several of their jackets and said "I think they might just turn the other cheek". I took photos of everybody on their bikes and one of them comes over to us. They asked if they could say a prayer with us, which they lead, then we rode off.
As I mentioned, I hadn't been on this route, so I was trusting my GPS 100% of the way, and for some odd reason, Rexter had us driving smack dab in the middle of College Station and Texas A&M. It wasn't so bad, but there are a bunch of lights on that stretch of road.
I altered the plan a bit and decided it was getting late, so instead of the scenic route, I would blow down HWY 21 to 290 and back into Austin, several others opted to take 21 to HWY 71 since they lived south of the river. Art being the unique individual he is, took the scenic route.
A wonderful trip all the way around. I do wish I had gotten more time to chat with folks outside. I and others at my table ordered pie with lunch and they never brought them out. Ninety minutes later, and several requests later, we finally had our pie. Hmmm... I don't remember having this issue last time we were there. Oh well... it was good at least.
Our routes:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=118674
remaining photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/82683679@N00/sets/72157613238135842/
Wayne
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) escapes from huntsville, so I had to check the shoulder holster to see if my friends Mr. Smith and Mr Wesson were riding comfortably...and they were. I just left my coat unzipped until we got to the pie house. Didnt know if we would run into a bad guy or not, so I just got ready...
On the return, we started to go down 49 but decided to stay on 6 and head on home so we missed all the excitement. 
. I got home alittle after 9 as we stopped and had some 
in Hillsboro...then made the last stretch to the house. This was my 2nd pie run and I really enjoyed it.
:
We should have known better ... but she did OK - only 3 U-turns!
Didn't want to give it away. 
Naturally, I said YES! 
Congrats to J and Mrs J. 
