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M38A1
Admin
Today was a good day and I'm happy to have the friends I do, as well as make new ones. Today started out like just about any other Thursday. Domestic Administration followed by a lunch trip to Billy's Burgers for the local Austin lunch M&G. A big crowd was on-hand today and there's a couple folks who slipped in I didn't get the chance to meet. I think we had 15 today.
JTM, otherwise known as Justin rode in from Katy this morning to have lunch with us. We've talked enough about Billy's so he had to come see for himself. Sitting at our table, an associate of Kurt's showed up. New guy by the name of Pete who also works for Travis County EMS. Pete rides a KTM SM. Pure Hooligan as I call it.
I knew Justin was going to be here and we had drafted a quick plan to make a run from Billy's out SW to Driftwood, then Wimberly, Blanco and a stop in Luckenbach. Then, time permitting head in to Fredericksburg and catch Hwy 16 up to the entrance of the Willow City Loop, ride the loop over to Sandy, in to Johnson City and back to Austin from there.
Something like this:
So we're gearing up and Pete says he's off today, could he join in the ride. "Sure - love to have another" was the response. See, Pete's only been in Austin six months coming from Kali so all these new and exotic places sounded interesting to him. The three of us geared up and followed the plan to Driftwood, Wimberly, Blanco and stopped in Luckenbach. The sun was out with more clouds than sun, but it was warm and muggy. And then it was cool and drier. Hmmmm.......
Luckenbach was good today. Not a lot of people there on a Thursday afternoon. But the beer was cold and the conversation good. What was VERY interesting was the fact that there were two new looking Ducati's parked there. A red one next to a white one. Hmmmm...... what models are those?
Turns out they are the new 1200cc Multistradas and one guy was from Austin, the other a dealer from San Jose, Kali. We spoke with them about 30 minutes and they were in Austin for the Ducati North American launch of the new Multistrada. These were a couple of the demo bikes for the visitors of the launch convention.
Pretty nice bikes to see in person, and even better to sit on!
The Duc owners had to run back to Austin (Justin missed his chance to demo the red one) so I convinced them both they needed the requisite Luckenbach motorcycle pictures.
Justin (JTM)
Pete
After the pics, the three of us headed in to the General Store. After securing a cold beverage, we wandered out back for some good conversation. About 4pm, we geared up with the plan to fuel, then head for Willow City. The only krinkie-dink in that plan was Justin answered his phone and his wife (in Austin for a seminar) was released early and he had to dead-head back to AUS to meet up with her.
So that left Pete and I to head out. We made it to Hwy 16 and headed North to the entrance of the "loop". A nice, quiet very sunny ride and before we know it, we're at Harry's on the Loop with the sky getting much darker. And Harry's is closed now as indicated by the large "CLOSED" sign firmly affixed to the pole out front. In spite of the dark clouds, the wildflowers were still ever present. Not too many bluebonnets left, but bazillions of other bright/colorful flowers to take their place.
So off to Sandy with 10 minutes of mist/spitting from Mother Nature. I kept looking where the storms were and where we were headed. We got lucky in what I call "thread the needle" that every turn we made was the correct turn to move through a hole in the moisture. It was one of those kind of rides where everything just worked out well.
We made it to Johnson City, then caught Hwy 290 back in to Dripping Springs and then Austin. I peeled off in SW Austin and Pete kept going up MOPAC to his place.
Right at 223 miles for me today with nice roads, old friends and a new one. Yes - Life is indeed grand.
.
JTM, otherwise known as Justin rode in from Katy this morning to have lunch with us. We've talked enough about Billy's so he had to come see for himself. Sitting at our table, an associate of Kurt's showed up. New guy by the name of Pete who also works for Travis County EMS. Pete rides a KTM SM. Pure Hooligan as I call it.
I knew Justin was going to be here and we had drafted a quick plan to make a run from Billy's out SW to Driftwood, then Wimberly, Blanco and a stop in Luckenbach. Then, time permitting head in to Fredericksburg and catch Hwy 16 up to the entrance of the Willow City Loop, ride the loop over to Sandy, in to Johnson City and back to Austin from there.
Something like this:
So we're gearing up and Pete says he's off today, could he join in the ride. "Sure - love to have another" was the response. See, Pete's only been in Austin six months coming from Kali so all these new and exotic places sounded interesting to him. The three of us geared up and followed the plan to Driftwood, Wimberly, Blanco and stopped in Luckenbach. The sun was out with more clouds than sun, but it was warm and muggy. And then it was cool and drier. Hmmmm.......
Luckenbach was good today. Not a lot of people there on a Thursday afternoon. But the beer was cold and the conversation good. What was VERY interesting was the fact that there were two new looking Ducati's parked there. A red one next to a white one. Hmmmm...... what models are those?
Turns out they are the new 1200cc Multistradas and one guy was from Austin, the other a dealer from San Jose, Kali. We spoke with them about 30 minutes and they were in Austin for the Ducati North American launch of the new Multistrada. These were a couple of the demo bikes for the visitors of the launch convention.
Pretty nice bikes to see in person, and even better to sit on!
The Duc owners had to run back to Austin (Justin missed his chance to demo the red one) so I convinced them both they needed the requisite Luckenbach motorcycle pictures.
Justin (JTM)
Pete
After the pics, the three of us headed in to the General Store. After securing a cold beverage, we wandered out back for some good conversation. About 4pm, we geared up with the plan to fuel, then head for Willow City. The only krinkie-dink in that plan was Justin answered his phone and his wife (in Austin for a seminar) was released early and he had to dead-head back to AUS to meet up with her.
So that left Pete and I to head out. We made it to Hwy 16 and headed North to the entrance of the "loop". A nice, quiet very sunny ride and before we know it, we're at Harry's on the Loop with the sky getting much darker. And Harry's is closed now as indicated by the large "CLOSED" sign firmly affixed to the pole out front. In spite of the dark clouds, the wildflowers were still ever present. Not too many bluebonnets left, but bazillions of other bright/colorful flowers to take their place.
So off to Sandy with 10 minutes of mist/spitting from Mother Nature. I kept looking where the storms were and where we were headed. We got lucky in what I call "thread the needle" that every turn we made was the correct turn to move through a hole in the moisture. It was one of those kind of rides where everything just worked out well.
We made it to Johnson City, then caught Hwy 290 back in to Dripping Springs and then Austin. I peeled off in SW Austin and Pete kept going up MOPAC to his place.
Right at 223 miles for me today with nice roads, old friends and a new one. Yes - Life is indeed grand.
.
The front of the Multistrada just turns me off. I don't much care for the facial creature look 
From the side, I like it though. I am sure that if I rode one, I could get over the dislike of the front 
As it was I had to put up with other peoples children. 
