Adventures in the Texas Hill Country – The Three Sisters

Inaugural Retirement trip – Part 6

Ok, taking my time to publish the ‘rest of this story’ is an understatement…that said, we have now completed our RV test rental, with great success, but I will have to save that bit of news for a future post. *evil grin*

If you are just joining our Texas journey, you can go back to the beginning here. There are links at the end of each post to the next.

In the last post, we were enjoying our last night at Angel’s Lodge Above the Creek, in Fredericksburg, prior to heading for the motorcycling destination ranch roads in the Hill Country known as the Three Sisters.

After another great night’s sleep, we packed up the bikes and headed around the corner to breakfast at Mahaffey’s cafe, a converted gas station that uses the portico as al fresco dining, perfect! Jerry routed us west out of Fredericksburg on tiny county roads such as White Oak Road, and it was just lovely touring through ranches and homesteads in the rolling hills. We then took Highway 16 towards Medina and were thrilled to find lots of curves and even a few 15 MPH turns! Views of beautiful homes, ranches, and sparkling river crossings took us into the small town of Medina where we stopped to look at a shop with incredible cedar log beds that we absolutely loved! They are made right there in Medina and are a testament to nature’s amazing beauty.

Log Beds storefront

Log Beds storefront

Incredible King Mountain Top bed

Incredible King Mountain Top bed

Enjoying the swing in Medina

Enjoying the cedar swing in Medina

A block from the store, we turned onto Ranch Road (RR) 337 South, one of the legs of the Three Sisters. 337 was twisty, curvy, rolling and the views of buttes and hills were great.

<3

Love!

Green-covered buttes

Green-covered buttes

Rolling hills

Rolling hills

Crossing the Sabinal river

Crossing the Sabinal river

We stopped at an overlook with a long range view from 337 just past Vanderpool, where we could see the smoke from controlled burns we had passed in several places.

Long-rang views with controlled burns

Long-range views with controlled burns

A terse warning to motorcyclists!

A terse warning to motorcyclists!

This ominous sign was posted at the overlook. Apparently, there are motorcyclists who do not respect the level of the curvy roads in this area. Since we come from an area with roads that must be respected, we took heed, but still had tons of fun!

We stopped in Leakey for lunch at the Frio Canyon Motorcycle stop and enjoyed great sandwiches in a fun biker atmosphere (minus the many beers enjoyed by several of the patrons). Perhaps the reason for the previous warning sign…

Our lunch view from inside

Our lunch view from inside

Outside seating and view

Outside seating and view

Interior with memorabilia

Interior with Texas and biker memorabilia

Hee hee

Hee hee

motorcycle-only parking under live oaks

motorcycle-only parking under live oaks

After lunch we rode north on RR 336 and enjoyed more twists and turns, with a brief period behind a Cadillac SUV, who clearly didn’t understand motorcycle etiquette…so we had to pass him.

And then there were the free-range horses. LOL, yes, I said horses.

Free range horses!

Free range horses!

We stopped for a photo, and then we had to get out of the way of an oncoming truck. We did…the horses didn’t move!

At the northern end of 336, we headed west for a bit on Hwy 41 to then head south on 335 to complete the Three Sisters loop, 131 miles of motorcycle smiles!

Beautiful day, beautiful yellow wildflowers

Beautiful day, beautiful yellow wildflowers

335 had fewer twists and turns, but was still a thrilling, hilly, roller coaster ride, which we rode for several miles standing on our foot pegs, enjoying the low humidity and wonderful breeze!

We took a short break in the shade in Camp Wood, then headed north on 55 to Rocksprings for the night.

Live oak shade in Camp Wood

Live oak shade in Camp Wood

Hwy 55 was a treat with wide sweeping turns, and even more expansive sweeping views of deep canyons and buttes, then it leveled out at about 2400 feet in elevation on a plateau. If you are interested in this area, here is a Google maps link to Our route this day. Hwys 337, 336, 335, and 55 are nothing short of spectacular!

Rocksprings is a tiny town with a reported population of about 1200, but we didn’t see that many. 😉 And our motel, Sorrells Inn, was the in the center of town!

The crossroads of Rocksprings

The crossroads of Rocksprings and the Texas Pecos Trail

Boots on the motel sidewalk. Oddly, they were gone the next morning...

Boots on the motel sidewalk. Oddly, they were gone the next morning…

Our bikes in front of the motel

Our bikes in front of the motel

It was rustic, and a far cry from the Chateau LeMoyne in New Orleans, but all part of the adventure. The owner, Kenneth, was hospitable and happy to have us visit Rocksprings. Dinner was at King Burger across the street (not Burger King, mind you), and then back at the motel, another failed attempt at adding pics to a blog. Grrr screwed up WordPress mobile app!

Thanks for being patient and following along! Next post we will enjoy our last full day in the Hill Country, and return to some of the hill country locations we loved in our early dating period twenty years ago! You can go straight to that post by clicking here.

11 thoughts on “Adventures in the Texas Hill Country – The Three Sisters

    • Thank you, for the compliment and stopping by! I agree, it was unusual to see that sign! But we saw them on two of the three roads that are so popular with motorcyclists. I think it’s a combo of some riders drinking and riding, as well as, inexperienced riders on these really twisty roads. Sad. I hope they take heed.

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    • Shelley, it’s all relative…when I see your posts about daylong hikes and marathons, I think the same thing! The riding in this post is what we live for. Curves and hills and beautiful scenery; getting there in comfort, so we can ride the little squiggly roads, is why we bought the RV! 😀

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