Maybe They're Too Wired?

Seriously... we are supposed to be on vacation... but seriously...

Bici in Italia '- Montalcino

Well so many of my readers have asked about the bicycle trip in Italy, so here goes... a diversion from motorcycling, but here it is:

VIEW FROM MY HOTEL ROOM

Currently we are 2 nights in Montalcino the epicenter of Brunello wines! All week long has been Sangiovese (mostly Chianti, as we have ridden from Greve to a convento, then to Sienna, now here..) The wine and food is of course fantastic!

JIM ENJOYS A SNACK

MONASTERY ALONG TODAY'S ROUTE ... MEL GOT HER CHANT ON ...

Today we did a loop ride from town of around 50 Km with quite a bit of climbing. It was truly one of the best rides I have ever done. There were several interesting excursion points including a monastery and an ancient hot spring from the Etruscan era. One of the descents from atop the summit ridge was truly memorable with spectacular views as you hair-pinned down the mountain.

ETRUSCAN HOT SPRING

Jim and Melody at Etruscan Hot Spring



WINE TASTING

This evening featured a wine tasting at the fortress in town, then a spectacular sunset viewed from atop the fort walls.

SUNSET IN MONTALCINO

Today definitely did not suck!

Labor Day Lost Weekend

Destination - Glen Rose, TX via anywhere and every where. As you can see from the route map, we didnt' exactly take the most direct road. :-)

We left on Sunday after church and Saturday's bicycle ride, yard work and errands. Still on Sunday we managed 250 miles of meandering down to Glen Rose. We'd been to Glen Rose several times on bicycle trips, and explored the edges of the area bit on our motorcycle trip to Fredericksburg a few months earlier.

If you go the direct route from NE DFW down to Glen Rose, you're in for 90 min of freeway, and really a terrible ride. So we opted for a route that arced to the NW, then headed south. We took FM 455 out of town, one of our favorites over to the Montague county area, stopping at a great general store in Forestburg.

Highlight of Sunday was definitely FM 4 south out of Palo Pinto towards Grandbury. Some fairly technical twisty turns and a gorgeous elevation drop with great views of the valley below. Although we were passing through that area around 5 in the afternoon, we ran into a gaggle of cyclists that were heading northbound up the long climb.

We go into Glen Rose by 7pm still with plenty of daylight, and found the town (not surprisingly) clsoed up. Our favorite pub The Green Pickle, was closed on Sundays. So was our favorite restraunt. The hotel we chose The Glen Hotel, more than made up for those small disappointments. It's a beautifully restored hotel right off of the square. Hands down the cleanest place I've ever stayed. (And those of you who know me know I've spent easily 1,000 days in hotels over the years.) I would definitely recommend this hotel, so go book it here: http://glenhoteltexas.com/ The proprietor's are more than friendly and helpful. After a forgettable Italian meal in town, we took a mixed six pack of Shiner on the hotel terrace and reviewed the day's sights.

On Monday, we headed out north to Lipan, Tolar, exploring a bit at Palo Pinto lake and causeway, and eventually up to Possum Kingdom. I had always heard about PK, but was skeptical to go visit an soverienty ruled by large rodents. Actually PK is a lake formed by damming the Brazos river. It's gorgeous. Picture is of me on the observation point on the top of the dam. Here's a photo gallery with professional pictures if you are thinking of visiting PK (recommended): http://www.landatpklaketx.com/gallery.html

Lunch was near there at the Krooked Horn BBQ, just a bit north on FM 2353. It seemed to be a newer place, and the food was great. The picture of their naming mascot was quite appropriate.

We lounged on home stopping in Chico for a quick hydration break, then back to the metro mess. Second day's miles: 281

Total for the two day quick trip: 532 miles

Caddo Grasslands Loop

Got up before 6am on Sunday to beat the heat and do a route in North Texas.

Jim composed this route which went through the Caddo Grasslands.

It was scenic, rolling hills, North Texas beauty. I was surprised that there wasn't really any marking (signage) for this area, so really unless you knew it was a national grassland, you "wouldn't know". .. which is only a little odd because the area covers over 38,000 acres!

Here's a URL for the area: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/texas/recreation/caddo_lbj/caddo-lbj_rec_opps.shtml

At any rate, we covered about 200 miles from Plano, TX that morning and had a great ride. Forestburg (near Muenster in Montague County) had a great general store. I had seen this many times during bicycle rides, but had never stopped. If you need a stop, it's great. Clean, well stocked, even has a deli making fresh food.

Forestburg was settled in the 1850's and as of the 2000 census has a population of 5o. (Maybe the new 2010 census will show some growth...) Anyway, you wouldn't normally think of stopping here, but it's a nice find if you need a respite.

After doing the Caddo Grasslands loop, we stopped in Denton on the square and had a good breakfast at Ruby's. Ruby's is a great diner. (Meaning I can get my standard 2 egg, hash brown, bacon/sausage, biscuit w/ gravy breakfast for under $5). There are other good eats (and drinks) on Denton's square, but if you are there a breakfast time, I would go with Ruby's.

This route is one I will definitely do again. If you would like Garmin mapping files, please give me a shout.

Trip to Fredericksburg - the Twisted Sisters

Over the Memorial Day Holiday we rode down to Fredericksburg TX, the mecca for motorcycling in Texas (perhaps even the Southwest).

Weather was great, but turning hot. We rode down to from Dallas to Cleburne as fast as we could (boring highways) then wound around on Farm to Market (or Federation of Micronesia if you own a Garmin) roads over toward Glen Rose. Beautiful area that we had just ridden the weekend before on bicycles. FM2005 is a great little find from Hamilton to Goldwaithe. We picked up TX-16 and headed down to Fredericksburg. Although 16 is a state highway, it's really scenic and lightly traveled.

Overnighted in Fredericksburg, then the next day took on the fabled 3 Twisted Sisters, a series of FM roads near Leakey / Camp Wood that are technical and exhilarating. We even took in a local tourist phenomenon, the Stone Henge replica near Hunt.

Hunt also has an awesome camp store that has great food, and featured a good live band out of Austin while we were there. Lots of vacationers down on the river there.

That evening we rode over to the "bat cave" an old railroad tunnel that hosts a large colony of bats. It's now an official nature center, complete with a small viewing amplitheatre and a ranger on staff. We've never been there at the right season where the bats are there (the migrate to Mexico in the colder months). Even though they were there, their flight started at dusk, and it was too dark for me to spot them (although the ranger kept saying he could see them down the valley).

Monday we were eager to get back to Dallas before the afternoon got too hot, so we opted to go the most direct way back. We did stop over in Glen Rose for lunch at a bookshop / cafe that was great. It's in an old car dealership and adjacent to the local bicycle shop. If you are in the area, be sure to drop in. http://storiebookcafe.com/ They even have live music on most weekends.


Over all trip: 888.8 miles over 3 days, roughly 300 miles each day. Not for the faint hearted, and had we had more time off of work, I would definitely recommend stretching it over 4-5 days.