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
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