Definite - "Spring Drive" in Texas Hill Country

[MPlayle]

If any of you "staying over" in San Antonio into the weekend wish to meet, call me (210-254-7341).

[MiniDave]

Don, Bruce and I are headed north in the early am, we'll see you the next time!

Thanks for putting this together Michael, we all had a terrific time - thanks to you!

[gr8kornholio]

Safe travels for everyone headed home.  Loving the pictures.   71.gif

[94touring]

Another pic I had.

[MiniDave]

Don, Bruce, Justin and I headed out about 8 am, it was drizzly but at least not raining....

Justin was the first to drop out of our little group, heading for home in East Texas.....the three amigos carried on to Stephenville, where we found yet another BBQ place, and this one turned out to be even better than the one in Llano!

At that Point Bruce headed east leaving Don and me to carry on....however not too far up the road Don's Pup sputtered to a halt, sounding like it was out of fuel. Even tho the gas gauge showed 3/4, it clearly was much lower than that. But after sitting for a few minutes it popped off, so we high-tailed it to the closest gas station - which was a bit iffy looking, so he only added 2 gallons, enough to get us to the next biggish town. We only made it another 12 miles or so before it died again.

After sitting for just a few minutes the Pup roared into life again and we set off yet again.....20 miles later, well you know the drill by now.

We were on I-44 now when we spied a likely exit, where it died at the bottom off the off ramp. We did get it going again, and drove a couple of miles to a Valero station where we topped up and just for good measure I added a bottle of Heet....remembering Brad's experience in Omaha.

We won't know fur sure till we get going tomorrow but I'm encouraged by the fact that it did 80 miles after that without a sputter!

We found lodging at a newly built Hampton Inn on the east side of OKC, tomorrow we'll stop by Dan's shop to pick up the reamer, then onward home....fingers crossed!

One interesting note, this Hampton has a free electric car recharging station!

[gr8kornholio]

I've heard hard 8 is good BBQ.  Funny thing is, one of the best rated BBQ places is just north of me in McKinney.  Hutchins BBQ and I still haven't made it there. 

A little ironic the "reliable" Honda powered mini was giving you issues.  Glad to hear sounds like the problem may have been solved.  Safe travels the rest of the way home. 

[MiniDave]

Wasn't the car's fault, he clearly got a slug of bad gas......the bottle of Heet did the trick, it drove the rest of the way home without a single hiccup.

The BlueBonnets were coming out.......

[gr8kornholio]

Gotta love the poor gas around this country.

[MPlayle]

Interesting that Don was the only one that got some bad gas.

Was there a stop where he was the only one to fill up?

[Willie_B]

For anyone that wants to know, the last milepost marker on I-10 leaving Texas is number 880. That is a long way from side to side.

Dinner when I stopped for the night was 2 pounds of crawfish.

[94touring]

Brad I think I spotted you and the misses at the riverwalk in San Antonio.

[Willie_B]

Could be, went there after the Alamo.

[BruceK]

Sharing some pix...

This first one was taken when some of us arrived a day earlier than originally planned and visited a German restaurant in Fredericksburg.  (Great food!)

[BruceK]

and some more...

[gr8kornholio]

Awesome pictures.  4.gif  Looks like a lot of fun.  71.gif

[94touring]

It was a fun time.  Really enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting a couple new faces.

[BruceK]

We spotted this old Dodge pickup at one of our early stops.

I'm kinda fond of it.  In fact, I find myself really lichen it.   :)


(I'll see myself out...)

[BruceK]

Hey, I know there were some videos and cool drone photos taken during the Spring Drive. 

When can we see them?

[MiniDave]

Don will get to his this weekend, and I'm hoping to get mine posted over the weekend too.....the sound is terrible on mine due to the wind noise, I'm going to have to find a way to shield the mic - so just turn the sound down and it's not too bad.

I had a lot of hours of vid to go thru to find the "good" parts, then it's a matter of learning how to edit them into one clip that's not too long and boring.

Right now I'm building Dan's engine.

Because I made the mistake of going to Magnolia Pearl's website to show my wife, I now have their ad popping up on every webpage, FaceTube or anything else I open! Except RM thank god!

[MPlayle]

Clear your browser cache, history, and cookies and you may likely stop getting all the ads popping up on everything.

I keep my browser (Firefox) set to clear all of those every time I close the browser.

[94touring]

I'm ad free!

[gr8kornholio]

That's a really cool looking truck, project time? 

Excited now for the weekend to see the videos and pictures.

[BruceK]

That's a really cool looking truck, project time? 

Oh gosh no. That truck is a prop, part of an elaborate set piece boutique designed resemble an old country farmhouse (or a barn) and it was done pretty convincingly.   It's all designed to sell cheap rags from India to wealthy women.   I know that might sound harsh and judgmental, but it is actually pretty accurate.   The farm building was so intriguing and cool looking that we stopped by to check it out – thinking it was a brewpub or possibly a restaurant.   We had no idea it was some type of ultra high-end clothing store located isolated out in a rural area (but near wineries).  They actually take raggedy-looking clothes cheaply made in India and sell them for $400, $500, $600 and more.  Don described the fashion style as "Stevie Nicks meets Little House on the Prairie" which is wonderfully accurate.   The Dodge truck and some other ancient trucks are parked around the place to help provide atmosphere.   I'm sure they're worth more to the store in the current dilapidated condition then they'd ever be as restored vehicles.    Google Magnolia Pearl to see more.

[MiniDave]

Google Magnolia Pearl to see more.

Only if you want to see their ads on every web page you open from here on!  ::)

[BruceK]

Google Magnolia Pearl to see more.

Only if you want to see their ads on every web page you open from here on!  ::)

Geez, you're getting a double whammy with those Magnolia Pearl fashion popup ads plus your woman's magazine subscriptions.