2013 East Texas, Coastline, Hill Country Ride - March 22-25

Post date: Feb 4, 2013 9:25:28 PM

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Our first multi-day ride of the year will be March 22 – 25 and will loop around Texas covering three very different areas of the state including the East Texas Piney Woods, the Texas Coastal Bend and the Texas Hill country. Total distance is about 1,450 miles over 4 days and includes 2 free ferries.

We will take back roads down to Center where we will pick up Highway 87 for a ride through East Texas and the Sabine National Forest down to the Golden Triangle area spending the first night in Beaumont.

The next morning we will ride I-10 for a short stretch before cutting down to pick up Highway 87 again and following the coastline down High Island to pick up the free ferry that goes from the Bolivar Peninsula across to Galveston Island.

We will ride the length of Galveston Island via the Sea Wall crossing back to the mainland via the bridge over the San Luis Pass ($2 toll - cash only from last time Howard rode it).

From there, the route stays close to the coast with a stop (if time permits) at the Sea Center Texas and then an ‘out and back’ to Matagorda, which is an interesting town with a lot of history. In Matagorda we will plan to eat lunch at the River Bend Restaurant which is on the Colorado River immediately before it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

We will spend our second night in Ingleside near Port Aransas.

The next morning we will continue down to the free ferry to Mustang Island at Port Aransas. We will continue south on Mustang Island looping around the south side of Corpus Christi avoiding the city.

From there we will head Northwest through the coastal plains ending up with a loop through the Texas Hill Country via Tarpley, Utopia and Leakey ending up at Kerrville where we will spend the last night.

The last day will be taking back roads from Kerrville to the DFW area.

Lodging info:

Beaumont –

Best Western Jefferson Inn

1610 I-10 South,

Beaumont, TX, 77707

Phone: 409/842-0037

$71 for 2 Beds

(ROOMS BLOCKED UNDER ‘LONE STAR RIDERS’)

Ingleside –

Best Western Naval Station Inn

2025 State Highway 361

Ingleside, Texas

78362-4106

Phone: 361/776-2767

From $86

(WE COULD NOT BLOCK ROOMS HERE. PLEASE BOOK ROOM ASAP AS THEY COULD BE FILLED QUICKLY. THERE ARE OTHER MOTELS AVAILABLE IN THE AREA)

Kerrville

Best Western Sunday House

2124 Sidney Baker Street,

Kerrville, TX, 78028

Phone: 830/896-1313

$89.95 for 2 beds

(ROOMS RESERVED UNDER ‘HOWARD EVANS’. PLEASE TELL THEM YOU ARE GETTING ONE OF THE ROOMS HE RESERVED)

UPDATED INFORMATION

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We will depart at 8:30 AM from Alfredo's Steakhouse (Forney Cafe on MapSource) in Forney: just east of FM 740 (Pinson Rd) and US 80 - on eastbound (south) service road (See map below for location). They open at 7:00 AM for breakfast. Please have full tank of gas for departure. There is a Shell station on the east side of the Dairy Queen at the SW corner of FM 740 and US 80 service road you can top off at before pulling into Alfredo's.

Alfredo's Restaurant

111 E Us Highway 80

Forney, TX 75126

(972) 564-9925