Austin Bat Ride – Sept 15-16, 2007 Load up and head down to Longhorn 30 miles shy of a full tank. There is quite a few riders there at 8am ready for the days ride. There are 2 rides planned to leave Longhorn at 8:30am on Saturday. Philip Mason is announcing that one group is the frog ride and the other group is the bat ride. Kristy and I are packed for the bat ride. We meet up with Della to sign up for the ride. The bat list was short. We had Della, Frank, Kristy and I on 3 Streetglides. The frog ride heads out with a bunch of riders headed to eat. Della is helping Jerry with his cb on his Ultraclassic. We have had our cheese crackers for breakfast and started gearing up. Della and Frank gear up and off we go. There is another rider following us. It’s Jerry on the Ultraclassic. Wow, guess he decided to ride with us. Nice ride to Glenrose where our first stop is at an Exxon. This is when Jerry finds out we are headed for Austin on an overnight ride. Jerry gets directions from Frank for a good ride back to the metroplex. Jerry is still smiling even knowing he followed the bats instead of the frogs. We head on down for probably the prettiest part of the ride. Della has the Yum Factory in Lampasas charted out for some good road food. Several chicken fried steaks were ordered and consumed. We made the 71 exit with Frank at drag and headed into Austin arriving at the Best Western hotel in Austin sometime between 3 and 4 pm as Della had planned. There were some of us that took a nice nap. Others, me, had to go buy a toothbrush and toothpaste. Kristy and I had planned for my niece to join us for dinner and the bat boat. She met us at the hotel and we worked out the trip to the dock. We loaded up on the bat boat after some parking struggles. Frank, Della, Kristy, my niece Amber and I are ready for the boat cruise and to see a million bats. We take a seat on the front of the boat with a small overhang that hopefully will protect us from bat guano. My grown-up little niece, Amber and Kristy pose for a picture with me. Della and Frank are ready to see some bats. The captain gave us a tour down the lake with some interesting facts about the Colorado River history and Austin. The tallest building in Austin has a quite interesting story. A Rice University graduate designed the building. Remember we are in the home of the Texas Longhorns. The Rice Owls are stationed in Houston. The captain told us to look how the top of the building resembled an owl. Also, this is the first building in Austin to be built that is taller than the Texas Capitol Building. It took special approval for this to happen. We moved toward the bridge where we could hear a bunch of screeching. I guess the bats were waking up. Moved to the south side of the bridge where the captain turned the boat around. This is when the bow seating on the boat became front row. The bats are flying after dark to feed this year due to the abundance of insects from the rains. The boat was equipped with a red spotlight that allowed us to view the bats leaving. More interesting facts about bats but you have to go with us next time to find out. We were hungry for food even after smelling bat guano. Amber loads us all up in her car to search for a restaurant. We found Curra’s serving Yucatan style Mexican food. Wow, this was a great find. Della can tell you about the signature dish that really looked good. We were full but not done for the night. We challenged out photo skills using the timer to capture some pics. Next stop is 6th street for some great people watching and a beer. Amber is able to negotiate the downtown Austin traffic and find a parking spot, although quite a few blocks from our destination. But here we are seated at a table. Frank had never had an Irish Car Bomb which later became confused with an Irish Car Fire. So he tried one. That was the end of a long day. Back to the room for some much needed rest. We decided we would get up when we woke up the next day. I am up at 8a cleaning my bike and Frank is calling me on the phone. There he is on the balcony ready for whatever we were going to do that day. Della is up shortly joining us for breakfast. Kristy, it is not 11a yet, so she missed breakfast. She did get up about 9:30 am and came down for some coffee. We decided to head downtown for the day. Parked on 6th street and walked around taking in the sites and the smells of the city. Della and I think that we should be able to record smells somehow. The smell on 6th street was stale beer from the night before. The artists in Austin even use the sidewalk. We decided to head to the Texas State Capitol building. We rode a few blocks down Congress and found some great shaded parking. We noticed a really nice house next to the parking lot. Decided to find out why it had a historical marker. Hey, it was Rick Perry’s house. We hit the call button to visit with him but he must have not been there. Thought we would check out Rick’s commute to work so we strolled down the sidewalk to his office. We did some stargazing. This is the room where my state rep will introduce the new cell phone law to stop these people from trying to run us off the road. Notice our tour guide that is also a great restaurant reviewer. She gave us a recommendation for our late lunch.. I love Texas flags. There have been numerous flags that have flown over Texas. We all know the six flags but I really like the republic flags. Time to leave the capitol. We did a lot of walking. We didn’t think the DPS would be nice enough to let us park in front of the building. Della will hopefully do this ride again. I love Texas history and enjoyed this ride. It was great to get to know Della and Frank and have some good times to remember. Della and I shared some ride ideas over lunch. We seem to share the swimming hole idea. Of course it was hot on Sunday. Thanks to Della and Frank for great time. Hope to do this trip again. James and Kristy
...too bad you all didn't have time for Hippie Hollow Curra’s, eh? Nice to know. Next time I'm down there I will give it a try. Have been hungering for Yucatecan fare for a while now. I've never taken a tour to see the bats, but have chanced to drive by when peeps are looking over the bridge, from the shore, and on boats... nice report!
Great TR James, Wish we could have done the ride with ya'll. You are coming up in a couple of weeks to ride over to the Arkansas ralley with us aren't you
Collegeguy, 6th street in Austin is a must do. Blocks of clubs mostly playing live music. The official city slogan "Keep Austin Wierd" describes the city. The most beautiful women anywhere. Sitting on the patio at the Oasis on Lake Travis. Wakeboarding in front of Sandra Bullock and Matthew Macaunehey's homes on Lake Austin. Hippy Hollow, the only official nude beach in Texas. Swimming in Barton Springs 68 degree year round water. Some more sidewalk artwork. This picture was just not right. 6th Street during ROT (Republic of Texas) Rally and a good looking girl. Girls I met at the bathroom. I am a fan of the hispanic women. Surfing on the lake. About to throw the rope in and ride it. My forgotten past time. Have not done enough wakeboarding lately. This is the completion of a toeside to backside front flip. Got some major air and completed way before coming back down.
James, Sorry for the late reply... I forgot I wanted to reply to this over the weekend. Reading your decision of wanting to be on the team that doesn't get to be beaten up by AJ reminded me of this thread. They are very similar... Here's how: Bat Ride Excursion in Austin, South Texas (BREAST) vs. The Wrestling with AJ Thread (TWAT) BREAST: Bike ride across Texas, spending the night in Austin = great idea TWAT: CoEd wrestling = great idea BREAST: Out on 6th Street = awesome sights TWAT: picturing AJ in her wrestling gear = awesome sights BREAST: Not eating at Stubs while in Austin = although you probably had a great meal elsewhere, BIG MISTAKE TWAT: volunteering to be AJ's partner = although you'll probably still have a lot of fun, ...
