After my "warm-up" on the bike, there was a bit of a miscommunication. When I went to the front of the dealership, Kevin wasn't there and I assumed he had ridden on. I continued up the road to my hotel. I waited there for Kevin because I knew he'd figure out where I went since it was the only other place in San Antonio that I knew.
A funny story: While I waited for Kevin on the hotel parking lot, I decided not to leave the key in the Harley ignition. When it was time to put the key back into the ignition to start the bike, I couldn't start it. I soon learned from Kevin that the steering wheel lock and the ignition on a Harley is separate!! Hahahaha! For a minute I thought I'd "broken" the bike! Hahahahahaha!
From the hotel we tried to cut through an industrial park to a different section of town, but that didn't work out. It was all good, though. It gave me a chance to get more used to the bike. I felt more comfortable after a few starts, stops and turns on fairly deserted streets.
Upon leaving the industrial park, we headed west on the 410 east service road. We turned north on the 281 which took us out of San Antonio. The highways in Texas are excellent. It was a nice, smooth, meandering road which led north to a place called Bulverde. We stopped briefly there so that Kevin could put on his "gauntlet" gloves and it gave me the opportunity to take the picture (below) of Kevin on his Honda, and my ride, the 2004 Harley Sportster.
When we stopped for gas, I saw houses for the first time! Honest! Up until then, I wondered where all the residents of Texas actually lived. I'd only seen hotels, motels, industrial parks, shops off freeways and so on!
The ride from Boerne to Bandera was a pretty, rolling ride but the ride between Bandera and Kerrville was much more exciting. There were hairpin turns on steep grades and I'll admit that I never missed my BMW as much as right there. The Harley didn't take the turns anywhere as nimbly as my BMer would have but it was still great to experience such a great road! Somewhere between Boerne and Kerrville, I believe I took the following pictures, but to be honest, Since I wasn't the one carrying the map, I'm not exactly certain WHERE this pretty little river and surroundings were. I do know that this was the largest river that I saw in Texas. BTW... I know why Texans are known for exaggerating about things... and it's all about rivers. More later! :)
Much of the land that we passed as we drove was like the scrub you see behind Kevin and in the next picture.
