IIRA Reunion in the Hill Country #iirahillcountry
 | |||
| Many of the folks attending made it into the pic |
What a week! Seems like it'd never get here, then suddenly it was upon us. Late last year we all voted on several options and Texas by far got most of the votes. It wouldn't disappoint, but I know for a fact more than a few weren't quite ready for the heat. It was a notch hotter than normal this time of the year, but cooled down as the weekend approached. The vast majority truly enjoyed it and would probably return if it's here in 2020. If it does return to this location, I'm sure we'll find another host hotel that can handle our event in the manner some would prefer. Still, I'll be at the YO Ranch next year if that is where we end up. I had a great room; great location!
 |
| Headed South to the Hill Country | R&R |
I've upgraded my room to a Suite to enure mama is smiling and we've lucked out with it located literally right across from where the motorcycles/trailers are parked and the Harleynots have set up their RV as the central point in the mix. But I'm looking at my room number and something is bugging me; I've seen it before. My suspicions are confirmed when I head over to the main area and their is a white board out front I saw a pic of the day before on FB advertising rides, welcome info
and .. Room 108 for the bathroom. WTF? I know they are screwing with me now! So I erase it. , as I will every day. Now in all fairness, I've got two bathrooms, but I didn't get that room to have a hundred guys pissing on the floor; js! So, for me it's a game and I played it well. After some quick hellos, back slaps and hugs we jump into Brother Dick's Durango and we are headed to the liquor store. I've brought a Yeti cooler for the room and it's soon stocked and iced down. Liquor is set out. We're changing out of our clothes and getting ready to 'cool off'. We're set. After a quick dinner at the Hotel's restaurant it's outside to meander among our IIRA family. Nothing too crazy, we've got some riding to do the following day. I've made a decision that Thursday is the 3 Sisters, Friday up in Fredericksburg and Saturday a Bandera run. As it turns out, quite a few others will roll in behind me.Thursday we roll out at 1000 for the Sisters. I thought Frio Canyon opened at 11am so would get us there at the perfect time .. except... they opened at 10am. Whoops! Anyways, set the pace at a speed to push folks just a notch and off we go. Hour later, we've rolled down 16 to 337 and arrived. Most grab a tee shirt, couple grab a cold beer and 30 minutes later we are back down the road. Traffic is
 |
| Good Times |
Friday was an easy one. At 0930 we headed to Fredericksburg, strolled around , grabbed lunch then onto Luckenbach. After a few hours there, we took a southern route back to Kerrville via 27 and repeated the day before: pool, bbq at the gathering spot, then most did some serious hanging out there until time to crash for the night. Michael Gingrich had gone out of his way to bring us a BBQ grill, but unfortunately it wasn't used and BBQ was catered in. There wasn't enough time in the day and the facilities lacked to be able to do all this easily. But, Kudos out to Deputy Dawg for bringing it!
Saturday we headed to Bandera at 1000 hrs back down 16 to the  |
| Luckenbach, TX |
This was my 4th in a row post-Branson, and it's something I look forward to every year, seeing my
IIRA brethren. It's the only time I see most of these folks through out the year. At the first Durango event, we hit the pool one of those days. This trip we hit it every day! Hell, we could have taken over the entire pool area if everyone had opted to congregate there. Anyone that knows me well, knows I love the water and the temps were optimal. Each most congregated at the IIRA main site anchored by the Harleynots. And early in the day, most everyone was out n' about on several rides to various areas. I could have been there a full week and never got tired of it all.Damned that went quick. We're soon back on the bikes, ladies are packed up in the SUV , we're hugging and saying goodbyes to others and then headed north, but 4 of us this time. Chip Stone is rolling with us to Greenville, then throwing his bike in the trailer with Brother Dick for the final leg. It was misting / raining as we left but no rain-suits needed. Within 45 miles its clearing off and will be a perfect day until we are 35 miles out when we go sprinkled on a few times, then slammed on for several minutes coming into Quinlan. By the time we pull up to the driveway, we are all dried out and the sun is out. Close one!
Lot of folks rode some serious miles to get there and many had to contend with the crazy weather. Dippys group was pushing for an Iron Butt but 700+ miles in had to pull the plug due to really bad crap out there, to include hail. Got a chance to see SO MANY folks from around the country. Fellow wolf , Alan came in from Florida. Finally met Pops. Always good to see Dippy. Finally met John Thompson. CT Spirit. My Cajun family came up. Harleynot's came in from Cali'. Lot of Flatlanders rolled in from Nebraska. My Arkansas family rolled in. I know I'm missing folks here, but it was actually overwhelming . There were several, maybe more, that I never spoke with. Hell, I'm looking at my Facebook feed and seeing that folks were headed back home and I realized that they had been there and we never met up face to face! Crazy
 |
| Army | Navy | Air Force | Marine |
IIRA Reunion 2020. Will it be in back in the Hill Country? I hope so. Dippy is pushing for a West Virginia location as well. If Texas isn't the destination, I'll travel to where ever we all meet. Can't wait to see everyone together again. Less than 12 months to go!
Comments