Remarkably beautiful weather rolled in on New Year's Day 2014. We had been in the lower 40s and below every day for over a week and suddenly on January 1, 2014, the temp rose to 65 degrees. The obvious thing to do when something like that happens and opens a window of opportunity is to RIDE! Which we did!
Met Up With Riding Friends
We planned a short ride to Stephenville, TX through some decent back roads with our lunch destination being the Hard 8 BBQ. We left later in the morning to give the temperature time to climb. At 10:30 am it was still 45 degrees which make for some cold riding. By 11:30 am the temperature climbed to 54 degrees which was perfect. Earlier that morning some friends called to find out what we were up to for the day. We invited them to join.
The Ride To Stephenville, TX
We met them in Crowley, TX, fueled up, and headed out. The route was 85 miles to Stephenville and was pushing 64 degrees when we got there and even for the ride home. The landscape had that dead of winter look with everything being brown from fall. Hardly any green was to be seen but this provided a nice change of scenery to roads we've ridden before. There was a VERY hard wind coming in from the southeast and we rode almost head-on into it the entire time. We saw a good number of other bikers on the road with the same mindset we had of getting in a day of riding while the weather permitted.
Hard 8 BBQ
Hard 8 BBQ is a bit unique from other BBQ places. The cooks are outside in front of the BBQ pits and you walk up to them and tell them what you want. You can look right into the pit and see all of the pork, ribs, brisket, sausages, chicken, corn, etc. and they cut off the portion you want. Everything is by the pound so you've got to be careful because it can add up quickly. Especially when everything looks so good and you just want to have a bit of everything. You then take your tray inside to get your sides and pay.
That was all we did this time and it was enough since we left quite late for the ride to be a bit warmer and tried to get back before the cold blasted back in. When we pulled into the garage at home you could already feel the cold snap had hit and the temperatures were dropping quickly.
Thanks for including your routes, we are always looking for new places to go or new ways to get to old favorites.
Hard 8 has killer food! One question though, if that was really your wife's plate where the hell does all the food go?
LOL she can eat a tremendous amount of food and still stays small. Alas, some of us are not that fortunate 🙁
I forgot to post the route we took for this one. It will be up tonight.