This has been a different kind of buffet every year that I've been here. This one is very good, but for some reason, I had to use a little more throttle on the bike getting back to the motel! Only the second buffet of the whole trip so far, so guess we're not doing toooooo bad.

Crescent Springs. One of the MANY (I forget how many) of the public springs in Eureka. This time of year, they are pretty dry, but there is still enough water for the drinking fountain to work.

Karen checking into the Crescent. (yeah, right) We were pretending!

Bucky! Bucky is a Hottie! Well, we all knew that.. (this is just for the VROC'ers:-)

The front of the Crescent Hotel. This is where all those of us that signed up will be eating next Friday night at the VROC/ROK banquet!

This wheel has been turning for many years, grinding up grain for breads and cereal. Lots of history in this old building, even used to be a square dance hall! We read it all, but it's too long to go into on here.

This is a wooden decked bridge over the War Eagle River. There are planks on it for car tracks. Riding on the boards, the trailers wheels were just too narrow to stradle the boards, causing some wiggles. Preston was a nervous wreck before he got across! I tried to convince him we had to go back across, just couldn't bear to torture him too much....:-)

We stopped at the War Eagle Mill this morning. One of my favorite places. Excellent give shop, mill, and restaurant upstairs with beans and cornbread among other things.

This is the only picture we took on old Route 66 between Oklahoma City and Tulsa yesterday. Pat visited this place years ago with some people from the Historical Society of Oklahoma. We passed a lot of land marks and famous places along the way. It's one of the longest stretches of the old Mother Road left intact.

Although not one of the prettiest Prickly Pear Cactus, Karen wanted to pick and taste on the seed pods. She still has a zillion tiny little spines in her fingers. She bit one in two, and spit it out pretty fast. She heard they make jelly from these, but said it would take a LOT of sugar before she would try it again!

100 plus degrees! Preston has on his cool tie, Karen is getting some water to cool her off a little. This has been a very hot afternoon, we're "Running from Rita"

The famous "Cooper's" meat selection. Those of you that have been there can just smell it, I'm sure!

This is one of the shovels used to put the hot coals into the cooking pits. The heat is intense near the fire pits, so it's necessary to have long handles.

This is the fire pits at Coopers. They have many pallets of Mesquite out back. These coals are burned down, then shoveled into the huge cookers.

And here we are. Preston and Karen's first time here, and they want to come back. They just finished off the left-overs a few minutes ago here in the motel room, they couldn't get it all down at lunch! I passed on the cobbler this time, but they didn't! :-)

Sure a different ride in the fall. 100 degrees, hot and dusty. No green grass or any sign of flowers. I should have stopped for a picture of the racoon the was still stuck in the fence. In April, it was very fresh, I was surprised to see it still there, just a dried up piece of hide and hair. It was just too miserably hot to stop again, we just wanted to get back on the main road so we could get the wind moving again.

I've stood in this spot next to Wiliedog and Skid, and others. The water is so low the little trout break the water scurrying around toward the little deeper pool. You know where it is. This was the ONLY water we saw on the Willow Loop.

There are some of the largest Hibiscus flowers I've ever seen here, and many different colors too. This is in the Wildseed Farm gardens.

All the fields are tilled up, and the only color is the fall harvests. The gift shop is still doing a booming business, but with out all the brilliant colors in the fields, it sure looks different than it does in the Spring.

There are pots of various sizes and shapes inside the gardens. Also many statues and rock planters.

Inside the gift shop at the Wild Flower Farm in Fredericksburg. These were the only Bluebonnets we saw in the Hill Country on this trip.

This is at the Wild Flower Seed Farm. One of many displays for the fall season.

Don't know if Jim (Rev) will see this, but it may bring back some unpleasant memorys if he does!

Karen checkin gout the old well. It was wrapped with lights, probably pretty at night out in this little courtyard.

The back room of this house (what you see here) was the room Admiral Nimitz was born in, and spent his early years. We were just wandering around and found a little history lesson here.

One of the MANY stores that sells unique food stuffs in Fredericksburg.

The Spanish Trial Restaurant in Bandera. This is a nationally acclaimed business. Because of the Hill Country ambience and quality of food, it has been written about in several magazines. We ate in the John Wayne Room, it used to be a corral, but it cleaned up real good. Tin ceilings and all! We had a good night in San Antonio, and really enjoyed getting into the Hill Country this morning. Sure looks different than it does in April, when all the flowers are out. Unseasonably hot and humid, probably because of the Hurricanes. We going to take the long way to Fredericksburg and see some canyons and goats! All would be perfect if it was about 20 degrees cooler!

I've stopped at a couple of western stores, this one is in Bandera, TX. I lost a good down jacket that I've had for years somewhere this spring, and I'd like to replace it. Hard to find exactly what I want, but will keep looking. Will stop in Sheplers in OKC on the way home.

113 degrees on Kokopelli's thermoter. Part sun, part shade. Unseasonably hot, and suppose to be hotter tomorrow. We hear that it will probably drop down into the 80's after Rita blows through Texas. We'll be in East Texas when it passes, and will follow her North on Sunday.

Guess I'll have to sent the Blog to Phil and Janie. They probably already know about this place, but I just had to take a picture. For those of you that don't know. Phil Jackson (not this one) is the owner of the Iron Horse Stables in Eureka Springs, our Kaw Pasture for the ES rally every year.

Jimmie Doolittle preparing to take off from a Carrier Deck. This is the third time I've been through this Museum, and I learn more every time. It would take days to read and digest everything there is to see in this World Class place. The Museum of the Pacific War is a place I wish everyone in America could see this place and take the time to read and think about it. May change the way some people think about war. This happened during my life time, it's hard to believe. America certainly had a different attitude about our country and our soldiers and sailers than it has today.

Marines loading ammo. The sounds and figures in this museum are so real, you feel like you're right there with them. I didn't take a pictures of the deck of the Japanese sub that launched the mini sub that did all the initial damage to the ships in Pearl Harbor. It was a real eerie feeling, I didn't feel like taking a picture.

Working on a plane that was under camoflage on a Pacific Island

30 caliber bandoliers, an aviation fuel drum. and a rat..on one of the Pacific Islands

Real pictures of some of our POW's. The Japanese theated them terribly. Most of them died, some were too weak to walk, and all were mal nurished. We treated our prisoners fairly and gave them plenty of food. Wonder where the press was when our soldiers and sailors were being treated like this.???

This is the George H.W. Bush Gallery in the Musuem of the Pacific War.

Hill Country Ride bricks in front of the Famous Dance Hall in Luckehbach, TX.

Preston and Karen checking out the Old Swimming Hole in Luckenbach.

Big Live Oak behind the store in Luckenbach. Close to the place where "Call" from Lonesome Dove is buryed. That's for Wiliedog and Coyote!

We thought these guys were local "pickers", but it turned out they were truck drivers from Dallas just out having fun. The guy playing was pretty good, and also did a lot of "slight of hand" tricks. Excellent with those. We enjoyed listening to them.

They have large squirrels in Texas!

What's with this license plate? Sure looks like a Honda with a VROC plate. I think I saw one like this in Canada too! Must be the new Voyager we were waiting for this year.................

The Budget Host Motel in Fredericksburg. I've stayed here during the last 3 Hill Country Rides. Nice people own it, very motorcycle friendly, and more reasonable than some of the others in town. We'll be leaving in the morning, headed for East Texas and Rita!

4 cop cars right next to our motel. One of these guys was just in Lulu's where we ate. There was someone sitting on a bench when we walked over on our way to eat, so that may have been the problem. Lots of flashing lights. We had just experienced a real Texas Cafe, just an outstanding meal! So many good things on the menu it was hard to chose, so I went with the house specialty. You'll see it down the line here. Time for us to think about getting some sleep, it's still in the 80's and very humid. Camping would have been miserable. The Rodeway Inn is working fine.

I just had to take a picture of this. I opted for the okra and green beans. Would rather had the potatos and corn, but this way I had some vegetables with the meat. This is not a small platter! Lulu's is a wonderful place, too bad we're leaving in the morning, this could be a new home away from home.

One of the cooks at Lulu's. Quantity is what it's all about here! Extra large Texas portions..................

A HUGE cinamon roll! These weigh in at over 3 lbs each! A little treat from Lulu's.

One of the several signs inside Lulu's. My new favorite place!

This was the trolley we rode back to the motel after our big afternoon in the City. 80 cents sure beats riding the bikes with the trailers and trying to find a place to park in this heat. Very handy, dropped us off right at the Motel.

Cafe Rio. This was where we had lunch. One of the oldest, and first eating establishment on the river. Food was excellent and reasonably priced.