Another great trip through Texas! As I’m making my way west this year, I wanted to get the suspension upgraded on the T-700 and for me, that was only one place to go. Alex Marten of Konflict Motorsports has kept the suspension tuned on the 1200 Super Tenere for several years now so it wasn’t a question to drop off the the T-7 for an upgrade. His team re-sprung and re-valved the forks and rear shock for my weight and riding style, they also removed the 1/2” lowering link I had added when going to that taller tire in Montana last year. Thanks Alex!
While that was the main purpose to get to Texas, I decided to take my time and enjoy time with friends and family as I made my way across.
After coming southwest from Arkansas, my first stop was my aunt and uncles in Dallas for some Good Friday crawfish 🦞 It was Max and Luke’s first time to boil them up and they did a fantastic job after several calls and texts back to cousins in South Louisiana for critical seasoning consultation.
Then it was south for a couple nights at the Star Ranch outside Austin to wait for my appointment to drop off the bike with Alex. It keeps getting better every time I stop in. Great people there!
The T-7 was going to be at Konflict for a full week, so I dropped it off and headed down to the sleepy little town of Bandera in the beautiful Texas hill country. Down there are the parents of a good friend back in Olympia Wa. Larry and Cybil Marsh had been living on the road in a Class A RV for over a decade when they stumbled across this cute little town with a golf course and inexpensive houses. They had been after me for a while to stop by, I hope my week there didn’t over stay my welcome. Larry is a retired US Navy diver and correctional officer while Sybil is also retired from the Washington state Department of Corrections HQ office. They are living a life they have always dreamed about. 🙌
Bandera isn’t too far outside of San Antonio and there was one place I had to check out so a day trip was in order off the bat. The Black Rifle Coffee Company is a veteran owned small batch roasted coffee company started by a few Special Forces Operators a couple years back. Checking out some of their pretty funny YouTube commercials quickly gives you an idea of who they are… I’ve been a fan for a few years now, really love their coffee.
While in Bandera, Rebecca Cunningham, a documentary film maker I follow on Social media, told me of a biker event that was happening close by and suggested I go check it out. The weather was going to be nice so I headed up to Fredericksburg to check out the “Fandango Vintage Motorcycle show” and flat track races. It was very cool to see all the custom bikes and meet a few great people there. Larry and Sybil even met up with me part of the day to see the show.
One of the bikes that stood out for Larry was this old beat up hard tail chopper, after a little digging, I found that it’s owner is quite the colorful character… meet “Danger Dan”
After saying my goodbyes to Larry and Sybil, I headed back up to Austin to get the bike from Alex. With a couple hours to kill, I found a nice little beach not far from Konflicts shop right on Lake Travis. It’s well known with the locals for being the only clothing optional beach in Texas so I had to go check it out! ☺️🤭😁 The beach was practically empty, I only saw a couple others. It’s quite a liberating experience that I’d highly suggest everyone to try at least once!
I’ll end this blog post here, as there needs to be a part 2 just for the Big Bend National Park and my ADV nomad buddy Jay Masterson down in Terlingua.
Tenere Across the USA 