South Padre Island Bike Fest
'The Beach Was Back!"

Friday night the big attraction was Casino Night (you got $300 in Casino Cash with pre-registration).

Saturday is always the big causeway Parade and the main concert. This year the parade staged up on the Island and then did a round-trip across the causeway - it was a great sight seeing the bridge in both directions totally packed with bikes. The parade is a big event for other island residents and tourists as they bring our their lawn chairs and line up by the thousands to watch and cheer as the bikes go by.

Following the parade was the Chris Duarte Group with J.D. Simo and Dirty Pool.

By early Sunday morning, many with long rides facing them, the bikers started pulling out early to head home and back into the real world. A weather-perfect weekend, a beautiful location, lots of fun stuff to do and the camaraderie of thousands of other people made for a great weekend for a lot of people. Many regular attendees make their reservations for the following year before leaving the Island. With the growth of SPIBikeFest and the finite number of beds per rent that is probably a good idea.

On a very sad note - there were three biker deaths in two accidents at SPI during the weekend. Our hearts and prayers go out to all their families and friends. We have located newspaper information concerning these accidents and the names of the victims.

Getting There - "Backroads with BikerTrash"

Our philosophy "all roads lead somewhere" is the basis of our "Backroads with BikerTrash" attitude. Whenever possible we leave those highways that carry the prefix "I" (our theory is that the "I" stands for Idiots)and head instead to the roads less traveled. The trip from Houston to South Padre was an opportunity to do a little of the Backroads traveling. Leaving Houston we wound our way over into Ft. Bend county and joined 59S below Rosenberg. Even though "59" is almost an Interstate it still retains the flavor of a local road with plenty of opportunities to visit some of the little towns along the way. The early Texas settlers must have thought they could make this area more attractive by giving the towns women's names, "Louise, Edna and Victoria"

These are main-street America small towns. Courthouses, town squares, old houses converted into quaint B&Bs, feed stores, roadside fruit and vegetable stands, junkyards, antique stores and, of course, for any Texas town with a population greater than 12 people - the Dairy Queen.

Between Refugio (pronounced "Refurio")and Corpus Christi Hwy 59 heads towards Laredo so we pick up US 77 for the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Corpus Christi is a very nice Bayside-Seaside town but, unfortunately, on this trip we merely brush the outskirts of Corpus as we head South. Kingsville, a few miles further south is named for the founder of the King Ranch - the world's largest. Actually for most of the drive from Kingsville to Harlingen you are actually driving through sections of the ranch. This is also one of the least densely populated areas of Texas. Gas up around Kingsville because there is a 60-mile stretch with no service stations, stores or anything else other than a couple of rest areas.

This is "not much" country - and there is a whole lot of "not much". Flat terrain, scrubby oaks, mesquite, cactus, wildflowers and "not much" else. What was there, though, were wildflowers and butterflies - hundreds of thousands of butterflies - beautiful, delicate Monarch Butterflies. They were so thick that they were sacrificing themselves to the windshields of every vehicle by the hundreds and they just kep coming. There was just no way to avoid running into these beautiful creatures. Finally, after about 50 miles we got out of the butterfly area about the same time we arrived at the edge of Harlingen.

Strange thing, though, once you stop looking at this as "not much" country and realize that it is its very own unique blend of God's creativity you begin to see it in an entirely different way and you begin to see it as great scenery.

Cactus and cattle, butterflies and buzzards, barbed wire and blue bells - strange combinations? Not to a Texan!