In the week before Christmas, Varya and I drove north out of Houston and spent a couple days in Branson, MO. Advertised as a family vacation destination in the Ozarks, it seemed like a small, low-budget, poor imitation of Vegas without the fun parts. The Titanic museum exceeded expectations, however, handing you a “passport” for a real passenger when you enter so that as you walk through the authentic and recreated artifacts and rooms, you keep an eye out for clues as to “your” ultimate fate (not surprisingly, her 1st class lady survived, my 2nd class schmuck did not). The other “museums” in town underwhelmed. At night, we enjoyed the Shanghai Circus at Mickey Gilley’s Grand Shanghai Theatre, which was more multi-cultural than Chinese, with artists much more diverse than the audience. The performers were not quite ready for Cirque du Soleil, but their repeated mistakes were part of the fun, building to crowd-pleasing triumphs when they finally completed stunts successfully.

Farther north in gray St. Louis, we experienced Beyond Van Gogh in a mall parking lot. Gotta love Vincent, and the big room with the high-intensity, high-res projected animations of his work was truly immersive, albeit overpriced for a half hour show. Still, a fun little diversion.

Unfortunately, during our visit with Mom and Sis in St. Charles, Claire had to quarantine in a guest room and on the back deck to reduce the risk of infecting the rest of us with the COVID-19 she likely caught just before flying west from NY. Fortunately, she was fully vaccinated, so her symptoms were mild and short-lived. She participated in opening presents on Christmas Day via FaceTime on an iPad in the morning, and on the deck when Carla dropped by.

We spent another night in Branson during the long drive back south, taking in Dolly Parton’s Stampede dinner show with a variety of animals and human performers. Though it can be cute in a kitschy way, we can cross Branson off the list, as a few days there is plenty.

In past road trips to MO, we’ve overnighted in Memphis and now Branson. Next? I hear good things about Eureka Springs, AR…

As a gift of gratitude for supporting her highly successful Flatiron Full Stack Web Development Bootcamp in 2019, Varya gave me an Italian mistress named Ducati Multistrada. Out of love and appreciation, I treated my girls Varya and Duca to a Hill Country moto-holiday over the long Memorial Day weekend, staying with an old friend and former roommate, Erik and his fiancé Liza in Austin. I initially thought of riding the bike all the way from Houston, weather and holiday traffic be damned, but better thoughts prevailed and I rented a motorcycle trailer and packed up the SUV for a more comfortable mini adventure.

Erik and Liza have a big, beautiful, new house with an epic hillside view west of Austin, and generously provided us with the most excellent room, meals, drinks and banter for 3 days and 2 nights…5 stars! Inexcusably, I and the official trip photog, Varya, failed to get a single photo of our Best Hosts Ever, only the front of their Super BnB in a deceptive pic that hides most of the house. After a Saturday night of food-n-fun with friends, we awoke early Sunday morning, prepped the bike, dressed to thrill, and set out for the eastern half of what Cycle World and Butler Maps deem among the best rides in the US.

After a quick stop in Blanco for a map check, we strolled around the old German town of Fredericksburg and had brunch. Judging from her first pics, my pillion photog seemed very impressed by architecture.

From Fredericksburg, we dove south to Kerrville, veered west to Hunt, then southwest along some of the most beautiful and breathtaking roads of the day. In sun-dabbled woodlands we curved along lazy rivers full of soaked kayakers and soused floaters, finally riding a giant roller coaster of a road carved through huge hills south to Leakey, the westernmost point of our day trip, where we ate a late lunch of tasty roadside BBQ.

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The twisty ride east to Vanderpool was among the most technical and thrilling of the day, with some of the most spectacular hilltop views. I was having too much fun to stop for photo ops, but will get some cool peak pics during our next visit. We zipped by the Lone Star Moto Museum, but didn’t have extra time to stop and play moto-tourists, so we continued east, again having some of the most moto-fun of the day. So much fun, in fact, that a very nice local constable invited me to stop and chat about speed.

A few minutes later–at a notably slower pace–we found The Apple Store in Medina where they sold no iPhones or Macs, but plenty of the best apple-cinnamon ice cream in Texas, perfect for a Ducatista and his pillion gal pal. A couple waffle cones of sweet-tart creamy goodness made everything better.

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Some of the sharpest switchbacks of the day lurked in a short patch of 16 north of Medina. Shortly after gassing up in Kerrville, we caught a short and light drizzle of rain on the way back north to Fredericksburg…a little foreshadowing. On a little northern road parallel to 290, we stopped within an hour of Erik and Liza’s house to get some final shots and stretch the legs for a few minutes…perhaps just a few too many.

After avoiding inclement weather for the entire day, our luck finally ran out in the last couple miles, where the sky opened up and deluged us with a true Texas thunderstorm just a few minutes from shelter. So, during our 10 hours on and off the bike, the weather was 99% “yahoo!”, but ended in 1% “yikes!” Erik and Liza prepared for our drenched arrival with garage space and towels, and after a change of clothes, Varya crashed while I joined other lucky house guests, Doris and Chris, enjoying another great Liza dinner with fine wine and good company.

The next day, Liza fed us another nice breakfast, Erik pumped us with coffee, and both gave us a lingering “Chinese goodbye” in the early afternoon…big thanks again 3E & L! On our way out of Austin, Varya and I made one last stop at Slab BBQ and fondly recounted our favorite moments from a great Hill Country holiday weekend.