While you can legally drive 80
mph on Texas State Highway 130, also known as the Pickle Parkway, motorcycle
and sports car enthusiasts flock to three
Hill Country Ranch Roads. SH 335, 336
and 337, are known throughout Texas as the Twisted Sisters.
A stretch
of one of these seemingly pleasant curvy roads starts off pretty straight, but
then bucks, snorts, twists and turns in an effort to throw us like a bull in a
Bandera rodeo. This is whitetail deer country, and they will pop up at the most
inopportune times, like in the middle of a downhill, off camber, decreasing
radius turn! Then there’s the occasional cage…they can be as unpredictable as a
deer and seem to show up at inopportune times, as well.
I
hail from South Carolina and from the time I got my first sports car drove the
mountainous curves of North Carolina, Tennessee and northern Georgia. These curves wind so tight you can almost hear
them whine. Recently, I returned from a
visit to my son in Yorkshire. Let me
tell you there are curves in ‘them thar hills’ where you can say hello to your own
arse coming around a sharp bend!
The second weekend in June, along with a friend and fellow author Toni Sweeney, I drove the Twisted Sisters with my car club.
My license plate surround says it all:
‘Houston Miata Club – Our members love to go topless’. Toni navigated on this epic adventure. I trusted her to know left from right—which I
do not! Luckily, the HMC go as a 'convoy' around the twistys and turnys. We drive to have fun not to set any records--a good thing for one who doesn't know N, S, E & W as more than letters of the alphabet
So here’s to Black Magic, his Momma and Toni
Sweeney—On the Road Again…
You might enjoy this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOjO3HSqD1Q
3 comments:
What fun, Linda. Tell me your car is red. I can just see you leaning into those curves. It must have been even more fun having Toni along. Back in the day, I had a red Cougar (Mercury's cousin to the Mustang). My sister, girlfriend, & I took it into the Colorado mountains. For us Michigan flatlanders, that was so much fun.
Thanks for stopping by Diane. I love challenging myself and driving the Three Twisted Sisters. The car club sets a smart clip. Sorry to disappoint, my car is black. It's the Miata in the photo. His name is Black Beauty. I always name my cars. Way back when I was 19, I had a red E-type Jag. It's name was Wild Thing (after the song popular at the time)! Your Cougar sounds nice.
That sounds like a fun drive - and whew! What a car! Once upon a time, I loved to drive super-fast, especially on curvy roads. Three speeding tickets later...I begrudgingly changed my ways. For the most part. You see, I live at the top of this winding hill, and sometimes I can't resist the call of the road. :)
Post a Comment