A ride with Chapter U is one part planning and leading (in this case Ride Coordinator and Ride Captain Mike and Ako Mills), one part a destination everyone is curious about but no one has been to, and one part the people who show up and want to have fun and make it a special time.  In the case of the Saturday, February 23, Enchanted Spring Ranch ride, all the parts equaled more than 100% as you can see from the pictures of the ride!

Dave Weaver Brought the donuts!                                                Bikes outside YOSA

 

Just arrived at The Enchanted Springs Ranch!

 

The weather forecaster had been off a lot lately and the weather for this ride was no exception.  The forecast was sunny and 80 and as the riders and co-riders gathered at Yamaha of San Antonio (YOSA) for greeting and eating (coffee from YOSA and donuts from Dave Weaver!), people looked at the skies and said it was supposed to clear and get warm.  Already a few souls felt they should have found a way to bring both their leather and their mesh armor jackets!  We set off in good spirits after Mike Mills gave his safety briefing and coordinated Leads and Drags for the 8 bikes there.  It was a first great to see all the recent Road Captain graduates volunteer to Lead and Drag, and for the first time in a long time, Brad and I found ourselves as the Drag of Group 2, a welcome change of role and opportunity to see the Chapter rolling along.  As we wound our way up to the pick up point at 46 and 281, I remembered 2 years ago, even a year ago, as the chapter kept growing and kept working on Rider Education.  The Gold Wings looked so good rolling along and the CB reflected the Leads and Drags working to keep the 2 groups safe as we moved along.  Charlie Brown's training in the Road Captain's Course was very evident!  Thanks Charlie! 

One of the actors came right up to help!                               Ken Jordan in the gift shop!

The ranch and town looked very realistic!

Mike coordinated a rolling pick up of Charlie and Candy Brown at the Exxon station and we kept moving along to pick up Dale and Diane Goree further along 46.  I could see small patches of blue through the clouds and a bit of sun but as we moved closer to Boerne, it seemed to get a bit cooler.  As we pulled into Enchanted Springs Ranch, though, everyone seemed in high spirits and we were greeted by a friendly ranch hand, ready to tell us how to get started on our visit, and to joke with another one of the local "lawmen" about wanting a GoldWing (he has a Harley!).

Briefing about the ranch.                                                           Inside displays

All went to the saloon to get coffee!                                                 Mike & Ako in Jail!

The whole group on the wagon!  

After checking in, and admiring a very large pig enjoying a nap, our lawman started us on a tour of the Western town which was built about 5 years ago.  As we wandered into the hardware store, through a one room living space (smaller than many master closets!) and into the local saloon, we enjoyed the fact that this Western town you could walk into and wander through some of the stores which were furnished fairly authentically for a frontier Western town.  A film was recently filmed at Enchanted Springs Ranch, and we were able to see some of the footage of the ranch employees participating in different scenes.  The film is being "shopped" and could be at the Rim theaters in June and possibly on the Hallmark channel at some point in the future.  Also in the saloon was a replica of the wagon that brought many settlers from the East and had the nets below the wagon which could carry firewood or cow "chips" to fuel fires.  The wagon looked a lot smaller than a lot of today's SUVs!  Talk about needing to downsize for this lifestyle! 

 

Have to have a graveyard!                                            A fight is sure to break out now!

Hey! This is the wild west. Have to have a gun fight!

OK, who looks the best dead?!!

We continued to explore the sights of the Western town visiting the small church and nearby graveyard.  The dance hall provided the opportunity to "chat" with the piano player (not real talkative!), check out the dance floor, and pick up cups of coffee to use as hand-warmers (it was slowly warming up wasn't it?).  We admired the "wedding buggy" and the daily use buggy used in the recent film.  Around the corner were some corrals which held some buffalo and some long-horn cattle.  Our lawman brought over treats and only then did we see some friendliness.  After scratching, patting (the animals!), and laughing, we moved onto a gunfight (with souvenir shells).

        Our guide on the wagon trip.                                      Judy Curtis doing her own "shooting"!

Rather large catfish in the pond!                              Working ranch with longhorns & more!

Loading up onto 2 wagons, we moved beyond the town into the ranchlands.  The animals are obviously not too concerned with the wagons moving through the area.  A dog came along to keep us company, and he enjoyed standing on the little causeway with his paws in the water as we gaped at the very large catfish in the stream!  Moving along, we saw ancestors of the cattle first brought by the Spanish, emus, and zebras.  There was lots of picture taking and taking pictures of the picture-takers. 

Great petting zoo for the big kids                                   .  Yep, they were that close!

 

Good looking longhorn!                                           Yeppers, that is a zebra!

Fortunately we managed to get back to the town without anyone falling off the wagon, and we started hamming it up for the camera while we broke out coolers and bags filled with lunch and munchies!  Everyone managed to catch a snack in the picnic area we had to ourselves.  Entertainment was provided by those daring enough to mount the metal horse and try to rope a metal calf!  Fortunately no one fell off but perhaps we should have had them wear their protective gear!  We also checked out the blacksmith and his little one home full of hand-made door handles and furniture, and the gold mine!  Enchanted Springs Ranch just begs for exploration and picture-taking!

Think Charlie was having FUN?                                 Dale showing his roping skills!

                       Picnic lunch                                                      Ron & Maria's friend David rode with us.

As the weather had finally turned warm and sunny, we decided to take a winding route back to the Blanco Dairy Queen.  Brad and Mike flipped roles which Brad taking First Lead and Mike taking Second Drag.  Brad took us down some of our favorite ranch roads, including one that had recently been listed as a "Best Ride" in Ride Texas magazine.  We could tell as there was more traffic (but still very little) than we had seen before.  There were twisties and turnies, swoops and scenic vistas, the perfect roads the Hill Country is known for.  Pulling into the Blanco Dairy Queen, we dug into lots of blizzards and sundaes.  Fortunately the day had warmed up enough to make us feel we needed ice cream to top off a great day!

Required DQ stop was back in Blanco!

Heading home, Dave Weaver took First Lead, with eventually everyone turning off as we moved closer to home.  It was another great day with Chapter U.  As always, the people who showed up made the planned ride a great ride!  Special thanks to all the recent Road Captains who made sure that we had a safe and enjoyable ride...Mike and Ako Mills, Kenny and Connie Jordan, Dave Weaver, and Tom and Nancy Byrd.  Chapter U's rides are routinely getting large enough to need 2 groups, and we appreciate these chapter meetings volunteering to take the training and showing the leadership to make sure our rides are safe and fun! 

As Brad and I pulled into the garage, I thought to myself how lucky we are to be part of a Chapter that makes having fun a regular part of our life.  We hope to see "U" show up at the next ride and be part of the FUN of Chapter "U."