JT's 2009 Smithville AMCA Antique Bike Show Ride

I guess the Big Bend Trip didn't cure the riding bug yet so Terri and I took a nice 300 mile day trip to Smithville, Texas to see The Antique Motorcycle Club of America Motorcycle Show.

My wife, the backseat navigator, always looks for interesting things along the way to see and do, so know our trips are all-day adventures. We started about 8 a.m. It seemed like everywhere we passed was either having a community festival or multi-family/community garage sale. It was a great day for it, as the weather was pleasant – mostly cloudy but warm. We rode Highway 237. What a beautiful drive! Green farmland, smooth hills, curves and sites.

We went through Round Top without stopping, as all the shops were closed and there were no festivals this weekend. The next town was Warrenton, Well worth exploring. We came upon the World’s Smallest, Active Worship, Catholic Church, St. Martin’s. It looked like an adult doll house.. The door was open, so we went inside. It was decorated nicely and had an area for people to leave prayers. There was a sad, written prayer note from someone that said, “Please send me someone to love and share my life with.” The headstones in the surrounding cemetery dated back to the late 1800’s, and most appeared to be written in German or Czech.






A little farther down the road, we came upon the Sterling McCall Cadillac Museum. I have yet to figure out why this would be in little ‘ole Warrenton! Anyway, they had a big statue of Big George outside so of course, we had to stop and take a picture in front of it.



We noticed a number of signs that said “Art Festival”, so we followed them. We rode, and rode and rode, following the never-ending signs to Fayetteville, Texas. We stopped and walked through all of the booths. Nice community festival. Of course, the only artwork Terri saw that she liked was the most expensive - $3,500. That is one advantage of riding the bike on these trips – no room to tote stuff, so shopping remains minimal! Fayetteville has a really nice town square, so we walked around all the shops to peak in. Then It was time to head off again.

We then headed to Smithville and The Antique Motorcycle Club of America Motorcycle Show. The turnout was small but I am not suprized as I was only able to Goggle one referrance to it. Too many times events do not promote well. The swap meet had mostly old Harley parts except one guy that had some old Norton parts.


Bike Pics are at the bottom of this post.

After the show, we cruised around Smithville, remembering that I almost “starred” in Sean Penn/Brad Pitt’s movie that was filmed there, “Tree of Life”. They were also having a small community festival but we were arts and crafts-out by that time. Onward ho, towards home. I just love investigating road kill and happened upon another large, dead Wild Boar on Highway 71. Cool! Buzzards had not really gotten to it yet, but the smell and flies were overwhelming. It didn’t take long to hit the road again.


Highway 237 was so pretty, we decided to ride it again, stopping in an area after Warrenton we did not get to previously explore because of our Art Festival detour. We stopped at the Oaks Restaurant. Man, if you’re in this area you need to eat here. I had the 237 Burger and Terri had the Oaks Burger. They were the freshest, perfectly grilled hamburgers we have had in a long time. Enjoyed relaxing on the patio, watching the brief traffic go by.




Later we stopped at the Navasota VFW for a picture on thier M-60 Tank.



We got home about 7 p.m., finishing the day with movies, popcorn and frozen margaritas – The perfect way to end a great ride.

Indian


Henderson X


1975 Yamaha RD350B




1975 Yamaha 200


1966 Triumph T120R


1955 Simplex Automatic


1953 Vincent


1952 Harley Custom Solo


1950 Indian Bonneville Chief


1947 Ford Custom


Mustang Scooter




1970 Hodaka Ace 100

Looks like you guys had a great time, thanks for the pix. I'm glad you ran across the hog instead of over it, cool picture. I don't think your allowed inside the rail at the tank.
Mark

As usual great story and pics Jim. Btw.......I stoped at the Oaks restaurant too. My waitress Belinda Lou told me the Oaks burger was made from wild boar meet. She said they were delicious. I had the chicken fried steak instead.