AUSTIN TEXAS, Proper

 

I had a week to kill in Austin.  The ride to Austin  from New Mexico was almost 600 miles and I was exhausted when I arrived at my short tem rental apartment at the Braker Lane Value Place Hotel.  For those of ya’ll who don’t know, Value Place hotels are short/long term apartment/hotels that are scattered through the south and mid-west.  I’d ridden past them several times and been intrigued by the $199.00 a week advertised price.   What you get is a very basic room with a bed, full size fridge, cook top stove, bathroom with tub and shower and a desk and chair and a wardrobe.  They are clean, pleasant and you cannot beat the value.  It was perfect and cheaper than camping at a KOA. 

The first night I rode into Austin and over to The Broken Spoke.  It’s called “The last of the true Texas Dance Halls” – no way.  It’s a tourist trap.  The food was mediocre and there was a cover to get into the place and ANOTHER cover to hear the band play.  Thank you, no.  I had a Lone Star, some rubbery chicken fried steak and hit the road.

The next morning I had an appointment to service the Futura at the number one Aprilia Dealer in the USA.  AF1 Racing in New Braunfels, TX.   AF1 is about an hour or so south of Austin.  I rode through the heart of Austin through New Jersey Turnpike type rush hour traffic.  Little did I know this was an absolutely normal condition 20 out of 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Austin.  The ride to New Braunfels can be described as…………. FLAT.  Flat and straight.

New Braunfels, though, is an absolutely lovely place.  Who would think that New Braunfels was originally a German settlement?  The town was established in 1845 by a German Price who arranged for several hundred German immigrants to settle the area.  By 1850, it was the fourth largest city in Texas.  Today there is a thriving German community with several bakeries, restaurants and German festivals.

I rode up to AF1 and parked the bike.  This is the mecca for all things Aprilia! 

 

 

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My Futura has just about every aftermarket engine goodie I could get my hands on.  EVO Airbox, Power Commander, H-Pipe, Mille Air Boot, De-Restricted, etc.  What I needed now was a custom built dyno Power Commander map to optimize my modifications.  Three hours and two tanks of gas later the bike was finished.  Fantastic work by Mica and the AF1 guys. 

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DYNO RUN VIDEO:

 

While my bike was being serviced (prior to the dyno tuning) I rode around New Branunfels on a loaner Vespa.  It was pretty funny to be in full leather and helmet riding a 30cc scooter.  That afternoon I had the closest encounter I’ve ever had with a deer.  I stopped at the Tobacco Haus to grab a quick cigar.  Back on the scooter I had ditched my helmet and jacket (Stupid, yes, I know) and was enjoying low speed sight seeing when I heard sort of a scuttling/sliding noise.  I was running parallel to the interstate on a secondary road.  A deer ran across all four lanes, jumped the retaining wall and landed sprawled in a heap in the center of the highway.  Terrified, rightfully so, I guess.  It was making like a Road Runner cartoon trying to high tail it out of dodge.  It missed me by inches and scrambled out of sight, around the back of a Waffle House.  It was so close I could smell the thing.  I was a bit shocked at how close I was to being taken out.

 

 

Downtown New Braunfels, TX 

 

I happened to be lucky enough to be in New Braunfels during the week of the “Wurstfest” – A 10 Day Salute to Sausage!  This legendary festival was started in 1961, originally as a one day event.  By 1964 attendance reached 30,000 and visitors consumed more than 5,000 pounds of sausage!  Modern day attendance regularly exceeds 300,000 visitors!  You can read the entire Wurstfest history here.

Willkommen zum WURSTFEST!
Prosit, und hab’ Spasz!

 

After a ridiculously fun day and night in New Braunfels, I rode the freshly Dynoed and tuned Futura back through the dark Texas night to Austin.  Now on a significantly faster Futura.

Next – Heading NORTH