2019 Texas Miata Round-Up

Several of the Mardi Gras Miata Club members recently attended the 2019 Texas Miata Round-Up; including Troy Genovese, Matt Bartol, Bob & Cathy Bennett, Charlie & Eloise Marquette and Scott & Dona Cannon. Several of us left early on Tuesday morning to spend a couple of days in San Antonio TX.

Our motel was very close to the Riverwalk and we spent all day Wednesday checking out the sites and shops there. We also visited the Alamo where we were lucky enough to find a historian telling the full history of the Alamo conflict.

From there we spent the afternoon at the Tower of the Americas; a 750-foot-high observation tower-restaurant. It was built for the 1968 Worlds Fair and is the tallest building in San Antonio. We rested in the lounge and visited the revolving restaurant at the top of the tower and enjoyed the beautiful panoramic views of the city from all directions. After that we enjoyed a steak dinner at Salt Grass restaurant back on the Riverwalk.

Thursday morning, we headed to Fredericksburg Tx and waited at the host motel until we were able to check-in at noon. The Bluebonnet Miata Club; the host club of the Roundup, gave away very nice door prizes to each person in attendance. Several of us received handheld radios that turned out to be very useful on the rides since drive leaders were not using CB radios. All of us signed up for the same rides. An all-day intermediate Twisted Sisters ride on Friday and a half-day ride to the Swinging Bridge.

Friday’s ride on the Twisted Sisters quickly became a race to see how far ahead of the others the lead cars could get. Our ride leader, with a following of about 5 cars would speed around the curves and go 85 mph on the straightaways, leaving the rest behind. The group would regroup from time to time but the same result occurred. Many were disappointed in the leader’s judgment.

The ride took us many miles out from nowhere, where there were open ranges and many cattle guards. We saw many deer and cattle on or near the roads. There were also several areas of fallen rocks that we had to be careful to avoid. One car did not get the warning and hit a large rock that blew both tires out and bent the rims on one side of his car. Eventually, we made it to our lunch stop, which was the same motorcycle store and restaurant we enjoyed last time there, four years ago.

After lunch, Dona was not feeling very well so Scott, Bob, Cathy, Charlie and Eloise went back to spend some time in Fredericksburg shopping and relaxing. Matt and Troy went on with the ride.

The next day on Saturday our same group of six of us stayed behind and did not go on the ride to Swinging Bridge, but Matt and Troy did. They enjoyed the ride and the others spent time doing some more shopping and relaxing at the motel. 

The secondary host motel was the Hanger Motel, which was an old aircraft hangar convert into a 1940’s WWII style hotel, officers club and diner. The hotel is adjacent to the local airport runway, where we were able to observe small aircraft of all types coming and going. There is an observation deck on the second floor with chairs and there are rockers on the lower floor facing the runway.

There in front of the hotel and on the tarmac, we had 98 cars that lined up on Saturday afternoon to take a group picture and right afterward everyone dressed in their South Pacific or 1940’s attire and enjoyed a dinner and dance with live entertainment. There was a Frank Sinatra style singer and a country band that provided the music.

Sunday Matt lead us home on a route that bypassed the closed section of I-10 in Beaumont TX.