road trip to Dublin..... Texas

road trip to Dublin..... Texas


Decided it was time a short road trip. Since I decided to do the
Cranfills Gap last time I figured it was time for a true (Dr) Pepper-fix.

Took off around 9:30 heading west on FM 1171 out of Area 51. Jumped on
I35W south, 820 west and to 377 south. By the time I was in Benbrook the
clouds had floated over. No biggie - I kept heading south and got out
from under them. Got a pic or two of some cool old cargo planes. Looks
like Korean War vintage.

Got through Stephenville and into Dublin where I commenced to do the
tourist thing around the [original] Dr. Pepper bottling plant. Walked
around the block some and snapped a bunch of pics of signs painted on
walls, billboards, a Dr. Pepper, TX sign and of course the bottling
plant. Went into Old Doc's Soda Shop and munched on a sandwich (pretty
tasty) and a cold cup of DP from the tap. I gotta say - that's the best
tasting version of DP I've had. I've bought the small 8oz bottles of the
original but off the tap beat it!

After lunch and purchasing a 24 can case of 12oz cans (that's another
part of the tale) I headed out down 1702. I thought about heading east
on 219 but saw that 1702 had a a few good looking turns and sweepers on
it.

Hung a right onto 2823 until it joined up with 219. Cruised out 219
looking for my one-point-landing spot - thought it was around 216 and
1238 but the area didn't look familiar. Oh well. It was turning out to
be a great ride. Going out the FMs saw stretches of 10 to 20 minutes
with no other vehicles (4 wheeled or bike). It was like I owned the road.

Before anyone pipes in - no, they weren't warned that I was coming and
they weren't hiding. ;-)

Got out to Cranfills Gap and thought about stopping at the local eatery
but decided nah - let's keep riding. Headed back up 219 to 1238 north.
Another tasty piece of 2 lane blacktop.

Finally got into Iredell on TX 6 and headed east/south east to Waco (only
about 70 miles). Got a few more pics of wide-open road a 'former' gas
station and some beautiful Texas countryside.

I guess total mileage for the day was around 350-375.

Re: road trip to Dublin..... Texas

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 02:09:31 GMT, Bill Cattell
<wbcattell1.nospam@gmail . com > wrote:

>
>Decided it was time a short road trip. Since I decided to do the
>Cranfills Gap last time I figured it was time for a true (Dr) Pepper-fix.
>
>Took off around 9:30 heading west on FM 1171 out of Area 51. Jumped on
>I35W south, 820 west and to 377 south. By the time I was in Benbrook the
>clouds had floated over. No biggie - I kept heading south and got out
>from under them. Got a pic or two of some cool old cargo planes. Looks
>like Korean War vintage.
>
>Got through Stephenville and into Dublin where I commenced to do the
>tourist thing around the [original] Dr. Pepper bottling plant. Walked
>around the block some and snapped a bunch of pics of signs painted on
>walls, billboards, a Dr. Pepper, TX sign and of course the bottling
>plant. Went into Old Doc's Soda Shop and munched on a sandwich (pretty
>tasty) and a cold cup of DP from the tap. I gotta say - that's the best
>tasting version of DP I've had. I've bought the small 8oz bottles of the
>original but off the tap beat it!
>
>After lunch and purchasing a 24 can case of 12oz cans (that's another
>part of the tale) I headed out down 1702. I thought about heading east
>on 219 but saw that 1702 had a a few good looking turns and sweepers on
>it.
>
>Hung a right onto 2823 until it joined up with 219. Cruised out 219
>looking for my one-point-landing spot - thought it was around 216 and
>1238 but the area didn't look familiar. Oh well. It was turning out to
>be a great ride. Going out the FMs saw stretches of 10 to 20 minutes
>with no other vehicles (4 wheeled or bike). It was like I owned the road.
>
>Before anyone pipes in - no, they weren't warned that I was coming and
>they weren't hiding. ;-)
>
>Got out to Cranfills Gap and thought about stopping at the local eatery
>but decided nah - let's keep riding. Headed back up 219 to 1238 north.
>Another tasty piece of 2 lane blacktop.
>
>Finally got into Iredell on TX 6 and headed east/south east to Waco (only
>about 70 miles). Got a few more pics of wide-open road a 'former' gas
>station and some beautiful Texas countryside.
>
>I guess total mileage for the day was around 350-375.


Hey Bill, sounds like you had a good ride. I'm gonna have to get back
up to Dublin sometime soon and take the official tour of the plant. I
wonder if they still have any of the original machinery used when it
opened in 1891?

Bob