A group of Club members met the second Saturday in August over breakfast at Hilda's Tortillas for a delicious, you guessed it, Mexican meal. The coterie discussed a variety of subjects leading up to a choice of routes to be taken for the morning ride. The group ultimately decided a short ride from Hilda's Fredericksburg location to Comfort was optimal for all due to demanding afternoon schedules.
The route took a road less travelled via the Old San Antonio Road where it turns into Old Fred Road at Grapetown and then into Old Number 9 Highway south of the Old Tunnel State Park. The group took a short break at the Old Tunnel State Park for a photo op and to display the Club’s newly acquired banners adorned with the Club’s logo. After the brief stop, the group proceeded to Comfort where several of the group departed for other destinations and affairs. A small group then proceeded on to Luckenbach for cold ones and to engage in more lively conversation.
The Old Tunnel State Park is a top attraction in Gillespie County and well worth a visit in the evening from May to October. The park is named after an abandoned Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad tunnel that runs below it. The tunnel is now the site of a bat cave where at sunset 3 million Mexican free-tailed bats and 3 thousand cave myotis bats wake up from their slumber, emerge from the cave, and blindly fly into the Texas countryside to dine on insects. If you plan a visit, be sure to go online at https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/old-tunnel before you go to learn what you need to know.
Work on the tunnel began in 1913 with local residents raising money for a railroad to operate a faster trade route between Fredericksburg and San Antonio. The mountain where the park is located required a 920-foot tunnel to be carved through it which took over 5 months to complete at a cost of $134,000. The first train rolled down the line and through the finished tunnel on August 16, 1913. However, the added cost of building the tunnel sent the new company into receivership in 1914. The railway was then deeded over to the newly chartered Fredericksburg and Northern Railway Company by Martin Carle, who had purchased the property December 31, 1917, under a foreclosure sale. The F&N line continued to operate until WW II but failed to turn enough profit to pay off the original debt for its purchase in 1917. On July 25, 1942, the F&N railroad ceased operations and the track was then sold for scrap.