Coastal Motorcycle Ride to Matagorda, Texas

What do you get when we add together a beautiful day, a motorcycle ride, and a seafood festival as your destination? Well, we got two smiling faces and full bellies! That describes our motorcycle day trip from Castroville to Matagorda, Texas! What a great memory!

In early March of 2016, we rolled out of Alsation RV Resort in Castroville to make way back to Galveston Island, Texas. We had reservations made the previous October for the month of March. There was a promise of good, spring-like weather and some good old fashion beach time.

While we were driving closer to Galveston, we drove under a huge banner strung over Main Street in Bay City that read 6th Annual Seafood Festival – March 12, 2016 – Matagorda. It sounded like a great opportunity for a motorcycle day-trip!

Let’s Ride!

On the morning of the March 12th, we rose with the sun, had our coffee, laced up our black road boots and grabbed our sunglasses and  helmets. With a road map, water bottles and sweatshirts stowed, we two-up’d on my Heritage (Dan’s bike was sold by then) to ride to Matagorda.

We rode south on Route 332 on Galveston Island to the Freeport bridge that led to the mainland.

About Matagorda, Texas

Matagorda isn’t by any means a large city or town but that’s what we are all about small towns.  Its where we think America begins and ends.

Matagorda is a township in Matagorda County, located near the mouth of the Colorado River on the Upper Texas coast in the United States. In 2010, the population was 503. Matagorda is primarily a tourist town with commercial and recreational fishing being the top industries.

There are 23 miles of beach accessible by vehicle and 35 additional miles accessible only by boat. Matagorda is at the end of State Highway 60 and beginning of Farm to Market Road 2031, which runs over the Intracoastal Waterway and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Matagorda Seafood Festival

We thought because this was at the town’s Fire Hall, it meant it was going to be just a small fundraiser for a local organization. When we entered the town of Matagorda, we were surprisingly wrong. There were cars and pickups parked on both sides of the street about a half mile back.

We thought we’d have a hard time finding even a small space for the motorcycle, however, we scored! Once we got to the entrance of the festival, a nice man in a neon orange vest directed us to a space right smack near the main gate.

Once we got off the bike, we took off  riding gear, slapped on our ballcaps and walked the very short distance to the main gate booth to pay for our $5 each event bracelets. It was rather crowded.

We noticed that folks traveled quite a ways to support this worthwhile festival by reading their shirts and hats. There were folks of all ages; tots, teens, twenties and tea toters.

Once we got inside the festival, there were some local vendors who sold their crafts and wares. There was a lot going on; from silent auction, raffles, organization support tables, arts & crafts, kids tattoos and face painting, a live Texas Cajun band…

…and even their own….Texas Hula Belly Dancers! 

Since it was nearing 11:00 a.m., we bee-lined to the food table to get our meal tickets. Since we love seafood and where better than to get it a ‘seafood festival’!

There was plenty of seating for everyone. Our only complaint was the only non-alcoholic beverage they offered was sweet tea. I think Texas peeps think everyone loves sweet tea. At least we had our own water bottles. So, we copped a squat at one of the tables and dug right in!

Time to go!

We had to get back on the road as sunset was upon us. Though it was still quite breezy, we still enjoyed the ride back admiring the wildflowers and water views. The sun blessed us with a beautiful coastal ride to remember.

For other motorcycle rides in Texas…