Hotter'N Hell part 3 The Campground

So after dinner we ended up back at the tent. Even though it was only about 9-10 we decided to get ready for bed since we would be up at 5:30 or 6:00am at the latest. I took a shower at the only community showers. You can tell that this place was used to was cattle and may still be used for that purpose when the convention center isn't in use. So I hosed myself off and headed for bed. I ended up sleeping for a while until 3:00am when the music started blaring. Luckily I had my earplugs in because, according to my Dad, the music had been going on since 1am. To say the least my Dad didn't get any sleep.

I headed to where the music was playing hoping I could get them to turn it down. It took me about 3 minutes to get to the origin of  where the top 40's station was comping from. After talking to someone about it they turned down the volume on the speaker and I headed out. Sadly the further I got the louder the music got. It turned out they had many different speakers there and there is a good chance they turned the volume back up on the other one as well. I head back to ask again and after talking to 4 different people I finally got them to turn it off... for an hour. This was probably one of my least favorite things about the race

The race itself was AMAZING! Though it is called Hotter'N Hell me and my Dad were use to biking in the middle of the day besides starting at 7:05 AM so we were fine. Though the race doesn't have the best scenic view I still had a blast passing by slower bikers and tailing others adding to the already long snake of fast bikers.

In the end I enjoyed the actually bike race a lot and I will be ready to go farther next time.

Rating: 9/10

Hotter'N Hell part 2 El Norteno

That Friday evening after we toured the Convention center we decided to grab some Mexican food that was close by. Parking and driving anywhere was pretty out of the question since this small town was flooded with 14,000+ extra people. Luckily this place was no more than a 2 minute walk. Very ideal after a long day in the heat, fixing bikes, setting up tents, etc. Though it was late and we had not eaten anything besides the Clif bar samples for a while (that was one of the highlights of the trip, Clif is pretty good) there is no doubt that this was one of the better hole in the wall Mexican restaurants I have eaten at.

Though the place looks big the right side is for To-Go food and the left side is for sitting down. There were about 10 tables inside and they had a small TV with some Spanish soap running. The walls were decorated with a variety of items and the whole place definitely had the vibe of a whole in the wall Mexican restaurant. There were only 3 people working. One cook/To-Go guy, One waitress, and the waitress's kid who would help every so often. We were the only ones in there at first but as soon as people saw us go in about 10 others took the chance at this Spanish named venue. Sadly this slowed things down but in general the service was OK considering all of the above

I ordered a chopped steak melted with some white goat cheese and fresh veggies on top. It was very good and kept getting better the more I ate it. My dad ordered some Pork taco items that he said he liked. I order a Dos Equis but I was surprised they didn't have any Sol, one of my favorite Mexican beers. Then again it was probably more expensive and it didn't look like any beer advocate from Wichita Falls was going to El Norteno for a unique beer.

Rating: 8/10 Great

I will eat here again next year if I do Hotter'N Hell next year.

Hotter'N Hell Review Part 1 Bono's Chophouse and Saloon

Bono's Chophouse and Saloon

http://www.bonossaloon.com

My father and I ended up at Bono's around Decatur Texas on the way the the Hotter'N Hell in Wichita Falls. This place was probably the best thing we could have hoped for on that 3 hour car ride. There wasn't much else on the way besides what we could of gotten in Denton. This place was big. The picture doesn't do it justice but the roof seemed to exceed what I would have though had been a sensible height. It was pretty neat and you could tell it was the towns cool place to go on weekends to listen to bands. Bono's must be fairly new and if it isn't it at least least looked that way.

 Me and my dad ended up with buffalo burgers(with the works + Jalapenos and Mushrooms) with sweet potato fries. Needless to say it was delicious. It took a while for it to come out (20-30 minutes) considering that there were only 2 other tables in the whole place but the food sure hit the spot. We ended up doing the same thing on the way home except I tried the beer battered fries which were pretty good as well.

 Rating: 9/10

Since the second time around they were able to make the burgers a little faster I decided to bump the to a 9. I am a sucker for wild game plus they had tons of barbecue I would love to try again some time. I don't think I am going to make the 40 minute drive out there from Denton anytime soon but If I am 10 minutes away I will definitely check Bono's out again.