Riding southern Texas

[RLD]

Are there any concerns riding from Harlingen to Big Bend in late December that I should be aware of? Weather, bandito's  , roads, etc. Thought I'd ride up the Rio Grande valley for a few days. Also, is there adequate cell coverage there in case of an emergency? I'm from Minnesoat so this is alien territory for me. I've ridden the Brownsville, South Padre area to Roma several times, but no further.

[Ben]

Riding the route you mentioned... Be SURE AND CHECK ON THE AVAILABILITY OF GASOLINE ALONG THE WAY.  Cell phone coverage is hit and miss ...they have turned off some towers to save money. 
DO NOT RIDE YOUR SCOOTER INTO MEXICO...iT WILL NOT BE YOUR SCOOTER FOR VERY LONG.
Weather should be pleasent during the day...maybe chilly at night. Have fun!!!

[Serk]

It can get COOOOOLD in Big Bend country... The spousal unit and I were riding down there this past April and it was in the 40's and rainy in April. Snow is not unheard of at the time you're planning on being there...

Fuel management can get a lil' scary, the run west outta Del Rio has me white knuckled every time, the first fuel west out of Del Rio is in Sanderson, 120 miles away. And keep in mind, this is 120 miles where the RV's are doing 80... The Valk usually wants to stretch her legs and cruising at 90-110 or so is not uncommon...

The Marathon Motel on the western side of Marathon is reasonable, beautiful, and biker friendly... http://www.marathonmotel.com/

If you're in the Big Bend area, you must ride "The River Road" (If you're in Big Bend, there are two "The River Road"s, one is a advanced level dual sport road, that's not the one I'm talking about for a Valk!)

From Big Bend NP, go west on RR170 to Presidio. The road follow the Rio Grande, including all the twists and turns the road makes. It's beautiful, and a fun road to boot... There might be some construction on it right now, but I'm not sure, haven't been to that part in a few years.

As has been stated, I would not recommend a casual ride into Mexico... If you want to cross, find a safe place to park and walk across for a casual crossing. And if you're going to ride across, remember you need Mexican insurance, paperwork, etc. It isn't like crossing into Canada...

[NCGhostrider]

Definately a great trip!   I did it several years ago when I was still living in NC.  Gas up often.  The ride back to Del Rio after dark is Gas free after you leave Sanderson.  However, you can head north to Fort Stockton, there are hotels and and gas there.  The river road is great!!!

It will probably be cool down there in December depending on the weather, the mean elevation is fairly high, I can't remember, but I want to say it is above 5000 ft, with peaks to 7000.

I am wanting to do a trip back down there this fall, perhaps late Sept. or October.  BTW, Alpine is a great place to stay, and I have stayed in Fort Davis also, just check or make reservations ahead, there may not be a room depending on what is going on locally.

You can spend several days down there riding around.  At Fort Davis, there is a loop that is quite long and scenic, and there is the observatory also.  You can stay in Big Bend Park with advance reservations, or Marathon which is several miles North of the main entrance.  

You will go thru border patrol checkpoints as you head away from the border (30-50 miles in), they will ask for your drivers license, and might even search your vehicle.  

I stopped several times on the river road (you can throw a rock into Mexico in places), but I also looked around before stopping and made sure I could see things everywhere, then I never got far from the bike.. paranoid perhaps, but I was by myself, and was wary of a wayward southern exchange student wanting to use my bike or me as a way to get a little farther into the states.  

There has been a lot of concern about problems in border towns recently, I would not personally recommend riding into Mexico at this time.  

I did a trip report (or maybe that is a trip rambling) on that ride, my website is listed in my profile.  Give us holler when you come thru !!

BTW, you will have a chance to legally bring the bike up to 80 on I-10, you will still get passed, but at least you are doing something a lot of people don't get to do legally... drive in a posted 80 mph zone!!!!

see ya..

Craig
NCGhostrider
99 I/S

[RLD]

Thanks for the great info. I doubt gas will be an issue, my I/s just hit reserve this morning at 333.3 miles. Gotta love the belly tank!!!!

[RLD]

Cold?! sounds temperate to me. From Minnesota ya know! Seriously, I'll have an electric vest and grip heaters wired by then. I remember one year we hauled the Valk to Harlingen, it rained solid for two days. On the third, we rode anyway, it hit 38 degrees and never stopped raining. Had to stop often and warm the hands on the engine as I had not yet installed the grip heaters. It wasn't great, but I still got to ride in January! A rare occurence up here, though not unheard of. I'd ride a dual sport year round, but not a Valk.

[Black Pearl's Captain]

Go for it, I've done most of the Texas border in December and it is not too cold for us north of Texas boys. Cold fronts do hit Big Bend so take a flannel shirt eh snowboy!! (wear your gear)

Be sure to hit Falcon International Reservoir. You can ride your bike in Mexico without any checkpoints or anything. The damn of the lake is like 9 miles long and the border check point is 5 miles into Mexico. The border is at the senter fo the damn. There is a chainlink fence and gate but it was open in 2006 when I crossed and 2007 when Fiddle Mike went there. The US side checkpoint will stop and question you a bit though.

Not much from Roma to Laredo. I thought Roma was kind of neat the way you look over at Mexico. You probably already know Progresso is a good safe place to walk into mexico and shop. All the MN-KS snowbirds cross over there so watch for the canes and walkers on the path.

Picture is of my bike with the front in the US and the rear in Mexico at Falcon resv.

Raymond

[Piper]

Big Bend:
was last through there in 2001. Whole-lotta-nadda.
No cell phone service then, probably not know. I used 10 meter ham radio.
If you can recall from the old travelogs the roadside park with the tepees over the picknic tables, that is just east of Presidio. Too bad it had not been cleaned in a long time. Folks using it a a latrine.
If you speak spanish Ojinaga is a non-boarder town type boarder town.
You can go upto Fort Davis and see their re-creation of it then visit the Mcdonald observatory, way cool star parties.
Weather in winter can range from 70-80's to rain/sleet/snow then back to 80's in one day in winter time.
Summertime can get kind of warm.....
I plan on going down a taking a couple of weeks there, sometime.

[Piper]

Petrol can be had, in Presidio, Lajitas might have ga$$, they had the beer drinking burro, Study Butte had a couple of gas stations and a handful of motel$, Terlingua had naught but a general tourist store they did not sell gas but sold a lot of beer....Pick up some fuel drier just in case. Gas ain't cheap in that neck of the (lack of) woods
I thought the main Big Ben campground had pumps but I can not swear. They did have full hookups and hot showers.
I do not believe cell phone service has improved any down there. If you really have to be connected try renting a sat-phone not bad to rent- expensive to talk on.

If you like to collect -rocks- Try the Woodward ranch.North of Big Ben. I have found the red plume agate, a tube of amethyst, a maybe opal, what my sister says is a fossilized dino egg, and a bunch of other -rocks-  (ballast for later)
I have not been into Big Bend STATE park, located between Lajitas and Presidio. you can pick up travelogs at your nearest big-box-book store or amazon.

Spent a night in Lajitas, and when we were loading up in the morning, some goober made half an effort to run off with something from our car trunk. Sorry, Texas boy traveling, I was packing. Did not chase him far, It is DARK out there once the moon is down.... ( I love Texas self defensive laws)
if the idjet could read he would have known I was packing because of the Texas plates on the car. Glock.45 is the smallest thing I carry.

'whole-lotta-nadda-

Last I heard, the National Park only gets crowded around major holidays. Pick an off time to go when it is still coolish in the day and have fun.
Our trip up telephone road started out partly cloudy 60-70's over the course of five hours, it had rained, sleeted, snowed warmed back up to near 80 by the time we are finished. It was late January/February. Most roads can be done on a 2wheel drive but 4x4 is recommended for the back, high roads. Trail bikes would not have an issue. Check with the ranger station. YOu can even camp is the farback reaches of the park in areas set aside for that, but check with the ranger station.
The Local mega-book super chain store should have most of the park guides/maps or you can order them from amazon. 
Each one of us had a hand held GPS and a GRMS radio and a air-horn just encase and bear bell on a leather thong.
That is how you tell it is bear scat, it has little bells in it......

Study Butte has a couple of neat restaurants not too expensive. One would rate the chow at 3.7 out of 5. the atmosphere made most of the points. It looked like it was made by piling a bunch of slabs of rock together. And the locals made it seem just right. COLD BEER.

My suggestion is that if you look anything not like a WASP, carry your passport.
I do not recall getting stopped going in but every little road I used leaving border area DPS/INS(or what ever they are now) wanted to see you and speak with you. Had one checkpoint on I35 north of Laredo saw my pipes and had me take them out to squeak a tune out. To their great pleasure. If you are one of the lucky ones they may even start taking your vehicle apart for you. Happened to me at Eagle Pass. For several years when they asked my nationally, I would reply:"Texan" at that they would usually smile and wave me on.

Being Born in Texas mostly raised in central and northwest Texas I still consider myself a Texan that is just living in Colorado, for now