Tour de Dixie - Part Five

Tour de Dixie – Texas (Part Five)

Conversation about our trip plan had continued, and tweaking of that plan had continued, as well. We’d been thinking that rooms would likely be hard to come by down at the Big Bend National Park, so as a fall back, I was figuring on us probably staying in Alpine, TX, for two nights… Riding the River Road our first day along with perhaps a little of the park, and riding through the park and on to Ft. Stockton the second day.

I’d called the motel at the west entrance to the park several times, and I’d left a voicemail each time… My thought was that if we could get rooms there, that would shorten our travel times and give those who needed to return to Louisiana prior to GOTF a little extra time… It didn’t look promising. Then, Dennis gave it a shot, and he got an actual human being on the phone his first attempt! We made reservations, and things definitely began to look rosy!

We departed Las Cruces as soon as Mitch thought his bowels might be ride-worthy, and we headed out, at long last, for the rest of the Texas part of this ‘Texas tour’… El Paso would have to be tolerated, since that route was the most expedient for our needs. There isn’t much in the way of good alternatives anyway, and since time was becoming an even more crucial factor, this was the best course… However, it is never a perfect solution, and this time was no exception.

I’ve ridden that route so many times, that I reckon I just take for granted one of its features with little notice any more. Consequently, it didn’t occur to me to give a friendly heads-up to my pals… There are many, many feedlots for beef and dairy cattle right along I-10, and if the wind is just right… and it was… the aroma from post digestion by-products from all those hay-burners crowded into smallish paddocks can be… well, it certainly can be! It was… sort of reminiscent of the ‘facilities’ visited the day before. But this was not the low-point of that gauntlet we had to run…

Nope, that came shortly after getting into the serious early morning urban traffic. Up ahead, it wasn’t hard to spot the ‘parking lot’ effect developing! I’ve never ridden through that city without encountering road construction and attendant traffic delays. There was some of that this day, but that was the high point! An accident had stopped everything eastbound, and a sea of parked vehicles had developed…

Mercifully, Mitch did not have any stool problems arise, and the rest of us were able to manage bladder control satisfactorily, too. While stopped, I took advantage of the pause to shed my Gerbings and sweatshirt, and to swap gloves and apply sunscreen… all without having to rush too much! We lost about two hours with all of this.

That delay coupled with the somewhat later departure from the motel, plus my growing drowsiness meant the need for another itinerary adjustment… We stopped in Van Horn, TX, for the evening instead of pressing on to Alpine as we’d figured to do. Not a biggie in the overall scheme of things, but it did afford a shorter day in the saddle by comparison, and another ‘rest opportunity’ of sorts for yours truly. Golden Arches next door to our motel offered an acceptable evening meal…

Next morning, coffee and tire kicking activities filled the time until the sun was up and travel could resume. Yes, even in that semi-arid topography, critters are present and must be constantly watched for. We rode off across the prairie headed for Marfa and the turn south-southwestward to Presidio and the western end of the River Road… one of the top scooter rides in all of Texas, in my opinion.

We stopped in Marfa for fuel… for our scooters, and for ourselves. If there was a café open in that town that morning, we didn’t see it. However, the gas/convenience store that we stopped at did have a deli/food service section of sorts inside. Judging by the amount of people traffic at the food service area, I’m thinking this was the local café in the mornings!

Some chose to risk the chow and later said it was good with no adverse side effects. Others, like this skittish relic, chose to play it safe and have a honey bun instead. Those needs addressed, it was time to move on to Presidio. We arrived there just barely in time for this rider!

Yep, I once again had found myself out in the middle of nowhere dealing with an elevated pooperosity level! Dang, that condition sure takes the edge off quality ‘think’ time! I mean, your thoughts turn from loftier pursuits to that of intensely examining every bush, bit of scrub, gully, rock pile, or other item for suitability as a privacy respecting emergency dump site…

For my money, the fortunate rider is one whose sleep habits, food preferences and eating patterns, and bowels are all in sync and harmony with his/her riding schedule! That would not have been an accurate description of my then current status…

However, relief was found at the stop we made shortly after arriving in Presidio… just in the nick of time! You’ve often heard me quote my dad by stating, “I’d rather be lucky than good…” This day was a perfect example of why I say that!

One of life’s truly underrated pleasures, I think, but there can be no doubt it can be a major pleasure at some level. A more relaxed, leisurely gait to one’s walk, a renewed bounce in one’s step, a satisfied, content look on one’s face… Yep, one glance at me you’d have known exactly where I’d been!

No drum roll nor trumpet toot preceded what came next, but it wouldn’t have been inappropriate for one or the other to have done so… We embarked upon a ride along the River Road… Us alongside the Rio Grande River, Mexico a few feet away just across that stream separating the two nations… two worlds, really…

Funny how a non-descript stream in the middle of nowhere can be turned into an arbitrary ‘political boundary’ that can in turn so dramatically determine the hopes, dreams and destinies of so many people… It has been said that geography is destiny, and this otherwise insignificant locale says much to those tuned-in to such things about the validity of that remark…

This is some mighty scenic territory, and the many pull-offs and overlooks are well placed, and they afford necessary stopping points to view and ponder the mountains, cliffs, gorges, rapids, and meanders of the main feature… the river itself and the scared landscape it has helped to create. Yes, some of the stops had ‘facilities’ but thanks to a timely visit back in town, I had no need to venture inside one…

This is also a good place for members of our entourage to prove conclusively that they are, among other things, true tourists! A couple of our stops allowed certain riders in our group to hop from rock to rock out into the stream and risk becoming illegal immigrants themselves! Naturally pictures, these future memory joggers, had to be taken, and jokes had to be made…

We stopped for a break in Lajitas. Standing in the sun it was hot… Sitting in the shade a few feet away it was quite tolerable… even pleasant… I saw a tee shirt once upon a time at some stop in that general area that proclaimed, “Two miles from water, two feet from Hell!” The primary reason I’ve never ventured down to the Rio Grande valley in Texas in summertime!!! We then rode through Terlingua to Study Butte and the motel where we got our rooms. A restaurant next door supplied our evening meal, and all was well in the cosmos!

I have a National Park ‘geezer pass’ so I was golden for entry into the park the next day. JP, Dennis and Mitch decided to run down to the entrance to buy passes for themselves, and to ‘take a peek’ inside by riding into the park a few miles just to ‘sample’ coming attractions… Their appetites were whetted and salivary glands stimulated!

The following morning started very early. Most of us were up well before daylight, but coffee and chatter about what came next easily filled the time… Breakfast next door also helped… Since it would be a long time between there and our next eat stop, we took the precaution of another of our few early morning meals.

Big Bend National Park is a very unique and special place. There are other parks that are arguably a bit more scenic and include a few more amazing sights, but this place is still a top attraction. If you’ve not been there, I strongly suggest it be added to your ‘bucket list’.

I’ve been their several times, and I never tire of the beauty, majesty, and awe inspiring nuances all worth visiting. I’ve never been there without seeing something ‘new’ that I’d missed before, or not being glad I had come… again… I fully expect my next visit will be the same.

Because of the early start that morning, and because we’d cut the travel time to the park from an hour or two down to mere minutes, we had lots more time to spend in the park, while still allowing time to position two of our riders for their return to Louisiana the next day.

All of this had cost us a ‘leg’ or two on our swing through Arizona, so our route plan could be adjusted to include this special place in the desert. Still, it is not possible to see it all and to go everywhere in only one lifetime; therefore, choices have to be made.

One can spend several days in the park for a proper visit, but even a glimpse is well worth the effort… and, all trips are compromises anyway, right? So, while our visit left a proper visit incomplete, it afforded just enough amazement to entice us all back again someday.

Tours, everything in life really, involve compromises, and on a Valkyrie fuel mileage is certainly one of those… All of the explosive power, torque, and rapid acceleration produced through carburation come at a cost and result in widely varying gas mileage potentials. Added to the mix of variables are wind direction, wind speed, and other items of resistance, like load, road surfaces, grades etc., and then the speed of the vehicle itself plays a critical role in range management, as well…

Figuring ones remaining fuel and, more importantly, ones remaining range is guesswork for the most part, so… I’m sure my colleagues cringed when I rode past the last gas stop for a while as we neared the exit to the park. I must admit I had a little doubt myself, but all my mental calculations indicated we would be fine. Already having run out of gas twice myself on this trip alone, well… I still crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!

This time everything worked out. Foolhardy, though, to take chances especially out where things are so spread out… but hey, bikers are by nature risk-takers, right? Still, I made a mental note that just because I have the luxury of companions who could bail me out, I should not take advantage of that unnecessarily, and I for sure should not risk forming any bad habits!

By the time we had arrived in Marathon, my companions had been doing some calculating themselves. The two members who were planning to return to Louisiana had decided to press on late into the evening beyond our previously planned stopping point, then doing another long day to arrive at their homes a day earlier than originally thought. So, instead of having one last night together in Ft. Stockton, we said good-by in Marathon… JP and Dennis blitzing on beyond San Antonio, Mitch and I pulling out an atlas to see what and where we might go on some round-about route to GOTF the following weekend… beginning with a swing through Del Rio.

Well, the following day for Mitch and me was actually already planned… Another item on the lengthening list of miscalculations I’d made was the life-expectancy of my then front tire. They sure do go fast once they get down to a certain tread depth… and I already knew this well.

Still, my ‘frugal self’ had convinced the rest of me that the tire would most likely make the entire trip. However, should it not, front tires are usually rather easy to pick up along the way, and I could leave the group long enough for that without much inconvenience, then rejoin the group later. No need to leave the group now, though, as the group had for the most part left me…

I’d already called the Honda folks in Del Rio, and they had set aside a tire for me. Mitch and I got a room in Ft. Stockton, had dinner at a pretty doggone good local steak house (I can never remember the name of that place), then we settled in for the evening…

DDT