Day 1 – May 26th - We have to get there somehow!
Launch time: 04:19 AM. Destination: Alpine, TX With a 5 day weekend planned, we wanted to explore Big Bend National Park. The only problem is the park is located in the southwest portion of Texas which isn’t exactly around the corner. Rather than spend all our time getting there, we opted for the quick method. As anyone who knows us, riding long distances on the motorcycle isn’t a new challenge. We have done multiple 1,000 plus mile days but have never taken the time to certify a ride for Barbara with the Iron Butt Association. So, the trip out was going to be a certified ride for her. Don Leemhuis decided to leave a day early and was going to meet us in Alpine.
I had just finished installing a custom auxillary fuel cell on the Goldwing bringing the total fuel capacity to 10.6 gallons. This give us a theoretical range of 402 miles without needing fuel. I’ll be the first to admit that my butt may last that long, but the bladder won’t. Nevertheless, it certainly takes the worry out of finding a gas station in the middle of nowhere at 2:00 AM.
The only effective route is straight out I-10 so off we go. To certify a ride, you must maintain a log, keep receipts, document any stop longer than 20 minutes and have starting and ending witnesses. A Saddle Sore 1000 is a ride of at least 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours. Not a problem!
Stop # 1 Vicksburg, MS. Time 0819. Mileage 235 miles. Breakfast time at Cracker Barrel and a refuel stop.
Stop # 2 Lindale, TX. Time 1220. Mileage 529 miles. We almost messed up here as you are required to stop at least every 300 miles. Zooming down the road with plenty of gas left when it dawned on me that we had to stop. Close at 294 miles.
Stop # 3 Rest Area MM 390. Time 1519. Mileage 699 miles. That bladder thing forced this stop.
Stop # 4 Trent, TX Time 1703 Mileage 832 miles. Time to refuel. We have gotten over 800 miles out of the way in just over 12 hours. That’s an average speed of 66.56 mph. The secret to maintaining a good average is to minimize stopped time. We’re doing good so far.
Stop # 5 Odessa, TX Time 2006 Mileage 990miles. Hunger has set in so we get off the interstate in search of food. BBQ sounded good but the only drawback was the GPS sent us in circles for a bit before figuring out where we wanted to go. Small place but great brisket! We gassed up and have enough to make it into Alpine. Speed limits in West Texas are 80 mph on the interstate and 70-75 on secondary roads so we make good time.
We left the interstate at Pecos, TX headed south into Alpine. West Texas wildfires have really scorched a large portion of this area not to mention the ongoing drought. This is deer country, it is dark by now so we slowed way down. The area alongside the roads weren’t burnt out so it was prime grazing. With all the extra lights on the Goldwing, we can really light up the night and see much farther down the road. There are two trains of thought here…..what you don’t see you can’t worry about…..or it’s better to see them and slow down hoping they won’t make a mad dash across the road in front of you. We always opt for the see ‘em, dodge ‘em method.
First encounter was the suicidal swarm of some large birds. I think they were feeding on insects on or near the road but the approach of the motorcycle didn’t seem to faze them much. Goldwing 3 – Birds 0. One hit so hard that feathers came flying up through the speaker covers. Barbara was ducking as they would go right over the windshield.
Now it is coyote time. Fearless fellows would stand right alongside the road and watch as we went by. Deer….did I mention deer? Herds grazing by the road. Most wouldn’t even raise their heads but kept munching. One good thing, when headlights hit them their eyes glow quite well. One huge mule deer raised his head and watched us go by but never made a move. We would slow down as we saw them, move to the center of the road and cruise on by.
Stop # 6 and Destination Alpine, TX Time 2242 Mileage 1172. Elapsed time: 18 hours and 23 minutes and that includes 2 sit down meals. Not too shabby! The fuel cell really does help on keeping stopped time to a minimum.
Day 2 – May 27th – Time to explore Big Bend.
The plan for the day is to leave Alpine to Presidio, TX then through Lajitas and Terlingua into the park. The road from Presidio follows the Rio Grande and has one section that is the steepest paved road in the US so they claim. We stopped to dip our feet in the Rio Grande and skip some rocks.
Lajitas is a growing retreat with a large artist colony and some very nice accommodations. The big claim to fame is for years the Mayor of the town was a goat named Henry Clay. He had a serious love for beer and as the story is told, Henry Clay I died of liver failure after drinking too much. His son, Henry Clay II took over the reins and inherited his father’s love of beer. I met Henry Clay II in 2006 and he did enjoy a cold long neck beer! The town evidently decided that a beer drinking goat as mayor was not politically correct and he has since retired.
Terlingua is a small town of less than 100 but is the home of the World Championship Chili Cook-off held annually the first weekend of November when the population swells to over 10,000. Might be another trip in the making.
Big Bend is over 800,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert and several mountain ranges. While some see no beauty in the desert, we find it alluring and attractive. Being able to see for 40-50 miles in every direction is fascinating. We did the usual collect the National Park Stamps, rode up to the lodge at Chisos Basin for lunch, and then headed out. Oh yeah, it is over 100 miles straight shot back to Alpine! Temperatures in the desert fluctuate wildly from cold at night to hotter than hell during the day. On the way out of the park, the thermometer hit 109 degrees. That’s hot even if it is a dry heat. Back to the hotel to cool off, a nice steak supper, and relax for the next day.
Day 3 – May 28th – You are going to hike where?
Today we decided to travel the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive that ends at Santa Elena Canyon. The canyon is a very narrow cut through the mountains created by Rio Grande. You can hike halfway through the canyon to the US/Mexican border. Grabbing a bottle of water, off we went. First you climb along small, narrow, slightly improved trails. There are few guardrails on the initial approach and the trails are 1 person wide. Barbara is not a fan of heights so about halfway up, she decided to find a spot of shade and a comfy rock to wait on Don and I to make the trek back. What goes up must come down and after about ¾ of a mile you reach the end. We are in motorcycle gear not exactly equipped for hiking, but it was worth the trip. Our legs were a bit shaky after climbing back out. Barbara had been communing with nature and made friends with some kind of lizard.
Back to Alpine in the early afternoon to cool off and rest before supper and a trip to see the Marfa lights. Dinner was at an out of the way little Tex Mex joint with the best fajitas we’ve had in a long time.
The Marfa Lights are one of those inexplicable things that occur. Mysterious lights appear over the desert outside the small town of Marfa. There is no definitive scientific explanation although they have be researched multiple times. First sighting was in 1883 when there were no automobiles. They appear at random times throughout the year. We went and sure enough as it got dark, off in the far distance across the desert lights would appear…..disappear…..change direction…..blink….appear at different altitudes, etc. I have no explanation but it was pretty cool. You can Google for way more information that you would ever want to read.
Day 4 – May 29th – Now the fun really begins.
The plan for the day is halfway across Texas to spend the night with old friends Chris and Nancy Stallings in Huntsville. We launched at daylight headed across Texas on US 90. Lots and lots of miles of nothing. We stopped in Langtry, TX and visited the Judge Roy Bean site. What a character he was including his infatuation with actress/singer Lily Langtry. Nice rest area with a huge cactus garden.
Del Rio, TX is the first large town on the route and is adjacent to the Amistad Reservoir which was in the news with the shooting/murder of the jet skier on the lake. Pupulation approximately 50,000 although directly across the border in Mexico is Acuna with over 200,000.
We stopped for gas and as I went to crank back up noted a very sluggish start. Pulling forward to park I tried to restart – nothing! The Goldwing is a very reliable motorcycle and rarely has any mechanical issues other than alternators that fail somewhere in the 100,000 mile range. Well, I’m at 115,000 and it was my time. The scenario is this: Sunday on Memorial Day weekend, no Honda dealer in Del Rio with the nearest dealer in San Antonio. Cori comes back from China Tuesday, Don has to be at work Tuesday and my motorcycle isn’t going anywhere. We waited a bit and got restarted and made it to Autozone where a helpful young man gave the battery a good charge. Meanwhile, we explore options.
Option 1: Rent a small U-haul truck and drive home. Problem: No U-Haul dealer in Del Rio open on Sunday and the nearest dealer open with a truck is in San Antonio – 150 miles away. I was quoted a fee of $572.00 with a mileage cap of 962 miles. Doing a bit of quick math, gas would cost around $400.00, 40 cents a mile for every mile over would be another $70.00 or so. So, over $1,000.00 just to get the bike home. That option got quickly discarded!
Option 2: Find a motel and wait until a dealer opened Tuesday morning, buy and install the alternator, and then ride home. That still didn’t get Barbara and Don home in time. Don discovered Laughlin Air Force base about 10 miles outside of town and went to check on lodging there. $39.95 a night for a very nice room on base. Another quick arithmetic exercise made this the option to follow. So, we loaded Barbara up on Don’s bike and off they went to Chris and Nancy’s leaving me stranded on Laughlin AFB.
The had a nice visit and made it home Monday. Don got a performance award from some little podunk town in Louisiana.
Laughlin is a very small base dedicated to primary flight training – probably less than 4,000 people total. It was a ghost town on Memorial Day weekend as everyone obviously chose to leave the garden spot of Del Rio. If you want to find Del Rio on a map, look in southwest Texas, find Hell, and look 10 miles further! The only thing open that served food was the bowling alley and I decided I could not subsist for days on a hamburger diet so I searched for a rental car. Thank goodness for good high speed internet access.
The national advertising campaign for Enterprise Rent-A-Car says “We’ll pick you up”. This does not apply to Del Rio, TX so I made a reservation to pickup at the Del Rio Airport. I decided I would call a cab, but wandered over to the BX for something cold to drink. While there, a conversation was started with the only other patron who was stocking up on whiskey – lots of good whiskey! He was a very nice retired AF gentleman and offered to take me to the airport. Since it didn’t seem that he had started on the whiskey yet, I accepted the ride.
Arriving at the Del Rio International Airport, the Enterprise Rental Counter was closed and no one was in sight. The nice gentleman at the Hertz counter said they only come in when flights are due in with someone who has a reservation and probably wouldn’t return until tomorrow. Anyway, Hertz got my business with a new Chevy Aveo at $25.00 a day.
Once back at the room, I researched and located every Honda motorcycle dealer within 200 miles. Of course, none would open until Tuesday morning. The Honda shop manual gives the procedure to change the alternator which involves some very major disassembly of the bike. Not something to tackle in the parking lot of the Laughlin Manor with virtually no tools. Through the power of the internet, I discovered a way to do so without doing any major disassembly so it was off to the parts stores for the necessary tools.
Monday morning, armed with my new $80.00 worth of tools, I tackled the job of removing the alternator. Lo and behold the process worked requiring only a huge dose of patience which we all know I have heaping amounts of. NOT HARDLY. Anyway, old one is out and only 4 fingers are skinned to the bone. Back to the BX for first aid! The rest of Monday is spent staring at the 4 walls!
In the interest of time, I left early Tuesday morning to drive to San Antonio to be at the biggest dealer when they opened. Rather than run all over, I stopped and started calling. First one, then another, then another, all with the same answer. We don’t have it but we can order it. Price quotes ranged from $400.00 to a high of $473.00 for a part nobody had. Finally, one helpful fellow did a search and located one in Baton Rouge, LA. That’s only 600 miles away! So much for driving to San Antonio! I did scout the route of for departure though.
Back to the internet and located a company in Gray, TN with a new one in stock. $159.00 plus $78.00 for overnight shipping. Now, more waiting for the big brown truck to appear on Wednesday.
To further complicate matters, Laughlin AFB decided to hold a “live shooter” exercise on Wednesday morning. Everything was locked down, all facilities secured, and loudspeakers were blaring to “stay in place”. No traffic in or off base was allowed which certainly upset my plans of UPS showing up early that day. He finally arrived mid-afternoon with my long awaited package. Have I mentioned that the temperatures were 100+ during my visit and winds averaged 30mph!
In the parking lot Wednesday afternoon, I exercised heaping amounts of patience and got the new alternator installed. I drove back to the Del Rio airport to return the rental car and found no one home. I dropped the keys and contract in the box and called a taxi.
Amigo’s Taxi service picked me up in a 1980’s vintage Chevrolet Astro Van. No air conditioning, more rattles and vibrations than I could tally, and the driver spoke marginal English. There was a meter on the dash, but it wasn’t connected to anything so my fee quote was $25.00 to take me the 12 miles or so to Laughlin. Being a captive audience, I agreed! With the motorcycle operational, I found a nice Mexican buffet and ate too many enchiladas.
Totally drained from the heat and wind, I decided to launch early Thursday morning and head home. Departing Del Rio at 5:30 AM it was a smooth run up to I-10 and then east. Temps steadily climbed to over 100 going through Houston, Beaumont, and into Baton Rouge. Due to construction, traffic east of Baton Rouge is stop and go for 15 miles. I’m cooking…..the motorcycle is cooking…..and I can’t seem to keep enough fluid in me. A long cool off stop is necessary where I drank what seemed to be several pitchers of tea and water. Feeling refreshed enough, off I went again. Every 100 miles or so, I had to stop and wet down to stay cool. Temps remained well into the 90's until late in the evening.
974 miles later and at 11:05 PM, I pulled into the shop. Traveling with friends and my lovely bride is always fun. Being stranded 10 miles from hell for 4 days – priceless. I figure the 4 day delay cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600.00. And to top it all off, the NEW alternator is making so much noise that it sounds like a threshing machine – but it got me home. Oh the joys of motorcycling!
The rest of the photos of the trip are online at www.rikkitik.smugmug.com
Look in the travel folder for Big Bend 2011.
