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This past week was spring break for me. For some time now the wife and I have been planning to go to Texas for our break. She wanted to visit her mother, sister, and some other friends and relatives out there and I wanted to ride the roads of west Texas. I rode through there a few years ago, along highway 90 but have always wanted to take a little more time and see some more of the country on the bike, and take a spin through Big Bend Park.

Last Saturday morning we loaded the bike on the back of my little truck and hauled it to Dallas for an overnight visit with Sparky’s sister. From there, on Monday, we drove on over to San Angelo where her mother lives. Tuesday morning I got the bike off the truck and was ready for riding.
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Sparky stayed to visit for a little while longer and then took a more direct route over to Alpine in west Texas where I would meet up with her.
I headed down Hwy 277…
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… south through Eldorado…
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…and Sonora.
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South of Sonora I took Texas farm road 189 down through Juno and hooked up with Hwy 90 in Comstock.
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The 189 farm road turned out to be a very nice ride with narrow roads, lots of twists and curves and the ever-challenging cow crossing. Not too many trees around to hide behind for a bladder relief break. But I found this one. I wonder why that tree is so green?
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I got some gas in Comstock and headed west on Hwy 90. Not too far up the road I crossed through part of the Amistad National Rec. area…
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And continued up 90 toward Langtry, the location of the Judge Roy Bean museum.
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I took the little loop into Langtry to get a cool drink and make a quick tour of the visitors center/museum there.
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The cactus garden inspired a couple of artistic pics!
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Leaving Langtry I crossed what has to be some of the most barren and boring landscape in the US.
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I had to stop in Sanderson for more gas and a cool drink.
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Back on my hoss, I rode the last stretch to Alpine through Marathon, where I would return the next morning to head down 385 to Big Bend. The ride from Sanderson to Alpine makes a slow ascent up to about 4 or 5 thousand feet above sea level, I believe. And it gets a little cooler!
I arrived in Alpine about 5:00 and Sparky had already checked us into the Antelope Lodge and gone visiting. She lived in Alpine for a while back in the late 70s early 80s and has quite a few old friends there.
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She returned just in time for us to go eat a steak at the Twin Peaks café after which we rode around a little, returned to the lodge and settled in for a nice restful sleep. The little lodge was very quiet and quite comfortable.
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That was the first day of my ride on Tuesday. Tomorrow I’ll put together Wednesday’s ride down through Big Bend and along the Rio Grande on 170.
Stay tuned!

Thanks Boxer...great pictures and report...now we need a few more guys posting ride pics.

DJ

Boxer,
I am very glad to see you in my homeland, and with the appropriate Texan soft drink.(Dr. Pepper). Enjoy your ride and keep it coming. It is nice to get a glimpse through others eyes of your home. Gives you a fresh perspective.

Tommy

Boxer,

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Is the windscreen on your R the BMW touring windscreen?

Dave

Turk74-Yes, it is. I rode for a while with the sport screen and after my trip to Spokane I replaced it with the touring screen which uses the same hardware and supports. Much happier with it.
houndog-I sensed that the "Doctor" was the drink of the day. I saw far fewer Cokes than I do here in Atlanta!

Now on to day two of my ride!

* * * * *
Wednesday morning we got up around 7AM to a beautiful sunny day with temps promising to go up into the 80s. I couldn’t find my air gauge as I was getting ready to leave and this put me in a sour mood as I took off and rode back toward Marathon on Hwy 90 looking for a place to get that first cup of coffee. Pulling into a small Chevron station in Marathon I noticed the highway 385 was the entrance way to the Big Bend Park. The nice attendant at the station, Ernesto, let me use his air gauge as I was filling up with gas. The tires had warmed up some in the 25 miles of riding so I adjusted for that and they seemed okay at about 43 rear and 40 front. I still didn’t have that coffee but Ernesto sold me a big cherry rollup pie and I stuffed it into my tankbag saving it for a roadside morning breakfast snack.

I headed down 385 toward Big Ben and after a few miles I started seeing the mountains in the distance.
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I believe this little panoramic montage was also on that road headed to Big Bend.
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I made it to the entrance sign, which was about 40 miles down the road, and stopped to take the obligatory photo.
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My wife later laughed at me for blocking off part of the sign. She said, as she giggled, that now everyone will know I visited Ig Bend Ional Park.
Just as I was finishing up my cherry pie, these two guys rode up behind me and asked if they could go ahead and position their bikes for their obligatory sign photo.
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They both rode GSs and were from Ohio. They had ridden down through Louisiana to Brownsville Texas and were trying to circumnavigate to entire southern border of Texas. I left them to their photography and headed off looking for a tee-shirt, but first invited them to the Bash in Marietta and gave them the R1150R.NET address to visit us here.
I found the visitor’s center at the main junction and stopped for a photo.
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I hopped back on the bike and took the turn toward Study Butte which is the Big Bend entrance to the west. I didn’t take the time to ride all the roads in the park since I had lots more miles to go that day. I think I missed some of the most beautiful parts of the park by doing that, but what the heck. It’ll be a good excuse to go back. Here’s some more prickly pear cactus, but this bunch was red! Don’t know why it is red.
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I saw a few stands of Bluebonnets in the park but neglected to stop for a pic, hoping I’d see more later, but never did.
The wide open spaces here are really calming. I stopped and just stood around in the quiet for a few minutes before taking this one.
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I can’t remember if this was in the park or not, but it’s a great shot anyway.
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So is this one!
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I exited the park at Study Butte and picking up 170, rode on over to Terlingua, passing wind on the way.
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I rode through the little resort town of Lajitas and headed on west along the Rio Grande on 170.
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Me pointing, “Right over there’s the Rio Grande.”
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Hwy 170 along the border down there is a true motorcyclists mecca.
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This was a magnificently challenging road, and it reminded me in many ways of the Cherohala Skyway in TN and NC. Only it was a narrower roadway and much less forgiving if you crest a hill or round a curve a little too hot! WOW! I was glad I hadn’t had much breakfast or I might have soiled my underoos!
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I made it to Presidio and pulled into a station for gas and a drink. As I was paying for my drink I smelled food cooking and asked if there was a grill. The clerk said yes and asked if I wanted a sandwich. I ordered a ¼ lb cheeseburger, and when it came it was the best damn burger I’ve ever eaten. Maybe it helped to not have eaten any breakfast to speak of, but I sat there at a little metal table in front of the station eating my delicious burger and watching all the busy Texican people come and go.

With a full stomach and a full gas tank I headed north on hwy 67 to ride through the Chinati and Cuesta del Burro Mountains toward Marfa.
Not long out of Presidio I came to the little village of Shafter and took a quick picture of this monument to the first white settlement/fort/ranch in these parts.
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I arrived in Marfa around 1 or 1:30 and took this one photo.
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My wife grew up in Marfa and we had driven down from Alpine the evening before and walked around the town some. So I didn’t take any more time there than I needed to get through town and on the road, which was hwy 17, to Fort Davis.
On the way to Fort Davis I noticed the sky had turned to the bluest blue.
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Instead of going all the way to Fort Davis I took another farm road (166) to the west which skirted the Davis Mountains and came around to join 118 which runs from Kent all the way down to Study Butte at Big Bend Park. This was another nice surprise! The farm road was beautiful with such a variety of plant life and cows grazing in the fields with wild antelope here and there.
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I took 118 back towards Fort Davis to view more farms and ranches.
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Here you can see the MacDonald Observatory telescopes up on the hills in the distance.
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I continued through Fort Davis on 118 and on back to Alpine where Sparky was waiting to go visit and Uncle and Aunt with me in tow. After that we ate a nice casual dinner at an authentic Mexican diner. I was so tired after the long day and almost 400 miles that I crashed while she made one last visit to an old friend who had been out of town until this evening.
Morning came again and we got the bike back on the truck for our long ride back to Dallas.
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We spent the night with Sparky’s sister in Ennis and headed out early for Georgia. Here we are riding off into the sunrise! With visions of yuccas and bluebonnets dancing in our heads.
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We put about 2900 miles on the truck and the two days I rode the bike I logged over 750 miles of beautiful west Texas scenery. It was a GREAT RIDE!

Great ride indeed...thanks...I liked your pictures...

DJ

What a great read you posted. I've never been to Big Bend and I've lived in Texas most of my life. I sure want to go now. Thank you for the report and pictures. Living vicariously through other riders is alright........til I get my chance to ride it myself.

houndog wrote:Boxer,
I am very glad to see you in my homeland, and with the appropriate Texan soft drink.(Dr. Pepper). Tommy

I thought the official drink of Texas was Lone Star beer?