I wrote my riding journal up two weeks ago, two weeks after my return from the “big bend” trip. I needed that time to properly process the trip and read Jupiter’s Travels through the African portion of Simon’s journey. What erupted from my brain was a 4800 word novella worthy of prison issue tp. However, divine intervention & cheap Chinese components saved the TWAATFOG nation the misery of reading it. The very next time I went to use the laptop it died. Really, the very next startup it never booted again. All was lost. I was heartbroken not because the lost work but because I type soooo sloooowly.
I do not want to just let this pass, so I provide here the short version, two paragraphs per day recording destinations, distances and accommodations. I reserve the right to mention up to two oddities per day.
Day One, Sanger to Colorado City, TX via Abilene: Miles = 260
We left at 8 am, light rain threatening, and via Ft-Worth rode to I-20 toward
s Abilene. We made Abi at lunch and dined next to a bothersome bum in an older Whataburger. The staff was nice, and seemed interested in our journey. We noticed how fast our tires were wearing. Mike’s front was looking done in. We fueled in the ghetto and were on our way. We arrived in Lake Colorado City State Park about 2PM. We were asked to wait until 3PM to check in. We killed the time visiting with the maintenance ranger prepping what would be our cabin. Much was learned about the lake, namely that it was “dead”. The cabin was nice and smelled of bleach, one of my very favorite clean smells. We had a nice clean cabin and a porch with a picnic table to loiter about. The view was nice but knowing that the lake was “dead” ruined the mood.
Oddity: The lake cooled a power station about ¾ miles away and the cabin was situated almost directly below the high wires to the plant. This all provided for a constant humming sound no matter where you stood in the park.
Day Two,
LCCSP to Ft-Davis, TX via Midland / Odessa, Pecos & Ballmorea: Miles = 250
We set off early to Midland to buy Mike a front hoop to be installed in Odessa. The explanation would violate the rules of the “short version”. We were in Odessa until 3:30PM. Original plans had us in FT-Davis (Mts) State Park at 1PM. We got a late lunch in Odessa at the Permian Basin Hamburger Co. This was, as it turns out a twin to the Denton County Independent. I met the owner and UNT Alumni & Friends of UNT b/c I happened to be wearing a UNT shirt. It was a pleasant surprise to help salvage a lost day. From Odessa, 100 degrees according to the ST’s computer, we rode towards Pecos, seeing towering dust storms on the horizon. At Pecos, intermittently 110 degrees we crossed “west of the Pecos” and turned south on hwy 17 to Ballmorea. We finally met our dust storms and the 60 mph winds that spawned them. This was the hardest riding of the trip. Ballmorea started the topographical change as we approached the Davis Mts. We arrived in at Davis Mts. State Park at 5PM. We made camp, went to town for dinner, found a 6 pack and called it a night.
Oddity: A “boys school”, think boys town, moved in at the campsites directly across from us. They did their best to be quiet yet manage to cost me two nights sleep.
Day Three, Alpine, Marfa, Ft-Davis: Miles = 100
This became a rest day of sorts. We were too exhausted to ride to the national park. We had a plan B in the works that involved a scenic loop in the desert. The ride was fun; though I was franticly searching for a pillow after two nights of discomfort. After several stops I gave up, but this became a huge issue for me throughout the entire trip. I liked Alpine and the Marfa lights watching center, and I got my first real taste of the Chihuahuan Desert. The panoramas reminded me of all of the old westerns I grew up watching. The desert is vast. We were back by 2PM. After a little struggle to get a cold beer, we bought another 6 pack and went back to camp. In town we met a few Germans touring rented Harlies just up from Terlingua and the national park; they had commented it was 115 degrees there at 11am. While in camp we met a woman riding her bicycle from Savannah, GA to San Diego, CA. She had been on the road since October. I have been following her progress on her blog. We cooked in the campsite and turned in early. I was still stinging a little for not trying to get to Terlingua.
Oddities: I drove all this way and did not eat in the Indian Resort in our own campgrounds and I did not get to see the McDonald Observatory.
Day Four, Ft Davis to Junction, TX on I-10: Miles = 300
From this point on there was much cursing & gnashing of teeth over the new computer system that TPWL rolled out while we slept. This was our biggest day, mileage wise, and all but about 45 miles on the 80MPH endless ribbon of IH-10. Let me say, 80MPH is really comfortable for the ST, but I don’t care too much for it. We reached Junction, quickly, before 3pm and were (eventuall
y) checked into our campsite in South Llano River State Park. The grounds here would rival many private golf clubs. It was truly a park. This was reminiscent of the private campgrounds I grew up in. The Davis Mountains and SP were wild, this was a beautiful contrast. My mood sank to an all time low. We were battling fatigue and rain and I was losing. We rode to the town’s only grocery store, my lowest point, and spent $42.00 on cold cuts, olives, cheese, smokes and a 6 pack of Tecate. The cold dinner did me good. The rain held off and we called it a night, too tired to stay up late.
Oddity: Mike picked a strange place on IH-10 to relieve himself. Standing on the shoulder of the tarmac watching 18 wheelers race by at 85MPH is enough to make your sphincter tingle.
Day Five, Junction to Inks lake SP, Burnett, TX via Fredericksburg and llano, TX: Miles = 150
An early start prompted by the sound of thunder had us skipping coffee and on the road by sunrise. The trip to F-burg was nice and we dodged most of the rain. In F-burg, after asking around we found a good breakfast, clean restrooms and a gift shop for taking care of a few family obligations. While having an ice cream snack on Main Street we met a few riders that were able to show us the “three sisters” on my map. This was also when I noticed I had some sort of oozing abscess under my left thumbnail, presumably caused by a “hot spot” that a seam on the thumb of my glove was creating. A good squeeze and some iodine and we were back on the road. We rode through Llano, and I regretted not stopping but between the large amount downtown roadwork and the chasing thunderheads we pushed on to Inks Lake. The cabin was not as new as LCCSP, but the table & chairs inside the air conditioned space was a great luxury after living at picnic tables for 5 days. We napped then ventured to a very nice park store followed by dinner of spam, ramen and crackers. This was the best meal of the trip. The previous two days my packing had become horrible so I used the evening to go over every piece of gear and repack it properly. I was ready for the trip home.
Oddity: Nothing of note except that I have yet to receive my cabin security deposit back from ILSP.
Day Six, Burnett, TX to Sanger, TX via Ft-Hood, Belton, Temple, Waco & Ft-Worth: Miles = 270
Mike was up early packing. Since I had packed the previous evening I was a little put off; until lightning flashed in the window. It was time to go home. We rode in Friday morning rush-hour traffic from Ft-Hood through the south side of Waco, traffic being heavy all of the way through Ft-Worth. IH-35 sucks. One fuel stop and a speedy breakfast standing next to the bikes at a Hillsboro 7-11 and we were back out dodging 18 wheelers, SUVs, and rain. The rain finally caught up with us after two and a half days of cat & mouse, less than 10 miles from home.
exposed on the vestibule or just placed in the open wrapped in a tarp. I could never shake the thought of a peccary (javalina) destroying my new moto-zipp tail pack.
hot & dark spots witch don’t work very well to read by. Having said that, this lantern is a step in the right direction. The major drawback is the switch. I routinely unpack this lantern to find that the “press to operate” switch has been triggered in the pack. I traveled with the batteries removed after the second incident. I am really interested in the Brunton Glorb sold on the Aerostich website, but for $35.00 I am passing for now.
