A Different Kind of Ride

As I shared in my last post, having decided to keep my Harley instead of trading it in on another kind of motorcycle, I bought a 2006 Suzuki V-Strom DL 1000.  A couple of weeks ago I invited a friend to go riding.  He doesn’t have a bike so I graciously said he could ride the V-Strom.  Off we went to meet up with a couple of other guys and ride the curves in Washington County, TX.

Mid-ride, my battery warning light came on.  I knew immediately what the problem was - the dreaded dead stator.  I don’t know if it is Murphy’s Law or what, but my warranty ran out in April.  THAT’S another reason I was thinking about trading in the Harley. SO, my initial plan for a ride this year to Colorado and Wyoming was scrapped so, as I prepared to leave for a week in Big Bend, I dropped my Harley off at the shop.

I'm Off!

I was so excited for this trip!  After a full Sunday, I got home, loaded up the V-Strom on the trailer, brought everything but the kitchen sink since I had no space worries, and slept until 5:00 AM.  My goal was to hit the road before Houston traffic and head west to Study Butte, near the west entrance to Big Bend National Park.

The drive was relatively non-eventful.  It was weird heading off on a motorcycle trip without being on a motorcycle but I got over it.  It wasn’t like I was hauling my Harley.  I only had two surprises on the trip out.

First, I discovered that 1604 isn’t the short-cut around San Antonio that it used to be.  They are slowly but surely expanding it all the way to I-10 but, in the meantime, it is bumper to bumper all the way to the freeway. It took me over an hour to get through SA.  Note to self:  Don’t go home that way.

Second, I discovered again that a GPS isn’t always the smartest electronic device in the drawer.  Since I was flying down the freeway, hauling a trailer, with my overdrive shut off on my truck, I wasn’t getting very good gas mileage.  I got to a key point where I began to question if I would make it to the next town.  So I asked the GPS where the next station would be.  It pointed out that the next station was only 9 miles ahead so I clicked on it for a little side trip.  I got to the exit I was supposed to take…but there was no gas station to be seen.  Instead, the GPS told me that I needed to turn and then travel several more miles.  So I got to visit Iraan, TX.  (That is pronounced, by the way, “Ira – Ann”.  Go figure.)  Note to self:  The GPS only tells you how far to the next turn…not how far to the gas station.

I left I-10 at Fort Stockton and headed down to Alpine.  It occurred to me that I have never been on these roads on in a truck.  It was a different experience.  I’ve also never gone out to Big Bend this way.  On a bike it is always all the way on 90.

I got to Study Butte, checked into the motel, and unloaded the bike.  Then I realized that, if I hurried, I could get to the main visitor’s center in Panther Junction by 5:00 PM.  So off I went, hurrying as fast as one can hurry when the speed limit in the park is 45 MPH and, for some unexplainable reason, that is a speed limit that I choose to honor perfectly.  Which puts me right in the middle of 3^rd and 4^th gears.  Irritating.  Since I tend to be a short shifter who prefers to keep the RPM’s on the low side (that’s what years of riding a Harley will do to you), I used 4^th.  As the week has gone on, that changed.  More on that later.

The park ranger who checked me in also gave me the low down on the off road trails in the park.  She said that the easiest one, Old Maverick Road, isn’t so easy since they have had rain in the park.  She pointed out the spots that would be too muddy to make it through.  Then she discouraged me from trying any other trail without a dedicated dirt bike or a 4 WD truck.  That was…discouraging…but also challenging since it was my first time in the park.  (And, what she didn’t know is that I wasn’t afraid to take my motorcycle anywhere…when I was in middle school.)

I rode back to Study Butte and checked out the chicken fried steak in the café.  By 8:00 PM I was tired and ready for bed.

Tuesday in the Park

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, I headed back into the park the first thing in the morning.  I put on my sunscreen, helmet, gloves….and thought that my jeans and LD Comfort shirt were not going to offer much protection if I went down in the rocks.  Oh well.  You got to dance with the girl you brung and I don’t have any of that expensive protective gear.  I had 100 oz. of water in my Camelbak backpack and a large cup of coffee.

Just after entering the park I turned right on Old Maverick Road.  I haven’t ridden any significant distance on a gravel road since I was in North Dakota two years ago.  So yes, I was a bit nervous.  Immediately I discovered what it is like to ride a motorcycle on a washboard gravel road.  So, for the first time in my life, I stood up on the pegs to ride.

I got up on the balls of my feet.  I gripped the tank with my knees.  I did the best that I could but, even with two inch risers and my pegs dropped an inch, at 6’6”, I couldn’t stand up straight and have anything close to a good grip on the handlebars, so I settled for something in the middle. It worked great!  The bike’s suspension sucked up the bumps and I felt like I was in control.

I also felt like I was 8 feet high in the air!  It was a weird sensation.  I very quickly felt like the rookie that I am.

The views were fantastic and the road really wasn’t too bad.  The muddy places were obvious and had pretty much dried up. There were plenty of sandy places where the water had passed over the road but they weren’t too bad.

(At some point I will edit this and insert the only video I made all week.  I’m surprised that it actually worked.)

Eventually I got to a road to the right with a sign that said something like Terlingua Abajo. I took a chance and headed down it.  After several curves, more rocks and sand, I came around a corner to see the gnarliest rocky downhill with a pool of black mud on the bottom.  Suddenly I felt REALLY alone and aware that it would be stupid to do anything dangerous.  If I would have been with someone else, I would have walked down the hill, checked out the bottom, found the riding line, and I would have given it a try.  Instead, I tucked my tail between my legs, turned my bike around, and headed back to the pleasant washboard that was Old Maverick Road.  That moment would haunt me the rest of the week.

I got back on the pavement near Santa Elena Canyon.  From that point on, I took every side road I could and stopped wherever there was something to see.  In that, it was a very different kind of ride for me. I rode all the paved roads in the park that I hadn’t ridden before and I checked out the things that I had heard about but never seen. 

The first stop after the canyon was Castolon. The Cottonwood campground was closed for the season as was the visitor center but the old store was open so I stopped for a break. 

After leaving Castolon I saw the turn off for the western end of the River Road so I gave it a shot.  Soon I dropped into a sea of sand, the likes of which I have never ridden through.  I did what I thought best – kept my hand hard on the throttle to keep my momentum up while also keeping a light grip on the handlebars so the front wheel could find its way.  Once, twice, three times I just about lost it and went down.  Then I looked up at the first hill I was going to have to climb and I remembered the lesson of the Terlingua Abajo.  Back to the main road for me.

I rode on to the Chisos Basin, Rio Grande Village and the Boquillas Canyon Overlook. The Boquillas crossing was closed (it is open now from Wednesday-Sunday) but I forgot my passport so I couldn’t have gone across the river if I wanted to.  Back again to beautiful views and a 45 MPH speed limit.

I rode down to the Hot Springs, happy that I was on the V-Strom rather than the Harley on the access road to the Hot Springs parking area.  As for the hot springs itself…the two boys throwing mud at each other pretty much told me there was nothing to be gained by going to all the trouble to crawl into that muddy water with them.  I watched for a few minutes and headed out.

Thinking I would give a trail another try, I turned off at Grapevine Hills Road on my way back through the park.  Once again I realized that I just wasn’t ready for that and I turned back around.

It was a long day and I was ready to get back to the motel.  A quick stop to drop stuff off and then I decided to ride to the pretty part of 170, River Road, the high point over the Rio Grande.  I was beginning to trust the V-Strom a little better on the curves but it seems like the recent rains have left sand on the bottom of every low point in the road.  Sand on highways is scary.  So I took it easy and just enjoyed the ride through Lajitas and up to the top.  Of course I had to stop for a minute at the tee pee rest area. Every time I pass there I think about how cool I would find that place as a kid.

On the way back through I stopped at the bar and grill in Terlingua.  Good burger and beer to top off the day.  But man, did I feel out of place!  I got back to the motel and hit the sack.

Wednesday and the Davis Mountain Loop

Today was my day to see what kind of sport bike the V-Strom could be.  I headed up 118 for about 80 miles or so to Alpine with a plan to ride a canyon loop with a stop for a swim.  118 is a really fun road.  It is beautiful with lots of curves, none nearly as sandy as the day before on the River Road.  I had a great breakfast in Alpine and headed north.

118 remains beautiful all the way to Fort Davis (and through it to Kent.)  My loop started when I took 17 through the Barrilla Mountains to Balmorhea State Park and the 1.43 acre spring fed swimming pool.  The day wasn’t terribly hot, I found a picnic table in the shade, and I took a dip.  It was great but also a bit weird to swim in crystal clear water, 20-25 feet deep, where you can still see the bottom.  Then I hit the picnic table and continued slogging my way through Mark Granquist’s book, “Lutherans in America: A New History”. Yes, this is my vacation reading of choice.

Back on the road, I headed west to pick up I-10 to Kent, then back on 118 toward Fort Davis.  The beauty of this road is the scenery as you work your way back into the Davis Mountains.  I stopped at the McDonald Observatory and at the Davis Mountains State Park, where I rode to the top of Skyline Drive.  Beautiful.  Worth it.  And the sort of thing that I never usually do.

Back again carving my way down 118.  I thought that this is as close as we can get in Texas to the canyon carving we always hear about in California.  I started keeping the RPM’s between 5000-6500 and really enjoyed the V-Strom acting like a sportbike.  Before I knew it, I was back in Study Butte.

So THAT is Where You Go When You Turn Right on 170!

Thursday started slow for me as I wasn’t sure how I wanted to spend the day.  Part of me wanted to go back into the park and give the Terlingua Abajo another run.  As I stepped outside with my coffee and map to think about it I heard the click of the door and instantly realized that I had locked my key inside.  So I just took my seat (I brought an outdoor lounge chair from home….like I said, you can bring the kitchen sink when you trailer your bike) and waited for the housekeeper to show.

I saw Presidio on the map.  Every time I’ve been to this part of the world I have ridden 170, the River Road, from Presidio to Study Butte.  But then I realized that, if you turn right at Presidio, 170 actually goes past Presidio through Ruidosa until it ends at Candelaria.  I figured it might be a fun, desolate, road and that is exactly what it turned out to be.  The only negative was lots of sand at the bottom of every low spot in the road because of their recent rains so I took it easy and enjoyed the sights.

I stopped at the Fort Leaton Historical Site on the way into Presidio.  It is an interesting place with an interesting history but beware the fool who asks the guy behind the counter an open-ended question.  Whew, he ran me through the history beginning in 1638.  I hated to be rude but eventually I needed to walk away.

I’m glad I stopped there.  The history was great, the rooms were fascinating, but the thing that really blew me away was the ox cart in the corral.  Wow.  I hope the pictures I eventually post when I edit this later) do it justice.  It was twice as large as I imagined it to be.

I gassed up in Presidio and headed off to the uncharted waters of the rest of 170. It was a fun ride even though you know when you start that you will eventually be turning around to come back the same way.  I rolled through Ruidosa for that very reason.

 Candelaria literally feels like the end of the world (and maybe a glimpse of the 3^rd world) but I was surprised by their beautiful little church.  (Pictures to come someday.)

As I passed back through Ruidosa I stopped at the only place there is to stop at, the little store that serves as the terminal for Hot Springs Airport.  I had given some thought to trying the gravel road between there and Marfa.  At some point that road turns to pavement…but that wasn’t the part of the road that I was interested in.  I saw where it started and immediately realized that I either needed another friend on a bike so I wouldn’t have to go alone or some local knowledge.  Thus my stop.

The woman who runs the store was very nice (her husband is the director of the airport) so I bought some water to be equally nice but she discouraged me from trying the road to Marfa.  She told me it was a hard drive in a 4 WD truck, especially after it has seen rain.  So much for that. 

I went back again the way I came until I was back at the motel and ready again for reading and bed.  I packed the truck, loaded the trailer, and got ready for the drive home on Friday.

It was a different kind of ride but a very relaxing and enjoyable week.  As they say, “It’s the rider, not the bike” and I agree with that.  A confident rider with years of off-road experience could probably take the V-Strom anywhere but even they would need to put knobby tires on it to do it.  Me?  I’m putting Michelin Pilot Road 4’s on it and treat it like the sport bike and commuter that it will be for me.