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by grampathis is my ride report for big bend 0ctober '04
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by grampa
It all started when somebody on region 2 of SportTouring.net suggested a road trip to bigbend. What the heck. Might as well. What a great excuse to buy new stuff for the concours. Picked up a tank bag and peg lowerers and a pair of gloves. and a new set of allen wrenches, 6 foot of 3/8th fuel line and 4 pack of red bull. and a bunch of misc. crap.
Sent the dog to the vets for boarding, fed the fish, packed up and hit the road bout 1 pm on Thursday afternoon.
photo by grampa
Picked the suck-est route through town and 15 minutes later i'm only a few miles away from the house. doesn't bode well but i plug on. about 7 miles out i remember to reset the trip meter. so every time i look at the trip meter, i have to +7 in my head for the rest of the trip.
46 out of New Braunfels has a few hills on it but since I've ridden it a bazillion times - didn't take pictures. it has an interesting mile or so the other side of Boerne but one mile doesn't make for a great road. it then hit 16 and went a couple miles past Bandera.
first stop of the trip. medina creek i think
no trespassing. well. i trespassed to take a leak.
first bike pic
first FUN road RR470. Whoowee! Its a keeper. Thought maybe i just had low expectations but after seeing the great stuff out west i Still liked rr470. unfortunately, i liked it so much, i didn't stop for pictures.
Second fun road 337. After i got around the suburban anyway. rolling up the hill i saw a prototype car from Detroit or someplace. wearing the old bra disguises front and back. it had Chevy trucks as chase vehicles but that doesn't mean it was a Chevy. if i recall correctly, there was a little bit of road construction on 337 repairing rock slide areas. not so much it ruined it though.
pic from 337 ?
checked the clock after 337 and had time to do 335. reported to be a must ride. the shadows were getting long and i started thinking about deer so i didn't ride the snot out of it. good thing too. the 'whoopties' on this road will punish a suspension if you don't have it set real firm.
meant to take 674 to Barksdale but got confused and ended up on 55. it turned out to be a very good time. 'Tween Rocksprings and Barksdale there are 4 lane, high speed, down hill sweepers that provide a nice late afternoon adrenaline rush.
the road from 55 to 90 was called 334. great thing about it- it must split 2 ranches. no housing developments, soccer moms, semi trucks. the ditches are cut down about 30 feet both sides so the deer won't surprise you. its a road that just says, "spool it up, buddy". saw triple digits for the first time this trip. and shortly thereafter i saw a truck with a bunch of lights on top. I guess border patrol doesn't care if you speed a little, just don't run over the illegal aliens or you will put them out of a job.
last bit of day one - cruising past a dps trooper at about 85mph on 90 on the way to Del Rio. with the speed limit at 75[?], i guess they weren't sweating 10 over that day.
Del Rio
the LaQuinta did charge a little more than some, but they did let us park on the porch, which was nice.
met the guys
Brian, Jason, Greg, Chris. Chris offered to split a room, but after many emails about the deviant uses of chain lube, i declined.
We talked about finding a real nice place to eat and ended up a few blocks away at a 'Ma & Pa' mexican resteraunt. $6.50 for a carne asada plate. pretty good chow. After dinner the other fellas were feeling frisky and i was feelin cheap. I went back to the room and they went across the border. While they we're experiencing the culture of mexico, i was realising what a piece of crap 'American Pie 2' is on the free HBO.
end of day one