Little Big Bender

So I earned meself a couple extra comp days and need to take them. Seems a long weekend is in my future. My older brother rides an R1150R, but has never done a long trip on the bike. Hrrrmmmmmm. Calendars suggest that we've both got the first weekend in November off (we're bass players and gig most weekends). Maybe throw-in a vacation day and a half and ride somewhere interesting? Sure.

My Halloween outfit this year is motorcycle gear. October 31st is a cold ride to work. Parked in the pay lot before sunrise. I figure the four bucks is worth it, for me to be able to scoot outta here at Noon..



I work in the building on the left, with the observatory..



It's chilly and windy when we roll-out around 12:30 pm after fueling in West Terre Haute. By windy I mean it's blowing 30 mph from the right, and gusty. Tough it out until somewhere West of Vandalia, Illinois, then top-off the tanks and grab a candy bar..



West of St. Louis the wind abates considerably. Our gas station photo-tour continues. It's really a beautiful day to be on the bikes.



Darkness finds us in Joplin, Missouri.

Day one's stats:



john

Day two is exactly like day one. Of course it's cold, and still dark when we cross into Oklahoma. Eventually, though, the scenery changes and maybe we do a little bit too..



Not sure what this is all about. Trying to change the batteries in his odometer or something, no doubt.



I do not like riding after dark. By the time we reach Fort Stockton it is dark. In my head I'm strategerizing what will give us the most bang for the buck without banging into a buck in the process. Daylight traffic South of Fort Stockton is practically nil by Indiana standards, so I figure it will be less than nil after sunset. We'll ride slow with the brights and it will be okay. I don't want to have to ride 100+ miles in the morning just to get there, if I can do it safely tonight..

The Marathon Shell..



I lead, Mark follows and I artfully dodge three raccoons and three large deer. We're going really slow and thus it takes for - e - ver to make Rio Grande Village, where we grab a cement spot on the Southern-most loop of the campground and call it a night. We saw two other vehicles and watched a passenger train pass through Marathon. Other than that, it was all us..

Today's numbers..



john

Always a great sight to wake up to..



A bit of moon in the sky..



The sun is on its way..



Brother is still asleep, so I head over to the nearest spigot to get some water for coffee..



I boil my water and figure I'll go ahead and dump-in the coffee before turning-off the JetBoil burner. It is impressive, how quickly and completely doing so creates a mess of magnitude.



Coffee was good though, and we eventually got ourselves going..

john

Yep.
I remember doing the same thing about three years ago.....

I guess it's part of the learning curve.

Watching assriver whip-up a cup of coffee in 30 seconds in the boonies South of Sisters last year made me a believer.

Maybe next Fall I'll make it out to WetFest again..

John

Our Regional Forum is discussing Wetfest right now.....
We'll see where that leads.

If you want a good tough cover for that JetBoil, see "Vendors" and find Corrado113. For pretty cheap, he made custom covers for mine with my handle embroidered on it

We geared-up and rode to the Boquillas Overlook to wave at a couple of Mexicans and peruse their trinkets..













Then we buzzed over to the lodge in the Chisos Basin..



Brunchfast and dessert..





John

I gotta get my brothers riding

I'll check that out!

Hiya, Bryan!

Spread the joy!

John

So after filling our bellies with cobbler, Santa Elena Canyon is next on the agenda..





Blue sky...



We skipped rocks to Mexico..



Chatted a bit with a couple of guys doing much the same as us..



Life is good..





John

Hey John - Really cool cloud photo!

It's just kind of hanging out by itself, enjoying the day!

Next stop is The Porch in Terlingua..





We hookup with friends and finagle a place to park the bikes for the night that's within walking distance..



Then head back up through the cemetery. Today is the Day of the Dead..







John

nice pics john, always good to get to spend some quality seat time with your brother.

Thanks! And yes, it is!

John

The greatest impediment to me post this ride report is that the time stamps on my cell phone pictures (which are mostly what these are) seem to be meaningless to the smugmug sorting widget and I lack the discipline (and/or memory) to sort them manually. *sigh*



A couple of familiar faces..



Up the hill, on the way back to The Porch..







Dinner time at The Starlight Theatre..



Not that there is a direct correlation, but the door to the privy called out to have its picture taken..



We say our goodbyes to Ed29 and Texas Shadow, then head back down past the cemetery..



John

More Ghost Town..











Then a short walk down the hill and across the highway to our little campsite in the desert to look at some stars..



Today's numbers..



john

Morning comes and we ride out to The Hill..







And beyond..







Opposite side of the road. What happens here? It appears that maybe somebody rides the little basket down to a point and sticks a stick in the river to measure depth, perhaps? *shrugs*



We ride on into Marfa for lunch..



john

Looks fun, John. I'll bet that sandwich was tasty!