Hidden Falls

A few shots from our Hidden Falls ride:

The old '82 XL 250 made her triumphant return:

Got a little tight in spots, had to remove the KLR's mirrors.

The "Check on Boquillas" Ride

Saturday, January 26, 2013. Made a run to Big Bend National Park.  Left Saturday morning and met DB in Uvalde.  It was warm for January, low 80s in the park.  

The plan was to ride down to Boquillas to check on the new crossing; we heard it had reopened for the first time post-9/11.  In the good old days you drove down a gravel road, walked down to the river and a man in a little boat would row you across for a few dollars.  No border guards or passports.  You then had your choice of a pickup truck or donkey to take you up to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico, situated on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande. They served ice cold beer for a dollar and 3 taquitos for the same in an open aired cantina. Sitting in the cool shade looking down on the river, it was a great spot.  You felt a long way from everything, and you were.

So we had high hopes to visit it again, until the ranger at the park entrance informed us that: "No, the crossing is not open. The border station on the U.S. side is ready but there are hang-ups with completing the Mexican station. And yes, you will need your passports and you will need to fill out immigration forms."  Fucking depressing.  Border stations, forms . . . it's ruined. 

We decided not to see it, and headed for the Basin and Santa Elena Canyon instead.

The Basin was cool and deserted, which was nice.  Elev. 5,400

Then on to Santa Elena Canyon where the first pics where taken.  

View of the canyon from the main road:

The hike down to the river. (Mexico to the left and America to the right.)

The dry portion of the river bed.

 DB throwing a rock into Mexico.

America's southern border:

The mighty Rio Grande.

View up Terlingua Creek.  A ranger said it wasn't the driest she'd ever seen it but . . .

Left the canyon and the park and headed for Alpine for the night.

Sunday, January 27th.  Headed for home down Hwy 90.  Of all the times I've returned home this way I've never stopped for anything other than gas.  We decided to smell the roses a little; first stop: Judge Roy Bean and Langtry, Texas.

Overcast but warm--and very few tourists this Sunday morning. 

The law west of the Pecos.  Judge Roy Bean's courthouse, saloon, and billiards hall.

Lilly's Saloon 

Langtry sits on the Rio Grande.  We rode down to the river.

Eagle's Nest Crossing. (Mexico in the background.)

From the cliff's edge looking down river.  A historical marker said people had been crossing the river here for a 1,000 years--seems like they picked an unusually difficult spot. 

The view up-river.  The pictures can't capture the scale of the cliffs. 

Left Langtry.  Next stop, Seminole Canyon State Park. Site of the Seminole Canyon pictographs.  "We're really smelling the roses now."--DB

From the observation deck down the canyon.

View up the canyon.  The pictographs are located in the cave at the top of the picture.

Another pic down the canyon from below the deck.  Desolate country.  

A statue depicting one of the pictograph figures overlooking the canyon.

Next stop: home.  A nice quick getaway.  Round trip: 940 miles.  

A 38-Hour Recharge

-Text from Whitley: "Your dad is here on his scoot.  Trying to get him to stay through the weekend--he said he's only staying if you'll ride up."

-"I'll be there tomorrow."

Three months of first-time-parenting earned me 2 days off.  So I decided to use 38 hours of it to ride to Taos and back--recharge the spirit a little. 

Saturday.

Left early Saturday morning, under cloudy skies and a warm 70 degrees.  By Fort Stockton it had dropped to 59.  Then the mid-40s.  Then it started to rain.

                                    

Not often it looks like this between Ft. Stockton and Pecos.

The sun finally broke through several hours south of Santa Fe.  I arrived under sunny skies after 12 hours and 15 minutes.  I was out of riding shape, worn out after 791 miles.

Outside of Whitley Manor.

Then on to the KTAO Solar Bar.  Sat in iron patio chairs on the green lawn out back. A cool and sunny late afternoon.  A cold beer on the back lawn of a bar inside a radio station.  Worth the trip.

KTAO Solar Bar. 

Ate a homemade mexican food dinner.  In bed in complete darkness at 8:30.  

Sunday.

DB left Whitley's with me.  DB: "I'm glad you got to do this.  You'll be a better father because of it."

We rode out of town in the dark and cold. 31 degrees.  The heavy fog over the pass to Las Vegas had blanketed the sides of the road in frost.   My helmet's visor iced over.  It was still dark and the fog was so thick DB couldn't tell which way the road twisted.  The bike indicated 25 degrees, 9,450 feet.  

At the gas station in Las Vegas a little after 7am--I wasn't fast enough to catch the ice covering my sleeve.

I was, however, able to catch it covering DB's windshield. 

The Las Vegas State Bank sign flashed 27 degrees. The temps would steadily rise into the mid-40s.  Didn't break 50 until the west side of San Antonio.

From Las Vegas (NM), it's all downhill home.  My camera defrosted enough to take a few shots leaving the mountains.  The complete darkness and fog prevented any pics at higher elevation.    

South 84:

West of Clovis we ran down a train.  (It's running down the left hand side of the following pictures.)

 I took probably 15 of these shots.  Love to see trains out here.

Home by dark 12 hours later.  No deer, thank goodness.  Got a hug from my wife and son.  Nice welcome.

New ADV

With the arrival of our son my adventure riding has been relegated to surviving the 70 miles of I-35 south to Motohank's.