Big Bend and Adventures on Chico Road

The route so far:

June 15, 2008

The way you can tell if a southwestern town has cell phone reception or not is to see if the population is at least 1,000 people, if not then your SOL, and you definitely won’t be making any calls from there. It wasn’t until yesterday and today that I was without service. Oh to be cut off completely how unheard of! It took some getting used to for me but by this afternoon I had accepted the fact that the phone should be put away because it’s not going to be working any time soon. The drive from Lost Maples to Big Bend national park was another epic day! All the lushness of Lost Maples quickly gave way to desolate desert, and along with that came sweltering heat. I made it an early morning for once, and I was on the road by a quarter after 9. It was very cool in the morning but like I said that quickly gave way to a really dry heat, so hot that when I put up my face shield it felt like someone had turned a hair dryer on right in my face. For the first leg of my journey I traveled to Del Rio Texas which is a border town with a huge aqua blue reservoir which basically keeps the town going. If it wasn’t for that lake I’d be very surprised if there was anything out there at all. Once I got to Del Rio, I took hwy 90 all the way for a good 200 miles until I got to the Big Bend park entrance. 90 was a good road, very sparse but good, there were hardly any cars on the road and even less gas stations, which made me a little nervous but then I thought back to the fact that the KLR has a monster gas tank and I can go a good 300 + miles between fillips. On my way down 90 I saw a sign for a visitor’s center and above that was another sign advertising free wireless, so of course I had to make a stop because I had been meaning to post all the previous days on this site.

When I got there in the parking lot I saw another loaded down bike, it was a Triumph Tiger belonging to a teacher named Chris who was of course off for the summer from teaching and he was traveling around the US. He came from Mississippi and being that there is only one way into Big Bend we kept running into each other at each stop. At one gas stop I saw two loaded down BMW Adventure Tourer Bikes, and it really got me excited for Big Bend and all the back roads. They had spent the past week on the back roads of the park and it showed! The park itself claims only 5 miles of paved roads, that’s actually not true because I drove down a good 26 miles of them nice a paved. But that’s beside the point the park is absolutely amazing and completely empty. Chris and I were really the only ones there I think for the entire 800,000 acres. When I got into the park I decided to do a little dual sporting and I found an isolated campsite which you can only get to if you have a ‘high clearance 4x4 vehicle’ my bike is neither high clearance, nor does it even have 4 tires. None the less its what the KLR was designed for so I took an amazing 7 mile gravel road to my campsite where I am now typing this, no running water, no electricity, not even another person for miles. It’s a good thing I haven’t seen ‘the hills have eyes’ or I’d be scared out of my mind right now. Well it’s getting dark now and I have to plan my route for tomorrow. Take care everyone!

June 16, 2008

A coyote just ran through my campsite, and I did not invite him to dinner. Well let’s see it’s my second night here in Big Bend, and it will be my last. The heat is so oppressive here I cannot even use my hair dryer analogy to explain the extremeness of the heat! I have since switched campgrounds by recommendation of the park ranger to a site at a more higher elevation which is much cooler. Today was a pretty epic day though in regards to riding. I did some serious dual sporting today on the Big Bend back roads. I also saw some hot springs, the Rio Grande and our good neighbors to the south, Mexico! I broke the day up into two parts. Since it was so hot last night I did not get much sleep however the only cure for the heat is to get on my bike and ride. So I was promptly packed up and riding before 8 this morning.

I fueled up since I knew there was oh say zero gas stations in the Big Bend backcountry, however I think in between when I fueled up and left my camp site I misplaced my beloved mountain bike turned motorcycle gloves! My grey Fox DirtPaws have seen some real stuff ad sadly they will spend the rest of their lives somewhere out in the desert of Texas. So the riding was rough and tough today lots of rocks lots of heat, lost of sand, but it was the kind of riding that I specifically got my mightily KLR for. In addition I had to pack a full gallon and a half of water with me because in the unlikely event that his mightiness may fail I would have to hike out, because obliviously cell phones don’t work in the backcountry and for the entire 800,000 acres there is maybe 6 visitors, plus or minus three illegal’s who may have crossed the border in the time that I was typing this.

So backcountry riding was fun, I had one trying part where I actually thought I may have to ditch the bike and start walking, there was one hill that was just a bit too rocky and sandy for the likes of the mighty and the front tire slipped out from under me and the bike leaned to the left in my despair to catch my balance bike and all went down. It wasn’t a bad fall and it was very low speed so nothing was broken. I got up picked the bike up and tried pushing it up the hill but that I came to find out is next to impossible to push a 400 pound bike with a full 6 gallons of fuel and over 100 pounds in gear. So I sat there for a while drank some water then I did the most reasonable thing I could do, I rolled it backwards down to a flat part moved the nuisance rocks from the hill and I rode up again with no problem. Lesson learned, if at first you don’t succeed start way from the beginning.

After my adventure in the backcountry I was getting hungry so I made camp, took a nap and headed back out again to explore the rest of the park. This time I took what is called an “auto road” which is basically a dirt road less treacherous than the backcountry roads, it was fun and I saw a lot of the park that I hadn’t seen in the morning. On my ride back I got caught in a freak rain storm and I didn’t have any of my rain gear with me but I actually did a little rain dance prior to my leaving because it was so ridiculously hot out that I really didn’t care if it rained. And that brings me to where I am now, sitting here with the coyote. Tomorrow I leave the desert and head to New Mexico to Carlsbad Caverns. Thankfully the caves stay a nice 56 degrees all year round, which will be a welcomed relief!

June 17, 2008

As if today could not be any worse… well worse is a bad way to describe the events that unfolded today, I’d like to refer to them simply as trials by fire, or the general need for adventure and that need was fulfilled tenfold in the past 24 hours. Big Bend last night was nice it was the coolest camp ground I’d stayed in yet due to the altitude I was at. I awoke refreshed and energized and ready to take on the light dual sport riding that I had planned on for the day.

In any rate I left around a quarter after 8 and I took the main road Hwy 118 (another scenic Michelin drive might I add) out of Big Bend to a small town called Kent, well you couldn’t not even call it small it was just a gas station and grocery store off I-10, so I stop in fill up on some water and I head to Hwy 2424. 2424 was a good road for about 10 miles it was rolling hills in the middle of the desert with the occasional cow eating god knows what because I really didn’t see any grass. So my map tells me that some of the roads between Kent and Guadalupe Mountains national park are unpaved, just the kind of roads l like the good dual sport kind…. Well little did the map mention but these unpaved roads really were unpaved, I don’t think a car or even man on a horse has seen some of these roads in months! However my faithful Garmin told me to follow the pink line through the desert. One thing the good folks at Garmin forgot to do might I add was say if these roads were public or private, so I found myself at a couple gates the first 20 miles or so into the unpaved part and I would simply open the gate and keep on driving, well soon the roads start to dwindle in quality and identifiableness, and soon I found myself not on a road at all but like I said before following the little man on the motorcycle on the Garmin following the pink line. So follow I did I mean what’s a little adventure.

I press on, gate after gate, and road after road, none of which are marked. One particular road which I followed when 2424 ended was Chico road, and Chico road was not very Chico friendly. It disappeared on me oh say four or five times and I just sort of drove and bounced my way through the desert and cacti until my motorcycle man found his pink line again. All the while I was thinking to myself as I was going through these gates, what if one of them is locked. Because a good two summers ago I worked on a ranch and we locked all our gates, made sure of it, didn’t want any trespassers. So sure enough I was too far to turn back and I arrive at a barely visible road in the sweltering desert and the gate is pad locked hard and fast. I do not utter any explicative’s, I simply walk around the fence line for a bit to find an opening… no such opening. I look at the lock, I try some simple combinations, 1111, or 2222, or 1234, even a 0000. To no avail my lock picking skills were useless. I then look for a weak spot in the fence, its old and rusty but there are none, so I go against everything in my book and I get out my always faithful Leatherman, the best and most amazing graduation present ever, and I cut part of the barb wire and ride my bike through, however I do this will all good intentions, I mean I was in survivor mode, what would bear do in these situations!?!?! I was nice though and I left a note apologizing and I found some wire and patched up the fence as best as I could. No bovine would be getting through there any time soon! Ok so I ride on, 8 miles here 3 miles here, a turn here a wrong turn there, it goes on like this for a good 3 hours. So I’m rolling down this hill maybe a bit too fast and I hit some rocks and the front end gets real wobbly on me, and flat feeling… oh no flat feeling that’s not very good. I quickly shift down as fast as possible and come to a complete stop shut off the bike and to my surprise, or well shock yes my first flat, and on my new Avon Gripsters! Ok so I can fix this I got the AeroStitch tool kit complete with patches CO2 and all, I’m ready bring on your worst. So I look at it squeeze the tire, no air coming out, no rocks or punctures or anything… So what must be the problem?

The explanation as to why my Gripsters went flat is too long and technical and if you wish to know you may email or ask me later. In any event I got out these cool little CO2 cartridges and I filled my tire right back up, easy as pie! And the ride continues… More gates, more LOCKED gates, and I do the same, cut hole, leave note, and patch up… I think total I had to go through five of these locked suckers. The last one was a real four letter word. I get all the way there meanwhile the tire went flat three more times I was down to my last two CO2 canisters, GPS says I have just 0.9 miles ok I can make this just slow and steady and I’ll get to the highway… and Highway I arrive at! Wow I was so happy however there lied in front of me the meanest of all gates that I saw that day, I wish now I had taken a picture of it, it was ugly looking I think it had a total of seventeen locks on it, this was the kind of gate that they use at fort Knox or something, I mean the cows that were behind this gate must make the kind of milk that’s not really milk at all but the stuff they use to make crystal with. Ok so gate is huge and foreboding and on either side I can’t just cut out a piece like I had been doing because it was a rock wall on both sides, I sit there for a minute oh I forgot to mention all the while I’m trying to out run the storm of all storms. The clouds are black the wind is gusting, you get the picture. So I walk around the gate some more I look at it I glare at it maybe my glare will make it open, no such luck. I then look back at the one side of the gate and the rocks look loose but movable and the fence deteriorated and crappy. So like all other gates I simply cut away but the problem was I was right on the highway and I didn’t want anyone to see me doing my dastardly yet necessary deeds. So I cut quickly and I move all these big rocks, it would be tough I would have to use all my motorcycle riding skills that I have yet attainted to get Maverick (fyi I gave my bike that name, it fits, the bike likes it) through. I don’t have a picture of this because I was trying to rush through and get out of there as quickly as possible. So I rev the engine throw it in mighty mountain climbing never fail first gear and I ride through the 2 foot opening with all the loose gravel, and I make it through! Success!! I have done it, however on the other side was not so good because it was a drop off into a drainage ditch and to keep my bike from plummeting to a sure grave where I know it would never come out from I rolled to the left the ground gave way and the bike and all toppled over, never fear to the people reading this who care for me health and safety, Maverick and I went down a good 5 plus times on this day alone, this was just one more, and after I got on the paved road Maverick went down another 2 times, more to come on these. So anyways Bike is down I’m on the side of the highway people driving by, oh great what a site this is, luckily I’m in the middle of the Guadalupe mountains so there is not as many people driving by mostly truckers and old people on vacation. So I’m down a nice man in his horse trailer passes and sees me circles back and I just tell him I was lost but I found the highway and I pointed to the ground. He just laughed and gave me a good luck thumbs up! Ok so Maverick is back up, a little dusty a little scratched, but still kicking, actually a lot dusty, and mostly the scratches were on me from riding through all the cacti. So I get on the highway, just 3 easy miles to the visitors center and then the campground, get to the visitors center, and luck have it huge storm is rolling in, I have been in big bend the past couple nights no showers I reek of everything, I don’t have any clean clothes so I decided to make the hour drive to Carlsbad and get a hotel. Yes I know I said I wasn’t going to stay in any this entire trip but I need a couple recharges you know.

I get on the highway, and well the rain is coming down, yet its still a blistering thousand degrees out for some reason, and on top of it all I don’t know if any of you know it but the Guadalupe Mountains specifically Hwy 180 which I was traveling on is known for its high winds, really high winds. I get on the bike the wind blows me over yes it blew bike me and all over, that’s some strong wind! Back up and riding, get about half way there the wind is almost blowing me off the highway, and the front end gets wobbly again, oh no not again. I pull over at the first refuge I can find and I get my last two CO2 cartridges out, I put them on the ground do a little dance and prayer vigil that they work and I fill up the front tire one last time. If this doesn’t work Maverick will have to ride me home. Success! Looks like I’ve got someone on my side, yup its those guys at AeroStitch who made my awesome tire fixer kit! Ok back up and riding, but the wind is just way too strong so I pull over to let some cars pass because at this point I was going about 20 mph, I pull over and again, wind blows me and bike over into the guard rail, awesome! And in front of all the passersby.

None of whom stopped to help this time. In any event I am getting really great squat workout for the day picking my bike back up. Ok so maverick and I stumble into Carlsbad after a long and exhausting day, I pick the first hotel I see, a nice and quaint motel 6, with free wireless I might add. Get in, crank up the AC, get ice cold refreshing cherry coke, get back to the room…. No power, and the hotel doesn’t have power for the next 2 hours. Wow what a day, needless to say in that time with no power I wrote this extensive monologue about my adventures. Power is back on and I must make some phone calls now. I know this was long I promise though and I made this promise to maverick too, it will be an easy day tomorrow, I’m going caving!! But I know I mentioned a lot of very trying adventures but many good things happened as well. Chris who I met earlier in Big Bend who was riding the Triumph Tiger gave me a whole bag of MRE’s which were delicious; there was even a lemon seed pound cake in there, my favorite! I also saw a bunch of wild life today, lots of jack rabbits, coyotes, cows, deer, and I also saw two herds of antelope which was really awesome, I wasn’t quick enough though to get a picture of them.