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Blast to NM and Big Bend

M38A1

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Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
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Location
North of Weird
First Name
Scott
I decided the time has finally come for a road trip of sorts. I had hoped one of significance would not be necessary, but alas, that's what needed to be done. So I loaded up the truck (and trailer) and took off to the West with a friend very early Monday morning. The plan was to blast out and back. Well... plans change.

We headed out 290W, through Fredericksberg and Harper on over to I10. From there we just pointed West and kept the hammer down. The truck does quite well at 80, but the fuel mileage suffers horribly. Like 18 normally down to 11 for this stretch. Oh well, there's a LOT of Texas to cover out there. Quick fuel in Fort Stockton, then it was 385 up through Pecos, into New Mexico, Loving Carlsbad, and on to Roswell where we caught 380 West. I've done this series of roads quite a few times over the years and I really just love it up there. Running 380 through Lincoln I needed to stop and capture some beauty there. Many of you will recognize what's to follow.

The old free-standing postal box
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I 'think' this was an old storage facility of some sort?
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Nice little storage building
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Church front from 1887
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We continued on through Capitan, Carrizozo, past the Trinity Site and on to where 380 basically dead-ends in San Antonio NM just South of Socorro at I25. From there, a quick eight miles or so down to the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Preserve arriving 13 hours post-departure. I found where I was supposed to be and it was beautiful as the sun was in the Golden Hour.

This duck was coming in for a landing
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...as this little guy was headed back to Texas (Thanks Elzi!)
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(i've been looking for a DR350SE for some time now. elzi and i had traded information on them about her build over a year ago. i pinged her again last week and she said she was considering selling hers. a deal was struck, thus the trip)

We loaded up and decided we'd just beat-feet back East to Capitan and get a room and food for the night. So that's what we did. The trip back was pretty much the same, yet the views seemed more spectacular with the setting sun on the mountains. As we passed the White Sands Missile site I was reminded of the bi-annual Trinity Site Open House. Gotta put that on my 'list' of things to do this year if time is available. [FYI: April 2 and October 1, 2016
Stallion Gate Hours: 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. Trinity site closes promptly at 3:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. No reservations are required]

We pulled in to Capitan and decided lodging was more critical than food as it was approaching 8pm. (I can go to bed hungry, but I really don't like not having a place to sleep with a full belly) The Smokey Bear motel was still open and had a room available. Funny thing is, I wound up in the same room I was in on my last trip through there OCT 2014. We unloaded the truck and found ourselves at the little diner next door which has the best hamburger steak, grilled onions/brown gravy and mashers around. Sleep came quickly, but man-o-man did that change about 3am when the winds picked up something fierce. I thought there was a full fledged storm going on.

The morning was brisk. Like 26*F brisk. I don't like the cold much nor does my truck. At 15+ years old and the original glow-plugs, it took about 15 minutes to get it started. But when they kick off, they kick off. Those diesels just need everything to be perfect. We warmed the truck up, then wandered over to the diner again for breakfast and then over to a junk dealer to see what 'cool' stuff they had. I really wanted the old school desk set but they were closed. Darn. lol.... Lot's of cool stuff there for sure.
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From there we wandered over to the Smokey Bear Museum but they were closed and not opening for another hour or so. Not wanting to wait, we walked down the side street to see the grave stone of "Smokey".

With that done, we had a decision to make. We knew we'd head back to Texas, but not sure which way or in what timeframe. Tina told me she didn't have to be back on the ranch until Thursday and it was only Tuesday morning, so I asked if she'd ever been to Big Bend. "Yes but decades ago". Next question was "do you like ice cream and cobbler"? "Yes". Well ok then, I've got a plan and it's NOT going back home directly.

With that, we pointed the truck back to Roswell, and along the way had to stop and make one of these at Dukes request
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Then it was South on 285 again down through Carlsbad, Loving and on into Texas to Pecos and finally Balmorea to visit the springs. After the springs, we then headed South towards Fort Davis where a Cobra convention must have been happening
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We hit Alpine for some fuel and a little break. We were making good time, with plenty of daylight so I called Robert_K who now lives in the Terlingua area to see if they were in Austin or Big Bend. Turns out, they were in Big Bend! So he gave me directions to his place and we headed South from Alpine on 118 just taking in the late afternoon views. I smiled as we passed Voni's place (one of two "Million Mile" women on BMW specific motorcycles) where I've visited her in the past.

We arrived at Robert and CC's place and were welcomed as only the Krulls can do. A frosty Pipeline porter found it's way to my hands and we climbed to the top of Beer Mountain (actually the high spot on their property that had a ton of beer cans on it when they purchased the place). We chatted for a bit, got a wonderful tour and it was time to head into Terlingua to secure a room at Chisos Mining I had secured when in Alpine.

We made it to Terlingua about dark-thirty and unloaded the truck and got somewhat cleaned up to have dinner at The Starlight with Robert and CC. We drove into town and honestly, I had forgotten just how far it was from the motel. I started wondering if I had taken a wrong turn or not, but off in the distance I could see the lights so I know we were on the right path.

Arriving at The Starlight, Robert and CC were already there and it was only a short time before we were seated, ordered and got our food. Wonderful dinner and conversation as usual with Robert and his lovely bride, then it was time to call it a night and head back to the motel.

The next morning, we found ourselves at a little coffee joint (La Posada Milagro) a few hundred meters from The Starlight and ordered breakfast. Sitting on the front porch area just watching the desert come to life was quite enjoyable. Then it was time to explore. So the little village of Terlingua was first up....

Breakfast
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Next to the church
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The little church
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Life is tougher in the desert
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Once we were done with Terlingua, we headed into the park. Just after paying our admission and looking at the map I saw a motorcycle rider come up behind the truck. I noticed a Two Wheeled Texans sticker on the bike and turns out it was Jason (swanimal) who was down there exploring the week before Uncles big ride event. We chatted a bit, then he took off down Old Maverick Rd and we headed into the park

First real stop was Tuffs Canyon
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Off in the distance you could see Santa Elena canyon's opening
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My first bluebonnet sighting of the year was here too
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The views were simply spectacular
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...and so were the butterflies
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We left Tuff's canyon and continued on into the park
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Our first stop was Castelon for ice cream. Why ice cream? Because last time I was in Big Bend at an Uncles rally, Rusty (Woodbutcher) took me there and we had ice cream! So that's what you do when at Castelon in my book. Santa Elena canyon in the background...
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The canyon mouth a mere eight miles away
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When we finished our ice cream, we took the short eight mile trip to the mouth of the canyon.
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...and more bluebonnets in bloom
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We decided to make the trek into the canyon. This is looking back. Mexico is on the right side of the river and the people are for scale.
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Inside the canyon walls the temperature must have been 20 degrees cooler
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We hiked all the way in until the path stopped at a huge boulder, then turned around and headed back out. Then it was off to the next stop - Chisos Mountain basin lodge. Along the way to the lodge
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Mule Ears
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From the Sotel turn-out looking back towards Mexico
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A Sotel, the common plant there
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...and a rising moon to boot!
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The Homer Wilson house.
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We finally made it to the basin lodge and our last stop. Yes - another food stop and I can thank Rusty for this one again. Like last time, we stopped here and he said "you need to eat cobbler and ice cream from the porch". So that's what we did. I had peach, she had blackberry. Both had ice cream. This was the view
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With our bellies full, we made our next decision. We had planned on leaving out the North end of the park and stopping by the Stillwell museum. But we scratched that in favor if beating feet to Marathon then Fort Stockton to call it a day. So with that, we just started North. Arriving in Fort Stockton, we fueled and thought about a room vs just heading home. Home won out as we figured we could be there by 1am. So off we went into the dark heading East.

The trip back was uneventful and we arrived at 1am as we thought. After a quick unloading and showers, sleep came fast.

A 1800mi blast around New Mexico and Texas, specifically Big Bend was good for the soul.

I'll be back for sure.

All you folks headed to Uncles Around The Bend next week are in for a real treat.

.
 
Great pics! All with the 70-200? (Except for the P&S body shots).
 
Yep. :doh:

Duke said "Take your 70-200 and 2x converter to the NWP". So I did. Not a great choice, but I'm not upset I did either.
 
Thanks.

Me thinks the Photography sub-forum might be working on helping us create better ride report images. :photo: :sun:
 
Very nice Scott.

I just "knew" that you would see some Sand Hill Cranes or some other interesting birds while at Bosque del Apache and thus the need for the longest reach your got lens wise.

I think you did a good job regardless of the gear you took.

I would have spend an hour drooling on the Cobra's in Fort Davis.

PS. Love the snow man!
 
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Did you have the 2X on the 70-200 for the duck shot?
 
Love the DR350 as had two of them. Also love the area of you travels and makes me miss traveling about the mountains. Seeing you mentioning Voni brings back memories of the BMW rallies I use to go to and my old friend Lyle Grimes of plus Million BMW miles before getting killed.
Thanks for posting.
 
Thanks for taking us along, Scott. I really enjoyed your Big Bend shots. :clap:

I would have bet money that Duke would have been right. There's a guy on FredMiranda that basically has the Bosque as his backyard. He post pictures of sandies, ducks, eagles basically daily. He sure makes me want to spend some time there.
 
Great trip report.

Glad to see that the Trinity site is back open two days a year. I think it was the year after I went that budget cuts caused it to go down to one day per year. It was a quick trip but I enjoyed it. I'd love to spend more time in the area next time around.
 
Thanks for the story and pics. We take trips out in those areas each year. We usually camp and hunt during deer season out around Queen. Lots of good roads to ride out there. Last Memorial Day, we spent 3 nights at Capitan. Each evening, there was an Adv rider staying there also and really enjoyed conversations pertaining to motorcycles. I had a KLR and sold it. There are lots of roads from Capitan to Queen and all along the rim road 67. Thinking about getting another bike. Would be fun to camp and ride some out there.
 
Thanks for the write-up and the pics.

Missed going to BB last year.

Need to get there sometime in 2016!

Thanks
 
great pics, scott. love the name of the store-i want that wonder sign.
been to that little restaurant, best guac ever.
bluebonnets!
 
Thanks for taking us along, Scott. I really enjoyed your Big Bend shots. :clap:

I would have bet money that Duke would have been right. There's a guy on FredMiranda that basically has the Bosque as his backyard. He post pictures of sandies, ducks, eagles basically daily. He sure makes me want to spend some time there.

Trenchmonkey is outstanding!!!
 
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