Re: 5/22-5/24 Adv Ride explore Dryden TX ranch property
OK, I'm going to tie it all in.
The road had been washed out, eroded to the point that we had very few options open to us on these big ol' bikes.
ANd even if we did manage to make it through the soft sandy wash out, the climb immediately after that won't have any distance to get a run up it. You can see the hard right turn in the pic, with a bunch of boulders that had to be conquered while on the gas. We put a vote to it, and majority said, pass.
So now we get to go back down the side of the mountain, and at some point on the way back, we found an alternate path as it was so close to the main road. BUT! there was no easy way through it. Either go up an even nastier climb and possibly lead us to a dead end, or ride alongside the railroad track for a mile or two until we can bail out onto the dirt service road. Guess what we agreed to do?
CRAZY, ain't it!
I know! Not only that, it was drizzling too, so the black rocks and the railroad ties got slicker than ice.
After about a mile or two riding as close as I can along the edge of the rail, my bike got hypnotized by all the rail road ties whizzing by her, and well, she took a nap on me once again.
Scott had gone so far ahead, we couldn't even see him anymore. How much farther must we continue along the railroad track until we can get back on the dirt road? Ken noticed a dirt road on the other side of the track, so he jumped the track, went to the other side to scout ahead. That guy - he just blows my mind away w/ what he can do on his Tenere.
Then we see Scott coming towards us on the rail road track, lights flickering on hi/lo/hi/lo. We freaked out thinking he's trying to tell us a train's coming. SO we moved helmets, camelbacks, bikes out of harm's way.
Thank goodness, He brings news that the end of all this madness is but a 1/4, 1/2 mile away. The service road is right around the bend, and a mile after that, a gas station awaits us. So he spins the tail end of his KLR around by hand.
like it weighs nothing.
By now, Ken had returned, saying the other side of the track is a dead end. SO we helped him jump the tracks again.
Then we rode on out of there. About a mile before we got on the road, the train comes down the tracks.
All that work, and still no Starbucks!