Uncle's Around The Bend 2016: Ride Report Stories, Photos and More

[SL350]

Its an area of wasteland with no fences or signs that I can remember...any new visitor would not know where and what the off limit areas are....cmon...

Save it for the county judge. Wonder what the trespass fine is and how they value the damages?

 

[Chuck in IL]

Its an area of wasteland with no fences or signs that I can remember...any new visitor would not know where and what the off limit areas are....cmon...

If you're not on the county road, you're on private property. That's not too hard to understand.

 

[Robert K]

If you're not on the county road, you're on private property. That's not too hard to understand.

Correct. Never get off the road. Very simple.

Wasteland? I'm typing this as I watch a big covey of quail making their way down to Ben's Hole Creek from my deck. I sure don't see any wasteland.

 

[bigdon55]

Some people just don't get it .
Sheesh!
Yeah Colorado or New Mexico, that's the ticket.

 

[Infidel]

I dont remember any particular signage indicating that in the area behind the main store and camp ground...if it was a significant issue then they should install signage...such as "no tresspassing". Maybe that would keep the county courts from being overloaded with tresspassing cases...you know from those evil city folk...

 

[Infidel]

If you're not on the county road, you're on private property. That's not too hard to understand.

No...its not that simple in Brewster County....I took this quote from a legal article about the confusion over what is a public road versus a private road in the Terlingua area...
"the real problem is whether Brewster County will take steps to resolve its map controversy with the State of Texas. Failure to do so raises grave concerns. The record already indicates how seriously Brewster County landowners view trespassers, whether they are indeed trespassers or not. The traveling public is equally serious about its access to public roads. Moreover, travelers have every right to rely on official state maps to guide their journeys. The only exception to the rule appears to exist in Brewster County."

So one can EASILY find yourself in a situation where a map may be wrong or its interpretation could be in question...this is a concern not only for the safety of the traveler but for the landowner as many travelers of public roads are now armed (even motorcycles) under the castle doctrine....

So its NOT that simple...you better bring a great set of maps...and a handgun when traveling in this remote part of the state...watch for no trespassing signs and turn around if confronted by a landowner...but also without any criminal intent...dont be intimidated by anyone without just cause...

 

[ed29]

Ive been down that road and enjoyed it. I understand the concept of private property and it should be respected as guest but the idea of that land owner being concerned with permanent scars on that wasteland is silly. It has a desolate beauty but im not buying the fragility of the desert thing...just saying.

You are welcome to your incorrect and uninformed opinion. This is not a wasteland. Clay badlands are a thing of beauty. The scars are very long lasting and when tire ruts on a hillside form new erosion channels the scars are indeed permanent. If you don't buy the fragility then you should research this further rather than just dig your heels in and call me silly, or dishonest as you said in the first post of yours that I replied to. I am neither dishonest nor silly, and the personal attack hardly lends credibility to your uninformed opinions.

I will reiterate that the issue of damage to the private property is secondary be far to the trespassing, though that damage is what gets the owner's attention.

What is your goal here with the internet smack talk anyway? Are you trying to give the anti motorcycle crowd here even more leverage for their effort to end this event forever? You are certainly going that direction.

 

[ed29]

One more thing Infidel. There was more than one "incident" during the ride this spring. The one I refer to was a group leaving the public county road and tearing up a hill on private land.

The one in the article you are quoting in post number 106 refers to a missed turn on a private road where riders went up a driveway that they had no business being on. That road was declared private along with the rest of the 1,500 miles of private roads on the ranch by verdict in a lawsuit a couple of years back. That road is not in any state road guide. It is not in the Uncles ride guide. It is not on the county maps. Private road means just that... private. The landowner whose property it traverses owns the road.

 

[Mextrekadv]

I received a letter from a landowner after last year's rally. They were talking about you, not specifically you, but generally what they lumped together as "your type". It is not hard to understand that in Texas, unless you are in a state or national park or on a public road, then you should most definitely assume you are on private property. Unless of course there is just un-owned land laying around for the taking. Whether you have a grasp of that concept or not does not matter. You are not a guest, or uninformed, or just making assumptions, you are definitely trespassing.

Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you make a scar across someone's pristine desert (aka wasteland to use your words) it may just look like the typical offroad roost trail you make all across Colorado and New Mexico and the other more more amazing areas you choose to ride. But to the property owner whose pristine view you put that ugly scar across, it is a point of contention that burns in their memory, year after year, of how careless, selfish, and blind motorcyclists can be to the rest of the general population's wishes. That's when they start writing letters and YOU start making our sport and passion more difficult to enjoy. They are not whining. They have legal rights. You are whining because you don't accept the concept of property rights and how they actually do limit your actions. As an example, just because you don't have a "Don't Pinch Me" sign across your forehead doesn't mean I can pinch you and you can't whine about it.

In short, if anyone on this forum is of the opinion that these landowners are "butthurt", "haters of humanity", "whiners", etc... please do not ride with us next year. And for our continued enjoyment of Big Bend and its magnificence, consider not riding there at all. I can't tell you not to go on your own, cause I have no right to tell you that, but with the attitude portrayed in these posts, I have a hunch it eventually it will catch up to you (or us).

I'm not some pansy tree hugging conservationalist pot smoking idealist in a prius. I'm just a guy who sees respect is due and if it isn't shown, the writing is on the wall. My wife drives the prius.

Its an area of wasteland with no fences or signs that I can remember...any new visitor would not know where and what the off limit areas are....cmon...
I wonder how many times a year that land owner whines to the sheriff about somebody 'Trespassing" which in the case means leaving the dirt path they consider a "county" road...my impression is these landowner types are the kind of people that hate humanity, cant get far enough away from it...and dont want "people" touching thier "stuff"...If your property is right behind the main visitors area where thousands of people camp, stay and unload off road vehicles...and if you get butthurt when one of them crosses onto your land then maybe you should invest in some signage warning people how critical it is that no one ever cross your sacred wasteland....
And as far as being scared of a rally being closed down...we dont need any organization to go down there and ride with...any street legal bike will do at any time...ive been there and find it far inferior to riding in New Mexico or Colorado...let not kid ourselves...Texas is not real conducive to off road motorcycling...try the RMAR event in Silverton Colorado in July for some real Dualsporting adventure...

 

[dandeldesierto]

About a dozen years ago, two friends and I bought 40 acres abutting the State Park out by the Solitario (off Tanque Caballo Rd), about five years after that I bought 62 acres (my brothers and I added 155 more about seven years ago) on Hwy 118 about two hundred yards south of Gate 9 on the west side of the highway. I have been going to Big Bend since the late 1960s; so have seen many of the changes, both good and bad, that have come to that area as a result of “being discovered”. One of the very common “threads”, particularly on Terlingua Ranch property, is people thinking that the roads are public, the lands are public (some even think the whole area is part of the park system) and trespassing is rampant as a result. The rally that was held (or maybe still is) around the time of the cook-offs was a terrible time for the remote property owners (like out by the Solitario) as the rally riders would fly down the roads, even doing jumps and such, as if the whole landscape were a cycle ranch put there for their benefit. In addition, I would often find them off the roads (there are caravans of ATVers doing this also) just looking for something interesting, but a lot of time doing donuts and such just for the fun of it. There’s a place I watch sunsets (I call it the “Rocky Redoubt”) on the Hwy 118 place; it’s a rocky knob that looks directly down into a slot canyon about 100 or so feet deep. You can look up this little canyon from the highway and see a cave in the wall (I’ve been told both that it’s a natural cave and that it was a dynamite storage cave when they redid the highway back in the 80s). I have had to tell numerous people over the years (from my throne on the rocky redoubt), when they park on the highway and come walking up the canyon, that it is private property. A number of them have ARGUED with me about their right to be there, some have refused to leave, but they generally change their mind when I decide to roll some of MY football sized rocks into the canyon. Likewise, with the ATV crowd, many times I’ve seen their little flags and dust from their frolics on someone’s private land, but they also see MY dust, and by the time I pass their location they’re all back on the road and pretending to be “law abiding”. BTW, I’m not opposed to people looking at the “dynamite cave”; they just need to ask first. People from other (often urban) areas presume (or seem to) that if a place is unoccupied, or unfenced, that it is public. That is definitely not the case. I was raised in a small town, back in the days when you could hunt or fish on someone’s private land, if you followed the etiquette of asking for permission, closing the gates, and not harming the stock or the land. It’s a rare place now that you can do that, and it is because, at least in part, by the insensitive treatment of the property by people who just “don’t get it”. I KNOW how fragile the desert environment is, and how slow it is to recover from abuse, so I feel that I need to tell this (to “Infidel” and others) in hope that they will take the “long view” of the desert environment and the “short view” of the rights of private land owners. Big Bend and other parts of our great desert Southwest are much more than big sandboxes for “big boys with their toys”.

 

[Crew Chief]

...which in the case means leaving the dirt path they consider a "county" road...

...Texas is not real conducive to off road motorcycling....

Bingo. In Texas there are very limited opportunities for "off road" riding. Invariably problems happen when we go off road.

In the vast majority of places that have significant "off road" riding we are still restricted to designated trails. Colorado uses the term "Off Highway Vehicle" more than "Off Road" and has a very active program called "Stay on the Trail. When we don't, we wind up having fights to keep access. Those fights are happening everyday across the country.

It took me most of my life to get to a point where I could ride Dual Sport. I sure would hate it if areas started getting closed before I could ride them or if I had to face hostility every time I went into a small town in an area where it was allowed.

 

[tricepilot]

I'm not some pansy tree hugging conservationalist pot smoking idealist in a prius. I'm just a guy who sees respect is due and if it isn't shown, the writing is on the wall. My wife drives the prius.

Lol! I was gonna type something like that but then I saw that last sentence! Lol!

 

[tricepilot]

Thank you Peter, and Richard, and all the sweep riders, for helping organize the annual Uncle's Around the Bend despite the headaches in dealing with the very few, stubborn, speed bumps that appear and damage the heritage of this event for the larger, greater good.

To Ed29 and our dear friends in Terlingua, Study Butte, The Ranch etc. thank you for being our amigos over the many years. Please remember the 98% that stay within the lane and work with Rich, Peter etc. to make this a lifetime of memories event. You will find the 2% self-focused no matter what the event or topic.

Peter: "my wife drives the Prius"

Best line in forever on twtex.com

 

[philipbarrett]

What he said ^^^^^^^

 

[tricepilot]

The thread has probably run out of steam as a ride report thread.

All points of view are valuable, but if I were "The King of Jordan", I would probably close the thread.

PS - love the "2%", I just have a different stance.

CEYA

 

[YoDoc]

The thread has probably run out of steam as a ride report thread.

All points of view are valuable, but if I were "The King of Jordan", I would probably close the thread.

PS - love the "2%", I just have a different stance.

CEYA

If you were the king of Jordan, you'd ride a Harley.

 

[JMZ]

Wasn't going to jump in but I would say 99% of us are just happy to go ride and stay on the public roads out there. AS IN VERY HAPPY

Signatures? We don't need no stinking signatures!

 

[philipbarrett]

King Abdullah from Wikipedia;

"Abdullah also likes motorcycles, and toured Northern California on a Harley-Davidson in July 2010"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_II_of_Jordan

 

[tricepilot]

If you were the king of Jordan, you'd ride a Harley.

Nope. Keep your "Harley"

Abdullah bin al-Hussein (King of Jordan), will keep his current ride

Queen Rania انيا العبد الله

Born in Kuwait

Tricewife and I were in Amman, Jordan, two years ago. Walked all over that city. Then traveled all over Jordan. Petra. Wadi Rum - the desert where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Trust me, Rania is dearly loved by the people of Jordan.

King Abdullah II says you can ride his Harley. He says you can have his Harley. He doesn't think about it. He bought it as a door stop.

 

[YoDoc]

King Abdullah rides his Harley all over the world. Pretty strange doorstop, IMO. Lol

 

[tricepilot]

King Abdullah rides his Harley all over the world. Pretty strange doorstop, IMO. Lol

And you've made it to Richland Hills. ¡Bueno!

 

[ed29]

All riders should consider that if the roads in the national park have lost their challenge after multiple visits there are many miles of more challenging dirt roads in the state park to the west.

I'm starting to get the hankering to smoke a big old brisket in the next month or so. Whose gonna come help me eat it? I can't devour it all by myself. Like he said in the movie... "a man's gotta know his limitations".

 

[mr-roboto]

Thank you Peter, and Richard, and all the sweep riders, for helping organize the annual Uncle's Around the Bend despite the headaches in dealing with the very few, stubborn, speed bumps that appear and damage the heritage of this event for the larger, greater good.

To Ed29 and our dear friends in Terlingua, Study Butte, The Ranch etc. thank you for being our amigos over the many years. Please remember the 98% that stay within the lane and work with Rich, Peter etc. to make this a lifetime of memories event. You will find the 2% self-focused no matter what the event or topic.

+1



RB aka "Mongo"

 

[philipbarrett]

All riders should consider that if the roads in the national park have lost their challenge after multiple visits there are many miles of more challenging dirt roads in the state park to the west.

I'm starting to get the hankering to smoke a big old brisket in the next month or so. Whose gonna come help me eat it? I can't devour it all by myself. Like he said in the movie... "a man's gotta know his limitations".

One of my favorite quotes, foods & destinations.

What 'ya thinking ed?

 

[YoDoc]

And the BRP, and hill country, and most of Indiana. The BRP and Indiana was on a Harley. Hill country on my Strom. With any luck, I'll ride that Strom to Tennessee in August for a ten year reunion with the guys from my first deployment.