Big Bend National Park

Day 3, Friday, April 17, 2015

Again, my alarm went off at 6:30 AM.  I got up right away and started to get dressed.  Jan got up also.  We both got dressed and packed.  I went out to my Motorcycle to take the cover off.  It was still dark…and cold.  I cleaned up the Motorcycle and packed away two bags.  When I went back to the room, Jan was ready.  We went to the breakfast room.  We were the first of our group.  We got a table for 8 and waited.  Ken and C.E. walked in next, then J.B. and Chuck.  Jan and I don’t know what J.B. did to Chuck to make him get up so early!  Bruce and Jake eventually joined us.  We all finished breakfast and returned to our rooms to pack up all of our stuff.  We then met at the rear of the hotel where the Motorcycle parking was located.  Chuck looked at the map and it didn’t appear that there were any gas stations in and around Big Bend National Park.  Chuck decided that we should all gas up and not take any chances.  Most of us rode about a block east to a gas station and filled up.  Chuck and Bruce rode west on Highway 90 to a gas station close to Highway 118, which is the road that we were going to ride to get to the Park.  We all met Chuck and Bruce and were all lined up.  J.B., Jan, Me, Ken, C.E. and Jake were lined up in this order.  Chuck finished gassing up and rode to the front, turned and rode east at 9:23 AM.  Bruce looked at us and we let him ride behind Chuck.  J.B. and Jan yelled at Chuck and told him that he was going the wrong way and that we needed to go west a little more to get to Highway 118 to go to the Park.  We waited and thought that Chuck and Bruce would be returning.  They didn’t.  J.B. and Jan rode east with the rest following.   We rode about two blocks, turned left and then left again.  We were not going east.  We passed the gas station where Chuck and Bruce filled up and saw the signs for Highway 118 one block to the east.  We all turned and rode for about a half a block and stopped to wait for Chuck.  Chuck was right and we were wrong.  Chuck eventually came riding up, smiled and continued south on Highway 118.  Jan got behind Chuck, and then J.B., Me and Bruce followed in after me.  Ken was next, then Jake and C.E. at the tail end.  C.E. chose the tail end because he was no longer leading. 

Chuck was leading the group south on Highway 118 and going the speed limit of 75 mph.  There were some curves and they felt good at 75 mph.  I noticed that Bruce was falling behind.  The distance between Bruce and the front Motors was growing.  I checked occasionally and noticed that Bruce was falling behind more and more.  I later check my rear view mirror and noticed that Ken was now behind me.  I checked my rear view mirror again later and could not see Bruce.  We rode for a while and I checked behind me again and noticed that C.E. was now behind Ken.  We now had Chuck, Jan, J.B., Me, Ken and C.E. riding the lead.  Bruce and Jake were nowhere in sight.  We rode for 83 miles and at 10:37 AM, we stopped at a gas station in Terlingua, TX.  Bruce and Jake had caught up to us.  We parked all of our Motorcycles together and made a necessary pit stop and took a break.  We all had drinks and snacks.  Jake and Jan made a “new friend” at the gas station.  Jan was asking the “old man” for directions.  He was one of those who likes to talk a lot!  Bruce walked up and Jan quickly left to go to the restroom.  Bruce walked away, leaving Jake with the “talker.”  We left southbound at 11:08 AM.

It was only 4 miles to the entrance to Big Bend National Park.  We arrived at 11:15 AM.  We were all in line and each showed our National Park Pass…except for J.B., who bought one.  We rode all over the Park looking at the sights.  The mountains were beautiful and the road was good.  There were several twisties and signs warning the public to beware of the Bears and Lions.  We followed the road, not knowing where it lead to.  We got to the end of the road and saw the “Visitor’s Center.”  We parked our Motorcycles and saw a nearby restaurant.  We walked over to the restaurant and first thought that it was closed.  We found that it was open.  Since it was close to lunchtime, we sat down and ordered lunch.  We had a good lunch and then returned to our Motorcycles.  We rode for a while, heading towards the eastern exit and stopped at one of the small parking lots.  We parked our Motorcycles and set up my camera on the tripod for pictures.  I set the timer and, since Jake is the most recent retiree and did his physical condition tests recently, Jake was elected to start the camera and run to his position.  Also, Jake is the newbie!   We continued on with Chuck leading.  We left the Park at 2:10 PM after riding 63 miles.  We continued northbound on Highway 385 and after riding 41 miles, we arrived and stopped at Marathon, TX at 2:47 PM.  While we were taking a needed pit stop, C.E. filled his Motorcycle with gas and Chuck put in a couple dollars worth.  Chuck wasn’t sure that he would reach our next stop with the gas he had.  We each took turns in the restrooms.  Some guys used the ladies room.  A couple of times, there were ladies waiting for one of the guys to get out of the ladies room.  At one point, there was one girl in the men’s room.  Everyone had a good laugh.  We got back on our Motorcycles and left at 3:23 PM.

Chuck was still in the lead.  We rode for another 60 miles and at 4:11 PM we stopped in Ft. Stockton for gas.  It was now Jake’s turn to lead.  Chuck directed Jake to ride a certain direction so that we could find a hotel to stay for the night.  We left at 4:26 PM. 

We checked several hotels and found that they were either fully booked or very pricey.  We stopped at a Holiday Inn Express while Chuck rode off to look at a couple of hotels.  A few minutes later, Chuck called Jake and told him that he had found a hotel with a decent price.  He gave Jake directions and we rode over to the hotel.  We ended up at the Hampton Inn on I-10.  We rode 8 miles and got there at 5:04 PM.  We stayed with the same partners for the night and we checked into the hotel.  We got our bags and took them to the rooms and returned to our Motors.  We were done riding early enough that we all cleaned our Motorcycles and tucked them in for the night.  We set a time of 7 PM to meet in the lobby to walk next door to the Pecos Roadhouse Restaurant.  We had a good dinner and a good waiter.  We were done and then walked back to the hotel where we just relaxed.

Well, we got to another National Park.  We rode for 259 miles and enjoyed the scenery and great weather.  There were also a lot of “Border Patrol” Agents in this area.  One would think that we were close to the border!  We are keeping a close eye on the weather and we will be headed east somewhere.  I’m not sure where.  We shall see.  So, until tomorrow…