At the entrance of Big Bend National Park, Texas on May 19,
2001.
Ever since we moved to Texas, we've wanted to visit Big
Bend National Park. Finally, the time has come!
May 18, 2001 - 559 Miles
It was a beautiful morning with some clouds. We loaded up the Wing after
breakfast and were ready to go. Poor Simon (our Golden Retriever), he'd be alone
at the house for three days. However, we were confident that he'd be OK because
of the dog-sitter we hired. Let's go! Wait! Where's my wallet? We looked all
over the house for my wallet for a good 15 - 20 minutes. It was sitting on the
seat of our Wing… Well, we were finally able to leave at 9:00 a.m. Prior to
this trip, I ordered a product called "Cool Jacket" from Brosh
Tex in
Israel. I've had this jacket for 10 months and just love it. Since I knew it was
going to get quite warm in West Texas this time of year, I ordered another
one for Amy. Well, it did not get here in time.
The last motorcycle trip Amy and I were able to take
together, that was longer than a day-ride, was a year ago. So this trip was very
special. From San Antonio, we took Hwy. 90. After Del Rio, the distance between
towns became quite great. Before arriving in Dryden, the low-fuel indicator came
on. After seeing the road sign indicating we'd be in Dryden shortly, I thought,
"No problem, we'll fuel up in Dryden."
Well, there was no gas station in Dryden! Luckily, Sanderson, the next town was
only 20 miles away. So, we kept on riding. We were so glad to see gas stations
there! Twenty miles feel so different from when you are in a city and when you
are in the hot deserted area! The tank took 5.828 gallons. So, we still had
0.472 gallons left in the tank. Not much for that area though. It was about 2:00
p.m. Since our breakfast was quite large, we snacked on nuts and crackers. The
terrain was dry and hilly. Not much green. However, after Sanderson, the scenery
became more rugged with some rock formations, but the road itself remained
pretty flat and straight. It was getting real hot, and my legs were asking me to
use the highway pegs on the engine guards. So, I threw my feet up on the pegs
and discovered that if I angled my legs and feet just right, I could get a
nice breeze to come up to my crotch area. Amy
thought it was funny, but it surely was a nice feeling. I told Amy though that I
didn't want any bees to wonder in with the air. At some point, we hit a small bird.
I was sure I would see blood and feathers on the radiator grill, but I did not
see anything when we stopped for gas later. Up until now, we passed three border
patrol stations. Two for eastbound and one for west bound. We were stopped once.
Amy was asked whether she was a U.S. citizen. When she said, "yes," we
were let go. No biggy, we thought.
We finally arrived in Marathon, the gateway to Big Bend
National Park. There is a historic hotel called the Gage
Hotel. We saw probably three dozen HDs in front of the hotel. We waived at some
of the riders standing there and kept on going since our final destination for
the day was Alpine. Upon arriving in Alpine at about 4:00 p.m., we checked into
the Antelope Lodge. I found the place on the web; it looked quite decent in the
pictures. $36 per night was VERY reasonable for the area. That should have
raised a yellow flag. Anyway, the lodge really amounted to a bunch of run-down
cottages with kitchenettes. Oh, well. "We are saving a few bucks. We can
tough it out!", we thought. After taking a little break, Amy and I left our
motel for an evening ride. A local Alpine BMW rider, Susan, that I met through
my friend's friend over the Internet, recommended the route. This ride is one
you just cannot miss if you are in this area! Probably the best roads during the
entire trip! From Alpine, take Hwy. 188 North and go to Fort Davis. From there,
stay on 188 North and go toward the McDonald Observatory. Then, take Hwy. 166
South, which will take you back to north of Fort Davis. Big rolling hills,
sweepers, some twisties, wide-open road - bit of everything! We pretty much had
the whole road to ourselves. FUN 123 miles! Thanks Susan for suggesting this
route!
After the ride, we were back in Alpine. As we entered
Alpine on Hwy. 188 South, we stopped at the Longhorn Steakhouse. Amy had a steak
and I had a 1-lb fajita plate. Good food. After dinner, we went back to the
Antelope Lodge. I took a shower and had a couple brewskies that we brought from
home. The room had quite a few things in need of attention, but we were paying only $37. I guess you get what you pay for. As I
was unwinding enjoying my beer, and Amy was drying off from a shower, she
suddenly screamed, "There's a roach! Rescue me!" The roach came out of
the bathroom and was rapidly crawling over the faded old carpet. The roach found
cover under our dirty cloths pile. This roach was BIG. I'm used to seeing large
roaches in Japan, but this guy was quite big. I was surprised to find a roach
this big in an area that is not humid. Anyway, I quickly grabbed one of my
Corbin Roadmaster Boots and held it tightly with my right hand. With my left
hand, I started removing dirty cloths from the pile one by one. Then, he made
his move. He started running toward the bed. Since I was nervous, I threw the
boot on the roach. The boot landed on him, and I swear I heard the roach being
swished. I slowly lifted the boot, expecting to see a smashed roach and all the
white gooey stuff. Amazingly, he was still in pretty good shape and ran
underneath the bed for cover. I lost him… So, we had to sleep in this
room wondering whether the roach would seek revenge by climbing up on our bed
while we were sleeping. Moreover, the window A/C unit was very loud. All night
long, every time the thermostat kicked in, I woke up!
May 19, 2001 - 247 Miles
In the morning, I called Chisos Mountains Lodge in Big
Bend National Park. I called them a few weeks earlier, but all the rooms were
booked for the weekend. Luckily, when I called today, they just had had two
cancellations. I immediately made a reservation. Then, I went over to the
Antelope Lodge office and explained that we did not have a pleasant stay and
would like to cancel our reservation for the second day. They agreed to a refund
without any problems. It was cloudy and cool. The weather forecast was calling
for possible rain all day. We decided to have breakfast before leaving Alpine.
After circling around, the only obvious place that was open was McDonald's. I've
been very unhappy with McDonald's in the past, so I didn't have high
expectations. I wasn't too surprised that my breakfast burrito was completely
cold, and the OJ was still 60 % frozen, 40% drinkable. Amy was somewhat content
with her bacon egg and cheese biscuit.
After breakfast we decided to put on our rain suit in the
parking lot before leaving Alpine at about 9:30 a.m. As we were
struggling to
put tote boots over our regular boots, Amy ripped one of her tote
boots… Well, it was not totaled, so she was still able to use it. Wearing the
rain gear turned out to be a wise decision. Between Alpine and Marathon, we
encountered some heavy rain and cold air. We also encountered quite a few Harley
riders, who were doing a poker run. From Marathon, we took Hwy. 385 South to enter
Big Bend National Park. At the edge of the park, we stopped to take a picture by
the park sign. By then, the rain and clouds were behind us, and only blue sky
and lots of sun could be seen ahead of us. We were sweating in the rain suits,
so those had to go. Pretty soon, we approached the park entrance and paid the
entrance fee of $10. From here, the speed limit in the park was mostly 45 mph
and occasionally 35 mph. I wished it were a bit higher. Despite the fact that it
was Saturday, the park was not crowded at all. The park has many interesting
rock formations, different kinds of cacti species, and wildlife. We saw quite a
few snakes on the road as well as large insects. Quite a few hawks and vultures
could be seen cruising in the air. After a brief stop at the main visitor center
by 
Panther
Junction, we decided to check out the Rio Grande Overlook. BUT, the road was
under construction with loose gravel and fresh oil. As we were wondering how
long this was going to last, we found a construction crew. Since we were told
this would last for another 20 miles, we decided to turn around and explore the
other side of the park. This other route turned out to be more scenic anyway.
So, it was good that we turned around. From Panther Junction, we went to Santa
Elena Canyon Overlook. The entire route was just spectacular. Lots of curves
with interesting scenery. Santa Elena Canyon was also impressive. I told Amy
that there would be less of an illegal immigration problem if the canyon existed
along the entire U.S. Mexico border. After leaving the overlook, we stopped at
the Castolon rest stop. It was 3:00 p.m. and we were both hungry. We bought a
sandwich and bought something to drink. It was very hot but dry. We met three
motorcyclists in a truck and had a brief conversation. One of them turned out to
be a Winger from Corpus Christi. We wished each other safe trips and went
separate ways.
After that, we decided that it was time for us to get to our lodging for the
evening, located in Chisos Basin. The ride up there was very interesting since
it was like riding up in the mountains - some steep grades and sharp curves.
It's not something that I expected in Texas. By now, Amy became quite good at
taking pictures from the back of our Wing. The lodging facility was surrounded
by tall rock formations or should I say mountains. There was a store and
restaurant within walking distance. The air was nice and cool, and it was very
quiet. Exactly the kind of place we envisioned for the first night! The facility
was great compared to the first night. Significantly more costly than the first
night at $76 per night, but it was well worth it. After checking in at about
5:00 p.m., we celebrated with a few beers on the balcony, then took showers.
Then, we went across the street to buy a 6-pack for Amy and a bottle of Cabernet
Sauvignon for me since we thought we might have some drinks on the private
balcony after dinner, admiring wildlife and the rock formations. After hauling
our drinks back to our room, we walked over to the restaurant, which had quite a
view. Amy had a beer and I had a glass of wine. We both had steak. The food was
OK, but the service was excellent. When we got back to the room, I took a little
nap while Amy enjoyed the view with a brew on the balcony. In the evening, we
took a walk and star gazed. So many stars! It was neat. On the way back to our
room, we saw a fox wondering around. We were both quite tired and decided to go
to bed relatively early. We didn't even touch the wine bottle and the rest of
the six-pack. We hauled them all the way back to San Antonio in our saddlebags.
I guess they were our souvenirs from Big Bend.
May 20, 2001 - 430 Miles
We woke up and left our room about 8:30 a.m. to go to the
restaurant for breakfast. On the way back, I saw
what appeared to be deer poop in the parking lot. I said to Amy, check it out.
There? deer poop." Then, she started laughing. They were black asphalt
gravel. They were kind of round for gravel though. Beautiful morning. Brisk air
and blue sky. We were ready to ride again! As I was loading our luggage, I
noticed scratches on the side panel over the battery. Six scratches vertically.
They were in pairs of 3 and 3. Some kind of critter wanted to sit on the Wing
overnight. I was able to buff them out when I got home though. We left Chisos
Mountains Lodge and headed toward Alpine on Hwy. 118. As we left the park, we
both agreed that Big Bend was well worth visiting and 3 days round trip
was a bit too short. The road was very deserted between the park and
Alpine on Hwy. 118 with many long stretches of straight road. Just not to get
bored, we decided to ride a bit fast. We were up to 100 mph. I was trying to see
whether we could push it a bit more, but with two ups, saddlebags, trunk, trunk
lid fully loaded, it didn't seem like we could go any faster. Amy seemed
to enjoy it!
As we got closer to Alpine, there was a border patrol
station. We had to stop there. The patrol officer asked us what our citizenship
was. I answered, Japanese." The officer asked me what my status was. So, I
told him I'm a permanent resident. He asked for my green card, but I didn't have
it with me. I'm afraid of losing it, so I've never carried it with me in the
past. In fact, I normally keep it in the safety deposit box at our bank with
other important documents. So, the officer radioed somebody to verify that I
have permanent resident status. The officer (who happened to be a rookie)
explained to me that this verification might take a long time and went inside
the station. So, we started drinking water, stretching, etc. I decided to take a
picture of Amy with our Wing including the patrol station, patrol vehicles, etc.
to include in the picture gallery at our web site. Then, a station chief came out
of the station and ordered me not to take a picture for security reasons. Then
he ordered the rookie officer to pad me down as he explained to me that the
failure to be able to present my alien registration card could be up to 30 days
in jail and a steep fine. Both Amy and I were thrown in separate cells at the
station. The cell had a steel toilet with no seat, and a bench. The door had a
little window. I was very nervous about what was going to happen. About 15 - 20
minutes later, the rookie officer came into my cell, and verified the
information he received from the INS system. Then, the chief walked in and
explained to the officer that he could either put me in jail or give me a
consultation and release me, and it was totally up to his discretion. After the
chief left, the officer gave me a consultation and let me out of the cell as well
as Amy who was in a different cell. Amy told me she was taking a nap in her
cell. We were going to take Hwy. 90 back to San Antonio but now decided to
take I-10 in order to avoid the border patrol stations on Hwy. 90. One thing for
sure, I will be carrying my green card in my wallet from now on. From
Alpine, we took Hwy. 118 to Fort Davis, then Hwy. 17 all the way up to Balmorhea
to get on I-10.
Somewhere along I-10, we got real hungry. It was about
3:00 p.m. We got off the interstate and pulled into KFC. There, a man sitting
close to us asked me whether I get tired of putting both my feet down every time
I come to a stop on the Wing. I said to myself, "What kind of question is
that?? It's a motorcycle!" But I politely replied that I normally use my
left foot to support the bike and keep my right foot on the break pedal at
stops, and it's something you get used to do. Then, he said that his brother
makes and sells landing gear for Gold Wings. I suppose he was trying to help his
brother's business.
After our chicken sandwich, we were back on I-10. It was
very hot! Wind was blowing quite hard, but it was a tailwind, so we didn't
complain. We saw some windmills for power generation. It was a pretty cool site.
Around Junction, we saw a thunderstorm developing ahead of us, but it looked
like we might just miss it. An overpass approached us, so I was trying to decide
whether to pull over so that we could put on our rain gear, or not. "We might miss
it," I said, and kept on riding. Five minutes later, it was raining so hard
that we had to slow down quite a bit. At the next overpass, we stopped and put
our rain suits on. Surprisingly, we weren't soaked, yet, so it made sense to put
on tote boots and glove covers to protect the leather stuff. Guess what? After
that, looked like we were going to hit another storm, but it kind of missed us
and the sun began baking us again. In Kerrville, we pulled into a gas station and
took off our rain gear. We were both sweating as if we just got out of a sauna.
Amy was feeling so hot that she wasn't feeling well. I asked her to wear my Cool
Jacket while I just rode with a t-shirt on.
We arrived home in San Antonio about 8:15 p.m. Simon was happy to see us. The
dog sitter did an excellent job! Amy and I really enjoyed the trip! We will go
back to Big Bend again someday.
Total mileage: 1,235 miles or 1,976 km.
May 21, 2001
Amy's Cool Jacket by Brosh Tex arrived from Israel…
Enjoy the pictures from Big Bend! Remember, click on the pictures to
view high resolution version.
Big Bend N. P.
