5bikes Posted March 22, 2009 #51 Posted March 22, 2009 Congratulations on the beautiful Cherry Red 1800 GoldWing. Sorry we are not a touring nor out of towner motorcycle dealer friendly town. If it ain't a bar hopper or 600cc racer we don't carry it here. It was a tough week for you guys. Keep us posted on your progress. Chuck and Linda.
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 23, 2009 #52 Posted March 23, 2009 Yall shoulda made a quick trip up to Las Cruces to Rio Yamaha. Oh well. http://www.rioyamaha.com/
l_g Posted March 23, 2009 #53 Posted March 23, 2009 Good luck to you in your travels. I enjoyed what limited time we shared while you were in El Paso. Be safe and god speed. Lowell
V7Goose Posted March 25, 2009 Author #54 Posted March 25, 2009 Time for a new update, I guess. We did get back on the road Sunday morning - jumped on the bikes and headed south out of El Paso, glad to finally see it in the mirrors! Our target was Marfa, and the ride was relatively uneventful except for that danged freaky balloon that hung motionless in the distant sky for 50 miles or so. At first there was no way to tell what it was, just a strange shaped spot against the clouds that never moved - and me out in the middle of nowhere without any tin foil to line my helmet with! When we finally got close enough to recognize it as a baloon or blimp, we still could not understand how it wasn't moving over long periods of time. Finally as we passed we could just make out a cable tether anchoring the balloon in the middle of a fenced compound a ways off the road. We only guessed this must be some Border Patrol radar monitor to try and cover all the desert and mountains in the stretch between Marfa and El Paso where there aren't any paved roads. Still spooky to see something hanging in the sky in front of you for so long (ESPECIALLY when you think about the Marfa lights that have been unexplained for over 100 years). Anyway, when we got into Marfa, our impression of the place was less than favorable, so we decided to push on to Presidio down on the Mexican border. This was a bit of a gamble, since there seemed to be only two or three hotels we could find anywhere down there. The ride down from Marfa was the first interesting terrain we had seen since leaving El Paso, but the temperature sure shot up as we dropped into the Rio Grande valley (low 90s). The first hotel we found was out in the middle of nowhere, no cars around at all, but it had a sign taped to the front door saying "no rooms." Bummer - now we got a bit worried. Luck was with us, as we did find a decent room at the Three Palms Hotel, and even more luck when we found fabulous food at the Oaisis Restaurant next door. Monday morning we made a 50 mile trip up the river to the end of the paved road at Candalaria. The weather was cool and the scenery great, but you really have to watch out for the free-range cattle on the road, then we turned around and rode back through Presidio an on to Big Bend National Park. The road south out of Presidio is a really nice ride - strongly recommended. Got some nice pictures of the mountains and Rio Grande as we scooted along the border. [ATTACH]27650[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]27651[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]27652[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]27653[/ATTACH] The day down along the river and through Big Bend stayed pretty warm, so when we finally got back up to the highway are Marathon we were ready for a room and a drink. BIG mistake to plan on staying in Marathon! Town was a dive, almost no place to stay and even fewer places to eat. Ended up in the Gage Hotel - nice ambiance for the tourists looking for Texas decor, but simply saying they have rip-off prices for being stuck in the middle of nowhere is a huge understatement! We were happy to be back on the road today and just ran down to Eagle Pass before we packed it in. Seems like kind of nice town, for a border town. No real pictures of interest today, but here's one of an Ocotillo cactus in bloom outside of Judge Roy Bean's court house in Langtry with the Mexico cliffs above the Rio Grande in the background. Also one shot of Tom on his new wing behind me on the highway. [ATTACH]27654[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]27655[/ATTACH] That's it for now - hope I didn't bore y'all! Goose
BuddyRich Posted March 25, 2009 #55 Posted March 25, 2009 Good to see you guys back on the trail. Strong storms forecast for us tomorrow but it looks like you'll be south of the storms.
Tom Posted March 25, 2009 #56 Posted March 25, 2009 Next time in Marathon the Marathon Motel is better in my opinion,nothing fancy but an outdoor covered area with a HUGE fireplace,nice to sit around visiting and a few drinks(BYOB)...Ditto on nowhere good to eat there but its only like 60 or so miles to Big Bend from there and Alpine is only 31 miles to the west.they have some fairly good rooms.
Vance Posted March 25, 2009 #57 Posted March 25, 2009 recognize it as a baloon or blimp, we still could not understand how it wasn't moving over long periods of time. Finally as we passed we could just make out a cable tether anchoring the balloon in the middle of a fenced compound a ways off the road. We only guessed this must be some Border Patrol radar monitor to try and cover all the desert and mountains in the stretch between Marfa and El Paso where there aren't any paved roads. It is a surveillance blimp used to detect aircraft. They are helium filled, and are made of a material similar to duct tape. Tethered to a 3 mile long cable they are essentially an aerial radar station. They are there to detect low flying aircraft.
V7Goose Posted March 25, 2009 Author #58 Posted March 25, 2009 Next time in Marathon the Marathon Motel is better in my opinion,nothing fancy but an outdoor covered area with a HUGE fireplace,nice to sit around visiting and a few drinks(BYOB)...Ditto on nowhere good to eat there but its only like 60 or so miles to Big Bend from there and Alpine is only 31 miles to the west.they have some fairly good rooms. Thanx Tom - I agree with you about the Marathon Motel - tried there first, but no room at the Inn! So we went looking for a stable, but couldn't find one of those in town. For anyone traveling the area, Alpine seems like one of the best choices for a planned stop - lots of options there. Unfortunately we were going the other direction. The next stop for us would have been Sanderson, about 54 miles east. That seemed pretty iffy too, since my GPS only showed two motels there, so we bit the bullet and took the gold plated ambiance at the Gage. If we had been willing to ride another hour and roll the dice on Sanderson, it would have been a good choice; Tuesday morning on or way through the motels looked decent and the town was definitely better than Marathon. The biggest problem with Alpine as an option is that if you want to make the loop through Big Bend and along the river to Presidio, you bypass Alpine all together. But what the heck, that's just part of the charm of a trip like this - to see what you see when you get nowhere! I'm still not so sure those aliens in the radar balloon didn't suck out most of my brains when I rode by - not leaving home without foil again! Goose
Ponch Posted March 25, 2009 #59 Posted March 25, 2009 (edited) Yup, I agree on dining accommodations in Marathon. The first night we stayed there (Marathon Motel), we ate in a new Bar that served a few selections from a limited menu that was a little over priced. We were going to try the Gage Hotel Restaurant, but after seating us and seeing the first item on the menu was $42.00, we passed. The rest of our meals in Marathon were at Johnny's cafe. Very good breakfast and reasonably priced. They served mostly burgers and Diner food, but it was good. We ate from the local Grocery store once which had prepared sandwiches. One night we ordered a pizza from the Motel. It was a frozen pizza that the clerk cooked in the office oven, but given our choices, not bad. Next time we plan to stay in Alpine as we want to do the Davis mountains and observatory as well as the Park. We would also consider staying inside the park at the Chisos Basin Motel. There's a restaurant there too. I don't know about prices there. Thanks for the updates Goose, Ponch Edited March 25, 2009 by Ponch typo
LLonearth Posted March 25, 2009 #60 Posted March 25, 2009 I've enjoyed following your adventure (other than the crash) and wondered what your ETA is for McAllen/Mercedes/Harlingen area. I'm in Mercedes for the winter and would ride over to wherever you plan for lunch. If you haven't made any plans and like hamburgers, there is a local place in Donna that is only open for lunch and they sell the biggest burgers outside of "make your own." The name is Gonzales Sisters, I believe. Keep on keepin' on.
Silver Bullet Posted March 25, 2009 #61 Posted March 25, 2009 hey goose, man I sure am sorry you guys had so much trouble.thank heven tom is ok. I sure enjoyedthe short time we visited up in logan. tom is quite a fellow. am glad that only minor damages to his body. I wore a pair of E111 out ,with no problem at all. they were [in my humble opinion] as good as the avons. I have been away for a while and did not know about all the goings on. I wish I could have ridden with you guys a little ways. good luck and God bless.. jack:12101:
V7Goose Posted March 25, 2009 Author #62 Posted March 25, 2009 We made it into La Joya on the north side of McAllen today before the heat and thirst got to us and we started looking for an ice machine. Great ride this morning, 72 degrees and overcast sky that was just perfect. But when we outran the clouds the temps hit 94, and the bikes were just a tad warm in all the stop lights out on US83. The scenery in the Brush Country can be way more monotonous than the desert, even if there is a lot more green. One thing I was really surprised at is the number of huge game compounds down here compared to other parts of Texas - I thought the Hill country was bad, but that's nothing like what we saw in the stretch between Del Rio and McAllen - some of these game fences run for 50 miles or more! I will say that even though the game compounds are smaller and fewer in the Hill Country, you see more of the exotic game up there - all we saw here for the past two days was one massive impala. Tomorrow we'll ride South Padre Island, then start working our way up the coast. Looking forward to some cooler off-shore breezes! Goose
Vance Posted March 26, 2009 #63 Posted March 26, 2009 the heat and thirst got to us and we started looking for an ice machine....... the temps hit 94, and the bikes were just a tad warm Looking forward to some cooler off-shore breezes! Goose Sheesh!! You Yankees are all alike. Cooler weather lies ahead. We expect highs in the low 70's this weekend, so come on up. We'll keep a light on for ya'.
V7Goose Posted March 26, 2009 Author #64 Posted March 26, 2009 Sheesh!! You Yankees are all alike. Cooler weather lies ahead. We expect highs in the low 70's this weekend, so come on up. We'll keep a light on for ya'. Better watch it Bud! Ain't no Yankee in this house. I'm an Arizona boy - born in the Sonoran dessert and raised in the Mojave! This weenie state ain't got nuthin' for comparison. Our cactus is sharper, our heat is hotter, our cold is colder, we actually GET snow, our canyons are deeper and our mountains are sure as hell a lot bigger! But a guy's just gotta have a martini now and then, ya know? Ain't no reason to ride too long when there's good gin and olives in the saddle bags! Goose (But if you want to ride up to Don's maintenance day with me this year, we'll see who the panty-waist* is! And I'll still offer you a 'tini when we get there.) * Roget's Thesaurus lists panty-waist as one of the synonyms for "weakling: softy, jelly fish, big baby, chicken, milk-toast, sop, namby-pamby, mollycoddle, cream puff, push-over, light-weight, doormat, droop, effeminate, and sissy."
Guest tx2sturgis Posted March 26, 2009 #65 Posted March 26, 2009 Almost neighbors again. Im in Kerrville and headed to elpaso. Later!
Vance Posted March 26, 2009 #66 Posted March 26, 2009 Better watch it Bud! Ain't no Yankee in this house. I'm an Arizona boy - born in the Sonoran dessert and raised in the Mojave! This weenie state ain't got nuthin' for comparison. Our cactus is sharper, our heat is hotter, our cold is colder, we actually GET snow, our canyons are deeper and our mountains are sure as hell a lot bigger! Ooohh.. Ouch! I mighta struck a nerve. I consider anyone who lives north of I-10 (runs through Houston - San Antonio - El Paso) a yankee. And you live way past that. So you'll have to stop on by and let me make it up to you. I'm out of gin (it's for panty-waists), but there's plenty of whiskey.
5bikes Posted March 27, 2009 #67 Posted March 27, 2009 If you want to stay an extra WEEK come see me. Ask Tom and Goose! Don't look for tires or touring bikes here either!! They bought them all.
LLonearth Posted March 27, 2009 #68 Posted March 27, 2009 Hey, Kent. Sorry we couldn't hook up in Mercedes on your way to S. Padre Island. I just don't understand how a ride down Padre beach during Spring Break and barely clad coeds would trump a free hamburger! When you get up to Galveston, check to see if the free ferry is back in action after the Hurricane. If it is, it is a 15 min ferry ride across the Galveston channel and you can ride right along the beach on Hwy 87 and then head North to Beaumont or Port Arthur. Good luck and I hope to meet you guys somewhere down the road. Larry
Dave77459 Posted March 28, 2009 #69 Posted March 28, 2009 I caught up with V7Goose at Vance's house. After some coffee, we rode down to the coast with Vance's lovely wife two-up on his bike. Vance took some roads I hadn't been on, but will want to hit again! If you didn't know, the Texas coast in our area was hammered 6 months ago by Hurricane Ike. The most immediate problem for our ride is that the coastal highway was washed away in spots. Take a look here. Vance and his bride bid farewell there, and V7Goose and I tempted Fate by continuing from Surfside Beach to Galveston. The road was some improved from the photo link above, but not much. Even so, it wasn't bad and we made it easily to the San Luis Pass and on to Galveston. Not knowing when our next meal would happen, we stopped at The Spot, a restaurant popular with bikers. Fed, we took the Bolivar Ferry across the ship channel to the Bolivar Peninsula. This is where Ike came ashore with a huge storm surge. Y'all Bolivar is a mess. Totally torn up and not much rebuilt. We saw more places bulldozed clear than we saw repaired. The winds were super heavy, and we fought a fierce battle up Bolivar to Winnie. At that point, Kent decided to head home. The roads and winds had chewed up his rear tire and it needs replacement. He has new tires waiting at home, and enough tread to make it there. I hope he comes back to finish the trip. As it was, this was a great day of riding for me. So nice to see fellow VentureRiders!
Vance Posted March 29, 2009 #70 Posted March 29, 2009 Had an enjoyable visit with V7Goose when he over-nited here last night. Got to swap some stories over dinner, and since the weather was in the 70s we had time to relax on the back deck (it's in one of Dave's pictures). Even got to see some people kneeboarding. Believe me that water is way to cold, but they didn't seem to mind. After a good nights sleep, and a bite of breakfast, Dave showed up to ride with us for a while. We loaded up and took a liesurely ride through Lake Jackson, parts of Freeport, and on to Surfside. Brenda and I turned around then and headed back, while Dave and Goose decided to see what adventure lie ahead with the storm ravaged road. Glad to see they made it to Galveston OK. Great visiting with you guys. Take care.
V7Goose Posted March 29, 2009 Author #71 Posted March 29, 2009 The last three days running up the Gulf Coast were great - temps cooled considerably once we his the shore breezes. Thursday we did the run out to Boca Chica at the southern tip of Texas, then a full loop on South Padre Island. The morning started heavily overcast again, and you could hardly see the buildings on South Padre for the mist as we crossed over. No 'girls gone wild' down there for spring break - maybe it was just the cool overcast weather that morning - . But it was still a neat ride until Tom damn near got decapitated. Some idiot strung a nylon string across a street on South Padre - no idea how I missed it riding in front (didn't even see it), but it caught in Tom's visor and sawed part way through before it finally snapped and slid free. Dodged another bullet! After we got done poking around so long through Brownsville and South Padre, we ended up staying just a little north of Harlingen in Raymondville. Didn't move all that far up the coast for the day, but we still covered 300 miles. Friday Tom decided he wasn't really enjoying the trip any longer, what with the pain and repeated attempts on his life and all, so he decided to just head straight home. I had a fantastic ride on up the coast after the fog cleared in the morning - Padre and Mustang islands were really enjoyable, and dancing through the bayous on the little county roads was neat. 400 miles later I ended up in the phenomenally beautiful home of Squire Vance. He and his beautiful wife Brenda are incomparable hosts - even finding a very polite way to decline my offer to move and stay forever! Saturday we met up with Dave and continued the journey - he as already done an excellent job describing the "interesting" run through the hurricane devastation - for being so long after it hit, I was amazed at how bad it still was. On the ferry over to the Bolivar peninsula I spotted a couple of bad spots on my rear tire, where you could just see the last shreds of rubber over the cord beginning to wear away - I had been watching the tire closely after some of the very rough roads we hit in the desert - some of them had aggregate so large in the asphalt that new roads felt like we were riding on a cheese grater! Anyway, after potting the wear points, I figured the 350 miles home was the safer decision than pushing the tire for the last 800 - 1000 miles of the planned trip, so I turned north into the NASTY cold north wind for the forced march home and a new tire. Got in last night right at 1900; 500 miles in that wind felt a lot more like 1,000! I've only got about two more days left on the trip to just finish the run up the eastern border from Port Arthur to Texarkana - got a few things to catch up on now that I'm back, so not sure yet when I'll head back out. Maybe next weekend? The run home and back for the new tire will add a few more miles and an extra day, but so what - the whole point was just to ride, and that's what I'm doing! Ride Safe, Goose
Vance Posted March 30, 2009 #72 Posted March 30, 2009 Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound. I have been wondering how the remainder of the trip went. I bet you were tired, yet elated to be home. That was quite a journey. You have been through the extremes of all the elements. From the dry, to the cold, to the humid, to the desolate, to the in-hospitable, to the friendly, from the rough to the smooth. Yet, the joy of being on two wheels makes everything worthwhile. That's why we ride. Now that we are neighbors, come back and visit again. We'll leave a light on for ya'. Thanks for stopping by. 'Squire' Vance
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