A bit of Texan time y'all (Part 2)

It was another chilly night 

and after nearly being warm enough I awoke and completed my routine of packing and breakfast. It was a breezy morning with the cold bite cutting through me as I cowered under my beanie, a last minute but very welcomed addition to the kit. I seem to get away between nine and ten and today was no exception. Heading south then west, I had Terlingua in my sights but it was going to be a long day. It started as a scenic ride but there was a cold fog settled over the landscape and it kept the temperature down to about six degrees Celsius. The electric vest and heated hand grips were at full throttle with the other gear trying to protect my skin from the wind.

Stopping for photos was not an option until I reached the edge of the hills and the land started flattening out. Almost by magic, the cloud lifted, the sun started shining and the temperature rose into the teens for the first time today. Stopping for fuel, I was told that the fog hadn’t been around this clear area so it seems I had ridden out of the edge of it.

I worked my way back onto the 90 and headed west, south of the I10 I had ridden east upon. There were a couple of decisions why I headed back west. Firstly Terlingua was holding an adventure bike rally called Uncle’s Desert Challenge. The event was in its seventh year and in addition to the desert rally there is an adventure bike ride. Secondly it was Friday afternoon and I felt it wouldn’t be strategic to try to cross the border into Mexico at the end of the week. Thirdly, it was a more direct ride to Chihuahua where I was planning to leave from for Copper Canyon.

That decided I was pushing on to get to Terlingua but first had to reach Del Rio, which I did in mid afternoon. West of there I went through the picturesque Amistead Reservoir and decided not to jump off the bridge. 

Soon after it became flat and monotonous again but this time there were no oil wells and I came across another tribute to Judge Roy Bean, this time with the actual building, not just a replica

The flats seemed not to last too longbefore I started seeing the mountains of Big Bend National Park. 

I inadvertently chose the route through the park and Friday afternoon meant that there was no-one at the entry box or the visitor centre to relieve me of $10.

I rode through the park and it was quite stunning and grandiose, the sun was playing hide and seek behind swirling cloud and the mountains took on shading and colours that made them look alive. It was another one of those moments where I was going to get caught in the dark so I pushed on through the park with only memories, no photos.

It was close to dusk when I arrived in Terlingua and pulled up to the shop at the top of town with a big verandah. There were lots of people there with many bikes parked in the front and this seemed to be one of the hubs of the event. I needed to set up camp so eventually I was directed to the free camping area and found a very exposed spot in the middle of a patch of dusty clay. It was all dusty clay around here but beautiful. 

I set up the tent just on dark and walked over to meet a couple of guys on dirt bikes, trailered behind a van. Cecil and Allen had been in the Desert Challenge and they were leaving the next day. Allen, at 75, had a few spills on his Yamaha YZ250 and he was feeling a bit stiff. Cecil, at 67, had made it through unscathed. They are old riding buddies and Allen was a former road racer in his day and I was inspired to see them not only still riding, but taking on a challenge like this that tested riders of any age. 

I later discovered that the average age was more around 50-60 for participants. As an endurance event it seems to attract older riders for some reason. I had ridden my own endurance to get here so turned in quite early after cooking a meal with these two old boys.

There were a number of other campers around, some of them with quite elaborate set ups and it appeared that the majority had trailered their dirt bikes to be in the event. It was definitely for the smaller capacity bikes with nothing over 800cc that I saw.