canyonman
Well-known member
The following ride report is for a ride I did last May 2010. My life has been a whirlwind of events since this trip some good some bad. It wasn't until the New Years Holiday and I caught the flu that I finally was able to sit down and write this long overdue ride report.
I hope you enjoy it.
THE WIND
The morning was clear and reasonably warm for early May but a cold front on the western edge of the state would soon change that.
I gassed up and headed north on W along the Big River to I44, Hwy W was patchy with thick curtains of fog coming down off the bluff and out onto the flood plain. In no time I was punching the left turn signal for THE turn west and making the jump to light speed, well ok 70mph but I got there real quick.
I44 to the Oklahoma state line was quick efficient and otherwise uneventful as the interstates always are. I finally ran into the approaching cold front just south of Springfield, MO. That’s when the wind swung around to the north and it started to drizzle. Once in Oklahoma 44 turns into a toll road which can be a real pain in the ass when you are all suited up and wearing gloves but I had planned for it and moved through each donation station quickly.
Saw this at a Git-n-Go in Claremore not real sure what the hell it’s supposed to mean. Kind of disturbing really.
I slipped through Oklahoma City without any problems. The skies were clearing a little but the north wind was getting cold and gusty (little did I know at the time that I would be getting my ass kicked by the wind nearly every day of this trip).
I was quite surprised to see the Wichita “Mountains” outside Lawton. I didn’t know there were any hills in Oklahoma.
A construction zone in Lawton moved my exit and I was already past it when the zumo told me to pull off. It took a lot of jockeying around during the evening rush to get back to old US 62. I got one thing to say about Lawton “stay the F___ away” if you are on a bike. I was targeted and almost killed by no less than half a dozen young female cage drivers. My apologies to anyone from there but it was not fun.
The hours of daylight this early in the year were starting to work against me and with over 170 miles to my intended campsite I needed to make time. I stopped in Memphis, Texas for my last gas stop of the day and to pick up some items for dinner. That’s when the clerk at the gas station informed me that I was in a dry county but if I wanted I could go one county over only about 60 miles or so, one way, in the wrong direction. I decided to forgo the cold ones this day and get on to Caprock Canyon State Park before it got dark.
Caprock Canyon
Caprock Canyon is a nice park but the road in is long and slow and the only pay station is at the entrance. If the park is full and you have to camp in the very back you will burn up a lot of time picking a spot and paying for it. I ended up setting up camp in the dark. I was cold and tired. My Jetboil was not cooperating “gonna have to get a new one I guess” and after 770 windy miles I was done for the day. “Hopefully the wind will die down some tomorrow” I said that a lot on this trip.
The next morning after a quick shower I was on the road heading for Big Bend NP. Much to my chagrin the gusty north cross wind from yesterday had turned to the east and was now a gusty east cross wind. Well at least the sides of my tires will wear evenly.
The pan handle of Texas is one wide open place.
Don’t let that lure you into a state of inattention because there are still hazards out there trying to take you out.
That brings up a good point, I don’t have any pics but be warned the state of Texas is infested with deer; they are everywhere day and night. I need to give Ted Nugent a call and see if there is something he can do because they all must die.
The ride south from the pan handle to Big Bend was cold and windy and really wore me out. When I got to Marathon the wind finally died down and the temperature started to rise.
The gray skies and hazy conditions gave the desert a surreal look and feel that coupled with fatigue kind of made time stand still while I passed through this parched land.
Finally! I reach my first major destination.
I checked in at the park office and got info about the Chisos Basin Campground in the center of the park. The attractive blue eyed blond park ranger, who had a sexy accent made my knees about give out when she said Chisos pronounced “cheesos”. There is just something about a gal with an accent.
I headed up into the mountains to pick out a campsite.
The campground was not full but it was busy, May is the tail end of the busy season at Big Bend.
This would be home for the next two nights.
I slept very well till about 1am that’s when a lightning storm rolled in and shook me awake. Now living in the Midwest I am very accustomed to lightning storms but I have NEVER seen or heard lightning like this. With the arid environment and the basin being a few thousand feet above the surrounding desert the lightning seemed supercharged. I got out of my tent and went to the bathroom building and waited for it to settle down a little. As my luck would have it when it did settle down and I would lay back down it would start all over again so sleep was hard to come by. The weird part is it never rained. It was beautiful but scared the pudding out of me.
The next morning I set out to explore this new corner of my world.
Too bad the speed limits are so slow in national parks cause this little stretch begs to be ridden at mach FJR speed
However one of these would take the fun right out of it.
The temperature down here by the river was 102F the warmest I would see on this trip.
Santa Elena canyon, left side Mexico, right side USA.
So ends my last day in Big Bend I will have to come back on a Tenere and explore the hundreds of miles of dirt roads that stretch across the park.
No storms this evening but I did have a skunk walk up on me while I was sitting at the picnic table. I didn’t see it till it was within arm’s reach rummaging through my trash bag. This brought about an interesting dilemma. How do you shoo away a skunk that is not afraid of you? Turned out there was nothing of value in my trash bag and he was off to the next camp site. That coulda sucked. Hard!
The next day I was up early hungry for adventure. I was shooting for a NF camp in the Apache National Forest in eastern Arizona and had 600 miles to cover to get there. For breakfast I was gonna get to ride Texas 170 along the Rio Grande to Presidio.
170 is a cool motorcycle road but it’ll ruin your day if you get too relaxed.
Once I started heading north out of Presidio I was once again met with my old friend the wind. Now it was coming out of the west. This time it was getting serious and the 600 miles I put in today were some of the toughest I’ve done yet. Of course that was until the next day.
Interstate 10 from Van Horn to El Paso was fast not because I rode it that way but because the speed limit is 80mph. The wind gusts were so strong to go any faster would have been silly it was everything I could do to stay in my lane.
El Paso is a trip, on the right side of the highway all the opulence and modernization America has to offer, on the left side utter poverty. No political discussions please just making an observation.
The Morenci Copper Mine in eastern Arizona is mind blowing. US 191 cuts right through it. It’s hard to wrap your mind around how big this thing really is. Check it out on Google earth you can see it from space.
US 191 north of the mine is a narrow twisty deadly road that deserves respect and me being pretty well worn out, it had mine.
I found the NF camp right where the zumo said it would be, a nice place tucked in along 191. As luck would have it I was the only one there. It was too early in the season for the water to be turned on but I had what I needed.
I slept very well this night after I straightened out an issue with my Discover Card. I’ll just say this if you call your credit card company before a trip to inform them your leaving town make sure they know you will be traveling by motorcycle and make sure they notify their fraud prevention dept. I had to do 191 in the dark back to a point of cellular reception, I wasn’t pleased and I let them know it. Lesson learned.
The next morning was bright, clear, and chilly.
US 191 is a great road I’ve ridden several sections over the years, one of these days I’ll have to ride it border to border. Today however I was only going as far as Eagar then heading over to The Mogollon Rim to camp, or so I thought.
The traffic on 191 was unbearable as you can see.
There was still plenty of snow at higher elevations
As I came out of the mountains north of Alpine the wind started to torment me yet again, I was getting really tired of the wind by this point. Eagar to Show Low was a nice road but I had a hard time enjoying it as the wind was cutting right through my gear chilling me to the bone. Show Low is traffic camera hell that’s all I’m saying. I never made the Mogollon Rim either because a sign outside Show Low said 260 was closed a few miles ahead and I was quickly losing my adventurous spirit. At this point I just wanted out of the wind so while borrowing some wifi at McDonalds I checked out a wind surface map that showed lower winds up towards Flagstaff so I turned around and headed north towards I40. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
I have never ridden in wind like this I was having my gear ripped off my body. I was certain the bike's lean angle sensor was gonna trip and shut me down. The sky was orange and I couldn’t see very far ahead from all the dust. On I40 outside of Winslow I saw the flashing sign that brought this day to a merciful end “INTERSTATE 40 CLOSED AT WINSLOW EXIT DUE TO DUST STORM”. First hotel of the trip.
I didn’t sleep as long as I should have I got mired down in trying to fix a problem with my laptop and the next thing I knew it was well after midnight. I did learn from the news that the wind had been gusting to over 60mph, “yeah no kidding”.
Well today was a new day and the wind had finally stopped at least for now. Meteor Crater was just up the road and I’ve always wanted to see it.
It’s an impressive hole in the ground when you consider it happened in the blink of an eye.
Some other odds and ends I happened upon in the area.
I got back on 40 and headed west for Kingman. I got a nice reward of warmer temperatures as I came down off the plateau west of Flag Staff, not warm but warmer.
I fueled up in Kingman and headed north to ride across Hoover Dam something else I always wanted to see and do.
The road along Lake Meade is great with a lot of spectacular views and good riding except of course for the 20 or so miles of road construction which meant dirt road.
Seriously though it was a nice surprise I didn’t know it was so scenic.
I got rained on while gassing up in Overton, it poured on me then I rode 200 feet down the road and nothing, dry as a bone. From here it was over to US93 and up to Cathedral Gorge State Park to camp. I got with a couple cages on 93 that were moving right along and I just followed behind. It was getting cold and windy again but at least it was a tail wind this time.
Somewhere along 93.
I pulled into the state park very tired and chilled as the sun was setting. I went to bed early and slept for a little while but soon I got cold so I put on more clothes, by morning I was wearing every article of warm clothing I had with me.
Because of forum limitations I had to split this into 2 parts. Part 2 to follow
I hope you enjoy it.
THE WIND
The morning was clear and reasonably warm for early May but a cold front on the western edge of the state would soon change that.
I gassed up and headed north on W along the Big River to I44, Hwy W was patchy with thick curtains of fog coming down off the bluff and out onto the flood plain. In no time I was punching the left turn signal for THE turn west and making the jump to light speed, well ok 70mph but I got there real quick.
I44 to the Oklahoma state line was quick efficient and otherwise uneventful as the interstates always are. I finally ran into the approaching cold front just south of Springfield, MO. That’s when the wind swung around to the north and it started to drizzle. Once in Oklahoma 44 turns into a toll road which can be a real pain in the ass when you are all suited up and wearing gloves but I had planned for it and moved through each donation station quickly.
Saw this at a Git-n-Go in Claremore not real sure what the hell it’s supposed to mean. Kind of disturbing really.
I slipped through Oklahoma City without any problems. The skies were clearing a little but the north wind was getting cold and gusty (little did I know at the time that I would be getting my ass kicked by the wind nearly every day of this trip).
I was quite surprised to see the Wichita “Mountains” outside Lawton. I didn’t know there were any hills in Oklahoma.
A construction zone in Lawton moved my exit and I was already past it when the zumo told me to pull off. It took a lot of jockeying around during the evening rush to get back to old US 62. I got one thing to say about Lawton “stay the F___ away” if you are on a bike. I was targeted and almost killed by no less than half a dozen young female cage drivers. My apologies to anyone from there but it was not fun.
The hours of daylight this early in the year were starting to work against me and with over 170 miles to my intended campsite I needed to make time. I stopped in Memphis, Texas for my last gas stop of the day and to pick up some items for dinner. That’s when the clerk at the gas station informed me that I was in a dry county but if I wanted I could go one county over only about 60 miles or so, one way, in the wrong direction. I decided to forgo the cold ones this day and get on to Caprock Canyon State Park before it got dark.
Caprock Canyon
Caprock Canyon is a nice park but the road in is long and slow and the only pay station is at the entrance. If the park is full and you have to camp in the very back you will burn up a lot of time picking a spot and paying for it. I ended up setting up camp in the dark. I was cold and tired. My Jetboil was not cooperating “gonna have to get a new one I guess” and after 770 windy miles I was done for the day. “Hopefully the wind will die down some tomorrow” I said that a lot on this trip.
The next morning after a quick shower I was on the road heading for Big Bend NP. Much to my chagrin the gusty north cross wind from yesterday had turned to the east and was now a gusty east cross wind. Well at least the sides of my tires will wear evenly.
The pan handle of Texas is one wide open place.
Don’t let that lure you into a state of inattention because there are still hazards out there trying to take you out.
That brings up a good point, I don’t have any pics but be warned the state of Texas is infested with deer; they are everywhere day and night. I need to give Ted Nugent a call and see if there is something he can do because they all must die.
The ride south from the pan handle to Big Bend was cold and windy and really wore me out. When I got to Marathon the wind finally died down and the temperature started to rise.
The gray skies and hazy conditions gave the desert a surreal look and feel that coupled with fatigue kind of made time stand still while I passed through this parched land.
Finally! I reach my first major destination.
I checked in at the park office and got info about the Chisos Basin Campground in the center of the park. The attractive blue eyed blond park ranger, who had a sexy accent made my knees about give out when she said Chisos pronounced “cheesos”. There is just something about a gal with an accent.
I headed up into the mountains to pick out a campsite.
The campground was not full but it was busy, May is the tail end of the busy season at Big Bend.
This would be home for the next two nights.
I slept very well till about 1am that’s when a lightning storm rolled in and shook me awake. Now living in the Midwest I am very accustomed to lightning storms but I have NEVER seen or heard lightning like this. With the arid environment and the basin being a few thousand feet above the surrounding desert the lightning seemed supercharged. I got out of my tent and went to the bathroom building and waited for it to settle down a little. As my luck would have it when it did settle down and I would lay back down it would start all over again so sleep was hard to come by. The weird part is it never rained. It was beautiful but scared the pudding out of me.
The next morning I set out to explore this new corner of my world.
Too bad the speed limits are so slow in national parks cause this little stretch begs to be ridden at mach FJR speed
However one of these would take the fun right out of it.
The temperature down here by the river was 102F the warmest I would see on this trip.
Santa Elena canyon, left side Mexico, right side USA.
So ends my last day in Big Bend I will have to come back on a Tenere and explore the hundreds of miles of dirt roads that stretch across the park.
No storms this evening but I did have a skunk walk up on me while I was sitting at the picnic table. I didn’t see it till it was within arm’s reach rummaging through my trash bag. This brought about an interesting dilemma. How do you shoo away a skunk that is not afraid of you? Turned out there was nothing of value in my trash bag and he was off to the next camp site. That coulda sucked. Hard!
The next day I was up early hungry for adventure. I was shooting for a NF camp in the Apache National Forest in eastern Arizona and had 600 miles to cover to get there. For breakfast I was gonna get to ride Texas 170 along the Rio Grande to Presidio.
170 is a cool motorcycle road but it’ll ruin your day if you get too relaxed.
Once I started heading north out of Presidio I was once again met with my old friend the wind. Now it was coming out of the west. This time it was getting serious and the 600 miles I put in today were some of the toughest I’ve done yet. Of course that was until the next day.
Interstate 10 from Van Horn to El Paso was fast not because I rode it that way but because the speed limit is 80mph. The wind gusts were so strong to go any faster would have been silly it was everything I could do to stay in my lane.
El Paso is a trip, on the right side of the highway all the opulence and modernization America has to offer, on the left side utter poverty. No political discussions please just making an observation.
The Morenci Copper Mine in eastern Arizona is mind blowing. US 191 cuts right through it. It’s hard to wrap your mind around how big this thing really is. Check it out on Google earth you can see it from space.
US 191 north of the mine is a narrow twisty deadly road that deserves respect and me being pretty well worn out, it had mine.
I found the NF camp right where the zumo said it would be, a nice place tucked in along 191. As luck would have it I was the only one there. It was too early in the season for the water to be turned on but I had what I needed.
I slept very well this night after I straightened out an issue with my Discover Card. I’ll just say this if you call your credit card company before a trip to inform them your leaving town make sure they know you will be traveling by motorcycle and make sure they notify their fraud prevention dept. I had to do 191 in the dark back to a point of cellular reception, I wasn’t pleased and I let them know it. Lesson learned.
The next morning was bright, clear, and chilly.
US 191 is a great road I’ve ridden several sections over the years, one of these days I’ll have to ride it border to border. Today however I was only going as far as Eagar then heading over to The Mogollon Rim to camp, or so I thought.
The traffic on 191 was unbearable as you can see.
There was still plenty of snow at higher elevations
As I came out of the mountains north of Alpine the wind started to torment me yet again, I was getting really tired of the wind by this point. Eagar to Show Low was a nice road but I had a hard time enjoying it as the wind was cutting right through my gear chilling me to the bone. Show Low is traffic camera hell that’s all I’m saying. I never made the Mogollon Rim either because a sign outside Show Low said 260 was closed a few miles ahead and I was quickly losing my adventurous spirit. At this point I just wanted out of the wind so while borrowing some wifi at McDonalds I checked out a wind surface map that showed lower winds up towards Flagstaff so I turned around and headed north towards I40. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
I have never ridden in wind like this I was having my gear ripped off my body. I was certain the bike's lean angle sensor was gonna trip and shut me down. The sky was orange and I couldn’t see very far ahead from all the dust. On I40 outside of Winslow I saw the flashing sign that brought this day to a merciful end “INTERSTATE 40 CLOSED AT WINSLOW EXIT DUE TO DUST STORM”. First hotel of the trip.
I didn’t sleep as long as I should have I got mired down in trying to fix a problem with my laptop and the next thing I knew it was well after midnight. I did learn from the news that the wind had been gusting to over 60mph, “yeah no kidding”.
Well today was a new day and the wind had finally stopped at least for now. Meteor Crater was just up the road and I’ve always wanted to see it.
It’s an impressive hole in the ground when you consider it happened in the blink of an eye.
Some other odds and ends I happened upon in the area.
I got back on 40 and headed west for Kingman. I got a nice reward of warmer temperatures as I came down off the plateau west of Flag Staff, not warm but warmer.
I fueled up in Kingman and headed north to ride across Hoover Dam something else I always wanted to see and do.
The road along Lake Meade is great with a lot of spectacular views and good riding except of course for the 20 or so miles of road construction which meant dirt road.
Seriously though it was a nice surprise I didn’t know it was so scenic.
I got rained on while gassing up in Overton, it poured on me then I rode 200 feet down the road and nothing, dry as a bone. From here it was over to US93 and up to Cathedral Gorge State Park to camp. I got with a couple cages on 93 that were moving right along and I just followed behind. It was getting cold and windy again but at least it was a tail wind this time.
Somewhere along 93.
I pulled into the state park very tired and chilled as the sun was setting. I went to bed early and slept for a little while but soon I got cold so I put on more clothes, by morning I was wearing every article of warm clothing I had with me.
Because of forum limitations I had to split this into 2 parts. Part 2 to follow
