Big Bend Gets A New Village Idiot - Dec '09/Jan '10

[scarysharkface]

This is going to take me a while to string together. I've got to sort through a brazillion photographs. I'm guessing I'll still be posting pics while the kids are painting Easter Eggs.

After spending the better part of Thanksgiving week in Big Bend with friends [ http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529268 ], I was able to get a pass to return five weeks later to do more exploring and spend more time looking through the camera and generally just staring off into the desert.

Did I mention that my lovely wife, Tracy, is fantastic? She is.

My plan was to carry the DR350 down from Indiana on the back of the Jeep, inside of which I would sleep. I had my good Nat Geo map of the park, a GPS, fuel can, arctic sleeping bag, spare clothes, some Pop Tarts and about 10 gallons of water.

Yes, I tend to over-plan and over-pack.

Departure day was to be December 26th. I was ready.

Kissed Tracy goodbye and hollered into the kids' bedrooms that I was leaving and then slipped out into the wild, snow-covered world...

It seemed perfect to be leaving for the desert.



I suppose it was.

How many miles before this melts off? Probably be all gone in a couple of hours..







Apparently there had been some drama and excitement while I was asleep. And some swimming. Brrrrrr!





I would endeavor to not share this fate.

Lots more to come.

John

[scarysharkface]

Inside of a couple hundred miles the roads are dry and I've nothing to worry about except the holes and two-inch cement ledges along I-70 heading into St. Louis.

Does it look better spelt-out? Saint Louis. Not sure which I like more. Maybe if it were Sainte Louise. Meh.



I like the hills west of SL (apparently I'm not too attached to spelling it out after all, or was I ever?) and can only imagine (at this point, at least) what the back roads must be like on a bike on a warm summer afternoon. Blasting through islands of warm and cool air as the canopy shelters and exposes...



Things could always be worse. Always. Things. Worse. Could. Be. I wonder if Missouri uses the same point system as Indiana?



Not really much excitement for me, other than the realization that a new steering damper doesn't fix the shimmy when I have weight hanging off the back end and hit the magic combination of big pothole/ledge while engaged in a left-turning sweeper at 65 miles per hour. So yeah, I guess there was quite a bit of excitement for several seconds while I figured that one out.

Have I mentioned how awesome my wife is? And how boring teh Innerstate is at 55?

Then Okahoma hits the fan.

I would swear to you that Oklahoma doesn't own a snow plow, but I would be dishonest. They have several, and deployed them to the ditches lining I-44. One must pay cash money to see them.

I keep it in 2-High and don't drive like every other person, which treats me well and keeps me, shall we say, "going" albeit at 25 miles per hour. The conversion factor is roughly 1 tow truck parked in the ditch for every 10 minutes barely traveled.

I feel like a complete Yankee stud at this point. Not a bad feeling at all, considering I must surely be one now.



Tulsa eventually greets me with a light show and un-plowed ice.



I return the favor by dropping $5 at a Starbucks, so that Seattle can buy a snow plow instead.

The single-lane construction around Lawton? Really, really bad. Deep rutted ice. Looked like they got a foot of snow, let one truck drive through it then let it ice-over. Nasty stuff.

I finally decide I've had a beautiful day behind the wheel, jamming to the mp3 player (it plumbs into the Jeep's stereo - no earbuds for me while driving) and generally just being my awesome self. The McDonalds parking lot in the services area just North of Wichita Falls is calling my name and I must obey.

Surely I'm finished with snow- and ice-covered roads. Tomorrow will be a fantastically easy day.

Quick shot of the Garmin for posterity..



Ah... The sleeping bag does feel good, and the eyes do welcome the closure of this fine day on the road...

John

[scarysharkface]

Sometimes it just seems colder than it really is.

Sometimes it just seems fine until you realize that the sleeping bag is not something a person can drive while wearing.

28 degrees when it finally occurred to me to look. The beauty part is that I toughed it out putting on ice-cold jeans and shirt before I realized I could simply start the engine and have heat in a couple of minutes. The brain does strange things when it isn't warm, and I reckon mine needed a hole chipped in the ice..



So I did what all really cold people do when they're smart. Coffee and a Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit to warm the soul from teh insides.

Still, the road hit me before sunrise..



Mostly clear of all indicators of winter carnage. Mostly pretty reasonably certain that I won't see an icy road for at least a week. I enjoy the appearance of Sol in this charmed-life drama..



John

[Undertaker]

Nice,what Garmin do you use.

[scarysharkface]

60csx

Are you seeing images?  I'm only seeing the shrinktheweb icon where I've posted pics..

[Al]

60csx

Are you seeing images?  I'm only seeing the shrinktheweb icon where I've posted pics..

ditto the icon and not the photo.  Don't let it stop ya.

Al

[scarysharkface]

Ha! Die, little snowman, die!



Glad to be rid of the cold. Officially in Texas now, and ready for some heat and sunshine.

But wait.



At least it's not deep and rutted.



At least it's not too deep and rutted.



I stopped for gas, not knowing whether I'd spend 3 days in a ditch between here and Munday or not, and had to use four-wheel-drive on the glare ice to move the 25 feet from the pumps to a parking spot out front. Glad to be in the Jeep and not attempting to travel on, say, the KLR today..



At least the snow is not deep and rutted..





Going is slow. As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls, no?

Finally the road turns to slush and eventually asphalt reaches up through the muck to touch the tires. I feel reborn.

And take more pictures of snow from outside the Jeep, now that I realize I'm missing my grand opportunity to take pictures of snow in Texas..







We're almost there, little guy, almost there...





I'm intrigued by the humongous bales of cotton sitting in the fields. Five weeks ago they were baling these and I didn't stop to take a picture. Wish I had, because it was something I'd never watched before.



I pass another half-dozen and can't take it anymore. A U-turn and I find my nirvana.



These things are huge.



And just like that, I'm back on the road. I've got to get to Big Bend, doncha know!



John

[scarysharkface]

TexasShadow over on advrider.com calls them "Texas Grasshoppers" and it does seem to fit.



Now we're getting somewhere!





Not too far North of Marathon..





At last, just inside Big Bend National Park...  Doesn't look like I'll make it to Rio Grande Village before dark..



At long last, I'm here. Sleeping bag is rolled out on top of the Thermarest in the back of the Jeep. Quick shot of today's stats...



John

[RichardM]

Use the img tags instead of the snapshot ones. I'm not sure how the snapshot tags are supposed to work, but I'm pretty sure it ain't what was happening...

[scarysharkface]

Of course, it's still early.

And one must eat.



Lots of time to futz with the camera, so that maybe if I have a chance to futz with it out in the wilds I'll already have some clue what settings to use.

Patience is a virtue, exercised thirty seconds at a time...

It's a great night to stare at the nearly-full moon..



Or take a short walk with the totally unnecessary red headlamp..



The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas...





John

[scarysharkface]

Use the img tags instead of the snapshot ones. I'm not sure how the snapshot tags are supposed to work, but I'm pretty sure it ain't what was happening...

That's it.  Thanks!

[scarysharkface]

So I wake up (I love it when that happens, unless it's really early or I'm not ready to wake up yet) and take a peek outside...

NO SNOW! Yay! :clap



I grab a handful of Pop Tarts for breakfast and make my way to the Rio Grande Village store for coffee and gasoline, then head over to the Visitors Center just down the way for a quick gander at the maps and perhaps a heads-up on what to expect for weather this week...

My $15 tank bags from Rural King Supply are perfect for carrying a full cup o' joe, and I don't spill a drop along the way. It's such a great feeling to be here that I just go ahead and buzz up to the tunnel and back first..

Other than a couple of granola hiker girls, I've got the place to myself.  I take this as a good sign for the beginning of the park's busiest week of the year..

Soon enough I've got my stuff squared away for the day and am ready to get down to the business of why I'm here..



After a quick stop at the tunnel, I figure I'll head down River Road East for a bit and see what's there...





Although I'm just barely in, I already like this a lot..



Little Miss Adrienne Lynne (say it fast) seems to like it as well...





The sky is as huge as the desert..



Got Chisos?!





This spur road goes to a couple of nice campsites near the river..





Fun.







And my new favorite FaceBook profile pic..







I'm reasonably certain that's Mexico back there...





In more ways than one such as I would have imagined, it's kind of one big gravel parking lot out here..



John

[RichardM]

Love the night shots. What camera and settings did you use?

[scarysharkface]

At this point I've covered maybe five miles.







Sometimes reality has a certain wonkyness to it..



Every direction has a spectacular view..



I connect with Glenn Springs Road and stop for a bit of water. It's only a little over 60 degrees out here, but deceptively dry. I notice that I'm tired and don't have to pee, which are both signs that I need to drink more water..



And walk around for a bit..



And take some pictures..





Even though you can't see it in any of the photographs, I did bring my camera..







These guys are everywhere..



And these are fun when you're whipping around a turn and one's hanging right out in the middle of your line..







Time to start heading back, since I don't really have any idea what time it actually is. The sun is deceiving in Winter. Being low all day, I find that I don't realize that it's about to go down until I've only got half an hour of daylight (or less) left. So I'm a little paranoid and return to civilization at the first twinge of concern..

On the way back out, though, I grab some Mexico shots. These people are so close, and used to frequent Rio Grande Village daily. The locals are all friends, if not family, and the closing of what had always been a permeable border inflicts a hardship on both sides.





By now I'm convinced that I'm a total badass. Some of the washes were reasonably rough with steep entry/exit, and there were sand and some decently-rocky sections.

Then I pass a white Dodge Caravan that has just negotiated the most difficult wash I'd been through today. I'm telling myself that he aired-down, but I don't think he probably did. He did tell me that his wife had to get out several times so he could clear obstacles. He was waiting for a Toyota 4Runner to catch up, and after they cleared I continued with a more sullen sense of humility back to camp..

So I'm pulling up to the little store and there are a couple of bikes parked out front. The riders are sitting at a nearby picnic table, eyeing me with interest and big smiles.

I pull up and remove my helmet.

Their jaws drop and smiles disappear.

It seems that a friend of theirs has a nearly identical bike and hi-viz suit.

BigDon and CalgaryYogi from advrider.com turn out to be decent folk, nonetheless.



John

[scarysharkface]

Love the night shots. What camera and settings did you use?

If memory serves, ISO800, f4.5, 25 or 30 second exposure with a Canon EOS 50D and a Tamron 18-270mm lens.  I'm quite happy with that setup.