Tucson to Big Bend NP, *with fotos at end*

[dolanz]

Me, my co-pilot Kim and a friend are heading out on a 1200 mile, 4 day trip to the Big Bend NP in Texas. We will head east on I-10 until we get across the border, then we take secondary highways along the US Mex border to El Paso, then south to Alpine the first day. That will be the longest day of the trip with just over 500 miles. After that we will spend a day and a half checking out the park and the surrounding areas.

The second night we will be treating ourselves by staying at the Lajitas Resort and Spa in Terlingua, TX. Kim is already making plans to find the spa part of the resort...

We are leaving April 9, returning on the 12th. Will post some pics when we get back.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Sounds like a great ride. I am looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[Jared]

Have fun and ride safe!

[chainsaw]

Love that ride along the Rio Grande from Persideo to Terlingua. Make sure you have plenty of gas when in that area. I also liked the signs in Big Bend that say "Watch out for Bears" freaked me out when I first saw them.

[pirate]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Ride safely and give us a report when you return.

[dolanz]

We (My wife Kim, Marty and I) left on Friday morning from Tucson at 8 am with our bags packed and our spirits high. Our friend Marty has done this trip each year for the last few years, and was our unofficial guide. We took I10 just past the NM border, then headed south on secondary highways that ran along the Mexican border through some pretty deserted small towns. Traveling east we stopped for lunch in El Paso and visited Barnett HD, supposedly the largest HD dealer in the U.S. When Friday finished for us at 9:30 pm, 2 time zones away, we had covered just over 500 miles and were in a town that closes down for the day at 9:00 pm. Doritos and cheese sticks from the local mini mart was the best we could do for dinner in Alpine TX.

The next day we were sightseeing in Big Bend NP. The Park is not very busy and traffic on the roads was virtually non existent. The park ranger told us upon our entrance that only 48 vehicles had checked in that day so far! We took our time and visited the river, the mountains and just sucked up the rugged scenery. We made for our lodging at Lajitas resort, and got there in plenty of time to enjoy food and drinks in the lounge. This resort is really nice and was full of motorcyclists from all over. There were 53 members of the Austin HOG chapter there on their annual ride to the park.

Sunday we took off north up the 170 in the Big Bend Ranch area. This road is a motorcyclists dream. It follows the Rio Grande river an took us through gorges, over hills with twists and turns all the way. Again, only a few other vehicles seen again this day. We ended our day in El Paso for our last night on the road.

When I parked the bike on Monday at our house, we had logged 1,350 miles on this adventure. My wife and I had a great time and saw some real neat things along the way. She felt that 500 miles on the first day was about 100 miles more than we needed. She'll come around....

Photos are here: http://www.meetup.com/ArizonaLongRiders/photos/885249/

[BudMan]

Nice pictures! Looks like it was a great time.
Is the Lajitas resort in Terlingua?

[dolanz]

Originally Posted by BudMan

Nice pictures! Looks like it was a great time.
Is the Lajitas resort in Terlingua?

Just west of Terlingua a few miles on the river.

[skeeter]

Nice. Brings up memories.
Didn't make the Chisos Basin?

[dolanz]

Originally Posted by skeeter

Nice. Brings up memories.
Didn't make the Chisos Basin?

Chisos basin was done on Saturday, its about 4000 foot elevation. Quite a few extremely steep switch backs going into the visitors center.

Highly recommend the trip.

[Cajunrider]

Great pictures. Looks like the weather was fabulous. Didn't see any swimmers?