Trip Report – Southern States to Big Bend Texas.

by Bill Carr

It was a bright sunny day as I pulled out of the Ducati Indianapolis parking lot to head off to Florida. The original plan was for Troy Graham, one of the charter Hooligans, John Hallman, my long time riding buddy, and myself to ride deep into Mexico. However, due to State Dept warnings about travel in Mexico we bagged our plans and decided to ride through the southern coastal states to Big Bend National Park and the Texas Hill Country. The goal was to get in some good riding and eat lots of fresh seafood and BBQ.

My plan was to give my 07 Multistrada a good work out as an adventure tourer. My other objective was to test the new Dainese D-dry riding jacket and pants and the Kriega 20 litre tailpack in a wide variety of riding conditions. The multi was outfitted with a skid plate, thanks to Troy Graham, frame sliders, GPS mount, Powerlet plug, right side panel net, side panniers, hand guards, Moto-lights and Dunlop D616 tires. The Termi slip-ons with ECU have been on the bike since it was our demo.

As I hit I-65 south to head to Daytona and the final two days of bike week I realized I would be fighting a 25-35 mph hour headwind that was not only annoying, but it also reduced my fuel mileage to well below 40 MPG. One of the things I relearned on this trip was that I needed to pay more attention to my trip odometer than my fuel gauge. I really knew that intuitively but sometimes I have to learn things all over again. When my fuel gauge read almost empty (one mark left) I had almost a gallon or 40 plus miles remaining. At least I never ran out of gas.

I made it to Smyrna Tennessee about 8:00PM.

The next day I had a run of over 700 miles to make it to Daytona for the 200. I told Gene Bircham our sponsored 848 rider in the 200 that I would try and get down in time to help in the pits. Unfortunately I was held up with a lot of construction that slowed me up and I arrived 15 minutes after the race started and I went on to New Smyrna Beach to John’s house and watched the race on speed. We spent two days in New Smyrna eating some good food at Clancey’s and attended Jerry Wood’s bike auction in DeLand where I purchased a museum quality 1968 narrow case 250cc Ducati race bike. The next morning we headed west across central Florida toward Appalachaicola ,Fl. On the way we traveled through some of the worst and the best of Florida. The road through the panhandle along the Gulf was really old Florida with pine forests, rivers and bays. This area is famous for shrimp, oysters, crab, and flounder. It was our plan to eat only fresh seafood or BBQ all the way to Texas. So far so good. We had dinner that evening with Joel, a cross country bicyclist riding east to west coast.

The next morning we headed for New Orleans. Unfortunately in an attempt to stay off the slab we took US 98 &90 all the way to NO. The only enjoyable riding was in the countryside east of Mobile, AL riding along the Gulf through Biloxi, Pass Christian, and on to NO through the Bayou. We did stop near Mobile for some fresh black grouper. After checking in the hotel in the French Quarter we headed for Bourbon Street. It was a party as always, even more now that spring break was in full swing. We had some great seafood gumbo and a Muffalata right off Bourbon Street and listened to some jazz while drinking an 8 dollar beer. Also Troy notified us that he would not be able to join us due to work complications. The next two days we stayed in NO to wait out the weather front that was in central and eastern Texas. So we enjoyed NO. Both mornings we got up late and walked to Café Du monde for Café A Late’ and Bignets . I also needed an oil change and Ducati NO was helpful in working me in for a quickie. Zach, the owners’ son and GM welcomed us with a tour of their beautiful new dealership in the warehouse district. We then went to the central grocery for a world famous Muffalata and then took a streetcar through The Garden District. The second day we hit the galleries and antique shops before having lunch at Felix’s Oyster bar and dinner at the ACME oyster house. My power to weight ratio was suffering. When we headed out of town the next morning I was over NO and ready to move on. By the way while I was in NO Travis, our parts manager and shipper at the Dealership in Indy overnighted my Airhawk seat. More than a couple days on the Multi seat or any seat for that matter and my butt is screaming. We knew that eventually we were going to hit the front since while we were trying to wait it out it didn’t move at all. The morning was fine, but after we stopped at a great Creole restaurant in Abbeville, LA it was looking like rain. As we rode through the bayou country SW of NO the temperature dropped to the mid forties and it started to rain. We passed mile after mile of Backwater Rivers, swamps, and inlets that emptied out into the gulf. At one fuel stop I was informed by some locals to watch for gators that only ate northerners. We had enough of the heavy rain so we headed north to Lake Charles and jumped on the interstate to expedite our way west into Texas. By the time we got to Beaumont it was getting dark and the truck spray was making it hard to be safe so we pulled off, got a room, and had some more good Gulf seafood for dinner.

The next morning it was still cold(er) and raining. The front just would not move, but we were behind and waiting was not an option. We hit the road with our Gerbings on hi. I continued to be impressed with the waterproof capability of my new Dainese D-dry gear. I thought about John and me passing this way, but in reverse, on a coast to coast iron butt 50 cc ride in 2002. It was 95 degrees and bone dry. What a contrast to the conditions today. After detours around Houston and San Antonio we hit our objective for the day around 4:00. Rudy’s BBQ in Leon SpringsIs is written up in most Texas BBQ articles. It didn’t disappoint. After being on the slab in the rain all day warm food hit the spot. I recommend the chopped brisket, pork, and turkey and the sides of creamed corn and BBQ beans. If it’s one main meal a day Texas BBQ fills the bill. (eat ride eat ride sleep – repeat.)

The next morning as we left the hotel in Berne it was 43 degrees and light rain. That wasn’t what the weather report said the night before. The front would just not move on. Luckily as we rolled a little further into the hill country the rain gave up and the sun came out, although it was still a bit cool.

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We hit some nice sweepers and the Dunlops had some good grip. We really just skimmed the hill country. When we turned south on 173 at Bandera the road was flattening out with less curves. When we turned back onto US 90 west that we had been on at one time or another since leaving Florida we were heading out into flat arid west Texas scrub brush country. After leaving Del Rio US 90 skirts the border with Mexico. There was only one border patrol check point, but I counted four or five patrols since this area is prime for illegal access into the US. As we crossed the Pecos River I was reminded of Judge Roy Bean, the only law west of the Pecos in the old west. There is a Judge Roy Bean museum near Langtry. We were now in the desert with beautiful views of distant mountains and buttes. We stopped in Sanderson to refuel because it was the last gas for 54 miles and I had about a quarter tank left. I had been using my gas gage to determine when I needed to refuel. I was tying to stop when I had two marks left on my gage which was usually around 165-180 miles depending on my speed. My tank would take about four gallons. Since the Multi tank holds 5.3 gal I had plenty of reserve. It is good to have a margin like that when you are out in West Texas where there can be a good distance between towns and some towns have no gas stations.

We pulled into Marfa in the early PM. Time to get into the hotel, have a margarita, and chill before dinner. Marfa, sounds like Martha with a lisp, is where a number of movies were filmed including Giant, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. The town is actually an art Gallery. Much of the town was purchased in the 70’s by Donald Judd, a well known minimalist sculpture and artist. I lost the coin toss and won the roll away at the Hotel Paisano. The hotel was designed in the early 1900’s by Henry Trost, a famous architect affiliated with Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, who had a role in designing the Carson Pirie and Scott building in Chicago. Marfa is a jewel in the desert and will surprise anyone visiting there.

We took the next morning to walk around Marfa and try to guess which buildings were currently functional and which ones were minimalist art. After washing the the last few days of road gunk off the bikes we rode north to do the Ft Davis Baldy Peak loop. The dotted line on the map denoted a scenic route and it didn’t disappoint us with great curves and switchbacks up to the University of Texas observatory at 6800 ft.

The next morning we packed up and left Marfa as soon as the temperature rose above 40 degrees. The 60 mile ride took us by Shafter, an old mining ghost town and a large rock formation that resembled Lincoln’s head. We were hoping to have breakfast in Presidio, but the town had no open restaurant that we could find. We headed southeast along the Rio Grande toward Terlingua as we descended into many arroyos where the water marks were as high as 6 feet. The road was like a roller coaster following the meandering Rio Grande with one sharp Ascent and descent after another spaced out with a lot of curves. The scenery was beautiful spring Desert and I wanted to stop at a number of points for pictures, but was I didn’t want to interrupt the Ride. Since we missed breakfast we stopped in Terlingua for a lunch of chile, cornbread, and a monster cinnamon roll. After looking in vain for a motorcycle shop in Study Butte we entered Big Bend National Park. We sampled the park with a ride to Panther junction and then out the north entrance toward Marathon for the next two nights stay. The spring desert was alive with flowers in bloom and green vegetation from the last few days of rain. About five miles south of the entrance we passed a ranger at about 20 mph over the 45mph speed limit in the park. I guess he was in a hurry to get somewhere because all we got was a sign from him to slow down. We arrived at the historic Gage hotel, also designed by the same architect that did the Paisano. It was truly a cowboy hotel that has become pretty high end for being in the middle of nowhere. There is an addition with $200 plus rooms, a spa and gormet restaurant. The best part of the hotel is the old part that has $99 small rooms with shared bathrooms and also the white buffalo bar that has the only mounted white buffalo head existence.

After breakfast at the Gage we headed back to Big Bend. We took the road up through Green Gulch to the Chisos Mountain Lodge. Leaving the desert behind, we climbed up a couple thousand feet into a mountain climate with vegetation of juniper, small oaks, and pinyon pine. We had to exercise caution on the switchbacks since this was the parks most popular area and the roads were crowded with cars and people coming up to hike the trails. Since it was so crowded we headed back down to the desert and turned south toward the Rio Grande. The views were breathtaking as we descended from the high country. At one point a white tipped Hawk flew so close to me that I could make out the detail on its’ feathers. The Ross Maxwell scenic drive south to the Santa Elana canyon was the best ride in the park where you had great views, wide sweepers, and elevation changes to make it interesting. Santa Elana Canyon was 1500 ft deep cut by the Rio Grande over millions of years. After checking out the mouth of the canyon and all of the rafters and kayakers we headed back to Panther junction and then again south to Boquillas canyon where we planned to hike. When we got there it was 94 degrees with no breeze and we decided a better decision to bag the hike and head back to Marathon and the White Buffalo for a beer, some margarita, and dinner.

In the morning the plan was to leave the gage at sunup and head to Fort Stockton and catch Interstate 10 back East to the hill country. Since my power-let was shorting out I decided to stop at the Ducati dealer in San Antonio to check out my electrical system and battery. We rode north as the sun was rising over the desert and I was glad I had my Arai XD with the visor that kept the sun from blinding me. We booked the 300 mile ride to San Antonio on the interstate in under 3 ½ hours riding time. My Garmin GPS made it easy to track actual riding time vs. total elapse time. The folks at International Motorsports were accommodating and took care of me in checking out my bike. The owner, Kamal, gave me a tour of this impressive dealership.

We were once again close to Rudy’s BBQ so lunch was an easy choice. When we pulled into the La Quinto Inn parking lot there were two BMW GS bikes from Mexico. They were the first of 30 or so bikes from the Falcones M/C club from Monterry, Nuevo Leone. They come to the US every year for some good roads. That evening we enjoyed a beer, some dinner, and International fellowship with the club members. With the commonality of motorcycles the language barrier was minimal. Two of them were on Ducatis (S4RS Tri-colore & 1000DS Multi). I invited all of them to come to Indy for the Moto-GP. The next day it was an all day ride in the hill country and then on to Austin. We met up with the Falcones several times during the day and at breakfast at the Lost Maples Café in Utopia where we had cherry and apple pie. We had heard it was the best pie in Texas. After saying good-bye to the Falcones we headed west to Leakey and then west on 337, the first part of the three sisters route. As we hit one of the many hill crests a sheriff picked us up and turned his flashers on and we knew we were busted. It turns out that the speed limit we thought was 70 is really 55. Using ignorance as an excuse didn’t work and he asked us for our licenses. We had heard this area was heavily patrolled due to heavy motorcycle and sports car traffic. While we were guessing how much a ticket was going to cost the deputy returned our licenses with just a warning. Maybe the fact that we are old guys does pay off. We continued on to Camp Wood and headed north on Ranch Road 187 in the brilliant Texas sunshine. The temperature had climbed to the low 70’s and we cruised past a number of game ranches where we saw both domestic and exotic animals being raised for hunting. We dead ended at Texas 41 where we met up with the other group of Falcones. After warning them to watch out for the sheriff we headed back to Leakey on Ranch Road 336 to complete the twisted sister loop. This last 21 miles was the most technical ride yet in Texas. After refueling in Leakey we headed east on 337 to Lost Maples State Park on some great road with switchbacks and then north on 187 and east on 39/16 toward Fredricksburg. We passed the LBJ ranch on the way to Driftwood to find the Salt Lick BBQ which was really slammed on a Friday night. The roads in Texas are not quite as good as North Carolina, but I will have to give Texas BBQ the nod.

After spending the night on the north side of Austin I headed back to Indy through Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville. Slab all the way. On the way just south of Dallas my left side mirror either fell off or was wrenched off by someone at a refueling stop. I came out of the restroom and there It was just hanging by the wires to the turn signals. A couple of construction workers helped me splint and wire it together enough to make it back to Indy. The entire trip was 5361 miles. The Multistrada met my expectations in every way. It was the best long distance tourer that I have ridden to date. I had absolutely no riding fatigue in my neck, shoulders, arms, hands, or back. The Airhawk seat did save my butt and is necessary on any bike for a long trip. My Dainese D-dry Dawson Jacket and D-dry Hooper Pants were amazing in temperatures ranging from the Low 40’s to the mid 90’s. The Kriega 20 liter waterproof tailpack was easy to use and protected my gear with easy access.