As usual breakfast at the Cafe Expresso y Poco Mas and then into Big Bend National Park.
This was the day we paid our entrance. They allowed with my Annual Pass on either bike in but two had to pay the $25 entrance fee (good for a week).
We made our way to Santa Elena´s Canyon on Old Maverick Road and when we got there, Julio took out his drone and made some amazing drone footage. Unfortunately this would be the last videos of the drone as with the trepidation on the bike due to heavy off-road riding the drone got damaged.
We then rode the 30 miles of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and enjoyed the amazing views. One of the favorites where we stopped to take photos and videos was The Sotol Vista Overlook which perched high above the desert floor rewarded us, an unparalleled vista of the entire western side of Big Bend National Park, including magnificent Santa Elena Canyon in the distance.
We then made our way all the way East to the Rio Grande Village where we stopped for a quick sandwich lunch.
Next we made our way to Boquillas where we rode to the Overlook, stopped the bikes and walked around seeing in he distance the Boquillas village snd enjoyed the Sierra del Carmens and Boquillas Canyon. We also look at the local trinkets on display.
By then we were feeling that the food we had for lunch and the hydration was working well and it was tie to tame one of the most difficult roads in the par ... Old Ore Road. Due to COVID and not as much traffic, the maintenance being done on the road is not of the highest quality which makes riding the road an absolute blast.
Used in the early 1900s to transport ore from Mexican mines to the railroad station at Marathon, the 26.5 miles of Old Ore Road generally follows the route used by mule and pack trains a century ago. So lots of fun for our motorcycles.
The Old Ore Road is very rocky and rough and requires a sturdy hand and an excellent vehicle with the right type of tires to negotiate. We were fine and rode it in a good time from South to North.
We came out on the US385 and then rode it all the way around to Panther Junction and onwards to the exit of the park.
For the night we wanted to eat at a 5-star resort in the area called the Lajitas Golf Resort. We had a shower, put our best clothes on and drove the car to the resort. To our surprise we were told we could NOT eat dinner as we were not staying in the resort. This was a Tuesday evening and the restaurant was half empty. Blew our minds away but more was to come in our experience with this 5?-star resort. We found a bakery inside the resort that served pizzas so we put an order in. After one hour they were still promising the pizzas were being done. Bottom line we never saw our pizzas and had to eat what some other people that we met gave us. They did give us the money back.
A funny story though was that the people we met, and gave us some of their pizza, were appalled by what happened to us and as they knew the owner, they were going to tell him about our experience. Karma is a bitch.
One of the guys in this party of four spoke with a South African accent and it turned out we attended the same University over 40 years ago.
We also learned that the Robert E. Lee statue that was taken down from Naval Air Station on the west side of Mountain Creek Lake in Dallas and sold for $1.4M has now found a new home in the resort.
What a day ...
We rode for 173 miles and just over 5 hours, most of the time off-road.
Make Life a Ride !
No comments:
Post a Comment