Big Bend!

[Joe Nardy]

Tomorrow morning, GBW, wellsmw, myself and two non-GSR folks will be flying to Texas to spend a couple days riding dual-sport bikes in the Big Bend area. First Timer is driving out from Tucson to meet us. There are two parks there, Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park that we plan to ride through. We found an awesome place to stay, The Rio Grande Rock House, right on the Rio Grande River near the parks. Our friends Dan and Debbie from GSM Motorent in Townsend TN spend a couple months at Big Bend every winter and have been telling us for a few years how great it is out there. They bring a few of their rental bikes with them so they will be supplying our mounts, except for Ryan who will be trailering his newly purchased CRF450X. We will be riding Kawasaki KLR 650 and KLX250, Yamaha WR250R, and Suzuki DR650 dual-sports.

I think we're going to have a great time! We'll have plenty of pics and stories when we return next week.

Thanks,
Joe

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Joe, sounds like a great place to have some fun, hope all goes well for the crew. So when are you going to star in the Redbull X Fighter show, cheers?

[Testarossa]

Ahh Big Bend. You should enjoy yourself out there at this time of year. My wife and I used to camp out there before we had our kids. I haven't been in many years. Maybe it's time to plan a trip.

[salty_monk]

Have fun! Just got back from a weekend dual sporting out in Death Valley I like that style of riding a lot

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Sounds like a great trip! I plan to go camping there someday. Very isolated. Very quiet much of the year. Have fun!

[whereiwannabe]

I used to ride mountain bike there in February for many years. If you get a chance check out the night life at the Starlight in Terlingua.

Hope y'all have a great time!

[Joe Nardy]

We're back......

.........after a fantastic trip! We had four days of riding, eating, drinking, laughing, and aching. The only slight downer is that the weather was unseasonably cold. The day before we arrived the high temp was in the 80's. A cold front came through the day we arrived (Friday) and I don't think it ever got above the mid-40's during our trip. It made for very chilly pavement riding but comfortable off-roading. We road a wide variety of terrain; blacktop, gravel roads, sand, and rocks. Everyone did great although there were a couple get-offs, but no bikes or persons suffered any serious damage.

I'm sure the others will post up their impressions but everyone agreed it was a great time and we're already planning a return trip next year.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, there are a couple hundred here.

Many thanks to Greg and Dave who took all the pics posted thus far. If it were left to me there wouldn't be any pics.

Thanks,
Joe

[DanTheMan]

I've only been to Big Bend once, back in Dec of '79. I didn't have a bike to ride then, and my son was a little baby. We just camped there for about 4 days and explored on foot. We got in a homemade rowboat on the Rio Grande paddled by a couple of Mexican boys and visited the little Mexican village across the river (can't do that now). It's a really, really cool place there.

[7981GS]

It looks like a bunch of seasoned veteran riders to me.
Who was the chef with the great taste? Grilled onions and mushrooms in olive oil, YUMMY!



Doesn't look like you had to rough it in the eating department:






Daniel

[bwringer]

Two SMPs?

Unpossible!

[Joe Nardy]

It looks like a bunch of seasoned veteran riders to me.

Hardly... Ryan, Mark, and I have a decent amount of off-road experience, the other three had between a couple and zero days of off-road experience. Everyone did very well and the amount of improvement for the lesser experienced guys from the first day to the second day was unbelievable. They were cruising with ease over stuff they wouldn't have even attempted on the first day.

Who was the chef with the great taste? Grilled onions and mushrooms in olive oil, YUMMY!

Doesn't look like you had to rough it in the eating department

Several guys did the cooking. GBW did an awesome job grilling the steaks while others did mushrooms, onions, salad, garlic bread, etc. I do not possess any cooking skills so I busied myself getting a nice fire going in the fireplace.

Thanks,
Joe

[BassCliff]

Hey Joe,

A most excellent adventure! Thanks for all the pictures. Riding on all that dirt looks like fun.

All the best,

Cliff

[salty_monk]

Great minds think alike....





What's with the Krusty boots? (red)

Me & my pig... 21 miles off road & I finally got a phone signal for the first time in 2 days! (Checking the Mrs hadn't dropped the baby in my absence.... luckily it's still cooking )



Looks like a lot of fun... maybe next year!! I'd like to dry a real dirt bike...

[gbw]

What's with the Krusty boots? (red)

What? You don't like my ruby slippers??? I have them so that when I'm tumbling head over heals (as I did several times on this trip) I can click the heels together and say, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home!"

Seriously, I bought them off Craig's List for $50. They were the only ones available in my size at the time I needed them. They are hard core motocross boots. Huge, stiff, lots of shin and ankle protection. Regardless of color they saved my ankles several times so I love them.

This was an epic adventure for me. I only had one days off-pavement riding prior to this and it gets addictive. Wish I lived closer to better dual-sport riding. It was great fun, very challenging, and put me a very zen like state of mind.

Every part of this trip, except the unseasonably cold temps, was fantastic! Especially the company

[salty_monk]

Yes, I love the dual sport stuff too. I have to ride an hour to get to some but I wish it was closer....

Is that a cigar I see?



My craigslist dirtbike boots are blue... $40. You can't go wrong at that.