JT's Tx Big Bend Adventure

Me and my wife, Terri, took a 2500+ mile, 7 day motorcycle trip from Houston to the Big Bend/Davis Mountains area. We had put a lot of planning into this trip but as you know, things change. We had to move the trip up 3 weeks because my wife is starting a new job. I debated whether to take the 76 KZ or the 93 ZR1100. The ZR1100 won, I was worried about the KZ being stolen from the motels and the ZR had better suspension to handle the weight of all the gear and riding two up. I had installed a new rear tire, chain, sprockets, checked and prepped the bike for the trip, and bought new saddle bags and a tank bag. At the last moment I installed the full Windshield due to the rain I knew we would encounter.




Then the rains came the day before we were supposed to leave and then we found out our credit card had been compromised. We had to cancel the card and wait an additional day for the new credit card to arrive. Finally, we saw a break in the rain though it was still drizzling. We put on full rain gear, left in a heavy sprinkle and after 45 minutes it started raining again for about the next 90 minutes.

Several times in the past, the ZR has shut down and would not restart until it cooled off. This only happened a couple of times after riding the bike at a high RPM for an extended period of time. I felt it was a heat-related issue, probably affecting the ignition pick-up sensor. We broke down immediately after the rain stopped – appeared to be the same problem. Then again 30 minutes later…. And again about another 30 minutes later. I tried cooling the sensor with a wet rag, but that did not help. So, I then started checking other areas – pulled off the fuel line, turned the petcock to prime. Fuel flowed freely. Hooked the fuel line back up, turned on the fuel and it kept flowing, flowing and flowing. It was obvious the carburetors were empty, as the fuel was having to refill them. I found two issues that may have caused this: [1] the fuel filter was actually a small lawnmower-type and might not have been capable of flowing enough fuel for an 1100cc engine; and/or [2] the fuel tank vent tube was kinked. This could have created a vacuum in the fuel tank to the point that fuel was not flowing to the carburetors. I repaired both issues after numerous stops at various Auto Zones. Lo and behold, had no further fuel issues the remainder of the trip.

We spent the night in Marble Falls, waking up to a beautiful morning. We headed out on RM 1431 for a back roads adventure through the upper Hill Country. We stopped at the Regency Suspension Bridge that swayed with the wind and had lots of bad wood. One of the last usable Suspension Bridges in Texas. Located near Goldthwaite, Tx stretching over the Colorado River.
The posted weight capacity of this bridge is 5000 lbs. Keep in mind that a Chevy Suburban would be over the gross weight limit.


We spent another night in San Angelo after touring Fort Chadbournne, the first of the five forts on our trip. We headed for Fort Stockton the next morning, again taking back roads and visiting little-known sites, as well as Fort Lancaster. At Fort Stockton, we took the mandatory pic in front of Paisano Pete (the world’s largest roadrunner); did a drive-by of Historic Fort Stockton as well as the walking tour (where none of the buildings were open for viewing). While in Fort Stockton, I noticed the front tire was looking worn and determined it would not survive the entire trip. The closest place I could find a tire was in Odessa, Texas so we spent the next day driving to Odessa for a new Dunlop D205 front tire. We then headed through the desert on the most boring drive of our entire lives – down I-20 to I-20 leading into the Davis Mountains. It was hot, damn hot, especially with the full windshield not only blocking all air flow from cooling me, but also creating a vacuum that sucked me into the handle bars and was extremely fatiguing on my hands and wrists. By the way, if you ever have to bear this particular stretch of highway, don’t bother stopping at the Monahans Sandhills (it was more like Galveston beach dunes, even after Ike) or the Peyote Rattlesnake Bomber Base, which does not even have an airfield or airplanes outside, only open on the weekend.


We emerged out of the desert into the Davis Mountains down Highway 118.
This road was very pleasant. The area was littered with both live and dead wildlife, which included deer, buzzards, snakes and javelina (the locals call them “suicide pigs” because they jump into the road more than deer). There were carcasses left all over, including a dead deer in front of someone’s house – they didn’t even move it! We even had 2 javelina try to jump in front of the bike, but a strong blast of my loud horns changed their minds. At one point, I saw a flamingo pink snake in the road. I stopped and turned around to check it out and it slithered into the grass. When I told my wife I saw a pink snake she thought I was mistaken on the color. Later in the area, I saw another one in the road and hit it so I could pull over and show my wife I was not crazy. As we were checking out the snake, an 18-wheeler came along and intentionally ran over it. There is nothing like the sound of an 18-wheeler running over a full-size snake. I pulled the snake to the side of the road so the buzzards could safely feast. This snake was 6 feet long. I found out later it is called a Western coachwhip, locally known as a red racer.




We checked into the Hotel Limpia for two nights in Fort Davis, built in the late 1800’s. We highly recommend this hotel if you are ever in the area. We got to Fort Davis just in time to catch the Star Party at the MacDonald Observatory. We attended a presentation after dark, pointing out the constellations and zodiac, as well as sharing history. The presenter was pointing out certain stars and formations with a very cool green laser that appeared to touch the stars. The star-filled sky was as I remembered as a child and have not seen since, it was just a blanket of stars. The surrounding communities black out their lights at night so as not to interfere with the Observatory’s showing. We then got to look through various telescopes and saw stars over 25m light years away, two galaxies, and Saturn with 5 moons. Upon leaving the Observatory at night, we were sure to use a car in front of us as a blocker for the abundant wildlife in the area.


The next day we headed into Big Bend. More damn desert – it is a shame that it takes soooo long to get to anything worth seeing. Most of the area was just a desolate wasteland. We passed many dried up streams and rivers that would have been so pretty if only they had water, including the Rio Grande (not much water – you could easily walk across it). We went to the Terlingua Ghost Town, which had an interesting history as a mercury mining town in the early 1900’s through World War II. Out of 400 graves, no one died of mercury poisoning. To tell you how hot it was though, the wax in the candles left on the graves were completely melted to liquid. The drive between Terlingua and Presidio was pretty, running along the Rio Grande. We passed Fort Leaton – it was on Terri’s tour list but I couldn’t bear another fort tour. Of course, due to the reports of the drug wars, I was packing a loaded pistol. Then we came to a border patrol checkpoint just south of Marfa, Texas. All they asked was if we were U.S. citizens. No search, no dogs – we could have had 20 lbs of cocaine in the tank bag and could have gotten through with a smile – not much investigation. We decided to skip the Marfa Lights, since I burst Terri’s bubble when I told her the experience only happened unpredictably a few times a year.


The next day we rode the scenic loop through the Davis Mountains, including Highway 118 again. Terri then toured the Fort Davis Historic Site, while I passed (I was forted out) – she did say it was very interesting. Then, we left on Highway 17 to Balmorhea. By this point, the storms were coming up from behind and we were trying to stay ahead of the heavy rain and lightning. The scenery was beautiful through this area. We did stop briefly at Balmorhea, which has the largest natural spring-feed pool in Texas. The pool, built during the Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps, holds 3.5 million gallons of water and is three to 25 feet deep. It is a man-made aquarium, teeming with Mexican tetras, pupfish, turtles, bass, catfish, soft-shell turtles and two endangered species — the Comanche Springs pupfish and the Pecos mosquito fish.


We drove like crazy and made Junction, Tx that evening. The next day we got up and did a wonderful drive along various farm roads in the lower hill country, including the Leakey area. We ended up in San Marcos that evening. We did ride down what the Texas magazine said was the most scenic drive in Texas, the Devil’s Backbone. Wow, what a disappointment – about 1 mile was worth the trip out of 24 miles. The next day was farm roads heading home. We enjoyed our brief stay at Charley’s Bar & Grill in Lexington, a nice little town.

We made it home right before sunset, safe & sound.

Check out all the Pics at:
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/jtmcculloch/2009%20Big%20Bend/

Wow, great story... You should be writing for one of the touring bike magazines...

thanks that was a cool write up on your ride i showed it to my girl.....good photos too...ditto on doing some magazine right ups...you are writing better than the ones i've seen....thanks for the texas tour....craig

Glad you and Terri had a good time. Great pics too. Nice recap. Maybe we can plan a Caddo lake ride in the future.

Glad you had a good time and thanks for the cool pix. I like the snake.
Mark