EK Motorsports

First off....this is a small report of my first trip to Big Bend.....paved trip that is. I will definitely go back and hopefully for an all dirt ride. Anyways.....the name "mancation" came from one of the guys as did the time zone pun. More about that later.....here come the pix.........

We met at the Dixie House Cafe off Hulen.


A friend of ours, Vince, met us and took a picture of the crew before we headed westward.


We then headed SW on 377 all the way to Brownwood for our second stop. We stopped in Benbrook for our first fill up so we would all be on the same page. Met up a guy we worked with in Benbrook. He was with a bunch of Goldwings with trailers....they were headed to Luckenbach.

Here we are getting bundled up again after a short beak...




So....somewhere after Brownwood and before San Angelo......my bike all of a sudden was acting funny.....like it didn't want to go. Now this only happened for several seconds that I noticed. I kept opening the throttle but it didn't pick up like normal....then *bam*.....it opened up like normal, like nothing was wrong. Brad, who was behind me, kept up on my left very quickly and was pointing me over to the shoulder. As I pulled over, I felt my rear brake go all the way down to the stop.....no brake. I immediately knew what happened...sort of. Brad was yelling..."You're on fire!!!!" Come to find out that the Capo needs a bit of slack in the pedal or it will stick at times and overheat. Well it did overheat and it melted the pistons and seals right out of the caliper. Here I am taking the pads and pistons out of the rear caliper so we can continue on.....




Took all of about 10 minutes or so......until this happened......



James went to get back on the VFR and lost his footing on the downside of the roadside/grass being that it had a gradual slope. Just a broken mirror and a few minor scratches.....not bad at all. He was thankful that the bike fell mostly on the grassy part.

Another break in San Angelo.....


And Rankin......


Mark was given this as a mometo for the trip...


We finally make it to Ft. Stockton and start our southward drive in Alpine. However, we saw a few motorists flashing their lights. No big deal, we slowed down to a respectable speed just in case.....but that wasn't good enough as we came up on this check point.



Three tickets later.....and we're outta there!!! Two for inspections and one for the motorcycle endorsement.......don't ask.
So, we finally make it into Alpine and check in.




It was kinda tight for 5 amigos.....but we made it work with a few air matresses. We then decided to get some grub and call it a night as we knew the next days to come were gonna be full. The guy at the front desk suggested Texas Fusion as they had ribs on Friday nights.



A few shots taken from outside Texas Fusion.



The story about the time zone was that we were waiting for a band to start playing at the Railroad Blues. Mark insisted we were in another time zone and that we had an extra hour to wait. After our waitress set him straight.....we never let him live it down all weekend.

So day 2 saw us up not too early in the morning. Doing a little chain lubing and tire pressure checking, then heading down to La Trattoria for some breakfast and hot cup o' joe.



This is where we met Capt Bob from GA. He is the guy in Tourmeisters report that had the cool camo'ed out Ural. Capt Bob bought some property in Terlingua. He had asked us about our itinerary and lodging for the night. He recommended the meeting him at the Starlight that night as they were having a few festivities going on.



La Trattoria had internet service and a computer to boot. So I made a quick entry on TWT just to see if anyone was interested in the trip.............well there was one person interested.....Do you know who??

Here is a few pics just south of Alpine...





Now.....who was interested in our trip???? It was Voni.......as my GPS was coming up on their property, I didn't know what to expect. Well, it looked like their property was close to the road so I would recognize a few things but lo and behold.....she was on the road and snapped a picture of us pulling up!!!! I couldn't believe it. She said that she had just read the report and was expecting us as she went to meet a neighbor. Here is her picture:



Paul and Voni were so nice and hospitable. Gave us the tour and recommendations on gas and the nightlife and dinner. Here is their lovely abode.









We even got to sign their guestbook.........



From there we headed on down to the Study Butte "mall" to get fuel before entering the park. Be ready to meet some locals.......



After fueling and getting some agua and jerky.....we headed on down to park entrance for a few well awaited candids.





Admission....$10. Speed limit.....ridiculous. Scenery......gorgeous. Sun........skin burneous. I think we all got some sort of sun burn on this day. It got up to 98* but the wind was blowing somewhat and you really couldn't tell it was hot.....til it was too late. Take sunblock people!!!

A few stops before making our way down to the canyon.

Mule Ears and surroundings:






I think this next stop was called Lost Canyon. In one of my shots....you can see St Elena Canyon in the distance.









The canyon looked huge in the distance and just kept getting larger the closer you got. Not just the canyon, but all of the Big Bend area cannot be captured on film. The essence of the place is lost in pictures........what I am trying to say is that you have to be there to appreciate its splendor. Enjoy these.













OK....after all this, we were ready to head back and get our room so we could start the night.....eat, drink and mingle. Right?

Chisos Motel aka Easter Egg Valley





Brad liked this horse.....he could touch the ground!!



Room......








OK......still more to come. I have a few pics from Saturday night.........crazy Terlingua.....almost felt like the movie "Dusk til Dawn".

OK...we get settled in to our purple little cabin and get cleaned up for the night. So we head up to the ghost town for a bite to eat and see what's up at the Starlight.





We actually did get to see Capt Bob again as well as Voni and Paul. We also got to meet Roger aka Uncle. Here we are chatting outside waiting to get a seat inside.



The Starlight had a little theater act going on but it was about over. We were waiting to eat while others were waiting to catch the film festival outback. Here is what some of the 2 best dishes looked like. The second pic is chicken fried antelope.





A few locals keeping us busy.....


After we ate and had a few tasty margaritas, we headed down to the Boathouse per Capt Bobs advice.......after we got a shot of this by the bikes....





Some of us felt better than others.....



A teenage band was playing that night. Not the best but it didn't seem to bother the locals.......



You're my boy, Blue!!!!!!



When we were leaving the Boathouse......here's what we found in the parking lot? How convenient.



From there we followed Capt Bob down to La Kiva to kill the night. Pretty neat place with a different bathroom setting and weird basement/side dungeon. Some of these pics were taken in complete darkness.









What?? No urinal......oh.....that IS the urinal..........



......and that is IN the urinal???? It actually smelled fine in there.



sink.....I think....





Well....that is for the night. In my last installment.....you'll see some pics from the famous River Road 170 and some cool shots from Ft Davis.

Peace.......

Day 3 is going to consist of 170 River Road to Presidio then north to Shaftner, Marfa and Ft Davis.

After getting up and waking the rest of the crew up, we head just a few yards away to Kathy's and got some coffee and breakfast burritos. Signed Kathy's guestbook and got a keychain for the Capo. Uncle was there as well. I have to say this, we didn't have any bad food on the entire trip but we also had some insight on where to go and where not to.



After some of the locals left, we chatted with Uncle about Terlingua, DSing and his travels.



It was getting late but no one seemed to mind. Terlingua kinda has this effect on you, like a vortex. I think that is why some people stay there or come back. From there we stopped at Passing Wind for a few quick shots before heading out. We figured we'd be back sometime in the future to get more shots of the ghost town.





Onward ho......so we head out 170 with many reminders from locals and from others who have been about the road and rocks and livestock, etc. We do the speed limit for the most part as we are enjoying the road and the scenery.

Lajitas......and behind my bike is Mexico.





Some cool shots from atop a good spot on 170.





I put Mark in the photo for reference but it still doesn't do it justice.



Went past Presidio and started to head north to Shaftner. We were going to stop but we blinked and Shaftner was gone. The wind was really kicking out butts well so we were making good time to get to Marfa for fuel. Some of us didn't make it........just 5 miles short of Marfa.



Thanks Mark....



After a quick fuel stop both for our tanks and bellies, we head up to the McDonald observatory for a looksie. The famous Davis loop is awesome.....just watch out for wildlife!!





The sundial....



the theater...



We were already hungry so we finished the loop and went back to Ft Davis for some grub. Some places were closed but some were open.....good thing.





And.....the grub.....at the Chuck Wagon....





Well.....after that we were so exhausted that we went straight back to Alpine and to our room at the Antelope.....and never went back out. We chilled out went to bed early so we could get an early start to venture back home. No pictures for day 4.......which means no unscheduled stops...which is a good thing.

I am hoping to get some video uploaded so I'll see what I can do about posting some.

That's it for the report. I hoped you liked the pics and the journey......peace.