Back on the Road......

It was really misty this morning as I pulled out of the Dixie Dude Ranch......enjoyed my time there very much but was itching to get back on the bike and put some miles in.



The intention was to head south to Del Rio ( to start from tomorrow going west along the Mexican Border) via the '3 sisters' (the 335, 336 & 3337) which are really popular biking roads just west of Bandera (lots of twists, turns, elevation changes.....a real challenge). First of all though I needed to find a new set of tyres.....well a new rear at the very least as mine was pretty much done. I was always going to have to change tyres at some point.....4,000 miles is the average mileage for a year's biking back home and I have done that distance in less then a month!

So I headed north to Kerrville.....was told last night that the towns are all roughly about 30 miles apart as that was a days riding (horse rather than honda of course!).....a dealer there sorted me out with a rear but hadn't got a front for me so they sourced one in Del Rio for me and got them to hold it for me......the valve on the front was also cracked so I needed to get it changed sooner rather than later. Anyways, the rear tyre took an age to get fitted but I made a few friends while I was there....one of the senior guys in the dealership took me into the office and got online to show me the routes and hotels that he had used last weekend in Big Bend National Park which is where I am headed to over the next couple of days......they all love the idea of me just turning up and heading off on my ownsome! Another customer waiting started asking me about my all-weather gear and gave me his details as I was leaving should I need any help along the way.

So then I decided to cut out one of the 3 sisters.....got myself hopelessly lost as far as trying to get myself where I wanted to be and then had to forget the 3 sisters altogether in order to get to Del Rio at a decent time (the best laid plans.....)......ended up on the 83 and then on the 90 West but managed to get into Del Rio with time enough to get the front tyre fitted so am ready to start out first thing tomorrow morning.



It must have turned into the hottest day I have had so far.......Del Rio had a sign saying 91F (which I make as 32.7C) at 1730 this evening.......it was baking all afternoon.....stopped at the side of the road at one point and took off the textile pants and put my jeans on.......a sight to behold I am sure!.....it was like riding with a hairdryer full in the face all afternoon......and the heat coming off the bike by the end of the day was something else.......was doing 80-90 mph for much of the journey on the 83 and the 90.



So tomorrow I plan to continue West along Hwy 90 to stop in Marathon or Alpine....and then Friday I shall drop south into Big Bend National Park.....might spend a couple of nights in the area as there are lots of good roads to explore.....shall see what the accommodation situation is like!