Well the entrance to Big bend National Park was more like 130 miles away from Marfa! I didn't manage to go anywhere on Saturday as I had a recurrence of bike trouble.....checked out of the hotel, bike wouldn't start.....went back into hotel and booked myself another room for the night and the bike refused to start all day after that which was worrying!
Yesterday afternoon a group of guys on Harley Davidsons showed up at the hotel and so this morning I sought their advice on my bike problems. They all came out and had a tinker but to no avail. A really nice group of guys from Austin, Texas though......Farrell basically had taken 5 of the guys working for him for a few days off on bikes as the annual company 'do' and had ended up in Marfa...... I had breakfast with them (thanks again Farrell) and shared a few laughs along the way......my thanks to Farrell, Terence, Phil, Austin and the other guys for their friendship and generousity! (I hope you all got back to Austin in one piece and the rental company didn't sting you too hard for the damage)
With a lot of help from the hotel I manage to track down a mechanic in town, Fred Martinez, just as he is about to take his family to church (it is a Sunday morning!). Fred graciously agrees to help me rather than go to church with his family and turns up in no time on his own Honda ST1300 to check out my bike issues. While there.....it turns out Farrell and Fred knew each other years ago......Texas may be a big state but it is a small world wherever you go! Fred then takes a 60 mile round trip to the next town to get some spark plugs and returns. So the plugs get replaced and still the bike doesn't start.......we then discover (we being Fred....and me watching!) that the fuel line is blocked. With the use of a cocktail straw Fred get the petrol flowing again and the bike fires up without a problem!
A big thank you to Fred for his help and I hope your wife forgives you for missing out on church this morning!
So I leave Marfa at about 1230 or so and head east towards Alpine so I can cut south to Big Bend National Park for the afternoon. I am just approaching the outskirts of Alpine when I come over the crest of a hill and a white pick-up truck coming the other way suddenly lights up in red and blue flashing lights!! I slow down and in my mirrors I see the truck pull a u-turn behind me and follows me onto the hard shoulder. He tells me that he clocked me doing 83mph in a 70mph zone and asks for my licence and registration. He asks me where I am headed and I tell him about my trip and how much I am enjoying his brilliant country. He asks a few questions about the trip, gives me back my paperwork, says 'Well good luck with the trip and be safe!' and gets back in his truck. Now he never actually said I should slow down....... I had planned (should I ever get pulled over) to ask if I could take a photo but this didn't seem like a real 'kodak' moment and I was happy with the memory of NOT getting a ticket so I didn't push my luck!
I push on to the park and while the roads were not as dramatic as the State Ranch from friday they were fun and the scenery was truly breathtaking. The only regret is that I didn't get to the park until close to 3pm so my time there was somewhat limited.
The Rio Grande river forms the southern edge of Big Bend National Park for 118 miles and also the border with Mexico.
Santa Elena Canyon......Mexico on the left, U.S.A. on the right
(once again I have more pics but have hit some problems loading the rest so that is your lot!)
End of week 4....one whole month into the trip.
Mileage on the bike - 12268
Miles ridden this week - 1141
Total miles ridden - 4824
oops sorry officer.
ReplyDeletesounds like you had the luck of the Irish with you during your brush with law.
If things had turned bad you could always have made a run for the border Ha Ha.