Day 15

It’s warm already as I head out the door from Russ’ house. I can tell today is going to be a hot one, and I’m heading to even hotter regions… I keep telling myself that after Death Valley it can’t be all that bad. Well, it was pretty close, and even more concerning was some areas where there wasn’t any people.

Something I forgot to put in my last post: While going through New Mexico, I met a couple of other bikers at a gas station. I had just passed them on the freeway about 10 minutes earlier. They were noticeable for riding the old 60’s or 70’s style Harleys with no shirts, no helmets and very little gear but you could tell they were going a distance. Their names were Mike and Chaz. I had to talk to them as they were such freedom riders and I was sure would be interesting guys! Chaz has done the whole around the US thing a “few times” and they were following the free camping plan like me. We chatted for about 20 minutes, then headed on our ways.

On my ride down I-10 from El Paso I see nine police cars within 100 miles. They are nabbing speeders left and right, so I keep it nice and slow. Which is hard for two reasons; one – I love the feel of the speed my bike can produce and two – the slightest tweak of the throttle can increase your speed by 15 mph. But there are enough cars going 90 in the 75 that they are the ones getting caught.

Also as this is right near the Mexico border, there are checkpoints along the highway and freeways checking for illegal aliens. At two points they actually divert all the traffic and ask everyone if they are US citizens. A very “show me your papers, Comrade” feeling to it all. Not pleasant.

As I drive further south towards Big Bend National Park, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. Hitting Presidio, it’s 110 and I’m really feeling the heat. I start to head into Big Bend and ride along the Rio Grande (which is more like a little stream of mud). There is no shade, no stores, no cars, no people, and I’m boiling in my full gear. I find an old closed down gas station with an overhang and park underneath for 20 minutes just to get out of the sun and drink some water. Putting my coat and helmet back on was torture when it was time to keep moving!

The road started to get curvy and fun… or it would have been fun if it wasn’t sooo hot and I wasn’t worried about how desolate it was and if anyone would be by for hours if I did have any troubles. This was the first time I was worried so far on my whole trip. Being so hot and so desolate, any bike problems or an accident could be a very very bad thing. Death Valley was hot, but there were people everywhere – here it was just as hot, and no one else around.

Big Bend had it’s own unique beauty to the desert life, but overall it’s barren to me coming from the Northwest, so I was pretty happy once I started heading out of there.

Being hot and the roads are straight, I took a page out of Chaz’s book and stripped off my jacket and shirt. I thought it might be cooler, but was actually hotter riding that way as I had the sun right on me and the wind was like a hot blow dryer on my skin. After half an hour of riding like that, I put my gear back on and it was actually cooler because the jacket had air flow that helped with evaporative cooling but also shades your skin from the sun.

Next came a sudden thunderstorm. It blew right over the horizon and dumped some rain down for maybe 2 minutes. The temperature dropped quickly to maybe mid 80’s. What a relief! One of the first times I had ever looked at a raincloud dumping rain on the horizon and hoping that I could end up underneath it.

Feeling a bit better now, I started to play on these straight roads. Flying down and around sweeping curves at 100 plus and 140 on the straights. I was making some great time now! Although even out in the back roads you have to watch for police … I was cruising along at 130 or something on a straight road and see a truck maybe a mile or two ahead start to pass somebody. That perked me up, because why would a huge truck be passing someone? I’m closing in quick on him at my speed and start to slow up a bit and then I see who he’s passing… a cop going like 25 mph!! Yikes!! I’m sure he’s seen me as I rapidly decelerate to the 60 mph speed limit. I’m cringing inside as I move to pass him and look over to see what he’s going to do. He gives me a stern look and a little finger wave and let’s me continue on my way. Whew, what a relief.

I begin making my way towards San Antonio now. At a gas stop along the way I overhead another biker on his phone asking a family member to wire him some money. The middle of Texas is no place to be stranded, so I went over to make sure he was OK. He was short on funds and didn’t know if he had enough to get to where he was going, so I gave him $20 for gas and wished him well. Spread the love and pay it forward.

It’s now getting dark after seeing a beautiful Texan sunset, and I’m miles and miles from where I’d like to be. I decide to drive to within a couple of hours of San Antonio before stopping. That was a decision that caused me some tight fingers on the grips and lots of nervousness. You see there are deer everywhere along the sides of the roads in the middle of Texas at night. And I mean everywhere! I would see their little heads popping up probably every 50 meters. This is where I started to employ the sweeper technique of driving. You find a large vehicle like an SUV or semi and follow them at maybe 75 – 100 meters back. That way any animals in the road are going to be hit by them, or scared back into the brush, and you can watch for their taillights coming on to notify you of any issues and come fully alert.

I made it safely to Kerrville, TX around 2 am and got a motel room as I was just too tired to drive and search for a safe ninja camping spot.

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