Ferry To Ferry Ride

Greasemonkey · Mar 12, 2007

Man what a blast,ended up with about 240mi. of coastline adventure.Not too many places you can pin the throttle on a 650r so long your hands get tired.Kudo's to the guys on big bikes,that's got to be tough.Good seeing everyone.Now we need to put something together before summer rolls in!!!
A regular "electrifying" experience. :rider:

jsb223 · Mar 12, 2007

I did'nt realize top end on a 650r was 25 mph...

:lol2:

Cagiva 549 · Mar 12, 2007

All I can say is the bike is way more capable than I am , It worked good above 50 in the sand , I didn't have the guts to hold it there for 50 miles . Now I remember what Monday morning felt like after a day of woods riding . And Tuesday , and half way thru wendesday . SEYA

gotdurt · Mar 12, 2007

Pics etc??? :popcorn:

Willsy · Mar 12, 2007

Cagiva 549 said:
All I can say is the bike is way more capable than I am , It worked good above 50 in the sand , I didn't have the guts to hold it there for 50 miles . Now I remember what Monday morning felt like after a day of woods riding . And Tuesday , and half way thru wendesday . SEYA

Monday is even harder when you didn't get home until 1am :doh:

Great trip though! Was my first time riding on a beach. Really interesting to experience the terrain, everything from power sucking deep deep sand and shingle to dry hard packed rutted sand, and mud masquerading as rocks.

My tip for the next trip: Your bike snaking down the sand with the bars smacking from side to side and you with both feet down struggling to keep it upright is not going to impress the bikini clad girls that you were trying to smile/wave at :eek2:

Willsy · Mar 12, 2007

Another tip, this one comes from the "Hold my beer and watch this" category:

Its probably not a good idea to drive your Semi on to the beach.

It was very amusing seeing 3 or 4 people trying to dig it out :clap:

gotdurt · Mar 12, 2007

DRZwillsy said:
Another tip, this one comes from the "Hold my beer and watch this" category:

Its probably not a good idea to drive your Semi on to the beach.

It was very amusing seeing 3 or 4 people trying to dig it out

The things you see on the beach at spring break :clap:

I can't count how many idiots I pulled out of the sand (with a 2WD no less :lol2:

) who thought it would be cool to nail the gas in their giant 4X4's with 40" mud grips aired to their max 50psi capacity, showering everyone with sand... only to find themselves axle deep in the beach :phead:

irondawg · Mar 12, 2007

After the longest kid's B-day party on record (5 hours), my wonderful wife took pity on me and let me go riding...of course she had a long list of chores I had to finish.

Wake up call was 4:00am (actually 3:00am with the time change) for a 4 hour ride to Galveston. On the way I got to thinking that we're freaking crazy...drive 500 hundred miles to ride for 200. Nuts. But it was truely an excellent day. I haven't ridden on the beach since I was a kid...10 years ago... :trust:

There's nothing like hitting deep sand whoops with the throttle wide open!! I felt like I was 'flying by wire' most of the time!! :trust:

Oh yeah...don't pass on the fried boudin balls in Cameron. I hear they're tasty. Wonder what part of the nutria they're made of?

Next beach ride? Linky. We'll need support though.

mcrider · Mar 12, 2007

jsb223 said:
I didn't realize top end on a 650r was 25 mph...

You are correct (big brother) no one exceeded the speed limit!!! :rider:

DRZwillsy said:
Monday is even harder when you didn't get home until 1am

Great trip though! Was my first time riding on a beach. Really interesting to experience the terrain, everything from power sucking deep sand and shingle to dry hard packed rutted sand, and mud masquerading as rocks.

My tip for the next trip: Your bike snaking down the sand with the bars smacking from side to side and you with both feet down struggling to keep it upright is not going to impress the bikini clad girls that you were trying to smile/wave at

Tell me about Monday morning, I could not get out of bed 'til 9:30. :yawn:

Man are my thighs sore.

Daylight savings time was a good thing yesterday. With the late start & the long ferry line to get back to the Galveston side we did not get out of the parking lot 'til dark-thirty.

old1959 where did you drop off? At lunch in we missed you.

It was great to see every one that made it. :sun:

Jason where were you? :giveup:

Well, I need to get my act together, unload & wash the bike.

gotdurt · Mar 12, 2007

irondawg said:
Next beach ride? Linky. We'll need support though.

I've been wanting to do that myself, but in the truck... :lol:

The only problem with that is that you can't connect w/ S Padre Island, so it's an out-and-back trip. I was just thinking though, maybe we should put together a ride that strings together as much of the Texas coastline as possible, Cameron to Padre?

XR650Rocketman · Mar 12, 2007

GREASEMONKEY said:
A regular "electrifying" experience.

Nice little dig there Scott......I'm "shocked" to have been so "wired" without feeling so "fenced in".....I'm just glad it all stopped before the last "post"

They were my old riding pants!!!!The friction burn and knee will heal.

I did stop at thumper's RV on the way back and he'd seen where the trail went off to the left, he said " I hoped no one would follow that trail "

All in all a great "long" day.....I think everyone had a good time.....

Thanks to all for showing up.....

The pictures would be the same as last year, pretty much.

dbdolan · Mar 12, 2007

Yep I had a blast, it was kinda tuff riding back with a broken foot peg but I made it. :dude:

Yeah that guy in the big semi had to be having fun digging that bad boy out. I will post up my pics and a couple of video clips when I get off work tonight, I also need to clean the bike as I was too tired when I got home so I just rolled it into the garage. I guess everyone managed to stay out of the fishing lines and kite strings. :lol2:

Here is a preview clip of VFRHUGH getting jiggy on the beach.

vfrhugh · Mar 12, 2007

The Mont Belvieu group headed to the beach around 8:00am. The fog was a challenge most of the way to High Island. We took Fairview Rd from Anahuac to HW124 which is unpaved. The combination of fog and dust gave us the off road look early. We fueled up at the only station in High Island and headed down the beach to Rollover Pass. It felt great to finally get on the beach. About a mile from the pass we caught up with four more riders. Waiting at Rollover Pass.

This is an attempt to get the names right.
Cagiva 549(David), Desmo(Steve), Saturnsb(Stuart), TR(Travis and bro Ronnie), dbdolan(Brian), and my KTM.

At 10:00am we decided to head back to High Island where thumper(Tim and his buddy) were camping.

We saw two of these along the way. Wonder what happened to them?

Desmo

Brian

Ronnie

TR

Still cruising down the beach.

The campers

The trailer

The most tricked out DRZ in Texas

World’s most powerful dirt bike

The going is getting a little rough. Stuart and Dave heading in.

Desmo in easy going

Ronnie cruising along

Brian with an extra 10 HP because of the KTM front fender.

What beach?

Here’s prophetic photo. I’m parked on what’s left of hwy 87.

Rocketman and company showed up right after this photo and the pace picked up enough that I couldn’t get ahead to take any photos. If I didn’t get a photo is because you were riding too fast for me to get the camera out before you were gone.

A photo of Brian taking a photo.

Cool view, there were 12 to 13 DS bikes already around the curve.

This is a nice shot of a Stuart with a delayed coker unit in the background.

Waiting on the Cameron ferry. The last time I went across in 2000 it cost a $1. Free this time.

Bikes crowded together on the ferry

Still some hurricane damage

Great trip that you only want to do about once a year. TR and I found out that our presents on the beach wasn’t appreciated by all though. We headed back rather than eat at Cameron since it was already 3:00pm. We reversed our route back down the beach and at the turn out back to hwy 82 a Cameron sheriff was waiting for us with a radar gun. He wasn’t very happy. Apparently it’s illegal to ride on the best part of the beach. Someone had called the sheriff’s office to report a large group of motorcycles tearing down the beach in front of their houses. I guess last year nobody was living there. He informed us the speed limit was 10mph anyway. He clocked me at 47. TR and I claimed ignorance and tried not to agitate him too much. After allot of, yes sirs, no sirs, I’ll never do it again sirs, he let us go with out a ticket. Oh yea, he did check us both for outstanding warrants and made a point of the 55mph speed limit on hwy82. I figured another sheriff would be waiting somewhere before the Texas line. I didn’t see one though. We left a message on someone’s cell phone we thought was Rocketman. Since I don’t see any mention of law trouble I’m assuming no one else ran into our lawman. I did see an alligator crossing the road near Port Arthur. That would have been a great photo. It was a great adventure.
Hugh :rider:

dbdolan · Mar 12, 2007

Good stuff Hugh I am glad I am not the only photo fanatic. Hugh was the man while roosting in the sand and then getting up ahead of the pack and snapping photo's of all of us. I am glad you got pics of the dead dolphins I never got a chance, in last years report http://twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8980&highlight=easter+ride I was able to get a shot of a dead sea turtle that was huge, I bet a shark had eaten his rear. I also was wondering what must of happened to the dead dolphins. :shock:

While in Cameron I did see the Sheriff drive by and check us out as we were gearing up to head home, Desmo had told me that he had seen a cop with a car pulled over up on the road as I was tearing down the beach :doh:

but we made it back with out getting in trouble. I really enjoyed watching you make that KTM sing. I had thoughts in my head....get rid of the KLR and get a KTM, that thang looked like a blast to ride.

xrcajun · Mar 12, 2007

It was a really great trip! Kevin and I split off after stopping and meeting Tim at his camper. We decided we would take the beach in as far as we could. The pavement was really getting old. That had to have added on an extra hour as the speed limit is 25 and the beach got crowded. Then at least an hour wait for the ferry, it was long after dark when we loaded up. We got back to Houston at about 9 and then washed the bikes down. I got up at 4:30 this morning and I just want to go to bed now. But I'd do it all again next weekend.

More pics please. Notice no one ever got pictures in the rough stuff.

XR650Rocketman · Mar 12, 2007

How far West of Rollover Pass did you go on the beach, Jim....

xrcajun · Mar 12, 2007

XR650Rocketman said:
How far West of Rollover Pass did you go on the beach, Jim....

Well I don't know exactly how far but when we came out to 87 we couldn't have been more than about 3 miles from the ferry. Actuall a fairly nice way to end a long rough ride.

Greasemonkey · Mar 12, 2007

Oh yeah...don't pass on the fried boudin balls in Cameron. I hear they're tasty. Wonder what part of the nutria they're made of?

Thats funny ,I like that.Desmo always looks laid back but when you turn around there he is,hows he do that :ponder:

..Nice pict's guys.Would like to know how the video works but I can't figure out the picture thing.Hey where's Ken,saw that thing strapped to his head again.Guess it's a REAL good thing we didn't see the officers!!!!!

saturnsb · Mar 12, 2007

I don't know what else to add, the ride was great. I can't believe I let almost 14 years pass between the last time I went off road and now.
Thanks again to all who made me and the little DR feel welcome. I had a sense from reading the posts that this was a a great bunch of guys and I was right!

Special thanks to Cagiva549 (David) for the lift.

Now how about some woods riding??? :rider:

Stuart

vfrhugh · Mar 12, 2007

I cleaned up my bike this afternoon and it doesn't seem any worse for the wear. I was just too tired Sunday afternoon to get it done. If anyone wants a photo PM me and I'll send the full size uncompressed version.
Hugh :rider:

thumper · Mar 12, 2007

saturnsb said:
I don't know what else to add, the ride was great. I had a sense from reading the posts that this was a a great bunch of guys and I was right!

Now how about some woods riding???

Stuart

Yeah it was a good ride. :rider:

Good meeting y'all. Just sorry I didn't get to spend more time riding with everyone.Thanks Steve and Chris for putting it together. :clap:

I have been working on a nice route through SHNF for DS bikes. Running the better trail sections and connecting them with the FR roads. Maybe the weekend after this one? :trust:

Scott,Ken,Db, or anyone else?I know Stuart's in. :flip:

The number of riders wouldn't be an issue.

thumper · Mar 12, 2007

Desmo in easy going

Jee-whiz Steve can't you at least slouch a little or maybe mess up once in awhile? :lol2:

It was good seeing you again.

dbdolan · Mar 12, 2007

Here are my pics, they are pretty much the same angles as last year. :lol2:

Thanks to David (Cagiva 549) for trailering us down to High Island from Cypress. Here we are getting unloaded...

Here we are heading up to Rollover Pass to meet up with the everyone.

Desmo(Steve), Saturnsb(Stuart), Cagiva549(David), and I met TR(Travis and bro Ronnie), and vfrhugh at the pass.

Heading back to High Island to meet up with Thumper and Brian.

I believe this is Ronnie, TR's brother.

and this is TR(Travis).....I hope I didn't get y'alls names wrong. :giveup:

Headed on to Sabine Pass ....

Cagiva549 was a Dakar champ riding that 950 in the rough stuff, that definitely would have beat me down.

VfrHugh on his KTM....my dream bike. :trust:

David, Stuart, Thumper Tim and Brian, enjoying the nice weather on the beach.

I hate to do this Hugh but I caught the aftermath of the wheelie gone wild....

Cagiva, Desmo, and VfrHugh enjoying the beach.

Got to Sea Rim State park and up onto the paved road toward Port Aurthur.

Over the shoulder shot of VFRHUGH.

Almost to the border..

Approaching the ferry.

Caught up with the rest of the guy's at the ferry to Cameron.

Greasemonkey ready to get some of those Boudain balls. :lol2:

Everyone loaded up on the ferry.

It is hard to see everyone in this pic.

Heading into Cameron, La. they have cleaned it up some but is still looked tattered it might be a while before they get back to normal.

Magus giving me a wave.

Grabbed some food in Cameron then headed back the same way we came.

Here is what the track looked like on the map, according to my gps I did 200 miles.

I really like this video clip of VFRHUGH, man the KTM can roost. :rider:

This is some footage of the smooth section of the beach, sorry it is bouncy. I have yet to come up with a mount like Texas DR (Ken) and his helmet cam.

Enjoyed the ride fellows, I will be ready to do it again soon.

Tekisasu DR · Mar 12, 2007

It was so great ride and also enjoyed meeting people. This was the largest group D/S ride for me except Terlingua ride. So amazing.

David(Magus) and I PMed each other and decided to meet at Winnie to avoid Galveston Ferry crowd. Joined Steve(Rocketman) & Linda for quick breakfast.

Rode from Winnie to Port Bolivar. We were slightly late, but not many were there yet (my excuse).
Believe or not, this was the first time for me to come to ferry port. Everything looked so new to me.

Waited for a couple of ferry arrivals, then number of riders increased around 12(?). Finally took off for the beach.

I expected packed sand all the way to Louisiana, but I was wrong. Did I tell you I hate soft sand?

Everybody had been waaay gone. As Magus and I were riding about same good pace, we decided to take it easy and rather enjoy the scenery.

Soon we found that Scott(Greasemonkey) and Chris(mcrider) were waiting for us to bail out so that we could catch up to the other folks... I was just thinking we would not see them again till we got to Louisiana...

By the time we caught up to the others, the number of riders increased to about 20! It was Wow :eek2:

for me.

No more pics or videos guys. Too busy to tame my bike on sand.

Shrimp PoBoy at Hurricane Cafe was great! I am not sure if I want to try boudin balls, but would like to go back there again.

Return trip was a lot easier as sand seemed packed somehow. It was a great practice for me to overcome fear for sand... ,or it may have caused more trauma thing... Let's see at next situation...

BTW, thanks Bryan for cooperating to me for the video test.

Thank you!
Ken

dbdolan · Mar 12, 2007

Ken excellent pics and the videos are excellent as always, good to see you again.