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Hello from kentucky

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Dmot

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Hi everyone, a couple of friends and I are planning a trip to big bend, arriving on the 28th of dec leaving the 3rd of jan, 1 gs, 1 v strom, 1 klr looking forward to it, any advice, tips or riders are welcome
 
FWIW, if you go to BB Ranch State Park I recommend you ride your bikes in- don't drive your truck/ trailer. It's a pretty brutal road for about 25 miles. Ok on a bike but tough on a trailer. The main road is fine for your type of bikes- but you might struggle in other parts of the park. If you combine a trip into BBRSP with Hwy 70 from Terlingua to Presidio you will have a full day of great riding.

The 'river road' in the National park is pretty neat. Your bikes should be OK for everything but the deepest sand washes. 80 miles of dirt road; then you can ride pavement back to Study Butte or elsewhere.

The roads around Fort Davis are worth the trip. Make it a stop on you way in or out of the parks.

Be prepared for cold nights.
 
Dmot said:
Hi everyone, a couple of friends and I are planning a trip to big bend, arriving on the 28th of dec leaving the 3rd of jan, 1 gs, 1 v strom, 1 klr looking forward to it, any advice, tips or riders are welcome
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The biggest challenge may be riding from Lexington to south central, then west Texas! As you know, winter weather isn't very predictable at any time through the south central US.

A year ago I rode up to 41094 for Thanksgiving and was able to find a good weather window of two days that stretched into three days leaving Hondo, TX, on Saturday morning and arriving Monday afternoon. Then it rained and snowed and got pretty frosty. The next weather window was the Saturday following T-giving; no rain but somewhere around 10 degrees. And it stayed cold until Dallas.

If you do come down through Dallas, you might want to consider connecting to US 281 taking 67 south from I-20 in south Dallas, then taking 220 into Hico. All those roads are very good main roads, most always with much less traffic. When you get a few miles north of San Antonio, you can take hwy 46 west through Boerne to Bandera (the Cowboy Capital of the World), then 173 to Hondo (my home now) where you hit Hwy 90 west and on to Big Bend.

I-35 can be treacherous with cage drivers who see nothing and who don't seem to care, plus I-35 East and West come together at Hillsboro, emptying four lane of heavy traffic into two. It can be stop and go for hours going south from there and no fun with a clutch.

Hope you have a nice trip. Stay warm and dry!
 
I'm sorry I should have given more info, the trailer is leaving from just west of indy, and the klr and the gs will be on it, I ll be leaving Aspen to meet up with them on the v strom, I hope the weather is in my favor, I have a trailer to use to get me south of denver just in case, but the trailer can only take me so far
 
Hey, Dmot, from a fellow Lexingtonian... :)

Others can provide all the advice on roads/trails, but if you don't feel like roughing it, check out the resort in Lajitas.

Have fun...and welcome to TWT...
 
I'll be out there about that same time, staying at the Lodge at the BB State Park/Ranch. Are you guys showing up to participate in the RideDualSport.com event?
 
We didnt know anything about this ride, we first were planning to go to new mexico and arizona, the weather in new mexico has changed our mind, also learning about big bend helped make the decision easy It looks like it will be great
 
hey guys, i contacted the parks and they are telling me about the road in, 27 miles of rough road, are there hotels or cabins before you go into the park where you can park the trailer
 
Hi Dmot!! Welcome to the site! One of my best friends when I was in the Marines, was a guy from Kings Mountain Kentucky!! Casey County.
 
Kidder said:
Welcome! I love Kentucky and my wife and I plan on retiring there!
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They still collect state tax there.

There are some really beautul places in Ky, but if it doesn't stop raining pretty soon they might get washed away.

Good thing a fellow in Georgetown is planning on building a full-size replica of the ark!
 
Dmot said:
hey guys, i contacted the parks and they are telling me about the road in, 27 miles of rough road, are there hotels or cabins before you go into the park where you can park the trailer
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:tab If you are referring to the State Park, there is a lodge/bunkhouse, both of which I believe are booked for the time you will be there. That is where our group is staying. There are camp sites there though. There is currently a burn ban so you would not be able to do campfires for cooking. Nearest hotels will be in Presido, about 30 some odd miles away. You would not want to pull a bike trailer into the park on the road, kind of rough. You could also look for rooms in Terlingua. There are several hotels in town.
 
Tourmeister said:
Nearest hotels will be in Presido, about 30 some odd miles away. You would not want to pull a bike trailer into the park on the road, kind of rough. You could also look for rooms in Terlingua. There are several hotels in town.
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See also post #8. ;)

644536840_87FXN-L.jpg
 
Dmot said:
hey guys, i contacted the parks and they are telling me about the road in, 27 miles of rough road, are there hotels or cabins before you go into the park where you can park the trailer
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Presidio is the closest hotel- maybe 3-4 miles from the entrance to BBRSP. I'm not sure I would leave my rig there overnight. May be fine- but I would not do it. My impression of Presidio is that it is essentially a Mexican town that lies north of the Rio Grand. I've been to businesses there where the workers do not speak any english (or so they say). Not PC, I know, but thats the way I see it. If you are making a day trip into BBRSP I would leave your stuff at the Park headquarters- near the entrance. I really have no idea how safe any of this is- but it is what I would do. And a better idea is to leave your truck/ trailer in Lajitas or Terlinguqa and make the ride on the highway; which is a very, very cool ride. If you are going to spend a night or two at the bunk house you should consider gearing up, strapping down and hauling your bikes in on a trailer. It will take about 3 hours, one-way, if you drive slow enough to keep thing from rattling apart. With the right attitude you can enjoy the trip. Another tip... DO NOT attempt to drive out of the park heading north thru Casa Piedra unless you are wanting a true adventure. On adventure bikes it would be cool; with a truck and trailer it could be a problem with impassable roads, getting lost and isolation. And in most cases you will not make it unless yoiu have a 4 wheel drive truck with good all terrain tires. I did it and made it OK. I even saw a mountain lion along the way. And I would not hesitate to do this on my DS bike- but never again in my truck.

I assume you realize there are TWO parks. BBRSP and BB National Park. And the entrances to each are a pretty long way apart (70-80 miles maybe). They are way too big and far apart to see both parks in the same day. The National Park has a lot of improvements- but it is hard for first timers to appreciate the size of these parks. It is easy to be overwhelmed.

My suggestion is to book a room in Sutdy Butte for the first couple days. Use this as your base camp until you learn the area. Then go for it! It is a great experience. Hope you have a great time.
 
:tab I did the Southern (unpaved) section of the Casa Piedra Rd on an R1150GS years ago. It was rough, but not too bad. We never made it to the paved section (Hwy 169) for the run up to Marfa. We took a wrong turn somewhere and eventually found ourselves over on Hwy 118. It was a fantastic ride, but I think we may have accidentally crossed some private property despite stopping at each fence crossing we came to and looking for any signage indicating private property. I've never ridden in the State Park. It was closed until just recently. There is a road going NE up to Wire Gap, that eventually bends back over to Casa Piedra Rd., and I would like to see if that is a passable loop. That is what we were trying to do all those years ago, but the park had locked gates then.

:tab There is a road heading N by NW out of Lajitas. I would love to see if that can be connected to the main road running through the BBRSP. It is just West of The Solitario and runs along Fresno Creek.
 
hey guys, thanks so much for all the info, but our trip has been cancelled, Ive been waiting for a job to call for over 1 year, and they finally called, two days before I was scheduled to leave, its a construction superintendent job in Afghanistan, and there trying to get me on a plane this week, I had almost given up on them, it took me 3 hours to find my passport.
 
Dmot said:
hey guys, thanks so much for all the info, but our trip has been cancelled, Ive been waiting for a job to call for over 1 year, and they finally called, two days before I was scheduled to leave, its a construction superintendent job in Afghanistan, and there trying to get me on a plane this week, I had almost given up on them, it took me 3 hours to find my passport.
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Congrats on the job coming through for you ??? Sorry you will need to postpone your adventure into Big Bend country, but save up your money and then do it when you get back stateside again and have the time and money !!
I have gleaned a few morsels of info from the posts others made to assist you, so it wasn't in vain.......I passed through BBNP for 1 day in my old VW Jetta this past summer, ----Van Horn down to alpine to Terlingua and into the visitor center at BBNP just after they closed for the day.....then drove back up to Marfa, Ft.Stockton, and so forth coming back towards home ( Longview) ...anyway, I plan to go back on my bike at some point in the not too distant future.
Good luck in AfGhanistan...........
 
Well, congrats on the job.

What about the other guys, will they still be making the trip?

Feel free to hang on here on TWT to get your bike fix while you are gone ;-)
 
Well guys, I've made it, took a while, I had problems with my physical had to do a little more testing, but Ive been here about two weeks and everything is good except my motorcycle is not here
 
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