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Big Bend at Christmas

The changing weather in the desert is what makes it so intresting , the only unpleasant weather was one year in December when a southwest wind blew in with 60 mph gust , hot and dusty , and nowhere to escape from it . I was stuck inside my trailer for 10 hours waiting fo it to get blown over on its side . Only good thing was my door would have been on the high side had that happened . That’s when I knew my trailer with awning extended was capable of handling anything it will ever need to . Another year we had a light drizzle for 30 hours , I rode around in my truck checking out all the scenery , the wet water crossings on the road and 20 feet of rushing white foam and brown water in Terlingua creek . Probly the most entertaining was setting at Uncles a couple of days after the 6 inch snow in Terlingua watching somebody that had been staying on Reeds Platue trying to drive out through Long Draw , that was good for a couple hours and several beers . When the desert is wet you stay on the pavement . In the 80s when there used to be a enduro out there it snowed one year , all the riders were accounted for by midnight that night , there were still bikes in the desert a month latter , kinda glad I missed that one .
"That enduro"...that was a disaster. I raced the state enduro circuit for a couple of decades. I was at that enduro with some friends who also raced the circuit. We all worked at a motorcycle shop, so our bikes seldom had mechanicals. The morning of the race, my bike would not start. No spark...later determined to be a dead ignition unit. In retrospect I was extremely lucky. Two of our guys had to leave their bikes out in the desert...came back in a week to retrieve...and one guy rode his back to camp on what was left of a rear wheel and no tire. That last guy was eventually a state open A champ.

Did you do the race at Jayton in a heavy snow somewhere around 1980? They cut that one short at about the 2/3 mark, but it wasn't even close to the fiasco at Terlingua. I actually did well at that one. Fun days.
 
I raced in mid and late 80s but only southeast Texas , scored the hare scramble series in 89 and 90 so I got to know the other clubs pretty well and went out and rode Terlingua in the spring with a bunch of the San Antonio guys in early 90s back when you could ride anywhere , off road . I sure miss riding when riders weren’t the enemy .
 
Photos have been culled, and now I just have to write up some words to go with them. But for now, here are a few teasers.

Big Bend Nikon Shots-1.jpg


Big Bend Nikon Shots-10.jpg


Big Bend Nikon Shots-15.jpg


Big Bend iPhone Shots-6.jpg


Big Bend iPhone Shots-3.jpg
 
:coffee: I'll be waiting...
 
Nice photos Bill. Are you posting up a trip report here or in another thread? If it's another thread, please let us know when you do.

Thanks!
 
Wait till it gets around 10 k miles and all the wheel bearings crap out , thank you china .
I have 6 taged trailers. Two of them get 20k + a year on them and two about 5k a year. I am anal about re packing and checking the bearings. Iv had one on the road incedent, in 20 years. I also check them after every hard curb strike. Employees !!!!
 
DFW_Warrior...on your tire issue there, how did you become aware of it? Did you hear it, feel it, or do you have a sensor system that warned you of it before "explody"? I don't see any damage to your fender skirt or such, so I was curious.
 
Nice photos Bill. Are you posting up a trip report here or in another thread? If it's another thread, please let us know when you do.

Thanks!
I'm not too sure yet, but probably a separate post just so I can stay within the rules. When I finally put something together, I'll post up a link here.
 
DFW_Warrior...on your tire issue there, how did you become aware of it? Did you hear it, feel it, or do you have a sensor system that warned you of it before "explody"? I don't see any damage to your fender skirt or such, so I was curious.
Oh I felt it alright. It pretty much was explody.

The tires were right at 4 years old and I was going back and forth with my Dad who has pulled horse trailers more miles than I have driven, and we were saying that between the cooler temps, and fairly short trip of 600 miles each way; that as long as I watched my pressures and checked the tires over at fuel stops that I would most likely be alright. Well, that wasn't the case. LOL As for the trailer, it is tear up a little of the aluminum skin on the under side of the trailer, boogered up the wiring for one of the marker lights. But all it fixable.

The crappy thing... is that was blowout 1 of 2 on the trip. :doh:We had another blowout about 20 miles north of Alpine on the way back home. Time for new tires all the way around so I can get these China tires off of here. I'm going to get some Goodyear G614's for it and then it should be good for quite some time. LT instead of ST of course.
 
Nice photos Bill. Are you posting up a trip report here or in another thread? If it's another thread, please let us know when you do.

Thanks!
Ride Report is here:

Even if Rachel and I didn't get a ton of time to hang out with y'all, it was good when we did. Thank y'all for that!
 
I switched to Goodyear endurance on my trailer , really happy so far . I carried two spares when I was running to and fro from BB and bought tires on the road more than once when I had to run LT tires before the ten ply tires came along . Name brands were ok for 5 years , no names maybe two .
 
I switched to Goodyear endurance on my trailer , really happy so far . I carried two spares when I was running to and fro from BB and bought tires on the road more than once when I had to run LT tires before the ten ply tires came along . Name brands were ok for 5 years , no names maybe two .
I’m thinking about getting the Michelin XPS Ribs in LT for it. My Dad swears by his Goodyear G614’s on his trailers but I think for my trailer G rated are a little overkill. Plus I have had nothing but great experiences with Michelin on all my vehicles so far.
 
+1 on Goodyear endurance. Have them on my enclosed trailer and a heavy gooseneck dump trailer. Been fantastic.
 
I think I'm done with ST tires and moving to LT from now on. They aren't going to be cheap, but the Michelin XPS Ribs are looking like the front runner to me. I had the Maxxis 8008's on my little cargo trailer and they were okay, but for this new beast of a trailer I'm going to spring for something a little better.
 
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