Tailwind
0
Day 1(Sunrise Beach - Acuña) - After a long time off the bikes, Becky and I headed south Christmas morning. It was a messy ride from our place in Llano county south through Fredericksburg, Kerville, Rocksprings and ultimately ending the day in Acuña. Both of us having ridden the Day 1 of the Tejas 1300 route several times previously, we decided to just cruise down on the highways. There was very little traffic on the roads and other than bucking a strong south wind and some drizzle, it was nice. The bikes ran good. We gathered our paperwork at the Banjercito, ate some bistec tacos then found a decent hotel.
Day 2 (Acuña - San Miguel) - This is when the fun started. We woke up to rain. Oh well, what the heck. We headed out to find the road to Santa Eulalia and there was water and mud standing everywhere on the city streets. After creeping through the lights and traffic, driving through mega pools of water, detours because of road closures, we eventually found the road out of town. Once we hit dirt west of Santa Eulalia, it started to get interesting. Typical rough, rocky, 2 track with occasional mud holes. It got real interesting after we descended out of the first set of hills and entered the flat dirt country east of the mountains. Mucho rain in previous months totally washed out the road and trucks made some of the deepest ruts I have seen. You could see where vehicles had spun out, fish tailed and ultimately got stuck in many places. We ended the day in San Miguel (Trail Boss alternate route 2), bypassing Boqillas. Total miles was 204 with about 140 being dirt/gravel/sand/mud. We had no trouble getting a bed, food and fuel in San Miguel.
Day 3 (San Miguel - Terlingua) - The church keeper in San Miguel told us that if you can make it past such and such place (I don't remember the name), you will be okay. What the heck I thought. What we soon learned is that the rains and floods that swept through the area a while back literally destroyed the roads and bridges. We were told San Miguel was unable to receive food/groceries for several weeks due to this. What little remains of the road, is long, deep ruts. I would say these things were class 3 in some places. This is a really nice section of the route and once they get the roads maintained, you will be able to make better time. we were averaging 10-20 mph max. We got to Terlingua at dark and chose to tent camp at one of the many tent cities we observed. Very cold night. I believe we ended the day with about 210 miles and about half of them being dirt/gravel. Very good day.
Day 4-5 (Terlingua-Sanderson-Sunrise Beach) - We ended up just hitting the pavement in the National Park (I have ridden the Tejas 1300 Day 4 track previously), checked out Marathon, and then cruised down to Sanderson and stayed at the Desert Motel. Temps were in the mid 30s on Day 4 and 5 so it made for cold rides. That said, we took pavement to expedite things.
To conclude, we really enjoyed the routes we took. Even the pavement & highway sections were nice mainly due to the basically absent traffic. We stayed close to Trail Boss’s Tejas 1300 most of the time, but as said above, didn't ride a few of the sections. The only section I have not done previously and hope to be back for, is the section around Pandale. I have hunted the Pandale and Juno area in the past, but have not been over those roads on dual sports. Unlike a lot of other parts of Mexico, we saw lots of wildlife on the Mexico sections. Deer, turkey, hogs, etc. We also saw nice mule deer, one 6x6 in BBNP and on HWY 349.
Lastly, unfortunately, we are not good picture takers. It was cold most of the time and you all know how hard it is to stop, take everything off, take pictures, then get going again.
Day 2 (Acuña - San Miguel) - This is when the fun started. We woke up to rain. Oh well, what the heck. We headed out to find the road to Santa Eulalia and there was water and mud standing everywhere on the city streets. After creeping through the lights and traffic, driving through mega pools of water, detours because of road closures, we eventually found the road out of town. Once we hit dirt west of Santa Eulalia, it started to get interesting. Typical rough, rocky, 2 track with occasional mud holes. It got real interesting after we descended out of the first set of hills and entered the flat dirt country east of the mountains. Mucho rain in previous months totally washed out the road and trucks made some of the deepest ruts I have seen. You could see where vehicles had spun out, fish tailed and ultimately got stuck in many places. We ended the day in San Miguel (Trail Boss alternate route 2), bypassing Boqillas. Total miles was 204 with about 140 being dirt/gravel/sand/mud. We had no trouble getting a bed, food and fuel in San Miguel.
Day 3 (San Miguel - Terlingua) - The church keeper in San Miguel told us that if you can make it past such and such place (I don't remember the name), you will be okay. What the heck I thought. What we soon learned is that the rains and floods that swept through the area a while back literally destroyed the roads and bridges. We were told San Miguel was unable to receive food/groceries for several weeks due to this. What little remains of the road, is long, deep ruts. I would say these things were class 3 in some places. This is a really nice section of the route and once they get the roads maintained, you will be able to make better time. we were averaging 10-20 mph max. We got to Terlingua at dark and chose to tent camp at one of the many tent cities we observed. Very cold night. I believe we ended the day with about 210 miles and about half of them being dirt/gravel. Very good day.
Day 4-5 (Terlingua-Sanderson-Sunrise Beach) - We ended up just hitting the pavement in the National Park (I have ridden the Tejas 1300 Day 4 track previously), checked out Marathon, and then cruised down to Sanderson and stayed at the Desert Motel. Temps were in the mid 30s on Day 4 and 5 so it made for cold rides. That said, we took pavement to expedite things.
To conclude, we really enjoyed the routes we took. Even the pavement & highway sections were nice mainly due to the basically absent traffic. We stayed close to Trail Boss’s Tejas 1300 most of the time, but as said above, didn't ride a few of the sections. The only section I have not done previously and hope to be back for, is the section around Pandale. I have hunted the Pandale and Juno area in the past, but have not been over those roads on dual sports. Unlike a lot of other parts of Mexico, we saw lots of wildlife on the Mexico sections. Deer, turkey, hogs, etc. We also saw nice mule deer, one 6x6 in BBNP and on HWY 349.
Lastly, unfortunately, we are not good picture takers. It was cold most of the time and you all know how hard it is to stop, take everything off, take pictures, then get going again.
Last edited: