A West Texas Motorbike Experience By way of Hill Nation, Huge Bend, and Oil Wells

The seeds of this West Texas motorbike experience have been planted in December 2019 when my buddy Reed and I joined the EagleRider Membership. Members pay month-to-month subscription charges for credit towards motorbike leases, which roll over month to month and supply vital reductions versus standalone leases.

Along with the reductions, being membership members permits us to fly into a brand new space and lease bikes which can be completely different from what we experience again residence. We dwell in Connecticut, so flying into Dallas saved us a 3,200-mile roundtrip that may have taken a number of days on every finish. As an alternative of grinding out miles simply to get to Texas and again residence, we spent that point leisurely exploring roads and sights.

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To beat the warmth of the Texas summer time, we deliberate our journey for mid-April. Reed and I are BMW riders, however for this journey we rented two late-model Harley-Davidsons: a Road Glide for me and a Heritage Softail Traditional for him. There’s one thing particular about driving the open street on a giant American V-Twin. We’re older guys who have been decked out in textile driving gear and modular helmets, so we’re hardly Simple Rider rebels. After we noticed a BMW GS in a lodge car parking zone with “Journey Earlier than Dementure” on one among its panniers, we may relate.

See all of Rider‘s Harley-Davidson protection right here.

We did a clockwise loop of roughly 2,300 miles over 9 days. From Dallas, we headed south to Texas’ funky state capital, Austin. The Harleys have been secure and cozy, the torque was intoxicating, and the horns have been good and loud, however the transmissions have been a bit clunky. After visiting the Texas Capitol, we rode east to Spherical Prime, a small vacationer city identified for antiques. We have been disenchanted to seek out the vintage markets closed once we acquired there, however I managed to get a photograph with a roadrunner as tall as I’m – issues actually are larger in Texas!

The driving improved west of Austin once we entered the legendary Texas Hill Nation, an space well-known amongst motorcyclists. Limitless hills flip the various rural FM (Farm-to-Market) and RM (Ranch-to-Market) roads into paved rollercoasters. We loved good twisties, gentle site visitors, and fairly views alongside the shore of Lake Travis and thru Inks Lake State Park. After driving by way of Llano, we dropped the sidestands and stretched our legs at Enchanted Rock State Pure Space. In Fredericksburg, an enthralling historic city surrounded by vineyards, we ate sausages and loved dwell music throughout a courtyard dinner at a German restaurant. 

Lower than an hour from Fredericksburg and west of Medina, we rode the famend Twisted Sisters. The three RM roads (335, 336, and 337) are filled with enjoyable curves and whoop-de-doos and are worthy of their status. The Twisted Sisters are so fashionable amongst motorcyclists that there are two-wheeled vacationer stops within the space, just like the Lone Star Motorbike Museum in Vanderpool and the Frio Canyon Motorbike Cease and The Hog Pen in Leakey. We handed many ranches; two of my favourite names have been Huge Bucks Ranch and Center Age Unfold.

After an evening in Del Rio, we adopted U.S. Route 90 west alongside the southwestern border of the Texas Pecos Path area and inside a stone’s throw of the Rio Grande. Though our bikes had the identical 107 engines, the Softail’s tank holds 5 gallons whereas the Road Glide’s holds 6 gallons. That 1-gallon distinction grew to become evident once we hit an 86-mile stretch with no companies pondering we had sufficient gasoline. We have been incorrect.

Lowering pace and tucking in behind the windshield for the final 20 miles did the trick, however headwinds meant the Softail was operating on fumes once we pulled into Sanderson. On the gasoline station, a woman with a ’50s-style bouffant informed us that pickle juice is nice for combating dehydration. We have been intrigued, however we questioned if she was having enjoyable on the expense of us Yankees.

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At Marathon, we turned south towards our subsequent vacation spot: Huge Bend Nationwide Park. Located in a pocket of West Texas the place the Rio Grande’s southeasterly course makes a pointy bend to the north, Huge Bend is big, overlaying greater than 801,163 acres (1,252 sq. miles), making it the seventh largest nationwide park outdoors of Alaska. In 1976, Huge Bend was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It comprises the most important intact portion of the Chihuahuan Desert, one of the crucial biologically wealthy and various desert ecosystems on the earth.

As a result of Huge Bend is much from main cities and the 118 miles of the Rio Grande alongside its southern boundary serves because the border between the U.S. and Mexico, it receives comparatively few guests in comparison with different nationwide parks. That makes it the right vacation spot for individuals who love wide-open areas and don’t look after crowds.

That afternoon we loved Huge Bend in all its glory. Mountain peaks topping 7,000 toes competed with colourful desert blooms for stunning surroundings. In Rio Grande Village, we realized of a tramway system that transported lead and silver from Mexico throughout the Rio Grande to ultimately join with the railroad in Marathon. For migrants, crossing the Rio Grande would have been a matter of merely wading the low waters, however passing the Border Patrol checkpoint some miles inland (in open desert) is one other story.

Highlights of Huge Bend Nationwide Park embody the winding street as much as Chisos Basin, the Rio Grande Overlook, and Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, which passes by way of Tuff Canyon on its method to Santa Elena Canyon Overlook. Of the 304 miles of roads within the park, 123 miles are paved, 45 miles are unpaved however improved, and 136 miles are unpaved and primitive, so there are many miles to discover no matter your most popular floor – or bike. That stated, at our lodge in Alpine, positioned about 80 miles north of the park by way of State Route 118, one other visitor recounted how two Honda Africa Twins struggled in Huge Bend’s sandy unpaved tracks, happening so typically they gave up and had their bikes towed out.

After spending the morning at Fort Davis, a nationwide historic web site north of Alpine with a well-preserved complicated of buildings and customer heart, we launched into our most difficult experience of the journey. We headed south on State Route 17 to Marfa after which took U.S. Route 67 to Presidio. From there, we rode east on FM 170, often known as River Highway. The 64 miles to Research Butte-Terlingua wind alongside the Rio Grande by way of Huge Bend Ranch State Park. Apart from the low water crossings, the street floor is mostly good – and the views are incredible – however riders want to remain frosty as a result of there are sudden elevation modifications, lowering radius and off-camber blind curves, and generally wildlife on the street.

After getting our fill of mountains, canyons, rivers, and memorable Rio Grande surroundings, we headed north by way of empty excessive desert to Fort Stockton, Odessa, Midland, and Lubbock, an space of Texas notable for the Permian Basin, an 86,000-square-mile space that’s residence to a few of the nation’s largest oil reserves. We rode for hours with oil wells scattered throughout the panorama in each course. To our shock, we additionally noticed dozens of enormous wind generators towering above a few of the oil rigs, so some Texans are clearly hedging their bets. 

Simply south of Amarillo, we visited Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the place we took in expansive views of America’s second largest canyon, which is 120 miles lengthy, a mean of 6 miles vast, and as much as 1,000 toes deep. The sprawling canyon was the topic of work by Georgia O’Keefe, who lived close by, and the positioning of a battle between Texas Rangers and Chief Kicking Wolf in Larry McMurtry’s novel Comanche Moon.

Having accomplished a lot of our loop, we headed southeast towards Dallas. We took secondary roads by way of cities akin to Turkey and Matador, the latter being the house of Bob’s Oil Nicely, a vestige of the times when daring roadside structure attracted prospects – on this case a picket oil derrick towering above a gasoline station.

The skies darkened as we rode east, and in Crowell, a woman pulled over to inform us there have been tornados touching down close to our subsequent waypoint in Vernon. When an EMT reiterated the warning, we stayed put till the coast was clear. After we lastly hit the street once more that night, it was a moist experience, however there was a lot lightning arcing throughout the clouds within the distance that we had loads of gentle to information us. After we checked into our lodge in Wichita Falls, we realized they’d had heavy rain, wind, and golf ball-sized hail – one visitor had a damaged windshield to show it.

On our final day, we blasted alongside state highways to Dallas, and for lengthy stretches, we loved explosions of coloration from roadside wildflowers. Bluebonnet and Indian paintbrush have been ample, and mid-April was the right time to see them. We all know higher than to mess with Texas, however we positive do admire all of the great roads, sights, and sweetness we skilled within the Lone Star State. And thanks, EagleRider, for renting us the Harleys – they have been the right steeds for our journey.