The North Texas Moto Journal
http://motoblog.richardswim.com
The Mission...
NEW URL!!! - NTmoto.net
Follow the journey - The rebirth of motorcycling, photography and traveling again on the open road.
Where am I?
2013 SPOT Tracking
2012 SPOT Tracking
2011 SPOT Tracking
2010 SPOT Tracking
Picasa Web Album
365 Project - 2012
Flickr Photostream
Photosynth Panoramas
Original Site
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
Info: richard@richardswim.com
Syndicate
The North Texas Moto Journal
2013 Heart of Texas 12-Hour Endurance Rally
The Prologue...
Sidney - 25 Points Olin - 20 Points
The small communities of Sidney and Olin were the next stops to document. The sun continued to rise and illuminate a really interesting farm road with many turns to keep the mind sharp. I rode east a bit more and then turned south to head for the Hill Country.
Marble Falls Firemen - 250 Points
I made my way into Brady for the final bonus location and to check in before 6:00 PM. I had ridden 594 miles for the day. I greeted James and went in to tally the points. I compared notes with other riders on what they had seen during the day, and went out for BBQ with Paul and Jim. During dinner I wrestled with returning back home or staying overnight somewhere in Brady or in between. I decided to ride, but pulled into the Classic Inn at Early after 50 miles in the dark. The next morning's ride home was pleasant with mild temperaturs and no wind. Sunday evening, I heard from Karen that I placed 6th overall and gained the most points for the single day points and thus had earned the "Rally Master Award". That was a surprise! But regardless of the award, I had a great day of riding and socializing with others afterwards.
20130427HeartofTexasRally at EveryTrail
Work has been way too busy... I was at the annual HIMSS conference in New Orleans. We're buying hospitals and merging with other healthcare systems. Connected medical equipment continues to tweak my mind in a friggin' complicated manner. My personal life has been busy also, in a good way. A couple of weekends back, Deb and I were out in Malibu on the beach visiting friends. Last weekend I was in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas watching the inaugural MotoGP. I've been tied up with a Healthcare IT certification course. So, it's time to put in a substantial ride - James Stovall's Heart of Texas 12-hour endurance rally. But, there's hardly any time to plan. What the heck.
I got the rally packet on Wednesday with the bonus list. But, I can't really take the time to look at it until Thursday during a quick lunch break. There's a progressive bonus for this year. Visit each of the specified locations in the list aligning with 2013 Heart of Texas, and 500 points magically appear. This was an obvious objective to meet. All of the letters required a single location for each But, I'm confused a bit. There's only 4 locations listed for "2013", and if one were to attempt this, it would be around 950 miles. That alone would likely land someone in jail for an attempt in 12 hours. . Wayne says "Chill... it's OK. Hwy 2013 or the finish at 2013 Bridge St in Brady will satisfy that.". So, I keep putting together a route. I wanted to keep it simple, considering how busy things have been lately. I was wanting to leave from my house on Saturday and ride to Emory for the first progressive bonus letter location. But, that next hop would be a long distance of non-productive riding. I kept looking... I wound up with a ~590 mile route starting in Early (appropriate start), and wrapping around the Hill Country through some awesome roads to end in Brady. Screw the competitive factor. It would be a great ride regardless of the outcome. I finished up work a bit early on Friday and headed home to pack the bike and ride to Brownwood.
April 27, 2013
The Classic Inn in Early was a great value with clean rooms, friendly owner and a reasonable price. Not to mention internet service that was actually good. The ride down Friday was fine, with nothing but miles on the back roads where possible. I slept well and awoke at 5:00 to look over the final bonuses that James sent out. The first was to find fuel in 4 cities beginning with the letter "I". Yeah, right... Forget that one. The second was to find a moto cop to photo with my rally flag. That might be a bit hard considering my back road route I had devised. The third was to photograph at least 5 firemen wearing their helmets behind my moto with one holding my rally flag. This was to honor the fallen firemen in the West explosion. That could be tough as well...
The previous night when I rolled into town, I had partially filled my tank to check the time stamp of the Valero. It looked fine. So I returned to the same pump this morning to get my starting receipt. I looked at the time, and 6:00:37 looked OK, so I headed down the highway a mile or so to the first bonus location, The Early historic marker. That was an appropriate starting point...
Early - 20 Points
I headed north towards Sidney and Olin. The morning air was crisp, and the sky to the east was turning interesting shades of dark blue.
Sidney - 25 Points Olin - 20 Points
The small communities of Sidney and Olin were the next stops to document. The sun continued to rise and illuminate a really interesting farm road with many turns to keep the mind sharp. I rode east a bit more and then turned south to head for the Hill Country.
There was a strange weather thing going on as I rode south towards Fairy. To my east was a cool air mass, and to the west warm air. I traversed this line several times going between fog and clearer skies. It almost looked like the severe weather lines that move in from the west spawning tornadoes, but these were calm early morning low-hanging clouds.
Fairy - 45 Points Adamsville - 45 Points
Oatmeal - 50 Points
The road to Oatmeal was more like an alley. It was once a county road (4006) that was paved and retained its original width. I dropped speed a bit and enjoyed it.
Marble Falls Firemen - 250 Points
As I rode through Marble Falls, I remembered the firemen bonus. I backtracked a bit after finding the fire station on the GPS, and parked my bike out front of the station. I walked in and explained what I was seeking, and if there were five firemen to photograph with me. Chief Rankin said he was lucky to have four at any moment. He counted all of them sitting around a bench having breakfast and was surprised. They were all very willing to pose for the shot. I found that some of them had attended the memorial service for the fallen fire fighters at West.
Horseshoe Bay - 40 Points Enchanted Rock - 110 Points
Horseshoe Bay - 40 Points Enchanted Rock - 110 Points
I made my way through the slow triathlon traffic in Marble Falls to go on to Horseshoe Bay and Enchanted Rock. I found later that there was a moto cop near one of the turn-arounds that I never saw. Dang, 250 points lost...
Tarpley - 65 Points Rio Frio - 75 Points
The road to Tarpley and Rio Frio was an absolute blast even though there was some construction going on. I have never been on it before, but will definitely return.
Rock Spring - 20 Points Telegraph - 20 Points
HeXt - 60 Points Art - 30 Points
Hext was the stop for an "X". I had to search a bit for the post office, and almost blew past it as I had to revert to written location description after the GPS coordinates did not yield the right destination. I did an out and back to visit Art for the final necessary progressive bonus letter. There was a really nice church in Art.
I made my way into Brady for the final bonus location and to check in before 6:00 PM. I had ridden 594 miles for the day. I greeted James and went in to tally the points. I compared notes with other riders on what they had seen during the day, and went out for BBQ with Paul and Jim. During dinner I wrestled with returning back home or staying overnight somewhere in Brady or in between. I decided to ride, but pulled into the Classic Inn at Early after 50 miles in the dark. The next morning's ride home was pleasant with mild temperaturs and no wind. Sunday evening, I heard from Karen that I placed 6th overall and gained the most points for the single day points and thus had earned the "Rally Master Award". That was a surprise! But regardless of the award, I had a great day of riding and socializing with others afterwards.
Final Results:
1. Rex LeGalley 1875
2. Brian Walters 1820
3. Steve Bracken 1655
4. Rusty Baldwin 1460
5. Ron Milleman 1445
6. Richard Swim 1360
7. Randy McCamey 1275
8. David Trail 1255
9. Paul Tong 1230
10. Jim Orr 1190
11. David Whitford 1160
12. Owen Quarles 715
13. Bobby Kent 580
14. Karl Zuercher 495
15. Donny Phillips 455
16. Rusty Allen 455
17. Cary McCamey 390
MotoGP at the Circuit of the Americas
April 21, 2013
There's a lot of folks that never thought we would see this day. The 3.4 mile Circuit of the Americas was barely ready for the F1 race in the fall. This MotoGP is the inaugural premier motorcycle event in Texas. I came down Friday to visit my long-time friend, Keith. He and I were messing around with motorcycles since we were 15 years old back in Abilene.
I rode straight to the track on Friday and met Keith there to scope things out and watch practice.
We stayed around the hill at Turn 1 most of Friday.
The sights and sounds at the races are great!
The tower in the center of the track is quite impressive.
On race day, newcomer Marc Marquez schooled the veterans of the sport. He took first place from his teammate Danny Pedrosa.
I wandered out after the main event while the single cylinder MotoGP Rookies race was underway. The crowd of 61,000 made their way out as well. Traffic was slow-going for miles from the track.
Keith and I sat behind these couples on Friday during practice. They were very friendly.
The return home was perfect weather. The late-afternoon light was nice to ride in.
Photos
20130421MotoGP at EveryTrail
There's a lot of folks that never thought we would see this day. The 3.4 mile Circuit of the Americas was barely ready for the F1 race in the fall. This MotoGP is the inaugural premier motorcycle event in Texas. I came down Friday to visit my long-time friend, Keith. He and I were messing around with motorcycles since we were 15 years old back in Abilene.
I rode straight to the track on Friday and met Keith there to scope things out and watch practice.
We stayed around the hill at Turn 1 most of Friday.
The sights and sounds at the races are great!
The tower in the center of the track is quite impressive.
On race day, newcomer Marc Marquez schooled the veterans of the sport. He took first place from his teammate Danny Pedrosa.
I wandered out after the main event while the single cylinder MotoGP Rookies race was underway. The crowd of 61,000 made their way out as well. Traffic was slow-going for miles from the track.
Keith and I sat behind these couples on Friday during practice. They were very friendly.
The return home was perfect weather. The late-afternoon light was nice to ride in.
Photos
20130421MotoGP at EveryTrail
Travis - The Last Ride
March 29, 2013
We buried Travis today in Henderson, TX amongst the blooming Dogwoods and Azaleas. It was hard. Travis was way too young at 48 to pass away. He was taking a ride last Thursday evening with a friend and something was not right. He stopped his KRS and parked it in the street, and that was it. His last ride. It was his time, but way too early in his life...
Travis was a remarkable rider with a great smile and attitude. Tom said he was the best two-up rider he has ever known. Tom and Travis spent a lot of time together, first at work and then later riding. It was likely a network field-related business trip to Bentonville where Tom persuaded Travis to buy a BMW instead of a Harley. Travis kept his K1200RS immaculately clean. He made me feel inept at cleaning my own. Every time I saw him, he had a smile and was happy with life. Of course, the life I knew of him was around motos, and he loved the sport.
Travis pointing out the shift lever that touched the road on the way to Natchitoches.
Photo - Tom Oliver
The old-school track log...
We buried Travis today in Henderson, TX amongst the blooming Dogwoods and Azaleas. It was hard. Travis was way too young at 48 to pass away. He was taking a ride last Thursday evening with a friend and something was not right. He stopped his KRS and parked it in the street, and that was it. His last ride. It was his time, but way too early in his life...
Travis was a remarkable rider with a great smile and attitude. Tom said he was the best two-up rider he has ever known. Tom and Travis spent a lot of time together, first at work and then later riding. It was likely a network field-related business trip to Bentonville where Tom persuaded Travis to buy a BMW instead of a Harley. Travis kept his K1200RS immaculately clean. He made me feel inept at cleaning my own. Every time I saw him, he had a smile and was happy with life. Of course, the life I knew of him was around motos, and he loved the sport.
Travis pointing out the shift lever that touched the road on the way to Natchitoches.
I had to attend one of those mandatory meetings at work Thursday morning. I prepped the bike Wednesday evening and got my riding gear ready. Thursday morning, I pulled the GPS off of the bike for security while parked at the hospital and heard a pop. Dang it. Blew a fuse. Not enough time to fix it, and there would be no time after leaving the meeting either. I took a direct route down to Henderson, but still had to search for the funeral home. I arrived minutes before the service.
The service was nice, and a lot of people turned out to support the family and each other.
Jim and I were the only riders on our bikes from the club, but there were several others that showed including Herman and Patti, Charles, Tom and Scott who were also pallbearers. Travis' son spent some time with us at graveside getting to know all of his dad's riding partners.
I headed towards home wanting to wander some of the East Texas back roads. But the GPS was out to lunch. I had to resort to my general sense of direction continuing to ride west and north. But the clouds messed that idea up quickly. I even pulled out the paper map to try to figure out where the heck I was around Mineola. It was fun riding the old 'hood Travis grew up in. We'll all remember him for the rest of our lives.
Ride the heavens, Travis.
The old-school track log...
Whitewright - November, 2012
November 18, 2012
It was a crisp and sunny beginning to a Sunday, with temperatures in the low 40's on the way up to the Lone Star BMW Riders McKinney ride start. Bo gave a quick run-down of how the route up to Whitewright would look. We took an interesting path through some small roads I had not been on before up to CJ's, the traditional breakfast gathering spot for the club. Headed back to my house to get home in time for the start of the inaugural Formula 1 race at the brand new Circuit of the Americas track in Austin.
20121118Whitewright at EveryTrail
Photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/114486492519414832705/albums/5812227525885677457
It was a crisp and sunny beginning to a Sunday, with temperatures in the low 40's on the way up to the Lone Star BMW Riders McKinney ride start. Bo gave a quick run-down of how the route up to Whitewright would look. We took an interesting path through some small roads I had not been on before up to CJ's, the traditional breakfast gathering spot for the club. Headed back to my house to get home in time for the start of the inaugural Formula 1 race at the brand new Circuit of the Americas track in Austin.
20121118Whitewright at EveryTrail
Photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/114486492519414832705/albums/5812227525885677457
Big Tex 36-Hour Rally
October 18, 2012
I headed towards Austin and McGregor park. I saw those high points Friday morning and wondered why this seemed too easy. As I rode closer to Austin, I studied the road on the GPS and then recognized the location. It was Hippie Hollow, the only public nude beach in Texas. Now I knew why the points were so high. A photo of a park visitor holding my rally flag would be hard to claim. I was too close now to not give it a try. My original route was too far to the west. I walked down to the water, and talked with several park visitors, who almost in unison said photos were just not allowed at waterside. So, dejected, I walked back to the bike and thought about more wasted time, but once again, it was not a total waste of time. I did try a photo of myself being a park visitor, but read later that it had to be someone other than myself. Dang...
I-35 is my least popular route of travel, either by car or moto. But, I had to get to Waco to do the 44 Magnum bonus location. Each of 3 shots on target would give me 5 percent of my total score. That could be 7,500 points more! And I love shooting, especially the big caliber ammo. I could not find any evidence of shooting at the waypoint. I called Wayne, and he pointed out the window closed at 2:00. It was 2:50 when I arrived. Dang... This time it was totally wasted. I stated thinking how I could have improved this day of riding.
I made a quick stop in Waco to capture the low-point Texas Ranger bonus.
The Texas Theater was the high-point location in Dallas. This was the theater that Oswald was apprehended in. The poster for the photo was the feature that was playing during that historic event.
The last photographed bonus was the Longhorn Ballroom. I captured this, and then went to buy a six-pack of Shiner Bock worth another 600 points.
I pulled into the finish, and Wayne's posse documented my arrival. As I walked into the scoring area, many riders were sifting through their ride documents to tally scores. I downed three bottles of cold water and then sipped a cold brew to start working through my own. There was a great dinner enjoyed by all participants. The most food likely consumed in the day and a half of riding.
Rally master Wayne Boyter
The evening progressed, and scoring validation was completed. The winning score was held by Paul Tong, who I took first place in the short practice rally a month back. He had an impressive score. Paul's a nice guy, and well deserves the finish. I hope to see him again if I get the chance to ride another rally. Our own Lone Star BMW Riders club member, Bobby Fox, claimed 5th place.
The final results are below. There were 50 riders registered, but some had to drop before and during the ride.
I need to think about heading up to Denison for a 6 AM start of the Big Tex Rally. This is a scavenger hunt for locations all around Texas that rally master Wayne Boyter has contrived. The previous couple of weeks were filled with studying the rally packet of bonus locations and planning a route that would be both interesting and fruitful in bonus points. I gained non-ride bonus points from donating to Eddie's Road, and searched for a "Don't Mess with Texas" sticker. Chris from Sherman helped me with this, meeting me on the way up to Denison. Thanks.
The ride starts at 6:00 AM Friday, and ends at 6:00 PM Saturday, with a mandatory rest of 4 hours minimum. I told Deb I would wake up at 3:30 Friday morning, and ride the 65 miles up to the start location for a 5:30 rider meeting. Deb says to get a room in Denison so I can sleep "late". OK - so I did. A lot of the riders met at Hutch's Catfish for dinner. Many had come from all around the country to ride the event. There are four starting locations around Texas, Denison, Orange, Anthony and Dumas. The majority chose North Texas as their start location.
The ride starts at 6:00 AM Friday, and ends at 6:00 PM Saturday, with a mandatory rest of 4 hours minimum. I told Deb I would wake up at 3:30 Friday morning, and ride the 65 miles up to the start location for a 5:30 rider meeting. Deb says to get a room in Denison so I can sleep "late". OK - so I did. A lot of the riders met at Hutch's Catfish for dinner. Many had come from all around the country to ride the event. There are four starting locations around Texas, Denison, Orange, Anthony and Dumas. The majority chose North Texas as their start location.
Abe & Kathi Garcia - Corpus Christi, TX
Art Johnson - Topeka, KS
Bill Thweatt - Fairview, TX
Bobby Fox - Frisco, TX
Bryan Anderson & Andi Johson – Odessa, TX
BB Neely - Magee, MS
Chris Mixon - Lafayette, LA
Chris Schwartz - Houston, TX
Chris Stallings - Huntsville, TX
Cliff Wall - Southlake, TX
Coyle Schwab - St. Charles, IL
Daniel Roth - Warner Robbins, GA
David Dils - Benbrook, TX
David Schumaker - Dallas, TX
David Trail - Kaufman, TX
DC Collard - Chicago, IL
Dean Rider - Friendswood, TX
Eric Bray - Las Vegas, NV
Eric Sorensen - Ft. Worth, TX
Erik Yocum - Ann Arbor, MI
George Schwab - Ft. Worth, TX
Heidi Still - Yuma, AZ
Jeremy Loveall - Auburn, KY
Jim Orr - Chandler, OK
Kevin Sawatsky - Caddo Mills, TX
Lisa Hecker - Crofton, MD
Mark & Maggie Peres - Bastrop, TX
Mark Smith - Watauga, TX
Matt Hube - Statesboro, GA
Matthew Wise - Rowlett, TX
Michael Boucher - Houston, TX
Michael Loomer - Wofford Heights, CA
Michael McKennedy - Highland Village, TX
Nick Getzendanner - McKinney, TX
Owen Quarles - Houston, TX
Paul Tong - Frisco, TX
Rex LeGalley - Albuquerque, NM
Richard Swim - Garland, TX
Rick & Barbara Bailey - Duncanville, AL
Rick & Paula Natali - Myrtle Beach, SC
Scott Hartwig - DeSoto, IL
Scott Bracken - Owasso, OK
T. Whittenberg - Burleson, TX
Terry & Vicki Watson - Charleston, IL
TJ Bowers - Canton, GA
Tony Hudson - Aiken, SC
Travis Hood - Bartlett, TN
Wade Golden - Belton, TX
Wendy Crockett - Wofford Heights, CA
William & Tammie Myers - Hummelstown, PA
I hit the bed around 10:00, and promptly awoke at 2:30. I tried to go back to sleep, but I was ready to ride...
October 19, 2012
I grabbed my gear from the room and left for the start location.
The long distance-outfitted bikes were rolling up with gear mounted all over the dash, and additional fuel cells hanging off of the rear and on the passenger seat. Wayne arrived and started checking in riders with the help of his posse. We had to hand over our drivers license and insurance papers which were sealed in an envelope and given back to us. If we turned in the envelope unopened at the finish, we would get 5,000 points as a bonus of being good citizens on the road and not having to visit with the local authorities.
6:00 AM arrives, and we are released to ride. I headed out on my planned route that first took me through Gainesville where the the first low-point bonus was located. I opted to keep riding 100 miles to the second higher-point location to get a good idea of average speed and timing for the rest of the day.
My first bonus location stop was at Cottonwood cemetery to find the headstone of Machine Gun Kelley. I had done some research on the internet Thursday night and found a nice layout of the cemetery. I knew George Kelley's grave was in the northwest quadrant, third row from the front. The stop did not take long. Riders started arriving in mass as I prepared to move again.
I knew that riding through Weatherford at the interstate is a mess, so I peeled off to add on the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. This would be the start of a route miscalculation that would cost me over an hour of rest points in Fort Davis. When I added the Baker Hotel in, I selected auto-arrange in the GPS to sort out the order of waypoints. When you have a "linear" route, this normally works fine. But my route was a semicircle down in the Big Bend area, so the auto-arrange put my stop at Terlingua instead of Fort Davis. I thought I had gained some time somehow through the recalculation of the route. I stopped at the steps of the Baker Hotel to document my visit there as laid out in the rally packet instructions.
Heading southwest towards Cross Plains brought me closer to my teenage days of living in Abilene and servicing juke boxes and cigaret machines at the Dairy Queens. Best job a high-schooler could ever have... I pulled through the only signal light in town, turned west towards Abilene, and arrived at the Howard House, home of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian. Several other rally riders were at various stages of documenting their stop. The two very friendly curators inside of the house were very interested in where we lived, and where we were intending to travel on this day.
I pointed Katrina southwest again, riding past the Mesquite trees and ranches on the way to San Angelo. Again, I added another bonus location thinking I was somehow ahead of my plan. This time, it was the pictographs near Paint Rock. As I neared the waypoint, I saw it was off the highway. I pulled up to the gate with a sign "Posted - No Trespassing". The sign on the highway pointed in the direction of the caliche road to the ranch house. I dismounted, unhooked the chain from the fence post, and swung the gate open. After securing it, I rode deep into the property past buffalo grazing beside the road. The rancher held his hand up as he dropped out of his pickup. I explained to him that I was searching for a pictograph marker to photograph. He said he was too busy to take me down to the pictographs, so I gracefully retreated back to the highway. Later I found out that my bonus point location was likely just under my feet right near where I was talking with the rancher. Oh well... Video here.
The bonus location in San Angelo was in the center of the town, the mural featuring Western writer Elmer Kelton. I had help there from Tong to take the picture of me holding the rally flag in front of the mural. I greeted Bobby while he was eating a protein bar under the shade.
The Mexican border was the next objective. I rode through hills covered with scrub to Hwy 90 (which I still think is actually the speed limit) and headed to Judge Roy Bean's saloon and courthouse. There I found several riders on the same quest as me. After a brief hello, I went to pose in front of the old weathered wood shack to capture my photo with my rally flag.
West again on Hwy 90, this time riding with a fellow rally competitor that was at the ROY bonus location. After around 40 miles of riding, it was 4:00 and time to make the call-in bonus. The most effective use of time would be a call while riding using my Autocom in-helmet communications. I had a signal on the phone, and started dialing. I hear ringing, and an answer from Wayne's team back in DeSoto. I could hear them clearly, but they could not hear me. I slowed thinking the wind noise was interfering. After a couple of attempts at this, the cell signal disappeared. I still had 50 minutes for the call-in bonus window. I kept riding.
I passed my ad hoc riding partner on the side of the road looking at a burned out train. A few miles further west, the ROB waypoint on the GPS showed the site of the 1912 last train robbery in Texas, between Dryden and Sanderson. The white Gold Wing rider rolled up to the historic marker as I was preparing my photo. He said he thought the burned train we saw earlier was the site. The wind was blowing, and I did not bring weights of any kind for my rally flag, so we helped each other to capture the bonus location photo with our number showing.
I rolled away to the west again. My cell signal would appear on the hills and drop again in the valleys. Once the signal started appearing more steady, I called Debbie to let her know things were going OK. She stayed on the line long enough to tell me there was a lot of static. When I heard this, I disconnected my USB power cable from the charger I had bought early this morning. I knew I would be away from power to charge the phone and its battery would die during the ride. I had not yet tried the charger to know it caused audio static. Now Debbie could hear me quite well. We had a nice talk, and I told her I should make the check-in call while I had a signal. The next call to Wayne's staff was successful, and I reported my last bonus location stop at ROB and heading to TPG (Trans Pecos Guitars) in Alpine. That call gave me 1,000 points.
I walked into Mark Pollock's guitar shop in Alpine and told him what I was there for. He handed me a couple of guitar picks, one for rally master Wayne and one for me. I asked him where the toilet was, as the wall above was the required photo for the stop. After topping off the fuel tank, I rode into the golden light of the late afternoon towards Paul and Voni's Big Bend home.
Paul and Voni's unique home has been a stop before. Paul helped us repair Tom's radio antenna coax in his shop a couple of years ago. This time the Glaves were out for the afternoon. I put my name on the fridge again and shot my rally flag. I rolled again south towards Terlingua.
The rally pack instructions said to buy a La Kiva condom to gain the bonus points here. The waitress said they were all sold out, so I asked for a La Kiva sticker and a receipt stating the sell-out. She obliged, and I headed out for the River Road.
Riding the River Road so late into the evening concerned me. This road is challenging enough in the daylight with its hidden sharp turns over crests, so doing it in the waning light could be even worse. As the light started dropping off, I found that my headlights and PIAA driving lights lit up the white roadside markers. As I approached the crest of a hill, the markers pointed the direction to turn nicely, where in daylight the turn decision is made at the top of the hill.
Contrabando Mission is actually an abandoned movie set. I set up my camera on the tripod near the Rio Grande River to capture this photo, and climbed up to the road to ride west.
The Tee Pees have also been a stop on several previous rides to Big Bend Country.
El Patio was on my mind. This would be both a bonus location stop and a short rest from riding to get some real food in me. I had up to this point been living on energy bars and beef jerkey, both partaken at speed from my tank bag. I called Deb and let her know all was well. The chicken fajita burrito was extremely tasty.
Rolling north from Presidio and the Mexican border left me in the complete darkness of the West Texas high desert. I kept my eyes sharp on the sides of the road for deer, and systematically dimmed my headlight and shut down the PIAA's for approaching cars. Shafter was another bonus location for the evening. I was expecting the museum with the photo of George Brooks to be just off of the highway, but it was deep into this ghost town through some rough dirt roads. I pulled up to the building, and checked to see if the door was open, and it was. I walked in and looked for the light switch and found none. The flashlight I carried was the only light available to walk through the building and find the photo of Mr. Brooks in his Union California uniform.
The Marfa Lights bonus would have to be dropped. It was not worth the 40 or so additional minutes of riding to gain the points, and I could gain more by getting to my rest stop at Fort Davis. The earlier routing error today threw off my timing, and I and planned to make the Mount Locke bonus tonight, but was feeling too tired. I elected to ride straight to the motel, and get up early Saturday to ride to McDonald Observatory for the almost 3,000 points.
As I rolled into Fort Davis, I needed to get a gas station receipt to document my rest stop start time. I pulled into the 24-hour fuel station, and talked with a Texas State Trooper filling up his truck. He mentioned the hour of the night and me still being out on the bike. I told him this was the end of a 900-mile day. He said he had pulled over a rider earlier that was on a long distance ride. The rider said he had his license and insurance papers sealed up in an envelope for the event, and the trooper let him go with a warning and kept the sealed envelope intact. I told him we were on the same event, as my license and insurance was also sealed in my top case.
Fort Davis Motor Inn was the stop for the evening. After updating my route for the next day, I hit the bed and slept well.
October 20, 2012
My alarm was set for 5:00. I awoke at 4:59 and was on the bike rolling at 5:16. I stopped by the same fuel station and completed filling my tank to get my end rest receipt. I was short 1,200 of rest time points due to adding on the Baker Hotel and the failed Paint Rock bonus. So the net was a loss of 900 or so points. Dang... I headed to Mount Locke in the dark, eyes peeled for deer, which I knew were very common along this stretch of road. The only one I saw was in the middle of the road on the climb up the mountain, victim of a hit the previous evening.
I climbed the steep ascent of Mount Locke, much easier on my moto than my bicycle that I rode in a time trial years ago during a stage race here. The blue "Highest road in Texas" sign was the bonus location. I dimmed my lights as I approached the observatory. I did not hear anyone when I got off of the bike, but I could hear the positioning gears and motors of the telescope as I walked the final steps to the marker for the photo.
Returning back down the mountain was a thrilling ride in the crisp morning air. I was conservative again, but enjoyed the curves of the road even in the total darkness. My lights illuminated the markers of the road to the point of looking like a TRON movie set.
Pasiano Pete, the world's largest roadrunner, was the bonus location in Fort Stockton. The morning twilight was starting to illuminate the streets for the stop.
I hit I-10 and enjoyed the 80 mph speed limit, but squinted as the sun rose directly in front of me. I dropped low-point bonus locations along the interstate in order to keep rolling as fast as possible to the Luckenbach location - high points, and a must stop. As I approached the old store, I saw more and more bikes and remembered this was the Harvest Classic vintage rally weekend. I talked my way into the event, and pulled directly up to the store for my photo of the Alaska license plate DWD-187. I looked all over for this elusive plate, first concentrating on the yellow-orange older colored Alaskan plates. I even helped another Big Tex Rally rider photograph his plate. On the third look at the wall where the other rider's plate was, I found mine. Dang, more time wasted... But it was a fun way to waste time. My helmet cam recorded the life of the vintage rally.
My first bonus location stop was at Cottonwood cemetery to find the headstone of Machine Gun Kelley. I had done some research on the internet Thursday night and found a nice layout of the cemetery. I knew George Kelley's grave was in the northwest quadrant, third row from the front. The stop did not take long. Riders started arriving in mass as I prepared to move again.
I knew that riding through Weatherford at the interstate is a mess, so I peeled off to add on the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. This would be the start of a route miscalculation that would cost me over an hour of rest points in Fort Davis. When I added the Baker Hotel in, I selected auto-arrange in the GPS to sort out the order of waypoints. When you have a "linear" route, this normally works fine. But my route was a semicircle down in the Big Bend area, so the auto-arrange put my stop at Terlingua instead of Fort Davis. I thought I had gained some time somehow through the recalculation of the route. I stopped at the steps of the Baker Hotel to document my visit there as laid out in the rally packet instructions.
Heading southwest towards Cross Plains brought me closer to my teenage days of living in Abilene and servicing juke boxes and cigaret machines at the Dairy Queens. Best job a high-schooler could ever have... I pulled through the only signal light in town, turned west towards Abilene, and arrived at the Howard House, home of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian. Several other rally riders were at various stages of documenting their stop. The two very friendly curators inside of the house were very interested in where we lived, and where we were intending to travel on this day.
I pointed Katrina southwest again, riding past the Mesquite trees and ranches on the way to San Angelo. Again, I added another bonus location thinking I was somehow ahead of my plan. This time, it was the pictographs near Paint Rock. As I neared the waypoint, I saw it was off the highway. I pulled up to the gate with a sign "Posted - No Trespassing". The sign on the highway pointed in the direction of the caliche road to the ranch house. I dismounted, unhooked the chain from the fence post, and swung the gate open. After securing it, I rode deep into the property past buffalo grazing beside the road. The rancher held his hand up as he dropped out of his pickup. I explained to him that I was searching for a pictograph marker to photograph. He said he was too busy to take me down to the pictographs, so I gracefully retreated back to the highway. Later I found out that my bonus point location was likely just under my feet right near where I was talking with the rancher. Oh well... Video here.
The bonus location in San Angelo was in the center of the town, the mural featuring Western writer Elmer Kelton. I had help there from Tong to take the picture of me holding the rally flag in front of the mural. I greeted Bobby while he was eating a protein bar under the shade.
The Mexican border was the next objective. I rode through hills covered with scrub to Hwy 90 (which I still think is actually the speed limit) and headed to Judge Roy Bean's saloon and courthouse. There I found several riders on the same quest as me. After a brief hello, I went to pose in front of the old weathered wood shack to capture my photo with my rally flag.
West again on Hwy 90, this time riding with a fellow rally competitor that was at the ROY bonus location. After around 40 miles of riding, it was 4:00 and time to make the call-in bonus. The most effective use of time would be a call while riding using my Autocom in-helmet communications. I had a signal on the phone, and started dialing. I hear ringing, and an answer from Wayne's team back in DeSoto. I could hear them clearly, but they could not hear me. I slowed thinking the wind noise was interfering. After a couple of attempts at this, the cell signal disappeared. I still had 50 minutes for the call-in bonus window. I kept riding.
I passed my ad hoc riding partner on the side of the road looking at a burned out train. A few miles further west, the ROB waypoint on the GPS showed the site of the 1912 last train robbery in Texas, between Dryden and Sanderson. The white Gold Wing rider rolled up to the historic marker as I was preparing my photo. He said he thought the burned train we saw earlier was the site. The wind was blowing, and I did not bring weights of any kind for my rally flag, so we helped each other to capture the bonus location photo with our number showing.
I rolled away to the west again. My cell signal would appear on the hills and drop again in the valleys. Once the signal started appearing more steady, I called Debbie to let her know things were going OK. She stayed on the line long enough to tell me there was a lot of static. When I heard this, I disconnected my USB power cable from the charger I had bought early this morning. I knew I would be away from power to charge the phone and its battery would die during the ride. I had not yet tried the charger to know it caused audio static. Now Debbie could hear me quite well. We had a nice talk, and I told her I should make the check-in call while I had a signal. The next call to Wayne's staff was successful, and I reported my last bonus location stop at ROB and heading to TPG (Trans Pecos Guitars) in Alpine. That call gave me 1,000 points.
I walked into Mark Pollock's guitar shop in Alpine and told him what I was there for. He handed me a couple of guitar picks, one for rally master Wayne and one for me. I asked him where the toilet was, as the wall above was the required photo for the stop. After topping off the fuel tank, I rode into the golden light of the late afternoon towards Paul and Voni's Big Bend home.
Paul and Voni's unique home has been a stop before. Paul helped us repair Tom's radio antenna coax in his shop a couple of years ago. This time the Glaves were out for the afternoon. I put my name on the fridge again and shot my rally flag. I rolled again south towards Terlingua.
The rally pack instructions said to buy a La Kiva condom to gain the bonus points here. The waitress said they were all sold out, so I asked for a La Kiva sticker and a receipt stating the sell-out. She obliged, and I headed out for the River Road.
Riding the River Road so late into the evening concerned me. This road is challenging enough in the daylight with its hidden sharp turns over crests, so doing it in the waning light could be even worse. As the light started dropping off, I found that my headlights and PIAA driving lights lit up the white roadside markers. As I approached the crest of a hill, the markers pointed the direction to turn nicely, where in daylight the turn decision is made at the top of the hill.
Contrabando Mission is actually an abandoned movie set. I set up my camera on the tripod near the Rio Grande River to capture this photo, and climbed up to the road to ride west.
The Tee Pees have also been a stop on several previous rides to Big Bend Country.
El Patio was on my mind. This would be both a bonus location stop and a short rest from riding to get some real food in me. I had up to this point been living on energy bars and beef jerkey, both partaken at speed from my tank bag. I called Deb and let her know all was well. The chicken fajita burrito was extremely tasty.
Rolling north from Presidio and the Mexican border left me in the complete darkness of the West Texas high desert. I kept my eyes sharp on the sides of the road for deer, and systematically dimmed my headlight and shut down the PIAA's for approaching cars. Shafter was another bonus location for the evening. I was expecting the museum with the photo of George Brooks to be just off of the highway, but it was deep into this ghost town through some rough dirt roads. I pulled up to the building, and checked to see if the door was open, and it was. I walked in and looked for the light switch and found none. The flashlight I carried was the only light available to walk through the building and find the photo of Mr. Brooks in his Union California uniform.
The Marfa Lights bonus would have to be dropped. It was not worth the 40 or so additional minutes of riding to gain the points, and I could gain more by getting to my rest stop at Fort Davis. The earlier routing error today threw off my timing, and I and planned to make the Mount Locke bonus tonight, but was feeling too tired. I elected to ride straight to the motel, and get up early Saturday to ride to McDonald Observatory for the almost 3,000 points.
As I rolled into Fort Davis, I needed to get a gas station receipt to document my rest stop start time. I pulled into the 24-hour fuel station, and talked with a Texas State Trooper filling up his truck. He mentioned the hour of the night and me still being out on the bike. I told him this was the end of a 900-mile day. He said he had pulled over a rider earlier that was on a long distance ride. The rider said he had his license and insurance papers sealed up in an envelope for the event, and the trooper let him go with a warning and kept the sealed envelope intact. I told him we were on the same event, as my license and insurance was also sealed in my top case.
Fort Davis Motor Inn was the stop for the evening. After updating my route for the next day, I hit the bed and slept well.
October 20, 2012
My alarm was set for 5:00. I awoke at 4:59 and was on the bike rolling at 5:16. I stopped by the same fuel station and completed filling my tank to get my end rest receipt. I was short 1,200 of rest time points due to adding on the Baker Hotel and the failed Paint Rock bonus. So the net was a loss of 900 or so points. Dang... I headed to Mount Locke in the dark, eyes peeled for deer, which I knew were very common along this stretch of road. The only one I saw was in the middle of the road on the climb up the mountain, victim of a hit the previous evening.
I climbed the steep ascent of Mount Locke, much easier on my moto than my bicycle that I rode in a time trial years ago during a stage race here. The blue "Highest road in Texas" sign was the bonus location. I dimmed my lights as I approached the observatory. I did not hear anyone when I got off of the bike, but I could hear the positioning gears and motors of the telescope as I walked the final steps to the marker for the photo.
Returning back down the mountain was a thrilling ride in the crisp morning air. I was conservative again, but enjoyed the curves of the road even in the total darkness. My lights illuminated the markers of the road to the point of looking like a TRON movie set.
Pasiano Pete, the world's largest roadrunner, was the bonus location in Fort Stockton. The morning twilight was starting to illuminate the streets for the stop.
I hit I-10 and enjoyed the 80 mph speed limit, but squinted as the sun rose directly in front of me. I dropped low-point bonus locations along the interstate in order to keep rolling as fast as possible to the Luckenbach location - high points, and a must stop. As I approached the old store, I saw more and more bikes and remembered this was the Harvest Classic vintage rally weekend. I talked my way into the event, and pulled directly up to the store for my photo of the Alaska license plate DWD-187. I looked all over for this elusive plate, first concentrating on the yellow-orange older colored Alaskan plates. I even helped another Big Tex Rally rider photograph his plate. On the third look at the wall where the other rider's plate was, I found mine. Dang, more time wasted... But it was a fun way to waste time. My helmet cam recorded the life of the vintage rally.
I headed towards Austin and McGregor park. I saw those high points Friday morning and wondered why this seemed too easy. As I rode closer to Austin, I studied the road on the GPS and then recognized the location. It was Hippie Hollow, the only public nude beach in Texas. Now I knew why the points were so high. A photo of a park visitor holding my rally flag would be hard to claim. I was too close now to not give it a try. My original route was too far to the west. I walked down to the water, and talked with several park visitors, who almost in unison said photos were just not allowed at waterside. So, dejected, I walked back to the bike and thought about more wasted time, but once again, it was not a total waste of time. I did try a photo of myself being a park visitor, but read later that it had to be someone other than myself. Dang...
I-35 is my least popular route of travel, either by car or moto. But, I had to get to Waco to do the 44 Magnum bonus location. Each of 3 shots on target would give me 5 percent of my total score. That could be 7,500 points more! And I love shooting, especially the big caliber ammo. I could not find any evidence of shooting at the waypoint. I called Wayne, and he pointed out the window closed at 2:00. It was 2:50 when I arrived. Dang... This time it was totally wasted. I stated thinking how I could have improved this day of riding.
I made a quick stop in Waco to capture the low-point Texas Ranger bonus.
The Texas Theater was the high-point location in Dallas. This was the theater that Oswald was apprehended in. The poster for the photo was the feature that was playing during that historic event.
The last photographed bonus was the Longhorn Ballroom. I captured this, and then went to buy a six-pack of Shiner Bock worth another 600 points.
I pulled into the finish, and Wayne's posse documented my arrival. As I walked into the scoring area, many riders were sifting through their ride documents to tally scores. I downed three bottles of cold water and then sipped a cold brew to start working through my own. There was a great dinner enjoyed by all participants. The most food likely consumed in the day and a half of riding.
The evening progressed, and scoring validation was completed. The winning score was held by Paul Tong, who I took first place in the short practice rally a month back. He had an impressive score. Paul's a nice guy, and well deserves the finish. I hope to see him again if I get the chance to ride another rally. Our own Lone Star BMW Riders club member, Bobby Fox, claimed 5th place.
The final results are below. There were 50 riders registered, but some had to drop before and during the ride.
BigTexRally 2012 Final Standings
Rider / Miles / Points:
1. TONG 1,733 / 73,637
2. LOVEALL 1,264 / 72,146
3. BRAY 1,604 / 64,558
4. LeGALLEY 1,678 / 62,723
5. FOX 1,193 / 60,650
6. DUCK 1,527 / 55,574
7. FRANKIEWICZ 1,523 / 51,038
8. PERES 1,550 / 50,811
9. WALL 1,308 / 50,445
10. SCHWARTZ 1,563 / 49,689
11. TRAIL 1,731 / 49,084
12. SWIM 1,601 / 48,018
13. MIXON 1,620 / 46,699
14. BOUCHER 1,530 / 46,368
15. BOWERS 1,201 / 46,344
16. COLLARD 1,145 / 46,344
17. MEEKER 1,494 / 45,515
18. JOHNSON 1,514 / 44,869
19. BAILEY 1,638 / 44,612
20. STALLINGS 1,637 / 43,658
21. ORR 1,607 / 43,301
22. POWELL 1,209 / 42,986
23. ANDERSON 1,432 / 42,274
24. SCHWAB, C. 1,350 / 41,385
25. SCHWAB, G. 1,313 / 41,385
26. HARTWIG 1,286 / 41,385
27. STILL 1,283 / 41,291
28. NATALI 1,558 / 39,383
29. QUARLES 1,342 / 37,760
30. GETZENDANNER 1,580 / 37,118
31. HECKER 1,437 / 37,073
32. SORENSEN 1,325 / 34,712
33. HUDSON 1,167 / 34,691
34. RAGSDALE 1,650 / 33,725
35. HOOD 1,339 / 31,678
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/114486492519414832705/BigTex36HourRally
Big Tex Rally 2012 from Richard Swim on Vimeo.
201210BigTexRally at EveryTrail
Taos, Gateway and Santa Fe
September 7, 2012
This morning is a radical change from the normal work/home life routine. Deb and I packed the bags on the bike last night for a 7-day ride through New Mexico and Colorado. Today we are on the road heading for Taos, and then heading up to Gateway Canyons in Colorado for a couple of days. We'll make our way back through Santa Fe on the way home next week.
We escaped the metromess traffic madness between Denton and Decatur. The temperature continued to rise on the ride towards Amarillo. And the wind was hot and brisk from the south, until 60 miles or so southeast of Amarillo. I noticed the dramatic wind change within just a couple of miles. And with that northwest wind came cooler temperatures. The brisk wind started turning into a direct north side wind of 30 to 40 miles per hour. I had to watch my line carefully as I passed the big trucks, as the wind subsided and then returned with a vengeance. We saw dust crossing the highway miles ahead of us. As we approached it, I had to scrub speed off quickly as the visibility dropped to hundreds of feet or less.
We had decided to split the ride to Taos in half with a stop at Amarillo anticipating heat. As we neared Amarillo, instead of escaping the heat, we were looking forward to getting out of the wind. Deb and I relaxed in the room, and went out for a great meal later in the evening. Tomorrow morning, the temperatures are supposed to start in the 50's, but the wind should not be a major factor.
September 8, 2012
We woke to no wind this morning, and a cool 59 degrees for the ride into New Mexico. It did not warm up at all, and the combination of the previous night's rain and morning cloud cover made for a chilly ride.
As we approached the mountains and gained altitude, we rode into the clouds and mist crossing over the pass south of Sipapu. The temperature dropped to 45 at the pass, and more and more motos appeared. As we neared Sipapu, the clouds thinned and the temperature rose.
The first order of business was to warm up by the fire in the lodge, and immediately afterwards grab a Sipapu burger with green chiles and bacon. It was awesome!
We ran into Jerry, who had opted out of distance riding with the rest of the boys from Texas. I searched for Al Schibi and finally found him so he could redo my ear plugs after 4 years of hearing protection and effective communication.
Deb and I made our way down the mountain into Taos for our stay at El Pueblo Lodge.
Met some boys from Albuquerque on an off-road adventure for the weekend through the fire roads.
We walked the plaza in the warm sunny afternoon, and listened to a talented dobrough player singing to the crowd. Here's a link to a video for you to get a taste of this eclectic music. Dobrough on the Taos Plaza
We met the rest of the LSBMWR boys at Eske's for dinner and a bit of folk music. We tried to make an inventory of what all was going on around us - Outdoor brewpup, great food, green chiles, a band with an accordion, a dog under the table, a dude with dreadlocks, a menacing thunderstorm, adobe all around us, granola waitress, Indian with a backpack, dude with Bono sunglasses, everyone in sandals, redhead mommy with a fresh baby, and a few moto riders from Texas. The menacing thunderstorm did not let us down. It poured, and everyone outside huddled under the porch of Eske's. We talked briefly with a young couple that had just moved to Sante Fe from New York. He was in the service industry working with Four Seasons. Nice couple. Interesting how being in this country can open up conversations with total strangers.
September 9, 2012
We had a rough night of sleep awakened by calls in the middle of the morning from the home front dealing with my mom. She had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out after a fall, but all turned out OK. So we got on with the ride, with a bit later departure than planned after we slept into the morning.
The morning was beautiful. We rode north of Taos after a crossing over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. There was hardly any wind, and plenty of bright morning sunshine as we headed for Colorado. The North Cochetopa Pass via Hwy 114 was a blast, with tight turns, good pavement and hardly any traffic.
We stopped for fuel in Gunnison, and gabbed a sandwich to eat on down the road. Blue Mesa Reservoir was a nice spot for lunch. The water must be 40 feet down right now.
The ride through Hwy 141 to Gateway was a blast as always. The roads were dry and traffic light. I got a few screams from Debbie on the turns, but told her "Wait until we head south of Gateway, that will be a real thrill".
We checked in to the room and immediately enjoyed the view that we will see the next couple of days.
We spent some time sitting by the ponds near the Entrada restaurant. It is very peaceful here.
After a dinner of pasta and salad, Deb and I had an enjoyable walk around the resort grounds. The temperature was perfect, and the surrounding vistas incredible. The bats were swooping all around us as we explored in the waning light of the evening. Another evening to remember.
September 10, 2012
The morning light revealed the beauty of both what John Hendricks has put together in this amazing country. We had a great breakfast, and proceeded to wander through the collection of autos that he has arranged. It's almost unbelievable all of this exists in this remote section of Colorado.
We put on hiking gear and headed up the canyon on trails that took us into quiet back country. After a couple of miles of hiking up the canyon, we were in places where we looked around and saw no evidence of man's development. It was quite satisfying.
No road trip that I do cannot be without some excursion off the pavement. Tom G. mentioned last year when we were here that he wanted to do the road between Gateway and Moab, which is all dirt. I ventured up John Brown Canyon for 5 of the 55 miles until a thunderstorm convinced me to turn back down the packed clay road before it turned to slime. On the way back down, it seemed much steeper than on the ascent, and my KRS was wondering what they heck was going on. I'll have to come back sometime with a dual sport to do the whole route.
I joined Deb at the grill for some afternoon brews and wind therapy rushing through the trees from the approaching storm. Even though I got very wet on the descent down John Brown Canyon Road, the rain never made it into the low lands of the resort. We enjoyed the sun again later in the afternoon by the salt water pool, and met and talked with an interesting couple from Chicago. They have been mountain biking hut to hut in the back country.
Dinner was at Entrada. A very pleasing Salmon with a chocolate cake for desert. The walk back to the room was nice in the very comfortable weather. Tomorrow morning, we head to Santa Fe via Red Mountain Pass.
September 11, 2012
The route dropped into an interesting canyon on Hwy 145.
The flags were at half staff in remembrance of 9/11.
Went by Cafe Pascal's to pick up a couple of mugs.
We did a bit of window shopping on the walk back.
Big storms rolled all around us, but we avoided having to ride through heavy rain.
This morning is a radical change from the normal work/home life routine. Deb and I packed the bags on the bike last night for a 7-day ride through New Mexico and Colorado. Today we are on the road heading for Taos, and then heading up to Gateway Canyons in Colorado for a couple of days. We'll make our way back through Santa Fe on the way home next week.
We escaped the metromess traffic madness between Denton and Decatur. The temperature continued to rise on the ride towards Amarillo. And the wind was hot and brisk from the south, until 60 miles or so southeast of Amarillo. I noticed the dramatic wind change within just a couple of miles. And with that northwest wind came cooler temperatures. The brisk wind started turning into a direct north side wind of 30 to 40 miles per hour. I had to watch my line carefully as I passed the big trucks, as the wind subsided and then returned with a vengeance. We saw dust crossing the highway miles ahead of us. As we approached it, I had to scrub speed off quickly as the visibility dropped to hundreds of feet or less.
We had decided to split the ride to Taos in half with a stop at Amarillo anticipating heat. As we neared Amarillo, instead of escaping the heat, we were looking forward to getting out of the wind. Deb and I relaxed in the room, and went out for a great meal later in the evening. Tomorrow morning, the temperatures are supposed to start in the 50's, but the wind should not be a major factor.
September 8, 2012
We woke to no wind this morning, and a cool 59 degrees for the ride into New Mexico. It did not warm up at all, and the combination of the previous night's rain and morning cloud cover made for a chilly ride.
As we approached the mountains and gained altitude, we rode into the clouds and mist crossing over the pass south of Sipapu. The temperature dropped to 45 at the pass, and more and more motos appeared. As we neared Sipapu, the clouds thinned and the temperature rose.
The first order of business was to warm up by the fire in the lodge, and immediately afterwards grab a Sipapu burger with green chiles and bacon. It was awesome!
We ran into Jerry, who had opted out of distance riding with the rest of the boys from Texas. I searched for Al Schibi and finally found him so he could redo my ear plugs after 4 years of hearing protection and effective communication.
Deb and I made our way down the mountain into Taos for our stay at El Pueblo Lodge.
Met some boys from Albuquerque on an off-road adventure for the weekend through the fire roads.
We walked the plaza in the warm sunny afternoon, and listened to a talented dobrough player singing to the crowd. Here's a link to a video for you to get a taste of this eclectic music. Dobrough on the Taos Plaza
We met the rest of the LSBMWR boys at Eske's for dinner and a bit of folk music. We tried to make an inventory of what all was going on around us - Outdoor brewpup, great food, green chiles, a band with an accordion, a dog under the table, a dude with dreadlocks, a menacing thunderstorm, adobe all around us, granola waitress, Indian with a backpack, dude with Bono sunglasses, everyone in sandals, redhead mommy with a fresh baby, and a few moto riders from Texas. The menacing thunderstorm did not let us down. It poured, and everyone outside huddled under the porch of Eske's. We talked briefly with a young couple that had just moved to Sante Fe from New York. He was in the service industry working with Four Seasons. Nice couple. Interesting how being in this country can open up conversations with total strangers.
September 9, 2012
We had a rough night of sleep awakened by calls in the middle of the morning from the home front dealing with my mom. She had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out after a fall, but all turned out OK. So we got on with the ride, with a bit later departure than planned after we slept into the morning.
The morning was beautiful. We rode north of Taos after a crossing over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. There was hardly any wind, and plenty of bright morning sunshine as we headed for Colorado. The North Cochetopa Pass via Hwy 114 was a blast, with tight turns, good pavement and hardly any traffic.
We stopped for fuel in Gunnison, and gabbed a sandwich to eat on down the road. Blue Mesa Reservoir was a nice spot for lunch. The water must be 40 feet down right now.
The ride through Hwy 141 to Gateway was a blast as always. The roads were dry and traffic light. I got a few screams from Debbie on the turns, but told her "Wait until we head south of Gateway, that will be a real thrill".
We checked in to the room and immediately enjoyed the view that we will see the next couple of days.
We spent some time sitting by the ponds near the Entrada restaurant. It is very peaceful here.
After a dinner of pasta and salad, Deb and I had an enjoyable walk around the resort grounds. The temperature was perfect, and the surrounding vistas incredible. The bats were swooping all around us as we explored in the waning light of the evening. Another evening to remember.
September 10, 2012
The morning light revealed the beauty of both what John Hendricks has put together in this amazing country. We had a great breakfast, and proceeded to wander through the collection of autos that he has arranged. It's almost unbelievable all of this exists in this remote section of Colorado.
We put on hiking gear and headed up the canyon on trails that took us into quiet back country. After a couple of miles of hiking up the canyon, we were in places where we looked around and saw no evidence of man's development. It was quite satisfying.
No road trip that I do cannot be without some excursion off the pavement. Tom G. mentioned last year when we were here that he wanted to do the road between Gateway and Moab, which is all dirt. I ventured up John Brown Canyon for 5 of the 55 miles until a thunderstorm convinced me to turn back down the packed clay road before it turned to slime. On the way back down, it seemed much steeper than on the ascent, and my KRS was wondering what they heck was going on. I'll have to come back sometime with a dual sport to do the whole route.
I joined Deb at the grill for some afternoon brews and wind therapy rushing through the trees from the approaching storm. Even though I got very wet on the descent down John Brown Canyon Road, the rain never made it into the low lands of the resort. We enjoyed the sun again later in the afternoon by the salt water pool, and met and talked with an interesting couple from Chicago. They have been mountain biking hut to hut in the back country.
Dinner was at Entrada. A very pleasing Salmon with a chocolate cake for desert. The walk back to the room was nice in the very comfortable weather. Tomorrow morning, we head to Santa Fe via Red Mountain Pass.
September 11, 2012
A quick breakfast was had at the Kiva Cafe, and Deb and I were ready for a long day of technical riding over several mountain passes. We met a local couple in the cafe that were the owners of Billy, the Aussie that took a keen interest in all that I was carrying out to the bike as I was packing for the ride.
The morning was a bit damp, but the roads were dry as we headed south from Gateway. This is a very twisty road through tall red rock walls that offer a dramatic backdrop to the ride.
After a wrong turn in a construction zone directed by a highway worker towards Telluride, we continued through Ridgway and Ouray.
The climb out of Ouray immediately becomes technical with 10 mph corners, and steep drops down the mountain.
I had thought about taking the low road around the San Juan Mountains considering the low pressure system that had moved in while we were in Gateway. Even though there were spotty showers all along the ride, taking the Million Dollar Highway over the high passes was a real treat with the aspens just starting to show their golden colors.
Kips Grill in Pagosa Springs was the lunch stop. We had a green chile smothered open hamburger. It was a mess to look at, but oh very tasty.
Heading south through the Chama Valley is always a treat.
We arrived at El Farolito in Santa Fe for another of many stays here.
Deb walked around studying southwest stuff for purchase while I studied the fine art of southwest craft brewing at the Marble Brewery on the square.
The Coyote Cafe seems to be a regular spot for us in Santa Fe. Our waitress suggested that we drop one dish since the brisket nachos were so big. She was right!
September 12, 2012
Leaving Santa Fe was hard. We should have stayed a bit longer, but really needed to start heading home. We started in the rain, and rode out of it as soon as we left the Sangre de Cristo foothills. The route back kept us off of the hectic interstates, and on the back roads where there is very little traffic and very big skies. We rode through the ghost town of Yeso, where I spent time years ago shooting black-and-white infrared film.
Big storms rolled all around us, but we avoided having to ride through heavy rain.
Lubbock was the stop for the night. Checking in and shedding the wet riding gear was nice. We ordered in food, and had a great meal on the bed.
September 13, 2012
201209TaosGatewaySantaFe at EveryTrail
The thunder rolled through Lubbock all through the night as the cold front pushed in. We grabbed breakfast and packed up for the last push home through Texas. At each fuel stop, I checked the radar and paced our return back to avoid punching through the strong line of storms that were moving east in front of us. It rained for 300 miles. By the time we had started entering the big city, the roads had dried, thankfully, and we made our way home.
Deb did a great job handling the long miles of this trip, and she was a joy to have along on the ride. She experienced a lot of dynamic weather and riding conditions. I'm ready to head back.
Photos: PicasaWeb Taos and Gateway
Big Tex Rally Clinic
September 1, 2012
Early start to a hot day of riding.
The Big Tex 36-hour rally is coming up October 19 and 20. The rally master, Wayne, was nice enough to offer a clinic to go over tactics of rally participation and including a 4-hour practice rally today. While Wayne was describing to the 9 clinic participants what might be experienced during the the day and a half of focused riding and "scavenger hunting", I was inputting into my routing program the bonus waypoints of the day. The 15 locations were at first overwhelming to obtain in 4 hours, but after studying the offered points vs. distance and time, I had a plan together before the 10:00 start. There were not going too be many stops in my list, and the 70 mile run to Athens caught my eye early to get the heck out of Dallas. So, after committing to this location, I tried to add enough bonus locations to fill up the allotted time without going over and losing penalty points or risk not finishing.
So, at 10:02 the scoring team recorded my start time and I rolled towards my planned locations.
Fiddlers statue in Athens - 141 points George at the Plano BMW shop - 50 points
Deep Ellum Neon Sign - 10 points Texas Theater on Jefferson - 51 points
The riders returned back to have their mileage checked, and time stamp the return.
We summarized our ride in the packed documentation, added up the bonus points, and went over the results with the scoring team.
The location points were tallied along with some other additional bonuses. Another bonus was given for riding at least 175 miles in the allotted 4 hours. I wound up with 194 miles, gaining 50 points. A non-ride bonus of 50 points was available for bring back a 6-pack of cold soda to the finish. I was nearing the finish, and finally figured out I should top off the tank with fuel before I ran out. I quickly found out there are no packaged 6-packs in a convenience store, so after the third stop, I bought 6 cans of Arizona Iced Tea, and gained my 50 points.
I guess the Athens location turned out to be a good strategy, as I finished in first place, snagging 1,000 points to apply to the October rally. Tong would have taken first, but he was several minutes late to finish and accumulated some penalty points.
It was a fun, hot day of riding and strategy, that seems to keep my mind ticking. That's a good thing.
Photos: PicasaWeb Big Tex Rally Clinic
20120901BigTexRallyClinic at EveryTrail
The Big Tex 36-hour rally is coming up October 19 and 20. The rally master, Wayne, was nice enough to offer a clinic to go over tactics of rally participation and including a 4-hour practice rally today. While Wayne was describing to the 9 clinic participants what might be experienced during the the day and a half of focused riding and "scavenger hunting", I was inputting into my routing program the bonus waypoints of the day. The 15 locations were at first overwhelming to obtain in 4 hours, but after studying the offered points vs. distance and time, I had a plan together before the 10:00 start. There were not going too be many stops in my list, and the 70 mile run to Athens caught my eye early to get the heck out of Dallas. So, after committing to this location, I tried to add enough bonus locations to fill up the allotted time without going over and losing penalty points or risk not finishing.
So, at 10:02 the scoring team recorded my start time and I rolled towards my planned locations.
Fiddlers statue in Athens - 141 points George at the Plano BMW shop - 50 points
Deep Ellum Neon Sign - 10 points Texas Theater on Jefferson - 51 points
The riders returned back to have their mileage checked, and time stamp the return.
We summarized our ride in the packed documentation, added up the bonus points, and went over the results with the scoring team.
The location points were tallied along with some other additional bonuses. Another bonus was given for riding at least 175 miles in the allotted 4 hours. I wound up with 194 miles, gaining 50 points. A non-ride bonus of 50 points was available for bring back a 6-pack of cold soda to the finish. I was nearing the finish, and finally figured out I should top off the tank with fuel before I ran out. I quickly found out there are no packaged 6-packs in a convenience store, so after the third stop, I bought 6 cans of Arizona Iced Tea, and gained my 50 points.
I guess the Athens location turned out to be a good strategy, as I finished in first place, snagging 1,000 points to apply to the October rally. Tong would have taken first, but he was several minutes late to finish and accumulated some penalty points.
It was a fun, hot day of riding and strategy, that seems to keep my mind ticking. That's a good thing.
Photos: PicasaWeb Big Tex Rally Clinic
20120901BigTexRallyClinic at EveryTrail
Arkansas and Missouri 2012
July 20, 2012
The BMW MOA Rally was in Sedalia, MO this year. Late last year, I was making plans on traveling to the rally the long way around via the Great Lakes and Canada. Many things have happened this year. Wes got married, we sold our house of 27 years, moved all of our possessions in storage, built a new house, built a new hospital and then had a medical scare. I had already decided to not do the Canada ride with getting settled in the new house and opening the new hospital in McKinney. So, I was going to ride directly up to Sedalia, and then a medical complication that had some serious symptoms put me through some examinations that ultimately resulted in a transient condition that began to clear. I was under anesthesia on Thursday, so nobody thought it would be a good idea if I rode 530 miles Thursday evening and Friday. But the verdict from the medical exams was OK. I was glad. I wanted to ride. Since I was feeling better, but still not to sure about a long run, riding to the Arkansas/Missouri twisties seemed like a good compromise. Charlie was interested in joining, and was nice enough to arrange lodging at a very nice hotel Friday, and the traditional Edelwiess Inn.
Charlie arrived at my house exactly as he said at 7:20 AM Friday. First words out of his mouth as I greeted him was "It's already hot." I rolled my bike around and we headed out northeast of town towards Broken Bow.
It felt good to be back on the bike. Deb and I rode down to Fredericksburg back in May, and that is the last time I had been on the bike for any extended time.
The Red River crossing came up rather quickly. We fueled in Idabel, and rode Hwy 259 north through the tall pines and high speed sweepers and tight twisty ascents and descents over the ridges of hills.
The temperature was rising as we neared the Oklahoma/Arkansas border. We stopped in a nice cafe in Poteau, and thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning and iced tea. We fueled after lunch, and the first indication of a really hot day appeared on the time and temperature sign across the street.
Arkansas decided to set an all-time high temperature of 108 in Fort Smith just as we were riding through. Charlie kept handing me cold Gatorades from his iced-down cooler in his top case. Note to self - always ride with partners with lots of storage on their motos.
We arrived in Rogers at 3:00 PM, and checked into the very nice Embassy Suites. Once we parked the motos, we never surfaced from the cool interior of the hotel atrium. Charlie knew well of the manager's reception, tucked away at an edge of the restaurant. We enjoyed cool brews, veggie and cheese snacks along with the rest of the taxidermy convention-goers. That's a different crowd. I wound up meeting Russell Knight, owner of Knight's Taxidermy in Alaska, and star of the series "Mounted in Alaska" on the History Channel.
July 21, 2012
A good night's sleep got us feeling good for the next day of twisty riding. It was only 33 miles from Rogers to Eureka Springs, but we took the long way through Missouri. The wooded two-lane roads was a nice shelter from the heat of the sun. The road surfaces were nice, and traffic manageable enough to enjoy some spirited riding through the winding, hilly Missouri countryside.
We found out later that Stephen passed us on Hwy 76 in Missouri. I thought I might have recognized him as he rode by, but my eyes were more focused on the edge of the road so i would not turn my KRS into a planter in the barditch.
Here's a video of the weekend riding. If you watch closely, you'll see Yeeha Stephen riding the opposite direction from us on Hwy 76 in Missouri.
Peel Ferry was the major destination of the day. Arriving at the loading area was encouraging. I could see the ferry on the opposite side of the lake starting to move, and there was only one truck in front of us. Charlie handed me another icy Gatorade, and we stretched our legs for a short time. The ferry loading went quickly, with the majority of vehicles being motos. The ride across the lake was smooth, and the skill of the ferry workers was very apparent.
We rode south from Peel to Jasper and stopped at the Ozark Cafe for lunch. Afterwards, more twisty roads were enjoyed on the way to Eureka Springs to meet the rally-goers from the Lone Star BMW Riders.
It was good to get out of the heat of the afternoon at the Edelweiss. But strangely enough, we got cold drinks and sat back outside in the heat talking with club members around the bikes. We tracked the progress of Bo via SPOT as he made his way south from Sedalia.
Dinner was just across the parking lot at Cafe Amore. They had nice italian food and tasty merlot. It was a nice way to wind down the evening and weekend.
Afterwards, everyone was plotting a return ride route home, and figuring out how early to start to try to avoid the heat as much as possible.
July 22, 2012
Charlie and I decided to ride at 6:30, after coffee at the Inn. What we did not quite comprehend was the 7:30 coffee time. So, after that disappointment, we rode south on Hwy 23 in the soft light of the morning, commenting to each other on the radios that it was actually chilly. We kept the speeds low watching for deer in the morning light.
Those comments about chilly temperatures did not last long. Once we rode through Springdale, the temperature steadily rose through the day. We followed Hwy 412 and turned south on the scenic and winding Hwy 10. After leaving Tenkiller lake, it was superslab for a couple of hours.
We stopped for fuel in Atoka, and as I was rolling my bike up to the store, Charlie came around some cars and asked me if I knew CPR, as there was a woman laying on the pavement. I walked over to her, and she appeared to be having a seizure. But, if one is to choose a place for a seizure, having one while a scout troop is taking a break is a good idea. Some of the scout leaders placed blankets under her to get her off of the hot pavement. We rolled her on her side, and I held her head to keep her still as possible while the EMT's were arriving. They took care of her, and she seemed to be coming around.
After that bit of excitement, we mounted the motos again and headed down the hot slab again. I parted ways from Charlie at Durant to head straight south home across Carpenters Bluff trestle bridge. It was a great weekend of riding even with the heat.
Photos: Arkansa/Missouri 2012
20120720ArkansasMissouri at EveryTrail
The BMW MOA Rally was in Sedalia, MO this year. Late last year, I was making plans on traveling to the rally the long way around via the Great Lakes and Canada. Many things have happened this year. Wes got married, we sold our house of 27 years, moved all of our possessions in storage, built a new house, built a new hospital and then had a medical scare. I had already decided to not do the Canada ride with getting settled in the new house and opening the new hospital in McKinney. So, I was going to ride directly up to Sedalia, and then a medical complication that had some serious symptoms put me through some examinations that ultimately resulted in a transient condition that began to clear. I was under anesthesia on Thursday, so nobody thought it would be a good idea if I rode 530 miles Thursday evening and Friday. But the verdict from the medical exams was OK. I was glad. I wanted to ride. Since I was feeling better, but still not to sure about a long run, riding to the Arkansas/Missouri twisties seemed like a good compromise. Charlie was interested in joining, and was nice enough to arrange lodging at a very nice hotel Friday, and the traditional Edelwiess Inn.
Charlie arrived at my house exactly as he said at 7:20 AM Friday. First words out of his mouth as I greeted him was "It's already hot." I rolled my bike around and we headed out northeast of town towards Broken Bow.
It felt good to be back on the bike. Deb and I rode down to Fredericksburg back in May, and that is the last time I had been on the bike for any extended time.
The Red River crossing came up rather quickly. We fueled in Idabel, and rode Hwy 259 north through the tall pines and high speed sweepers and tight twisty ascents and descents over the ridges of hills.
The temperature was rising as we neared the Oklahoma/Arkansas border. We stopped in a nice cafe in Poteau, and thoroughly enjoyed the air conditioning and iced tea. We fueled after lunch, and the first indication of a really hot day appeared on the time and temperature sign across the street.
Arkansas decided to set an all-time high temperature of 108 in Fort Smith just as we were riding through. Charlie kept handing me cold Gatorades from his iced-down cooler in his top case. Note to self - always ride with partners with lots of storage on their motos.
We arrived in Rogers at 3:00 PM, and checked into the very nice Embassy Suites. Once we parked the motos, we never surfaced from the cool interior of the hotel atrium. Charlie knew well of the manager's reception, tucked away at an edge of the restaurant. We enjoyed cool brews, veggie and cheese snacks along with the rest of the taxidermy convention-goers. That's a different crowd. I wound up meeting Russell Knight, owner of Knight's Taxidermy in Alaska, and star of the series "Mounted in Alaska" on the History Channel.
July 21, 2012
A good night's sleep got us feeling good for the next day of twisty riding. It was only 33 miles from Rogers to Eureka Springs, but we took the long way through Missouri. The wooded two-lane roads was a nice shelter from the heat of the sun. The road surfaces were nice, and traffic manageable enough to enjoy some spirited riding through the winding, hilly Missouri countryside.
We found out later that Stephen passed us on Hwy 76 in Missouri. I thought I might have recognized him as he rode by, but my eyes were more focused on the edge of the road so i would not turn my KRS into a planter in the barditch.
Here's a video of the weekend riding. If you watch closely, you'll see Yeeha Stephen riding the opposite direction from us on Hwy 76 in Missouri.
Glad - July, 2012 from Richard Swim on Vimeo.
Peel Ferry was the major destination of the day. Arriving at the loading area was encouraging. I could see the ferry on the opposite side of the lake starting to move, and there was only one truck in front of us. Charlie handed me another icy Gatorade, and we stretched our legs for a short time. The ferry loading went quickly, with the majority of vehicles being motos. The ride across the lake was smooth, and the skill of the ferry workers was very apparent.
We rode south from Peel to Jasper and stopped at the Ozark Cafe for lunch. Afterwards, more twisty roads were enjoyed on the way to Eureka Springs to meet the rally-goers from the Lone Star BMW Riders.
It was good to get out of the heat of the afternoon at the Edelweiss. But strangely enough, we got cold drinks and sat back outside in the heat talking with club members around the bikes. We tracked the progress of Bo via SPOT as he made his way south from Sedalia.
Dinner was just across the parking lot at Cafe Amore. They had nice italian food and tasty merlot. It was a nice way to wind down the evening and weekend.
Afterwards, everyone was plotting a return ride route home, and figuring out how early to start to try to avoid the heat as much as possible.
July 22, 2012
Charlie and I decided to ride at 6:30, after coffee at the Inn. What we did not quite comprehend was the 7:30 coffee time. So, after that disappointment, we rode south on Hwy 23 in the soft light of the morning, commenting to each other on the radios that it was actually chilly. We kept the speeds low watching for deer in the morning light.
Those comments about chilly temperatures did not last long. Once we rode through Springdale, the temperature steadily rose through the day. We followed Hwy 412 and turned south on the scenic and winding Hwy 10. After leaving Tenkiller lake, it was superslab for a couple of hours.
We stopped for fuel in Atoka, and as I was rolling my bike up to the store, Charlie came around some cars and asked me if I knew CPR, as there was a woman laying on the pavement. I walked over to her, and she appeared to be having a seizure. But, if one is to choose a place for a seizure, having one while a scout troop is taking a break is a good idea. Some of the scout leaders placed blankets under her to get her off of the hot pavement. We rolled her on her side, and I held her head to keep her still as possible while the EMT's were arriving. They took care of her, and she seemed to be coming around.
After that bit of excitement, we mounted the motos again and headed down the hot slab again. I parted ways from Charlie at Durant to head straight south home across Carpenters Bluff trestle bridge. It was a great weekend of riding even with the heat.
Photos: Arkansa/Missouri 2012
20120720ArkansasMissouri at EveryTrail
North Texas Norton Owners Association at Strokers
June 24, 2012
It was quite the setting. Strokers Dallas, home of Rick Fariless' V-Twin empire. But, bring in the vintage European bikes, and mix up the crowd a bit, and it was a great Sunday afternoon, albeit the heat. Rick was his typical friendly self, not hesitating to stop and shake a hand. The massive swamp cooler on my back in combination with the cold beverages made it bearable. Bob was a familiar site in unfamiliar grounds. It was a quick afternoon ride through the metromess freeways to get to Strokers, but an enjoyable break from all that has been going on.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/114486492519414832705/NortonOwnersAssociationAtStrokers
It was quite the setting. Strokers Dallas, home of Rick Fariless' V-Twin empire. But, bring in the vintage European bikes, and mix up the crowd a bit, and it was a great Sunday afternoon, albeit the heat. Rick was his typical friendly self, not hesitating to stop and shake a hand. The massive swamp cooler on my back in combination with the cold beverages made it bearable. Bob was a familiar site in unfamiliar grounds. It was a quick afternoon ride through the metromess freeways to get to Strokers, but an enjoyable break from all that has been going on.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/114486492519414832705/NortonOwnersAssociationAtStrokers
Fredericksburg 2012
May 26, 2012
Many things have happened to keep us busy this spring. It was time to ride. Deb and I started on our own Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the LSBMWR group at the destination. We had a nice ride through the spring flowers down Hwy 16. It felt good.
We arrived in plenty of time to get settled in the Sunday House and wander the streets. One of my favorite things about Fredericksburg is the freedom to drink a cold brew while sitting on the sidewalk bench and watching the world go by.
Dinner was tasty in a small cafe near the inn. We got there late (the new Paula and Armando), and visited a bit back at the Sunday House VIP room. The inn had provided snacks that we did not get to enjoy in the afternoon. We'll have to do a better job of that next year.
May 27, 2012
The next morning's ride home was the typical excursion down small back roads that turned into gravel. Would I have it any other way? Deb enjoyed riding slowly through the cows.
Photos: Fredericksburg 2012 on PicasaWeb
20120527Fredericksburg at EveryTrail
Many things have happened to keep us busy this spring. It was time to ride. Deb and I started on our own Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the LSBMWR group at the destination. We had a nice ride through the spring flowers down Hwy 16. It felt good.
We arrived in plenty of time to get settled in the Sunday House and wander the streets. One of my favorite things about Fredericksburg is the freedom to drink a cold brew while sitting on the sidewalk bench and watching the world go by.
Dinner was tasty in a small cafe near the inn. We got there late (the new Paula and Armando), and visited a bit back at the Sunday House VIP room. The inn had provided snacks that we did not get to enjoy in the afternoon. We'll have to do a better job of that next year.
May 27, 2012
The next morning's ride home was the typical excursion down small back roads that turned into gravel. Would I have it any other way? Deb enjoyed riding slowly through the cows.
Photos: Fredericksburg 2012 on PicasaWeb
20120527Fredericksburg at EveryTrail
