Funny day today, I clocked up about 300 miles, but finished only about
90 miles from where I started. And I was never lost. The mail I had
about the ride along the Rio Grande from Lajitas to Presidio said good
things, and it proved to be right on the money. Australian Road Rider
had a feature on it recently as part of a longer ride from Del Rio to El
Paso. The most scenic ride in Texas, I think they said. Big call! So
from Alpine, I headed about 80 miles due south on the Texas 118 to a
place called Study Butte (been doing that for years, I have, female
variety only of course). As I'm supposed to be in Flagstaff by the
weekend, heading in the opposite direction was not really efficient, but
too bad. When I neared the place, I was somewhat dismayed at the
shantys, heaps of junk etc on the way in. It also looked like there were
backyard mining operations happening, possibly for gemstones or
minerals of some sort. So when I finally got to the place, it looked
very much like Coober Pedy or Andamooka, with the same piles of whitish
coloured dirt heaped up everywhere, and the same crappy looking,
unregulated buildings that people make themselves out of anything they
can find when they are allowed to do so. For American readers, lets just say it looked like a cross
between an Indian Reservation and the place where Clark W. Griswold's
cousin Eddie lives.
Pretty tacky stuff. So I wasn't impressed. Then I went a bit further on, and noted a new development, which was quite upmarket, and a complete surprise. OK. A bit further on, and I found a plaque which tells some of the story of the place. Turns out they used to mine an ore called cinnabar. From 1900 to about 19040 it was the biggest source of cinnabar in the US. What do they extract from cinnabar? Cinnamon, possibly? No, the answer is mercury, just about the most toxic non radioactive substance in the periodic table, that's what. And of course the EPA would have kept a tight watch on proceedings. Yeah, right. I had visions of Chernobyl. This was turning out to be a bum steer. So I pushed on.
All of a sudden I got to the point where I could see the river, and the road began to climb. It was steep, twisty, tight, and a bit bumpy. Not a road for speeding on, but the views just kept getting better and better. At each turn one mind blowing vista was replaced with a better one. These were the parts Mother Nature had put in place, and that we humans hadn't yet buggered up. I grabbed what photos I could, because it wasn't an easy road to stop on, but I don't think they fully convey the sense of how spectacular a ride this is.
It is a harsh, isolated, largely empty and yet still spectacular landscape, and again, maybe the appeal might have been because its a bit like Australia in that sense, but it stacks up pretty well on its own, I thought. Clearly it is dry and arid, yet the effects of massive flows in the river are evident. It probably gets 30 years worth of rain in about a week, a few times a century. For now, the predominant vegetation was an evil looking thorn bush which would cut you to ribbons. Anyway, the bottom line is that I think this is a sensational ride, and well worth the effort to get here. And I suspect I was lucky with the weather, because it was a beautiful day. But stay in Alpine!
As I neared Presidio, I noted several places where there was a Border Security vehicle parked on a bluff, scouting the terrain for any Mexicans. I reckon if anyone can get through there, they deserve citizenship. Presidio was the kind of busted ass dump that might as well belong to Mexico. The photo below is as close as I got to the border crossing. Nevertheless, I imagine Chris Phillips was glad to arrive when he came through here, although I suspect the improvement was purely psychological for quite a while. There is a Subway here now Chris, but from the outside it just looks like a tin shed, so as to fit in, I guess.
A quick 60 mile trip north from here on US 67, which is about as close as I will get to Route 66, had me at another border security station just short of Marfa. This time I had the passport in my pocket, and straight through, no drama. I then headed straight up to Fort Davis, an interesting town with historical importance, and picked up Texas 118 again. This proved to be an excellent ride of some 55 miles of very nice, fast twisties, up past the McDonald Observatory atop Mt Locke, and past Mt Black (elev 7550 ft), with nobody else in sight. Perfect! I then endured a session of Purgatory on the I-10 W to Van Horn TX, another modern ghost town, it appears. Hope I still have a bike to ride in the morning! Tomorrow, I will cross into New Mexico, but I suspect it might not be too much better than the old one. But you never know, do you? An interesting day, with some spectacular scenery and great riding. And I nearly hit another deer. Those buggers are really hard to see.
Pretty tacky stuff. So I wasn't impressed. Then I went a bit further on, and noted a new development, which was quite upmarket, and a complete surprise. OK. A bit further on, and I found a plaque which tells some of the story of the place. Turns out they used to mine an ore called cinnabar. From 1900 to about 19040 it was the biggest source of cinnabar in the US. What do they extract from cinnabar? Cinnamon, possibly? No, the answer is mercury, just about the most toxic non radioactive substance in the periodic table, that's what. And of course the EPA would have kept a tight watch on proceedings. Yeah, right. I had visions of Chernobyl. This was turning out to be a bum steer. So I pushed on.
All of a sudden I got to the point where I could see the river, and the road began to climb. It was steep, twisty, tight, and a bit bumpy. Not a road for speeding on, but the views just kept getting better and better. At each turn one mind blowing vista was replaced with a better one. These were the parts Mother Nature had put in place, and that we humans hadn't yet buggered up. I grabbed what photos I could, because it wasn't an easy road to stop on, but I don't think they fully convey the sense of how spectacular a ride this is.
It is a harsh, isolated, largely empty and yet still spectacular landscape, and again, maybe the appeal might have been because its a bit like Australia in that sense, but it stacks up pretty well on its own, I thought. Clearly it is dry and arid, yet the effects of massive flows in the river are evident. It probably gets 30 years worth of rain in about a week, a few times a century. For now, the predominant vegetation was an evil looking thorn bush which would cut you to ribbons. Anyway, the bottom line is that I think this is a sensational ride, and well worth the effort to get here. And I suspect I was lucky with the weather, because it was a beautiful day. But stay in Alpine!
As I neared Presidio, I noted several places where there was a Border Security vehicle parked on a bluff, scouting the terrain for any Mexicans. I reckon if anyone can get through there, they deserve citizenship. Presidio was the kind of busted ass dump that might as well belong to Mexico. The photo below is as close as I got to the border crossing. Nevertheless, I imagine Chris Phillips was glad to arrive when he came through here, although I suspect the improvement was purely psychological for quite a while. There is a Subway here now Chris, but from the outside it just looks like a tin shed, so as to fit in, I guess.
A quick 60 mile trip north from here on US 67, which is about as close as I will get to Route 66, had me at another border security station just short of Marfa. This time I had the passport in my pocket, and straight through, no drama. I then headed straight up to Fort Davis, an interesting town with historical importance, and picked up Texas 118 again. This proved to be an excellent ride of some 55 miles of very nice, fast twisties, up past the McDonald Observatory atop Mt Locke, and past Mt Black (elev 7550 ft), with nobody else in sight. Perfect! I then endured a session of Purgatory on the I-10 W to Van Horn TX, another modern ghost town, it appears. Hope I still have a bike to ride in the morning! Tomorrow, I will cross into New Mexico, but I suspect it might not be too much better than the old one. But you never know, do you? An interesting day, with some spectacular scenery and great riding. And I nearly hit another deer. Those buggers are really hard to see.
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