Rattlesnakes ?

We have been pounded by the wind of West Texas so we decide it is time to stop for the night.

We choose Sweetwater, TX. There are 6 hotels in this small town and 4 of the most well known are full.

Why ? We ask.

This is the weekend of the world's largest Rattlesnake Roundup. This is the 56th year this has happened. Oh and it is also the 54th Annual Sweetwater Rifle & Pistol, Gun, Knife and Coin Show.

Miss Texas is here (not in our hotel) ...

There is a carnival with ferris wheel, cotton candy, corn on the cob and much more.

If you are an adrenalin junkie there is a snake hunt for you.

For the rattlesnake roundup, thousands of Western Diamondbacks are brought into the coliseum and you can go and see.

There was however a problem, our hotel was much more expensive than expected ... Macro economics at its best !

Dinner anyone ?

Stopped somewhere on the I20. It is 7:30pm and ride out of DFW was not too bad.

Grilled chicken for me and Chicken Fried Steak breakfast (seriously) for Graeme.

Graeme is ready

Graeme just arrived and we are ready to leave. It is 5:30pm so we will have some traffic to go through.

Getting the important stuff ready

For the evenings it is important to have the right type of drink .,.

Gear, bikes and more

All the stuff is packed and we are ready to go. Bikes, food, lots of drinks, clothes etc etc.

And Craig is playing with the big toys.

Food

One of the most interesting planning items of this trip is food.

Four guys discussing what we should be eating was very entertaining but I must say I am extremely pleased at what we have agreed on.

Breakfast: Different type of cereals, bacon and eggs, bread, crunchy peanut butter, strawberry jam, coffee and orange juice

Lunch: Fruit (apples, mini oranges), chocolate puddings, salami (uncut stuff to eat in chunks), little individually wrapped cheese, various types of bars, trail mix, pistachio, water and Gatorade

Snacks: Trail mix, pistachios, cheese filled crackers, chips or cheesy popcorn or similar

Dinner: this is where we get fancy. Here is the daily menu:

-ROCK HOUSE-

Sat - Beef Tenderloin, Grilled Vegetables, Salad

Sun - Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Mac and Cheese, Potato salad, chips

Mon - Marinated Grilled Chicken Breast, Green Beans, Salad

Tue - Beef, Pork, and Chicken Fajitas, Floor Tortillas, Onions, Grilled Peppers, Guacamole, Rice, Beans

-BUNKHOUSE- (pack charcoal, pan for meal prep on grill)

Wed - Burgers, baked beans, chips

Thurs - Beer boiled then grilled Bratwurst, Burgers, chips, leftovers from week

Fri - Dinner Meal at bunkhouse

Sat - Breakfast Meal at bunkhouse

And how much food do we expect to eat ?

This much ...

 

 

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T-2

It is the evening of Thursday (our Dirt Bike Ride starts on Saturday) and I have just finished packing most of my stuff. There is a lot and I am sure I will forget something but the bigger stuff is done.

Have three bags, one with the day to day clothes, one with the dirt bike stuff (boots, helmet, protection etc) and one with bicycle stuff (shoes, helmet, tubes etc).

Tomorrow (Friday), Scot will come after 1pm to load the KTM on the trailer and Graeme should arrive at 4pm and Graeme and will make our way, on the GSAs, West on the I20. We have not decided where we will stop for the night but based on distance should be Abilene or Sweetwater.

Scot is leaving at 4am on Saturday morning and Greg and Norma are also leaving on Friday evening on the RV.and we should arrive within hours of each other. We should have some playing time on Saturday afternoon.

Today we got report from Howard Evans that is in Big Bend with his jeep and here it is:

"The weather is great – highs in the high 70s to 80, partly cloudy, lows – who knows…. We haven’t been getting up early enough to know – probably in the 40s.

Road conditions are dry, although they said they had a little rain a while ago, so not as sandy as it might have been. The most sand we saw was on the west end of the river road – between Castalon and Glenn Springs road. There were some long sections of sand there maybe 4 inches deep.

We have only driven the National Park – not the State Park. We have driven all the back roads in the National Park with the exception of River Road East and Old Maverick road. We will do those Sunday. Highly recommend Old Ore Road but I probably wouldn’t do it on a GSA although I’m sure it’s doable. Toughest road in the NP is Black Gap but it’s only about 8 miles long. It has a couple of steep ledges that could be a handful on a big bike. One is uphill and one is downhill."

Scot has worked out the various routes and we have all downloaded them to our GPS. He mentioned that some may be bicycle paths but he is not sure and that rangers do not like motorcycles on the bicycle paths. Sounds like fun ...

We are all looking forward to these 7 days and hope I can sleep tonight with so much expectation. Oh, well that has never been a problem so I am sure it will be a great night.

 

Posted with Blogsy