Dinner on Thursday night

After some great food while we stayed at the Rock House, thank you chef Norma, we were worried how it would turn out with boys only dinner.

When Graeme and I arrived from ride to Pinto Canyon and Hot Springs, Scot and Craig (who had arrived earlier in the day) had spent time by the grill and cooked up some great burgers, sausages and bacon.

With an Indian Pale Ale to quench the thirst and clean up the dirt, it tasted very good.

After dinner, Ceaig and I still took our KTMs out and enjoyed part of the Osso Loop before sun went down.

We all went to bed pretty early as Friday was going to be the toughest day of riding of our trip.

Hot Springs

Since we arrived at Big Bend, Graeme wanted to see some hot springs and for one way or another we had not been able to do it.

So on the way back from ride to Pinto Canyon we see these signs about hot springs 7 miles from Ruidosa back up a dirt road.

So up we go the dirt road to Chinati Hot Springs.

It is literally in the middle of nowhere and unfortunately when we got there, there were no day passes so no possibility of tearing the springs but we were allowed to walk around and see the pool, the actual springs (Graeme put his hand in the water and said it was over 100F) and the creek that just borders the property.

We spoke to someone who was staying there and they seemed to be enjoying the place. Checking in tripadvisor the ratings are good.

Coffee ... the elixir to a tired body

Day after day of hard riding, late evenings talking and beds that are not our own eventually take its toll so one has to find measures to counteract the tiredness.

We of course drink lots of coffee in the morning but at least for me that coffee is not as strong as needed so one way is to look for coffee houses that serve espressos, ideally strong ones.

Here is such a place in Marfa, left on the road in front of the catholic church and next to the laundromat.

The barrista was Eli and he and his old lady also sing and play music ...

What happens when a rider is tired ?

He rests ...

 

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Chisos Basin

The Chisos Mountains in the Big Bend National Park is the only mountain range in the United States that is fully contained within the boundary of a national park. It is also the southernmost mountain range in the United States.

Scot went to the State Park with the truck and trailer, whereas Graeme and I rode the GSAs to the lodge in Chisos Basin and Norma and Craig took the RV to the lodge as well. We were to meet there for lunch.

On the way we took some pics ...

MAJESTIC !

We had to wait for our table for about 30 minutes and started lunch at 2:30 or so. Graeme and I had the Elk chilli and Norma and Craig the chicken fried steak. We started with sharing some humus. Food was very good and company every better.

After lunch we took some pics with awesome backgrounds ...

 

Chisos Basin, a unique place in the world and worth being a bucket list item to visit

 

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GSA posing in Big Bend

Some pictures of the water cooled GSA posing in Big Bend ...

 

 

 

 

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The Beaver

When we went to get the keys for the Rock House, we met Lori who had taken our reservation. Lori is a Duke professor that lives in Big Bend and has over 10 different things she does. One of them is local artist and was having an exhibition which she said she had made over $80,000. Not bad.

As Graeme and I went to see the exhibition, she told us that one day while she was staying at the Rock House she heard what sounded like a body hitting water (the Rock House is right next to the Rio Grande) so she went to get her gun and flash light and shone it into the river. She then saw this huge beaver swimming so she told us not to worry if we heard him around.

We thought she was joking with us, so it was with surprise that one morning as I was having breakfast I saw this small dot swimming on the Rio Grande that kept getting bigger and bigger as it approached the Rock House.

You got it ... Lori's Beaver !