West Texas part deaux

[staedtler]

Howdy Folks,...it's me, and at it again as me and my buds do the Desert Run to Marfa one more time...

After having a blast last time there in April, i decided to round up a posse and invite Francis along, since we had so much when he invited us. He agreed and was ready to go, realizing there were no Harleys involved this time around, he was setting up to rent a Buell Ulyses for this trip...well after he heard that some of us were considering getting race takeoffs just for the trip, misteriously 'something came up' just the day before and he couldn't make it....hhmmm?

Well, the original group consisted of Francis, 2-748's 1-996 (George from last time), a LeMans and yours trully, well... only the two 748's an me made the final count...so here we go!

 

 

That's Ed the young aprrentice, he works at our local Cycle Gear

 

 

getting ready to leave HQ...

Weather was great, not too hot nor humid, we made it out of town last Friday around 9ish, all the way to Del Rio, hwy 90 was clogged with troopers!, i don't remember seeing one the whole way last time... it sucked, who knows what was going on that friday?

 

 

Del Rio... lunch at Marcelino's about noon, food sucked, then disaster strucked! Ed's 748 won't start...check fuses and relays, they're ok...starter? who knows??

 

 

On the phone with our mechanic...."just tap it with a rock under the battery!" really? "yep" so we did...then we push started on 3rd... evetything was fine, it never happened again on the trip, weird!

Well i guess is true what they say about disasters striking on 3's... next, it was me... between Del Rio and Sanderson my throtle got stuck full open and my clutch lever was totally limp!! i had to kill the engine going north of 120....thank god it was a fairly straight stretch of desert...

 

 

I'm literally in the middle of F#$&ng nowhere! it's about 2pm and i bet we were on the hundreds by then.... you could see buzzard going on circles above!... the big riggs we fly by just minutes before would slow down and flipped us off!...nice

well, we could not figure out what was wrong (i found out on sunday, more on that later ), so what i did was to adjust the throtle body with my hand and made it out of there..(try that Ducati!!! HA!). We made it to Sanderson, we called our mechanic again,...he could not figure out what was wrong...the cable was fine, nothing broke or fell off....weird!

anyway, i said F$%^it and rode like that the rest of the way. Actually it was fine! at speed is just like having cruise control...i could let go of my right hand, kind of funny!, when in need to slow down i just used brakes and clutch, it did the trick just fine...the problem was when hitting Alpine, there's a couple of red lights, it sucks not being able to use the powerband....when stopped the engine is just revving flat out!!! i bet those cagers at the intersections thought i was such a Squid!! but i made it just fine...

 

 

So we arrived in Marfa, we stayed at The Thunderbird, a pimp cool hotel that just opened last year, it's a remodel of an old motel on the side of hwy 90 at one edge of town. We checked in and as i walked out of the Reception to go park the bike..."hey, is that your Guzzi?" this dude on his truck telling me about his old Ambo... so we get our rooms a bucket of beer and procede to chill

 

 

4:30 first beer of the day...it was about time!

 

 

That's Candid,...Francis brother, no resemblance whatsoever! disaster will strike him on Sunday...

 

 

That evening we just hang at the Thunderbird's Lounge and call it the day...

 

[staedtler]

Next day, and since i couldn't use the bike, we decided to hang around town...so we wen't to the local cafes to have some breakfast and lunch, we walked, actually, you can walk from one end of town to the other in about 15 min. After breakfast we wen't over to this guy's place we meet last time i was there, i came back because he's selling a propierty that might be a good investment, and also a place to have if we are to keep coming back to Marfa...

 

 

sitting at Delfino's back porch, he is the dude i'm talking about...very nice older guy, he lives right next to the tracks, along with half of the pop. in Marfa...

last time at his back porch we were up 'til 3 in the morning mooning freight trains!! we were so plasted!

 

 

so here's the propierty...an adobe fixer upper for sure, but is not too bad, is structurally sound, it only needs a good cleaning... it's tiny, about 600 or so sf. (perfect), we'll see if we can make a deal, we made an offer that night...if he can't get more than what we offered for it in the next couple of months, we might have a place!

 

Later on the day, we proceded to go back to the Thunderbird's pool and...

 

 

have some beer, and...

 

 

then, some more...

 

 

...and more...

 

 

...and, who knows how late it was by then...

 

 

Sunday morning came around, and we checked out, went to the Austin St. Cafe had some breakfast, actually i just had coffee (mixing drinks will do that to you), and left town around 9...well, just out of town Candid's rear tire went off... we made some calls and found this Harley mechanic in Alpine who could overcharge the hell out of a crappy Dunlop...perfect!

I'm still wondering what's wrong with my bike...

 

 

so we made it to 'big bend choppers' the only thing open on Sunday... the dude wen't ahead and got him a tire w/o balance...and proceded to see what was wrong with the Guzzi,...after first inspection, i could see dollar signs on his eyes...i started to get cold sweats... well, he starts tinkering with it and try to troubleshoot....nothing! by then, i'm like, "don't worry dude, i can get back to SA like this, and get our mechanic to look into it"...

 

 

...then he says, "hey, when was the last time you cleaned this thing?" and i said..."cleaned? what's that?" (laughing)... the dude goes back and get a can of carb and brake cleaner and sprays the hell out of the throtle bodies...guess what? it worked, the bodies were crusty in gunk there was no free play... it took like a minute to loosen all that gunk up, now it runs better than before, i only wished he had a dyno...

here's the best part...it was free!

 

So we took off Alpine an hour later after we got there and just hauled ass back home...i can say this time around we were doing great illigal time

note: is cool to see the Border Patrol check point officers faces when we go by, not flying by, but when we stop and they and us nod as we take off....they smile! how can't you with that soundtrack...(later on i had to remain Ed that thas was not an Isle of Man check point.... ) i wonder if they might radio troopers up ahead?

anyway, i think they seem to like it...

 

 

Pecos river stop (after a F^&*ng cramp on my left hip)

 

 

And finally at La Tuna back home...this is our backyard waterhole, we were there by 5, and toasted with a couple of Lone Stars.

So there you have it Folks, a somewhat uneventful trip, definetively not as much fun as last time, in part because we didn't have anyone to rag on...

Is bound to happen again.... soon, and Francis is not going to sneak out of that one.

 

So until next time...

[jrt]

Looks like a good time was had by all. I used to drive through that part of the world pretty regularly. There was also a hotel called the Thunderbird in Fort Stockton. It was a real dump- I have no idea if it's there anymore.

Next time you go out there- try staying in the old CCC-build Adobe hotel...near McDonald Observatory. Very cool place. Take your girlfriend(s) and your own beer, though. Not much else around it.

[callison]

Nice trip posting!

[Orson]

Thanks for posting

 

Brings back memories

[antonio carroccio]

Héy, we have here in Holland some nice place too, like......................Lutjesbroek..

[Guest cduzzi]

Thanks for the posting. Some great pics and all gives me a hankerin' for a ride out to Marfa.