My talk of my epic MN trip has once again damned the trip to oblivion. A few factors popped up that were not easy to overcome. First being that traveling with a second rider really adds complexity to the venture. If I screw up in distance planning it is not just me sleeping in the bed-bug-inn or on the side of the road somewhere. Also, a challenge, and one that cannot be addressed until actually on the road, is finding the balance of distance between two riders. One person will inevitably be able to ride longer than the other. Even in a balanced situation, one person stops before they need to and the other has to push themselves to their limit. Done 6-8 days consecutively and it compounds with fatigue.
The other factor is that there is NOTHING to see between OK and MN. The lion’s share of the riding is just a commute. Unless I am going to do an IBA SS1k (1000 miles/24 hours) there is no reason I can see to make that ride. My first long haul on the ST1300 should not be a SS1K.
So, the alternative we selected was Big Bend. Neither of us have ever been there, we can still kill a week on the road. We get to finish in the Hill Country, and we will never be more than 700 miles from home in this loop of about 1700 miles.
It is a great thing Texas is when you think about it. We will be able to ride 1700 miles and never see the Gulf coast, go north of Abilene, East of San Antonio, or south of Del Rio.
We have booked our camp sites and the days look like this:
1. Sanger to Lake Colorado City SP = 260 miles
2. Colorado City SP to Fort Davis = 256 miles
3. We will stay here two nights. The first day (afternoon we arrive ) we may ride the 100 mile Ft Davis loop after we make camp) = 100-ish miles
4. Day Ride – Fort Davis (via marathon) to BBNP Park HQ, to Study Butte, return to Fort Davis = 249 miles
5. Fort Davis SP to So. Llano River SP in Telegraph, TX = 292 miles
6. Telegraph via Fredericksburg & back roads to Inks Lake SP near Marble Falls = 129 miles (will be more depending on what we do on the way)
7. Inks lake SP to Sanger, TX = 261 miles
Total (-ish) miles = 1547 in 7 days plus day rides.
