When I woke up this morning I looked around and thought how I would have loved this place as a kid.  Wherever my parents would take us I would try to find a hill and/or rocks to climb.  I would be gone for hours on my adventures, and I think I’d like to take a stab at these rocks; just for old times sake….

I stopped on my way out of the basin this morning to look back at the sun rising on the Chisos Mountains and the road leading back to the lodge and campground.  It’s kind of a far way to go to get here but I will likely be back.

The road from Terlingua to Presidio is one I’ve been on before and although it’s not in my top 10, it’s a good one and I was looking forward to riding it again today.  The road is right next to the river in some areas and while you could hit a pitching wedge from I-10 in El Paso into Mexico, you could stand in the middle of this road and throw a rock across the river.  Here’s a spot where you could easily walk across the river.  I actually went down to take a closer look, and I think you could hop from rock to rock and get across relatively dry.Texas 170 is a great motorcycle road, but you’re gonna need to be on top of your game.  In many places, the road turns immediately after the crest of a hill so you don’t see the turn coming and there’s no way to set up for it.  The road itself is in good condition but this time through there were a few places where rain water had washed rocks and dirt from the hillsides across the asphalt.  I took it easy enough that I never did scare myself but it was still challenging and a lot of fun.  In this video you can see the river (border) in a couple places.

For the last two days I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to get across the desert.  Yesterday it was 120° in Phoenix they are forecast to be near record temperatures there all week.  The plan I’ve decided on is to get to sleep as quickly as I can in Van Horn and if I can get enough sleep in the afternoon and evening – make a night run from here to Phoenix.