El Camino Del Rio

El Camino del Rio (The River Road) runs from Lajitas to Presidio, Texas, along the Rio Grande, about 50 miles one-way. It is one of America's Scenic Byways and either a great motorcycling road or a bad one, depending on your point of view. The road has lots of sharp curves, climbs and drops through the hills along the river for 35 miles and wide sweeping turns for the last 15 from Redford to Presidio. There is hardly a straight stretch anywhere. The landscape is so spectacular with the hills and cliffs, long views down the river and mountain ranges in the background, that it is impossible to concentrate on riding. So, the going was a bit slow.

At one point, I asked Ellen why she was riding so slowly. Bad mistake. Why yes, said she, maybe it's the sharp corners, steep hills, loose livestock, falling rocks on the road or spectacular views over impressive drop-offs. She was much faster on the way back after having ridden the road once and actually forgave my snarky comment.

In the morning, our ride to Presidio was relatively cool and we reached the border town of 4,200 at about 10:30, riding up to The Enlightened Bean Cafe. With a name like that, we had to stop for coffee.  Not only did they have good coffee but cell phone service was good as well and the staff was very friendly. We called our friends Garry and Kate to confirm our meeting in Silver City, New Mexico, next month, and we called Ellen's brother, who is on his way home from a trip to Florida also trailering his motorcycle.

By then we had spent so long warming our seats, it was lunch time. The Enlightened Bean serves a good burrito, brisket and avocado for Ellen, asado (pork) for me. The young man who waited on us mentioned that he wanted to serve rabbit burritos as well because he can hunt them on his uncle's ranch over the border in Mexico but hadn't got it past management. We shared the outdoor table with a fellow from northern New Mexico, who was on a weekend of riding his Harley. Like almost everyone we've met here, he was originally from the northeast, Long Island in his case.

By the time we finished lunch, it was nearly 1:00 pm, time to head back to Lajitas. The road back was just as spectacular, but a whole lot hotter. We stopped a few times for water and photos, but we were pretty fried by the time we got back to Speedy (our campervan). It was time to try out the air conditioner, one of the perks of staying at a powered site. After a lot more water and long showers, we're pretty much back to normal in the cool van and ready to get a take-out dinner.

Tomorrow, we head north to the Davis Mountains via a provisioning stop in Alpine, one of the larger towns in the Big Bend. We hope to visit the McDonald Observatory and ride another Scenic Byway, the Davis Mountains Loop.

Photos