The alarm went off at 5:45 and I catapulted out of bed for the shower anticipating another great day of sweepers and beautiful scenery. I met Sam and we headed downtown in a hurry to beat the crowd to the local breakfast eatery called The Drugstore. On the way there we stopped and gassed up. We got to the cafe so early that they had not opened up yet! When the cafe employees saw us with our faces against the window looking in like a bunch of puppy dogs, they must of felt sorry for us because they let us in out of the cool morning air. As we waited for coffee to be made and the breakfast buffet to be readied, we watched the other members of our group slowly filter in. Once the buffet was ready we piled our plates with eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes and very good biscuits (did I mention the need to start a diet once this trip is over with... :-) ).

After cleaning our plates, we wallowed out of the place, piled on to our bikes and headed out of town on highway 17 towards Marfa, Tx. As had been our experience so far, the weather was perfect with cool temps and a clear blue sky. About five or ten miles out we saw a herd of antelope having their own breakfast in the grassy plain just south of the Davis mountains.

From Marfa we took highway 118 for the 60 mile run to Presidio. Again, great view and a some fun sweepers.

At Presidio I took the lead as we caught the narrow, two lane river road (highway 170) as it paralleled the Rio Grande. This road was a real challenge because of roaming livestock, blind curves, gravel in the road, adverse camber and many small sharp rises that held god only knows what in the middle of the road just on the other side. I had SIPDE on maximum here too. About three quarters of the way down the road we found out that we were not alone when a BMW and a Connie passed us going the other direction. We stopped at Lajitas, Tx. to rest, cool off and have a cold drink.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this part of Texas, Lajitas is home to Clay Henry, the beer drinking billy goat. The woman that runs the place where we stopped for some refreshment told us that a few years ago the goat had been elected the mayor of Lajitas. It was a big deal to go to Lajitas and buy the mayor a beer. We had a big laugh when she looked at us, rolled her eyes and said, "it's a guy thing"! We didn't go around to Clay Henry's little compound behind the store but one of the other guys from the TexSTOC group (David Bankhead) did and fed the blasted thing several beers. He said ol' Clay Henry would take the bottle in his mouth, upend it, drink the whole thing then throw the bottle out on the ground. I guess we were so tired we just forgot about going and paying our respects to the mayor.

From Lajitas, Ed, Sam, Chuck and I made our way up the road to Terlingua where we made sure Chuck had his picture taken outside the Terlingua Jail. This was an actual jail that was used when the area was a mining boom town. It's a windowless stone structure about 10' by 10' with bars for the front door. It's kind of hard to imagine anyone being able to tolerate the heat that must of built up in that thing in the middle of the summer. Some of the highest recorded temperatures in the state occur in this area.

On leaving Terlingua, we made our way to the park headquarters where all but one of us topped off our gas tanks. We then headed up into the Chisos basin again for some cooler temperatures, twisty roads, and a bite to eat. We ate in the little cafe in the gift shop where we were waited on by one of the most morose, humorless souls I believe I have ever met. I think if that poor, tortured woman ever smiled her face would crack and fall to the floor. With Thursday's huge lunch effect fresh in my memory, I opted for a light salad. We were doing some intense riding and I didn't want my concentration to fade from eating a heavy meal. As we were eating, Dave and Sherry (of margarita machine fame) walked in and sat with us.

Once outside the restaurant, I met an older couple from California. They proceeded to tell me all about their son's early 80's Virago and how he had traveled across the US with it. He also mentioned helping a biker whose chain had broke and wrapped around the rear wheel locking it up on an L.A. Freeway (man don't you know that was major pucker time!). I told him that we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing because the ST is shaft driven.

From the basin, Chuck lead us on a spirited chase through the sweepers, out of the park and back to Study Butte where he gassed up. From there, he continued in the lead and kept us on a healthy pace all the way back to Ft. Davis. It was a blast!

We reached Ft. Davis around 4pm with plenty of time for rest and a shower before all fifty or so of us met for the group supper at the Hotel Limpia at 7:30pm. The sight outside the hotel was awesome with so many ST's parked out front. Sprinkled in with the crowd of ST's were a few BMW's, a couple of Connies, a VFR and a Harley Davidson (for a picture, go back to my Motorcycle Page).

At the gathering, we enjoyed great food and good company. A great time was had by all as Keith Quigley, the organizer of TexSTOC '99 handed out prizes for the fastest ride, the most farkles, etc. When the event was finished I went back to the hotel and crashed early so as to be ready for the long, 580 mile grind home the following morning.

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