Marfa by Motorcycle : 2019 into 2020 (and preparation for the journey beyond)
Why did this trip come about?
2019 was an interesting year for me. I had some highs and lows career-wise that both ultimately led me to start thinking about life goals and what I want to achieve. I never really had a revelation or a clear solution but what I did start to think about was lingering goals that have always been around waiting to get checked off.
One of those goals is to visit all 50 states. At the time I’m writing this, I’ve got the continental US checked off and only Alaska and Hawaii remain. While I’m well-versed in road trips in a four-wheeled vehicle, I realized I had never done more than a short overnight on two-wheels. If I was going to go to Alaska and hit state number 49, I wanted to earn it and set up a new challenge for myself to be proud of when I finally cross that state line.
What the heck does this have to do with Marfa TX you might wonder? Well, after a much-needed retreat in Colorado in September after some stressful months in the workplace, I had made Alaska by motorcycle an official decision. Where to start with this decision besides the obvious route, dates, etc. that go into a road trip? Well, one of the first decisions I made was not to buy a proper “adventure” bike as most motorcycle travelers do. Instead, I decided to upgrade and modify the bike I already owned (a DRZ400 Supermoto).
Around the time I made this decision, a friend asked if I wanted to join him and a group of friends in Marfa Texas for New Years’. I thought to myself “man if I could do all the research, parts ordering, part installation and have it ready in time for New Years… this would be a GREAT test run”. So instead of going the easy route and taking my time to put the bike together before my eventual Alaska trip in April/May – I spent countless hours researching not only bike parts but gear, bags, and accessories as well so that the Marfa New Years trip would be as close as a simulation to the eventual Alaska trip as it could be.
I’ll skip the details of the countless hours I spent researching, ordering parts from across the world, ordering again from across the world and the installation of the parts since this is a travel post – but let’s just say I didn’t have much free time in the final months of 2019 as New Years crept closer and closer. Thanks to strategic planning and many todo lists and weekly goals, I finished the bike in time for the trip and took off the day after returning from a NY Christmas with the family.
Day 1: 347 miles (Austin, TX – Pandale, TX)
I left a little later than I planned after the sun was already up. I turned back around after I left to go back and get earphones (which I never used). As I was starting to make some progress down I-35 I knew I was going to need gas(I always somehow hit the reserve tank on 35). Sure enough, right before the exit to the gas station the bike completely shut off… with the stock gas tank there’s usually a hesitation or stutter but with the bigger aftermarket tank it just shuts off immediately. I coasted to the side of the road, got off, leaned the bike to the left side to try to splash fuel into the carb but it didn’t work and the bike wouldn’t start. All of a sudden I lost my balance and the bike fell over on the right side. “Well…” I thought to myself “At least I got that out of the way early” since I knew it was going to happen at some point. After I picked it up, it started almost immediately.
- Lesson Learned: Set bike down on the right side to shake fuel into the carb to start the bike on reserve
I set off again, stopped at the gas station, fueled up and set off again. Soon I realized I needed to make some GPS adjustments and pulled back off the highway and parked on the side of the road. It was at this point I realized something was missing: The GoPro I had attached to the front of the bike was gone. I was on a one-way access road and couldn’t immediately turn around to go look for it so I kept going, looking for somewhere to turn around. The further I got the less I wanted to go back.. eventually after 10 minutes or so I decided I didn’t care enough to go back and that this might actually be a blessing in disguise that might save the trip/my life since I wouldn’t be thinking about it anymore in addition to all the new experiences I had coming for this trip.
I didn’t really have plans to make a video but wanted to test out what it would look like for my later Alaska adventure if I did. While it took some mental strengthening to convince my brain I did the right thing by not turning around to retrieve it, in the end, it was 100% the right choice.
- Lesson Learned: There are A LOT more things happening on a motorcycle than in a car with walls around you. It’s best to focus on the road ahead, your emotional/physical state and making sure your main goal is always survival and the smart decision-making that goes along with that which requires constant mental focus.
While I was conflicted about going back to retrieve my GoPro that had some racetrack footage on it I never imported – it had left my mind once I found dirt a few hours away and slowly faded from memory until the end of the trip when I remembered I should at least check for it. The experience without it also made me question if I even wanted to make a video in Alaska and have to deal with data, backups, batteries etc… If I went through the trouble, would it be for me or others? Would I be fine with photographs only? I think I would but am still considering another attempt possibly, but this time attached to my helmet.
The decision to not go back and waste time looking for the GoPro (which I never found on a search and rescue attempt a week later) was the right decision because I got to my campsite that night with daylight to spare which is always preferred. Had I gone back I would have lost precious daylight hours and arrived at dusk or after dark and wouldn’t have enjoyed the sunset at my site and had to have set up in the dark.
The rest of the ride was fantastic for the first day – hit one of the three sisters (337 – one of the best motorcycle roads in Texas) and got some good curvy action in so I could see how all the weight and extra luggage felt vs. the other times I had been there without luggage. It was still enjoyable even with all the gear to my delight. There were some boring and straight roads after this which I breezed through as quick as I could, wide-open throttle at times to see how the bike reacted (I don’t think I can go much over 90 mph with the gearing modifications I performed: rear sprocket changed from a 41 stock to a 38, much better for high speeds without straining the bike).
Eventually, I found the first dirt road of the trip which I had researched carefully. After going for a little while I had to switch to a lesser-used “road” which I’m still not sure if it was an actual road or a farmers trail since it had feed buckets for cows scattered throughout in the middle of the “road” but I made it through packs of cows and closed (non-locked) gates.
At sundown, I made it to Pandale, TX which consisted of an “abandoned” old schoolhouse and used recently but maybe not so recently church in a building with no electricity or running water. From there, I went a few miles down the road to a campsite I had located by tracing google maps searching for dirt roads. It was perfect – middle of nowhere, only one other party there on the complete opposite side of the campground and I had the entire river to myself for the night.
Day 2: 200 miles (Pandale, TX – Marfa, TX)
I woke up and realized it was pretty cold out, but my sleeping bag and clothing had kept me warm during the night. I had frost all over the bike, my open bags, and helmet that I had left outside.
- Lesson Learned: All gear should be put in the tent at night and all bags should be closed with gear stuffed away if you don’t want it to frost overnight
I started the fire up, had some coffee and snack, waited until the sun dried most of the tent and then packed up and left.
I noticed that the bike seemed to like to rock back and forth when unsettled especially on dirt/gravel. Later in the trip, I learned this was because I had only tightened the rear bag on the front side and not the back side (you have to tighten all 4 straps!).
The ride back to the pavement was scenic and peaceful. I stopped by the side of the road for almost an hour just to take in the view and appreciate being the only human being as far as the eye could see.
Before I left in the morning, I decided to change my plan of going to Terlingua and Presidio to going straight to Marfa instead and arriving around the same time as my friends instead of behind them a day. Since there are really only two ways west to Marfa (I-10 and Hwy 90) I sought out any sideroads or quick detours I could take to find dirt or a less straight road.
As to be expected with a lot of Texas backcountry, the first attempt at a beautiful twisty road according to google was actually a private ranch with a gate. 0/1 on finding a scenic detour. The second attempt, however, was discovered soon after leaving Sanderson and filling up at a small gas station that only had 87.
- Lesson Learned: Fast forward to chatting with a guy named Herman in front of the Lost Horse in Marfa on New Years Eve – these small or sketchy looking gas stations can give you bad gas and cause your bike to sputter when giving it full throttle – I experienced this many times on my way into Marfa and wasn’t sure if it was the bike or something else but it didn’t do it on the way home so I figured it was the gas and he was right – I should have filled up at the bigger gas station in Sanderson on the other side of town.
So back to the part where I had found some roads that paralleled Hwy 90 without leading me too far out of the way. These roads were supposed to lead to a town called Rosendale. This “little” sidetrack ended up teaching me a slew of lessons in a short amount of time. Here we go with a list of lessons when traveling off the normal route with little to no research ahead of time:
- Lesson Learned: Make sure you have water! I hadn’t refilled my water supply since Austin and should have done so when filling up at the gas station (probably a good habit to get into if not carrying water onboard somewhere)
- Lesson Learned: Check to make sure you have cell phone service when heading off the main road where there are other cars and people – I had no service and this road had no people or cars on it.
- Lesson Learned: Calculate distance properly – what looked like a short 30 minute-ish off-track quick adventure quickly became much more when I realized it was all dirt and speeds were very slow
- Lesson Learned: Take a quick peek at google maps earth satellite view (and street view if possible) to see if roads actually exist. When I got to the road I needed to take to head back to the highway, It quickly became apparent this road hadn’t been used for many many years and was completely impassable.
- Lesson Learned: Pay attention to the time of day you are heading off into the middle of nowhere – if something goes wrong and you need to walk back, it’s better to do so during the daytime.
- Lesson Learned: DO NOT BE AFRAID OR TOO STUBBORN TO TURN BACK AND GO BACK THE WAY YOU CAME. I have a determined and strong-willed spirit to always keep moving forward and never backtrack unless absolutely necessary (I always try to find a new road to go so I don’t have to see the same thing twice) – This can be negative in situations where you ignore all the above conditions and suddenly find yourself on a “trail” next to a train track that you don’t know where it goes or how long it takes to get back to a real road.
What happened was I basically took off down these “roads” I saw on google maps without researching, then when the one I wanted ceased to exist, I chose another that was not really a trail but more of a railroad access trail for a very large vehicle. At this point of the day it was getting late and the more and more I tried to make this trail work the more and more nervous I was getting because I would never make it back to the main road with how slow this was taking, I was out of water, I had no cell service and I didn’t tell my friends waiting in Marfa where I was before I took this detour. I could have easily ruined my night and theirs but not doing some simple research and smart decision making.
After deciding I had a very bad feeling that was growing worse and worse the further I went down this track, I hit the brakes and came to a halt a couple of millimeters from a huge thorn bush that could have easily punctured my tire. The second I turned around I felt better, despite being overheated.
- Lesson Learned: Offroad, slow riding = hot, fast road riding = cool. I overheated a few times offroad on this trip by not paying attention to this and continuing on with too many layers for the riding application.
The cool part of all this was I found an old hunting lodge that looked like it had been abandoned for a long time with some very old appliances in it.
Once back on the road I got a text that my friends had gotten dinner reservations and I would need to haul ass if I was going to make it on time. They will never know unless if the read this how close I was to ruining their night by being completely stranded in the dark in the middle of nowhere and having no way to tell them.
I headed down Hwy 90 on the way to Marathon matching pace with a huge fleet of dozens of tanks and military vehicles on a train headed west into the sunset – I need to get this amazing image that’s only in my mind painted or down on paper someday. From Marathon to Alpine I linked up with a blacked-out Dodge Challenger and held the throttle as tight as it would go to try to keep up and shave minutes off my arrival time.
I finally rolled into Marfa just in time for dinner and saw a cop at outskirts of town who whipped a 180 and started following the car right behind me (who had failed to slow down as much as I had after I passed him) and luckily for me was the one the cop wanted as I kept rolling through town and made it just in time for dinner!
Day 3: 220 miles (Marfa, TX – Comstock,TX)
After a few days partying in Marfa which included lots of great food, drink and appreciation of the random vehicles and sites around Marfa and a random run-in with Nick Offerman and his wife – it was time to head back east.
I had my first rain of the trip so I got to see how the bike and my gear handled it and it seemed to be just fine. When I got to Marathon, I stopped at a gas station I had spotted on the way out but didn’t have time to get a photo of. As I was taking photos I noticed the front tire looked a little low so I went over and checked it out. COMPLETELY FLAT! My first thought was: “how long did I run it like this? This must have been why it felt a little wobbly pulling off the road.”
After swapping valve stems and being gifted a better valve stem tool by some passing workers (thanks!) I decided there must be something else wrong with the tube or there was a puncture I couldn’t see. Since I had driven on it flat to get here I decided to do a 180 and head back 30 miles to Alpine since I had spotted a motorcycle shop there when I went through the first time.
I rode all the way back, close to full speed, being cautious that I wouldn’t be able to react quickly if I needed to and looking for any large objects that could damage the rim with the tire so low. I made it back, had a brand new tube put on and left Alpine (again) in the rain (again).
It was a pretty uneventful ride after that until I got to Sanderson and the gas station I had missed the first time that hopefully had better gas. This time I stopped, however, because when taking photos many miles down the road earlier, I noticed my oil was low and it was the first time I had checked it all trip. Since I had already lost a couple of hours due to the flat tire, the sun was starting to go down and I was getting tired and not taking my time or thinking quite clearly – this led to a few mistakes.
Once I refilled the bike with oil, I started it and spilled oil everywhere because I forgot to close the oil stick back into the frame. This somehow led to the bike falling over, my helmet falling off the bike into the car next to me and a big mess in the parking lot that I tried to clean up with napkins and got oil on my gloves in the process. Among all this unnecessary chaos I realized I had left the station out of embarrassment and did not even top off the fuel on the bike.
After all the above had occurred, I slowed down a bit and took the opportunity to grab some photos of the last West Texas sunset I would experience for a while. This helped because it made me realize that no matter what the circumstances, it’s not good to rush to get to your destination before sunset – if you are doing this it’s already too late and you’re setting yourself up for a possible mishap.
I rode for over an hour or two from the dusk into the dark. I got to test out my new high beam lights which are super bright and safe but there was a lot of traffic so I turned them off as cars and trucks passed. This made things a little sketchy without them on as the headlight I installed does not give off very good light. I saw a deer and slowed down even more as I realized there was no reason at all to be going fast since I would arrive long after dark and the risks were getting higher and higher at high speeds as the night wore on.
I was getting low on gas and unfortunately google had told me there was a gas station on my route which didn’t actually exist.
- Lesson Learned: always gas up when you had the chance, you never know if a station will cease to exist or be closed
I got to the campsite and to my surprise there were a couple of other campers in RVs and vans already there. I tried to set up my tent in the high grass but it was difficult since the wind was strong and the ground was extremely hard. I got it good enough to sleep in and opted to not use my sleeping pad in case if any prickers made their way through the tent on the desert-like ground. I opened up a can od Spagettios I had bought earlier in the trip and passed out thinking about what I needed to change from now on:
- Lesson Learned: ALWAYS check oil before starting out each day
- Lesson Learned: ALWAYS check tire pressure before starting out each day
- Lesson Learned: NEVER rush to a campsite on a motorcycle. I’ve done this countless times in a car but the risks are far less than they are on a bike. Take your time and don’t try to beat the sunset, instead appreciate it as it goes down wherever you are.
Day 4: 220 miles (Comstock,TX – Austin, TX)
The place I stayed at was more of a scenic overlook than a campsite so I explored the boat launch nearby, looked into Mexico, explored an actual old campground and gas station that used to be right next to where I slept. After looking through the rubble and disrepair at the gas station I answered my own question of why the state didn’t save this campground: both the campground and gas station were privately owned – the state park was right down the street so it appeared no one has stepped in to save this place. Sad, but it makes sense… it’s really out in the middle of nowhere. Couldn’t help myself from wondering what it was like to camp there probably in the 70’s and 80’s. I made my way across the bridge to an old picnic area but it was closed off a long time ago so I sat on the wall that looked handbuilt ages ago and had my morning coffee that I had been gifted on the first night of the trip.
- Lesson Learned: ALWAYS start the day slow, take your time packing up and relax with some coffee or breakfast before departing. I wasn’t in the right mindset this morning until I took a timeout to prepare mentally for the ride ahead.
After coffee, I checked both oil level and tire pressure. I also got mildly panicked when looking for a spot to enjoy my coffee as I was again passing over prickly plants on the ground… I think I’ll be too timid to ever go off the path in Texas again unless if my tires have super high pressure.
The way I chose to return (north out of Del Rio) was one of the most boring stretches of the trip. It wasn’t until I made the right onto 336 and started heading south on another one of the three sisters that I crossed a bucket list item off without knowing it was coming. I saw a live ARMADILLO! I’ve seen countless dead ones throughout my life but had never come across a live one. He was right in the road and I pulled up right next to him and he didn’t seem to mind until I pulled out my camera to capture the moment and he went back into his hole by the side of the road. Maybe he was trying to teach me something: Pics or…. it still happened actually.
One of the things I like most about traveling solo is stopping frequently for photos or detours or other attractions without explanation, just because you want to. I made it a point on this trip to see as many historical markers as I could. I stopped at one on 336 that I didn’t even know existed the last time I rode it because I was just flying by. It was about a mother and kids who were ambushed by Indians, the mom was killed and the kids escaped and ran away with the neighbors, the Indians hunted down after 70 miles and killed. It’s easy to just sink into our present time and forget what’s happened on the ground we stand on and the struggles and turmoil people had to go through just to live in the same place many years ago.
After filling up at the same gas station in Blanco as the way out, I noticed my back tire was starting to show signs of wear. It was still holding air so I decided to risk it and tried maneuvering back and forth on the road for a couple of hours to wear the outer parts of the tire.
- Lesson Learned: Frequent breaks can make a huge difference on a bike. Even 5 minutes resets your butt, ears (mine were sore from ear plugs) and general mindset to continue on.
It got dark as I neared home on !-35 and hit traffic as I returned to reality and society. Probably safer than dodging deer out west this time of night but I definitely missed west Texas already.
The next morning I got up and looked at my back tire: completely flat. I don’t know if I made it with a little air left or none at all but was glad that once again it seems I can travel on flat tires if absolutely necessary.
4 Days on the bike…
Only 4 days and I feel like I learned a month’s worth of lessons traveling in a car. It was well worth the hustle and struggle of sourcing, installing and testing parts to get the bike ready for this journey. I have a few other events coming up over the next months so it feels good to have this ride under my belt – I’m not sure I’ll be able to take one this long again before I begin my Alaska journey so I’m glad I made it happen. I plan to practice changing a tire on my own in my garage and making other final adjustments over the next months – hopefully taking some smaller trips too so I feel totally ready for the bigger adventure coming.
TRACK WATCHING #3 – BRIAN DEFREES AND HEARTLAND TOP 10 SHOOTOUT
