Yup. You counted that right, 4 to Mexico and 3 of us for exploring is only 7. Rick had to get back home since work was calling with all the storms they've had and he needed to start clearing some trees. So, our group of 8 is now back to 7.
Uncle Ed, Wayne, Dan, and Ken all decided to try to get to Mexico for lunch and my dad, Dick, and myself decided to go the other way (away from Big Ben) to explore and find a place to eat lunch ourselves.  Although I have my passport, I promised Amber I wouldn't go with all the bad news she's heard going on in Mexico. Dad forgot his passport and Dick never intended going either.
Mexico...
From what I heard, they couldn't make it to Mexico today. Which is the reason why they called us so quickly. They made it to the border just to find out that the border was closed. The weird thing about this particular border is that you're to park your motorcycles here in America, pay a Mexican citizen $5 to "row" you in a little boat across the Rio Grande to get to Mexico. Then you can walk into a town called Boquillas del Carmen I believe. However, like I said, the border crossing was closed because of all the rain that we've had here, the river flow was just too strong to row across. They'll have to try again tomorrow (technically today since I'm blogging a day behind still).
A little town called Presidio...
Dad, Dick, and my plan at the beginning of this day was to just ride to the next town called Lajitas. We just wanted to eat lunch there and check out the golf course that was in the town. It was a nice short, wet ride to the town and we found just one gas station in the middle of a mud hole. Once we got to the gas pumps, that's when we discovered that they only had Regular Gasoline. Dad only puts Premium in his bikes. So, our next best option was just to hit the next town down the road. Little did we know, that next town (Redford) didn't even have a gas station. We ended up traveling 50 miles to a little town called Presidio, TX. The population here was just over 5,000.
The 50 mile ride from Lajitas to Presidio was just absolutely amazing. Several curves on the side of canyons and huge hills up and down. Of course, we had to be careful due to the wet roads and also several rocks that have fallen in the road way. That's one thing you always have to be careful when you're riding along rock walls are those chunks that end up in the road. There were some dry roads that kept the ride entertaining still and little less "puckering" factor. The scenery was just as beautiful too. We had to stop in a few spots and get a few pictures for our memories.
Once we finally made it to Presidio, we FINALLY got some Premium fuel. Dad actually road his Trike all the way to Empty, lowest he's rode it before. So, now he's able to judge his distance on a tank a little more. Also, as I was riding, he noticed that my tires "looked" low as I was riding. We stopped at a little shop called Rohanas Tire Shop.  https://goo.gl/maps/LZzia4g695C2 The owner let me borrow his pressure gauge and hose with a 90 degree nozzle to fit in the tire valves on my bike. The owner of this place was absolutely generous and nice! Very friendly guys here. Definitely a place I'm glad I visit and was able to talk to the local town folk here. And, my tires sure were low! Both my front and back tires were just 15 psi! I had to fill them back up to where they were supposed to be, which were 40 psi in both of them. Man, what a difference it made in riding those curves! If I was more of a rider, I would have noticed this a while ago. But, I'm still new, this is only my 3rd touring trip. And, I don't own a bike, so I only ride once a year or so when I'm invited on these road tours.
The owner of Rohanas Tire Shop explained to me that their little town only had two restaurants to eat lunch at. And, he suggested a little place called The Bean Cafe.  https://goo.gl/maps/ehkGLKhWecx This food here was pretty good. Waitresses were very nice and welcoming and their Key Lime Pie... oh man! Very, very good! We even talked about go back for lunch again tomorrow (today, again, I'm blogging a day late).
The ride back to Terlingua, TX was very nice. By then, the roads were dried up and we were able to take the curves and turns at normal speeds. Very fun. So fun, we are definitely going to do this again tomorrow... as long as it doesn't rain again.
Overall it was a very good, relaxing day. HOWEVER, I can't close this blog with out explaining how a 6 foot 3 inch, 315 lbs Amer-Asian like myself, where a leather vest, a full 9mm Ruger Hand Gun, and riding a bad ass Harley happened to turn into a little girl at the very beginning of the ride today. Take a look at what the hell crawled out of my windshield bags the minute I decided to take off on the road...
Yea, HELL NAH!!!! That big ass spider crawled right and and gave me a stare down! It won. I pulled over and jumped right off my bike. Luckily, I was able to get the kickstand down just in time. Dick was following me and pulled over with me to see what was going on. So, I'm not alone in this, two full grown as men are know looking around in the desert trying to find a stick because none of us was going to touch this beast! Flick it? Hell no! I believe when you can physically see the eyeballs on a spider, then that spider is just a bad ass himself! I'm not touching it! If any of you know what kind of spider this is, please tell me! I hope I at least one a battle with some dangerous, poisonous killer. He's lucky I didn't pull the 9mm out and start shooting! Well, I guess my Dad's lucky since this is his bike and all. LOL
Looking forward to our last day here in Terlingua, TX tomorrow. We'll be leaving Monday morning to try to make it back to Clinton, MS in two days. Â