It's been a few days since I had the opportunity to post, so I'll try to catch up to now with starting where I left off - Day 4.
Since we all had a good ride into Terlingua the day before. We all slept in a little late. Which worked out since we were waiting for one of my cousins-in-law, Wayne, to arrive in from Kansas from they day before. He rode 1,000 miles in 23 hours and 57 minutes... daayuumm! He made it just fine later this day, but definitely tired. However, that didn't stop him. He ended up riding the full day with us all still. Now, there are 8 of us...
While we were hanging around in the Terlingua House, waiting on Wayne; Uncle Ed, Dan, and Rick decided to go "mountain" climbing. No, not like Everest or anything near that. But, still a pretty decent size for us!
The picture to the right, I'm just chilling on the roof/balcony of the house. But it's a perfect picture to show the "mountain" that the 3 stated that they were going to climb. If you're able to zoom in. You'll that there are two caves on the side of that wall there. Those were actually what had them interested in the first place to climb it. They wanted to see what was inside!
Below, you can see where I was able to use my Dad's binoculars to try to get a close up of them when they actually made it to the caves!
They were not able to get to that higher cave obviously, but they did say the lower one was able 18 - 20 feet deep, and then it moved into a smaller hole that you could actually get in. However, you'll need to actually get down and crawl into it. With all of the bats people around here say that they have, it was best that they decided not to do that. After that explored the small section of that cave, they continued up to see if they would be able to make it all the way to the top of the plateau. Dad and I was watching them from the balcony/roof, but I did get tired after a while. They were taking their time, which was good. But, man, it sure was getting warm up there. Later, they made it back down and I ran back into them in the house's kitchen in enough time to see Uncle Ed cleaning the blood off of his arm. I mean, he just seem to not be able to go on any adventure without hurting himself. Our last family reunion last year in Hill City, South Dakota, he decided to race my little brother on the cart race down a hill and they both flew over a rail and scraped an arm up pretty good! This time, he said that he had a wrestle match with a sticker bush... and lost.
After they got back and rested a bit, and since Wayne made it, it was time to hit the road and check out Big Bend National Park. It was a very nice ride. We drove straight through the gate once we got to the entrance as apparently they gate guard was on lunch or something. Which was fine for me! I didn't really feel like paying to get in the park today for sure.
We drove straight to the Panther Junction Visitor Center to see what trails or "paved" roads that we would be able to take. Instantly, we saw a paved road that would lead us all the way up to a higher altitude location of the park. I believe it was a 11,000 feet height? It was a short trip up there, but pretty good. There were a few sharp 10 mph turns that were fun. So, just so you'll know, the 10 mph is the posted speed limit for the curve. We actually can go 10 to 20 mph faster than the posted sign. I, myself, feel comfortable with 10 mph over. I'm still an amateur and I'm in no place to put myself in danger of course. As I said, the ride up there was pretty short. So, on the way back, everyone saw a place called "Lost Mine Trail" and decided to stop and walk it. Now, here's my issue. I planned on riding on this trip. Not walking on a trail. So, I had no tennis shoes or anything. But, I gave it a shot. Haha! I didn't come close! The trail was 2.5 miles there and back. AND, at 11,000 feet. I had a hard time breathing. I guess I made it about a quarter of the way? Then I noticed a notification went off on my phone which told me that I had signal way the hell out there. So what do I do? I start checking emails and seeing what's going on with work. What else?
I'd say about 20 minutes later skimming through work emails up there on the side of a mountain, my dad showed up. Which, to me, was a surprised since at the beginning of the hike when he heard the distance of the trail, he said "The Hell with that! I'll just stay here and wait on y'all." LOL. So when I saw him turn the corner up there, I was glad to see him. Then, he asked me how far I made it. Of course, I just pointed to the rock that I chose to sit down on. He then took a few steps past that and said, "Know that I made it further than you, you ready to go back?" LOL. Always a competition in my family...
Dad, Dick, Ken, and I all ended back down at the bottom of the trail while Uncle Ed, Dan, Rick, and Wayne still was on their way to go find the "lost mine". Yea, we're not going to wait on them. We decided to leave them there and head back and shower and get ready for dinner. I mean, there's four of them up there. They'll be fine, right? Hopefully they didn't run into a bear or mountain lion, since the guns was with dad, Dick, and me. Luckily, they have specific instructions on what to do in case they ran into one of them. HAHA!
They said that it took them 3 hours to do the trail. Glad they made it! Apparently, they found this lost mine also. Not sure if they're going to ever change the name of the trail now or not. 😁
According to my phone, I only walked .6 miles. Man, I SUCK. These told guys are kicking my ass! They clime a cliff, then walk this 2.5 mile trail. I need to get back in shape. If I ever want to enjoy the rest of my life with my wife, Amber, I need to get a move on. Dieting... no, just eating "right". And I need to get more active.
According to my Google Timeline for that day, September 5th, I rode for 90.5 miles for about 3 hours and 45 minutes. I guess I ought to mention that Google Timeline also says that I walked .6 miles for about 31 minutes... smh. 😞 But, overall, great day!
