Where to ride in Texas?

[jetdoctor]

Hi all,
I have 11 days off in February (2/19-3/1 2007). I was initially thinking Arizona, but it is too far away for a short trip.
I have been reading about the Hill Country, and the Big Bend areas. Hopefully it will warm up by then.....
What should I ride? I have a Concours, a KLR650, and a DRZ400S.
How much offroad is there in the Big Bend area? Since it is a national park, I would imagine that they do not like offroading very much.
Also if anyone is available for some riding during these times it would be great to hook up.
Cheers,
Doug

[markjenn]

Doug, I started a thread on this very subject a few weeks ago.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193978

My group is going to be there the week of Mar 18. The locals like the idea of dual-sports, especially in big bend, but there's big miles involved too.

- Mark

[Teeds]

Originally Posted by jetdoctor

Hi all,
I have 11 days off in February (2/19-3/1 2007). I was initially thinking Arizona, but it is too far away for a short trip.
I have been reading about the Hill Country, and the Big Bend areas. Hopefully it will warm up by then.....
What should I ride? I have a Concours, a KLR650, and a DRZ400S.
How much offroad is there in the Big Bend area? Since it is a national park, I would imagine that they do not like offroading very much.
Also if anyone is available for some riding during these times it would be great to hook up.
Cheers,
Doug

Are you driving to Texas?

Asphalt or Dirt?

The National Park is nice and there is about two days of exploring in the area on dirt roads. There is another day or two west of there, around Presidio. If you are in for a real adventure there is a nice 4~5 day out and back ride that starts and ends at Pandale Texas. It is SW of Ozona (on I10 west of San Antonio by a good bit). It is about 1200 miles and I would say 60% dirt ... no camping required.

There are great roads in the Hill Country. Many are asphalt, but very appropriate for DS bikes.

On another note, there is ZERO "off-roading" in Big Bend National Park. They frown on it. Also, all bikes must be plated.

Check out ... http://www.twtex.com/forums/showpost...81&postcount=8 ... for some info I wrote about Big Bend ...

Ms. Tracy is gone, so no more Fish and Chips ...

You have a bunch of time and can do Texas in style ... what do you want to see and do?

[jetdoctor]

Mark and Tony,
Thanks for the info.
What I am hoping to do is some dualsporting and camping. If it is all pavement I would probably leave from here on the Connie. If I do any dualsporting I would drive to Texas with my bike in the back of my truck.
I want to see Texas, and I also need to check out some new gear I will be using on my summer trip out west in August.
I have a KLR that is well set up for adventure touring, but I recently picked up an 06 DRZ400S for more offroad oriented dualsporting. I am interested in seeing its weaknesses and strengths but do not know if I will have it ready.
The trip leaving from Austin sounds good, but I will be needing some time to digest this info.
Thanks again,
Doug