188 miles – Alpine, Ft Davis, loop 166, Ft Stockton
Hwy 118 view of McDonald Observatory
Day 5 Route
This is day 5 of our Big Bend National Park Motorcycle ride. My brother Gary headed back home because he had to go to work Friday night so we said our good byes and he headed off. Gary made it all the way back to West Columbia that day. 500 plus miles. This morning was clear and cool as we headed to Ft. Davis. Ft. Davis is my favorite place in Texas. “The coolest town in Texas”. Ft. Davis has this distinction because it is the highest (a mile high) town in Texas. Ft. Davis area is also grassier and has more trees than the surrounding area. During the summer it gets into the 90’s for highs and at night it cools off to in the 60’s and sometimes in the high 50’s. When it does get hot, it is tolerable because of the lack of humidity. We didn’t stop in Ft. Davis because it was early and we would be back around lunchtime after riding the 166 loop. We rode up to the McDonald Observatory for a rest stop but because we got there around 8:00 something they did not open until 9:00 so we just waited until 9:00. Some of us got a snack and coffee and then we rode the rest of the loop back to Ft. Davis. We had lunch, looked through the shops and Limpia Hotel and rode out to Ft. Davis Historical Park. The fort is my favorite fort in Texas. Many of the buildings have been restored and they are restoring more as time goes by. Every time we visit there is something new. After touring the fort we were off to Ft. Stockton to spend the night. We rode up Hwy. 17. Hwy. 17 is really scenic too. We rode to Balmorhea but did not stop. Balmorhea boast of having the largest spring fed swimming pool. From 22 to 28 million gallons of water flow through the spring-fed swimming pool each day. At Ft. Stockton we checked in at the motel and then walked down the street and ate Chinese food.
Scenic loop 118 – 166
Links to the other days of our ride… Day 1 – 259 miles – Georgetown, Fredericksburg, Ozona Day 2 – 257 miles – Ozona, Ft. Stockton, Alpine, Terlingua Day 3 – 187 Miles – Terlingua, Santa Elena Canyon, Chisos Basin, Boquillas Canyon, Terlingua (all in Big Bend) Day 4 – 182 miles – Terlingua, Presidio, Marfa, Alpine Day 6 – 165 miles – Ft Stockton, Big Lake, San Angelo Day 7 – 195 Miles – San Angelo, Llano, Georgetown If you liked this post you may also like “Big Bend/Carlsbad Motorcycle Trip September ’09” or “Our First Big Bend Motorcycle Ride“.
