324-16_Tour-Texas

62 • AMERICAN IRON MAGAZINE • ISSUE #324 AIMag.com

TOUR • by Wally Cahill

AIMag.com ISSUE #324 • AMERICAN IRON MAGAZINE • 63

The Chisos Mountainsstand tall in the BigBend National Park, andmake for some greatscenic riding.

There’s always something different just around the (BIG) Bend

BIGas

TEXAS

EVERY SPRING IN APRIL OR MAY, I RIDE TO WESTTexas to visit friends in Austin and to see mycousins in Sonora. This year as the time drewnear to ride, I met up with my living GPS,“Stormin’” Norman Tolleson to join me on the

ride. This guy has logged about 800,000 miles during hisyears as a biker, and he’s originally from McKinney, Texas, sohe knows all the cool places to see in West Texas. It only tookabout three beers and a bucket of BS before we had thisyear’s trip planned. Judge Roy Bean’s bar/courthouse,known as The Jersey Lilly, was one of the places that piquedmy interest, as well as a few other ghost towns and cemeteriesrunning along the Rio Grande River, plus the famous nationalpark known as Big Bend. As always, one of our main goalswas to stay off the busy interstates, instead sticking to theback roads where you can really get a feel for the Old Westand the challenges faced by the early settlers and cowboys.

SU RV I V I N G WE S T TE X A SLet’s face it. Any day in the saddle is betterthan a day at work, but surviving a weekon the road in Texas is a whole other storybecause this is one big state. So make sureyou pack plenty of water and snacks incase you get stranded, as this is very re-mote country. It’s said everything is biggerin Texas, and by itself, this state is largerthan a lot of countries. Try this: Texas cov-ers 268,820 square miles, and it measures881 miles across on Interstate-10. Fact is,sometimes you just plain get bored ridingon its long interstate highways. Finally,though, after a few years and five trips rid-ing across South Texas for work and pleas-ure, I think I got it figured out. If you’re a“fast forward” or “combat riding” kind ofrider, just get on 10 and put it in the wind

and twist the throttle. But if you’re like most of us, riding istruly about the journey and not so much the destination. Here,then, is a brief look at a couple of cool choices you can make toget off 10 while crossing West Texas to enjoy some colorful,eye-opening history of the Old West in the process.

Leaving Phoenix heading east on 10 for Texas was theonly plan we had, with seven days to enjoy our bikes and thecompany of a few close friends. I met up with my road guideStormin’ Norman and his son “3 Fingers” on the waythrough Benson, Arizona, before stopping for the night at

Las Cruces, New Mexico.Six arduous hours of interstate riding

(370 miles) can leave any rider lookingfor a comfortable bed and a good meal,and that first day of riding was no excep-tion. Las Cruces has plenty of both. Westayed in a hotel right across the streetfrom Barnett Harley-Davidson, and nextdoor was an authentic Mexican restau-rant. Problem solved.

The next day we entered the Republicof Texas (legally I might add) at El Paso,and we knew we only had to make itabout 200 miles to Texas State Highway118 before salvation awaited in the formof a twisty two-lane road that took ussouth toward Ft. Davis. And so began ourexploration of West Texas’ rich history.

Also known as Davis Mountains Sce-nic Route, 118 is a meandering mountainroad south of 10, and if you’re into stargazing, you can visit the McDonald Ob-servatory. This observatory has a cool telescope that’s so powerful you couldcount the chin hairs of an unshaven bikerat 200 miles through its lens. A few milesfarther down the road sits the ghost townof Shafter, established in 1880 as the

The three amigos explorethe ruins of Shafter, Texas.From right to left: SkipTaylor, Norm Tolleson,and his son, 3 Fingers.


This area of WestTexas is litteredwith grave markersof settlers from the1800s, proof thatlife was hard andshort for most ofthese brave souls.

self-proclaimed Silver Capitalof Texas (population 33).There you can check out whatit was like to live in WestTexas 150 years ago. We tooka break to poke around theruins of Milton Favor, the firstof three Anglo-Americanranches in the Big Bend areathat were built as protectionagainst hostile Apache. I canonly imagine how hard lifewas in those days, trying tooutrun trouble with only onehorsepower.

A few more miles down the road, we decided to beddown in the town of Alpine before heading farther south toexplore Big Bend National Park. Alpine has an assortment ofhotels and restaurants to choose from, but you need to re-member that it’s about 20 miles from the middle of nowhere,so don’t expect a Holiday Inn or McDonald’s. Next day wewere up with the sun and gone with the West Texas wind toexplore the vastness of Big Bend National Park.

WH O YA GO N N A CA L L?Before entering Big Bend, we took a 13-mile detour from118 to Texas State Highway 170, heading west to check outthe famous ghost town of Terlingua, which in 1884 was homeof mercury metal. Figuring that the miners were handlingcinnabar ore containing mercury on a daily basis, you canunderstand why Terlingua also has a very large cemeterythat, today, is an interesting place to visit (but you don’t wantto live there). Make sure you top off your gas tank at the

general store because the gas stations in the area are few andfar between, not to mention that cellphone service is spotty atbest. This area gives you a great idea of what the early set-tlers had to contend with when traveling the wild country.Nowadays, we simply relax while enjoying the nearby RioGrande and the desert and mountains nearby.

BI G BE N D NAT I O N A L PA R KIf you’re looking to knock off riding for a day to give yourbutt a break from sitting in your iron horse’s saddle, BigBend has guided horse riding tours for sightseeing the park.Or you can take a ride in a sail plane for a bird’s eye view ofthe park. The area also offers great hiking trails and moun-tain bike rentals if you want to get up close and personalwith Mother Nature. In our case, we were content to do aslow cruise through the park. Throughout, I kept in mindwhat my cousin Diana, who lives in Sonora, had warned meabout: this is big country, so make sure to top off my bike’sgas tank whenever possible. This particular day we were a


If history from 1802 is too old for youand you would like to see some WorldWar II history, Fredericksburg, Texas, isthe home of Admiral Chester WilliamNimitz along with a great museum andmemorial to the World War II Vets.

The Admiral Nimitz Museum is amust see in Fredericksburg. It'salso a great place to samplesome of the great German foodthat the town is known for.


bit concerned about fuel and where we weregoing to sleep that night because, as it turnedout, we had 162 miles between gas stops.

We ended our day about 40 miles north ofthe park in Marathon where we lucked into aroom at the Gage Hotel that has been the placeto stop for many years. The hotel offers a tasteof the Old West, right down to the communitybathroom down the hall.

BE S T LI T T L E BU N K H O U S E I N TE X A SBuilt in 1927 by an architect named HenryTrost, the legendary Gage Hotel offers WestTexas’ authentic premier accommodations withan Old West feel, first-class dining, and a greatbar (its White Buffalo Bar was selected by TexasMonthly magazine as the Best Hotel Bar inTexas). This 45-room hotel offers many ameni-ties, from the quaint single rooms to a full-ser-vice spa and heated swimming pool. The hotelhas been awarded the Trip Advisor Certificateof Excellence and named number-one SmallHotel in Texas by Texas Highways magazine.And after you stay there, you’ll understand why.

I will say that I slept great that night. Itwas probably due to a combination of things:the rustic feel of the room, a few too many ofits award-winning drinks, and I was just plumtuckered out from a full day in the saddle riding in through Big Bend National Park.

IN SE A R C H O F “TH E ON LY LAWWE S T O F T H E PE C O S”Well-rested and stuffed with a “rancher’sbreakfast” (three eggs and a half pound of the south-end-of-a-north-facing hog), we were off to visit Langtry (about 120miles east on US Route 90), named by Judge Roy Bean forhis longtime heartthrob Lillie Langtry, a famous English actress known internationally as the Jersey Lily.

The story that I’ve heard over the years is that thejudge had commissioned a local sign painter to paint a signon the front of the bar/opera house/town hall/courthouse.The painter was to be paid with a bottle of whiskey andsome food. Apparently, the painter drank the whiskey be-fore painting the sign because he misspelled Lily to read“The Jersey Lilly.” Ever since that day, I wanted to see if itwere really true.

You can see by the pictures that Roy Bean’s place hasbeen preserved by the State of Texas, and you can visit thishistoric site the next time you find yourself in that neck of thewoods. Judge Roy Bean died March 16, 1903, 10 months be-fore Lillie Langtry could visit the town named after her andthank the honorable judge for naming his establishment afterher and for the many letters he wrote her over the years. Ap-parently, Roy Bean had a habit of worshipping the finer sex;he had actually almost been hung in Mexico after killing aman in a gunfight over a certain señorita, but fortunately forhim, the rope’s hemp stretched enough that his feet reachedthe ground, allowing him to survive until the same lady hekilled for arrived to cut him down. He wore those scarsaround his neck for the rest of his life. His fate might havebeen the reason why he never sentenced anyone to hang in

his court, although he seemed toalways fine them for their crimes.He also sentenced the accused tobuy a round of drinks for every-body in attendance at the trial. Ofcourse, his honor the judge alsohappened to be owner of the bar.

Opting to get out of Langtrybefore dark (or before the law could catch up to us and makeus buy rounds for everybody), we headed 50 miles east on 90to Del Rio where a Mexican dinner and a few too many margaritas awaited us south of the border in Old Mexico.

TR I B U T E TO MY RI D I N G PA LEvery seasoned rider probably has a few great friendswhom he would rideinto hell with.Stormin’ Norman isone of my few friendsthat I can say thatabout. This was ourfarewell ride togetherbecause Norm is los-ing his fight with can-cer. Norm is proof thatthings really are biggerin Texas. He will liveand ride with me untilI’m done riding, too.Reflecting on Normand our friendship, hetaught me a lot in thetime I knew him, butmost of all, he gave mereally sage advice —“RideMFer Ride!”AIM

FT. CLINCH STATE PARK Gage Hotel 800/884-GAGEGageHotel.com

HELMET HOUSE800/421-7247HelmetHouse.com

JUDGE ROY BEAN VISITOR CENTER432/291-3340TXDot.gov/inside-txdot/division/travel/information-centers.html

MCDONALD OBSERVATORY877/984-7827McDonaldObservatory.org

SOURCES

The original Jersey Lily still stands inLangtry. It was owned by Judge Roy Beanand served as his court house, too. StorminNorman Tolleson and I reflect on the day'sride and all of the drinks that crossed thebar at the Jersey Lily.

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