I'm looking at using some vacation time for a ride to get out of the DFW area and am debating between a couple of choices.

One is a ride that a friend of mine has been planning to Big Bend for the last year and a half. Initially, when he was planning this, it sounded pretty cool but I'm not sure about the ride down there. Since he started planning this trip we did another road trip to Palo Duro Canyon. It was nice riding around it and Caprock Canyon, but ultimately the rides in there were maybe a couple hours total and it really seemed that the roads in there were limited and if we wanted to see the really good stuff, we really needed to hike the trails. Hiking is fine, but unfortunately our timing on the trip was such that we had not allocated time to do that, so we were stuck with just seeing what we could from the road.

My second choice is something I've started looking into fairly recently. It involves basically riding out to Broken Bow, Oklahoma and taking a couple of scenic roads (259 from Broken Bow, then 270 east) to Hot Springs. I guess I would be doing this run solo since my friend is dead set on Big Bend next month.

So, I'm torn between what I think will be a 550 miles of essentially dull riding through SW Texas to Big Bend in order to hit the payday of that area, or what is around 150 miles of essentially dull riding to Broken Bow, but then another 200 miles of what seems to be pretty nice riding in Arkansas. In addition, if I hit that run at the end of October it should be autumn which might be cool. I have not seen a real autumn since I moved down here 17 years ago.

So, is there enough of interest in Big Bend to ride around in for essentially 2 days (with the 3rd going up to Presidio then up to Marfa) such that it's worth the 2 days of SW Texas riding, or is the Arkansas run a good one in the fall that might provide a more consistently nice riding experience? I also figure that I might do a 2nd day ride if I do that one over to the Mississippi. I'll just wing it at that point.

 

Just my 2 cents worth, but we would rideto OK and across to Ark. While you are in the area of Broken Bow head across Talimena Dr which runs from Talimena Ok to Mena Ark. and then back roads toward the Hot Springs area. Fall colors should be awesomedue toall the rain we all had this year.
Another idea is go down to theHill country west of Austin and San Antonio, several State parks and nice scenery. Make sure you take 281 south instead of I35 and ride the "twisted sisters" FM 335, 336 & 337 which are all great roads in the Frederickburg area.
Now you've done it, you got me wanting to schedule a fall ride to both these areas again. When are you going?.

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Heh. Sorry to throw out the temptation.

I did find an Arkansas motorcycle guide online and caught a link to this place:

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/

In the past, so I did revise the route slightly. I did run across Talimena Dr, so I figure on heading up 259 to Talimena, then loop into Mena and back up to 270 to continue over to Hot Springs. I also noticed that the guide recommended a loop up 9 and back down 7, or the reverse. Either way, it seems like there is a nice little day run to do up there. Or I could just ride up 7 to Eureka Springs, or head west and ride up there.

In general I have a plan to Hot Springs and then I leave it up in the air at that point. I think I'm either planning to ride out on the 24th of October and head back anywhere from the 26th to the 28th (depends on how much fun I'm having) or head out on the 27th and back on anywhere from the 29th to the 31st. I'm leaning toward the leaving the 24th.

I'm really looking forward to the trip. It sounds like a great run.

 

My wife & I rode Big Bend and the Davis mountains on vacation this year and I only have 2 regrets.
1. I wish we had gone in the spring or fall instead of June. Morning and evening temps weren't bad, but around 2 or 3 it started getting pretty damned hot.
2. I wish I had scheduled more time for the ride.
We stayed in Alpine and that was a great starting point for the rides. It's 118 miles to Big Bend from there and it's a mixture of mountains and desert. West of Big Bend is Lajitas and the River Road ride which skirts the Rio Grande. We didn't get to make the whole ride through there, but what I saw was enough to convince me I needed to go back. Whichever you choose, have a great time and ride safe.

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