On Wednesday, after a trip to the Post Office to mail our extra stuff home, we headed to Terlingua via a very scenic route. Tom and Ilaine joined us on the journey.

The first part of the route took us up into the Davis mountains past the observatory. We were following a very slow RV. Nothing kills the buzz of riding in the mountains than a slow RV, so we pulled off and waited awhile so we could have a clear road ahead.

We descended from the mountains to US-90 and went a few miles west to the Prada Marfa store. The store is fake – it’s a public art project funded by The Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa.

From there we went to Marfa and walked around the town.

We explored The Hotel Paisano and shops. The James Dean movie, “Giant,” was filmed near there. Dean and co-stars Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Sal Mineo and Jane Withers all stayed there with about 300 other cast and crew.

From Marfa we went to Presidio, where we had lunch at La Patio Mexican restaurant. There were very strong cross-winds on the way South, but we managed to keep the bikes up. After lunch we rode one of the most scenic motorcycle roads in the country, FM-170 from Presidio to Terlingua. The road goes through the mountains and follows the Rio Grande. There’s a large pull-off with a great view of the river from above.

We checked into our hotel and joined the main group at the El Dorado hotel for a beer and conversation.

We walked up the road to the Starlight Theatre for dinner. We passed more public art along the way.

We took the obligatory picture of the drinking goat, the restaurant’s mascot.

Thursday we will ride through Big Bend National Park and have lunch in Boquillas, Mexico.