The Tip

I wonder what the criteria is for getting a rebate.

I bought my wife an e-mountain bike recently. Giant Trance. It's been a game changer. Now I'll be on my regular bike and it's up to her to keep up with me...and she can. So I can ride at my pace with my wife. We have done rides now where I was huffing and puffing doing climbs. She would have NEVER been able to make it up those before. But there she was at the top waiting for me. lol We just rode the mission trails in San Antonio last week. We did 32 miles. Great fun for me, great fun for her. Again, she would have never been able to do that. So fun

The majority of RVs in America are made in Indiana for some reason. That's another thing that makes the TrailManors different as they are made in South Dakota.

There is an almost cult like following of them because they are so scarce. They are now made by a Hutterite colony (like the Amish and Mennonites,) in South Dakota. In an article the boss of them said their "goal was to work up to building 20 per month!" 😄 They are limited by the amount of help they have. Everyone in the factory has to be a member of the colony.

Tried something different. Can you see this?

We haven't ever boondocked with our old A-frame pop-up or our new one. But we plan to do so in Moab at some point. We were intrigued by the people camping on BLM land, for free, as we drove to the Klonzo trailhead there. We didn't take the RV on that trip. Here's a picture of our lonely car in the parking lot. It was 100 degrees when we were there in June last year. I think this one is even funnier about what idiots we were riding in that heat. Moab Brands parking lot:

I hope these pics show up. We have a very unique RV called a TrailManor. It isn't a pop-up. TrailManor owners don't really know what to call it since they are so unique. "Collapsible," or better, "Transformers." They only weigh 3,000 pounds so most SUVs can tow them. It has a folding hitch so they can fit in a garage. We got it so we can store it at home behind our fence to comply with the HOA's "no RV storage" rules. Closed for travel (at my spot at Maverick RV park in Lajitas last year): "Transformed" for use (Monahan's State Park): One side up, to show how it works (Brazos Bend State Park): Some rando mountain bikers enjoying a warm place for dinner:

State parks that have trail systems are great. There are several that we have stayed in. So are Army Corp places. Ya know, like Dana Peak. 😁 Maverick RV in Lajitas is a good place. Feb 22-26 would be a great time to go. We enjoyed camping at Blowing Springs. It was cool watching other bikers ride by right behind our site. Congratulations on the new RV. No more having your tent blown away!

Maybe this sort of arrangement?

I forgot about Tim Eischen. His company is Eischen's General Contracting, https://www.egcatx.com/ He's built portions of the Violet Crown Trail and has an ongoing contract with Hill Country Conservancy for the maintenance of it. Nice guy.

S&S Trail Services is also local. Ryan Spates is the owner. https://sstrails.com/

I think you answered your own question right there. Hobbies usually don't make any economic sense.

I didn't click the like button on the last one. It makes me too nervous! When you say "staying in my truck," what does that mean? Looking at the picture of the opened back it looks like the truck bed is full of stuff. Where/how did you sleep?

We got there Wednesday evening and did a short ride. Then into the state park Thursday 25 miles. Airport trails Friday 25 miles. Saturday state park, the bigger loop, 30 miles. Home Sunday. Campfire every night.

There is a group of us going out Wednesday 2/22/2023 to Sunday 2/26. Most staying at Maverick RV resort, some staying at Airbnbs. I think we had ten or so this last year (2022). Great fun. Shaping up to be more this next year. Come on. Funny how I ended up going back to Big Bend one week after getting back from a long stay there in the national park with my wife. Ran into a friend on the SATN that said they were going and invited me to come. Two days to plan and off I went.

It's strange. I saw a very healthy coyote on the double track in Sunset Valley awhile back. We had this same encounter. But to me it looked like the coyote was thinking, "can I eat that thing?" He decided no I guess as he just casually turned and walked into the brush.

Red-tailed hawk. Almost ran over it when I was on the berm next to the water retention pond next to Will Hampton Library. It flew up into this tree.

Saw a very healthy one the other day on Reproductive Cycle in SATN. Usually the ones I've seen before are scrawny so it was strange seeing one so fat and sassy.

Athletic Brewing has some good products. They have two IPAs that I really enjoyed. And they are VERY active in donating to trails, They gave a lot of their beer to us for the SATN Social. And they donate 2% of sales to trail projects. Really amazing. I was drinking beer all day at the SATN Social. They kept me sober enough all day. One beer, one Athletic Brew, one beer, one Athletic Brew. An excellent system!

Be honest. I know your vacation environment skews your perspective, but does that hold up to Real Ale's Devil's Backbone? My perspective might be skewed also because I'm just finishing my second of the evening. And that's all it takes! (8.1)

On my last ride (three hours) I took great satisfaction that I didn't run out of water, I had just a swallow and two very small ice cubes left. A perfect mix!

I'm sorry. I simply cannot support taking a weed eater out of the hands of a potential trail maintainer! What the hell?!!! And I'm an ECHO man myself anyway. 😉

And it might be genetic. Somebody mentioned they didn't sweat much so riding in the heat was difficult. I don't have a problem sweating! The problem is in those high heat/low humidity situations is that you don't feel yourself sweating so you forget to drink enough. Played golf in Las Vegas when it was 118. Had to force myself to remember to drink water.

I don't mind the heat. My record is 120F at Palo Duro Canyon. But it's a dry heat!

The Vegas handicapping services have posted the line on this event on how many riders will complete all four routes. The over/under is 8.5. The opening line was 13.5 but some heavy west coast money came in on the under because of the weather and moved it down. 68 dirt miles will be a challenge in the heat. Hydration and nutrition will be even more important