2018 Big Bend

Day 2, El Paso

April 6, 2018 rick wojack

A good night sleep at the Hyatt last night. We were all up by 5:30am and ready for the HUGE breakfast buffet that started at 6:00am.

It was time to head out to the pool area to assemble our bikes. The boxes will stay at the Hyatt, where we will stay for a night after our trip before flying home . . .

. . . everything went together and there were no extra parts left over, which is always a good thing. The new hard-shell bike transport box emJay bought me for my birthday worked FABULOUSLY!!!

Our trip leaders Megan and Russ were also at the hotel early . . . with the rig they would use to transport our gear during the coming week.

. . . and the G stopped by to make sure there was room in one of the five coolers for HIS beer!!! They were checking the inventory and going to do a BIG shop today for groceries.

. . . after we got the bikes squared away, it was time to get our gear squared away for loading tomorrow. My new Helke compression bag system for packing is working GREAT!!!

Today my brother in law, who lives in El Paso, picked us up for lunch at the #1 rated restaurant in El Paso, The L & J Café!!!

. . . quite the place. We got there at 11:15am and by 11:45am the place was PACKED!!!

. . . it was our waitresses birthday today and she was wearing a special badge you could contribute a money gift to, so of course we contributed!!!

. . . after lunch away we went on a driving tour of El Paso and ended up high above the city on a scenic drive. Below us lay El Paso with it’s 600,000 residents’ and just south was Juarez, Mexico with a population of 1.3 million. It was quite a view!!!

. . . one last stop before returning to the hotel was for the boys to get some beer. I am ‘back on the wagon’, again, after waking up at 2:15am last night, wide awake and ready to go for the day !!! Will sleep good tonight!!!!

2018 Big Bend

Day 1 MSN–El Paso

April 5, 2018 rick wojack

TommyG picked George and me up at O’ dark thirty (6:00am) and we were soon on the way to Mitchell Field in Milwaukee.

Of course, George had his portable scale along and weighed his bags one more time before checking in for the flight. Southwest allows two checked bags for free and his were both right at 50 pounds. The one he is weighing contains his bike!!!

An one hour layover in Houston and it was on to El Paso where when we exited the plane and it was a LOVELY 83 degrees with a slight breeze. DELICIOUS!!!

We are at the Hyatt Plaza Hotel for two nights and will be picked up by the tour leaders on Saturday morning . . .

. . . big room. The G checking out the view. You can see all the way to Mexico one way and to Costco the other way!!

I have been ‘on the wagon’ for the last three days and promptly fell ‘off the wagon’ with the announcement of ‘Happy Hour’. Three versions of happy hour later . . .

. . . Roberto, our personal shuttle driver, gave us a ride to Carlo’s and Mickey’s the #7 rated restaurant in El Paso. Food was great and beer was cold. When George asked how much a Mexican beer was we all thought the waiter said $14.50. George said he would think about it for a while. He asked again and it ended up being $4.50 . . . lost in translation. Bottoms up!!!