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So I'm planning a 4 day/3 night motorcycle camping trip from Austin to Arkansas, and since this will be my first moto-camping trip I wanted to ask for some help/advice from yall on the forum who have some experience doing these kinds of trips.
I've been camping most of my life, from the time I was a boy scout and well in to adulthood. I've got backpacking gear aplenty. I've got some soft luggage and a sizable tankbag for carrying items, and I figure I'll strap down some waterproof compression sacks. I'll plan to have a few meals to cook on a camp stove, but I'm figuring on stopping at diners along the route for breakfast/lunch.
This isn't meant to be a hardcore, 800 mile a day trip. I'm figuring I can make 400 or so miles a day comfortably, so about 1200 miles total. That's my estimates, but if that's completely unreasonable I'd like to know.
That being said, I'd like help planning my route. I'm hoping to make it to the Arkansas high country for at least a night, and I'd like to take pretty roads as much as possible and avoid superslabs when I can.
This wouldn't be a dual-sport ride, I'd like to stick to paved roads. I can go on some light gravel roads here and there, but seeing how I'm on a road bike (Kawasaki EX650) I'd like to avoid that where possible.
Right now my planned route is as follows:
http://tinyurl.com/3ojlvqv
I'd be camping in the Sabine National Forest, the Ouachita National Forest, and staying with family in Dallas. I'm open to other suggestions about places to camp, and I'm okay with spending a couple bucks for a decent campsite.
My problem with this route is it puts me in the Ouachita Range, but not in the Ozarks. I came back down through Dallas because I have family in Dallas so it'll be nice to have a bed and a shower after 2 nights of camping. I'm slabbing it to Houston because I've driven from Austin to Houston a number of times, and I'm not sure there's a lot to see between the two, and I'd be slabbing it from Oklahoma back to Austin for the same reason, and for time constraints.
Thoughts, suggestions, warnings? If someone has a better route that I can reasonably do in 4 days that will allow me some time in the Ozarks I'd love it. I'm sure I'll forget something, and I'm sure something will go wrong, but that's what adventures is all about. It's no fun if everything goes smoothly and you always have toilet paper on hand.
So I'm planning a 4 day/3 night motorcycle camping trip from Austin to Arkansas, and since this will be my first moto-camping trip I wanted to ask for some help/advice from yall on the forum who have some experience doing these kinds of trips.
I've been camping most of my life, from the time I was a boy scout and well in to adulthood. I've got backpacking gear aplenty. I've got some soft luggage and a sizable tankbag for carrying items, and I figure I'll strap down some waterproof compression sacks. I'll plan to have a few meals to cook on a camp stove, but I'm figuring on stopping at diners along the route for breakfast/lunch.
This isn't meant to be a hardcore, 800 mile a day trip. I'm figuring I can make 400 or so miles a day comfortably, so about 1200 miles total. That's my estimates, but if that's completely unreasonable I'd like to know.
That being said, I'd like help planning my route. I'm hoping to make it to the Arkansas high country for at least a night, and I'd like to take pretty roads as much as possible and avoid superslabs when I can.
This wouldn't be a dual-sport ride, I'd like to stick to paved roads. I can go on some light gravel roads here and there, but seeing how I'm on a road bike (Kawasaki EX650) I'd like to avoid that where possible.
Right now my planned route is as follows:
http://tinyurl.com/3ojlvqv
I'd be camping in the Sabine National Forest, the Ouachita National Forest, and staying with family in Dallas. I'm open to other suggestions about places to camp, and I'm okay with spending a couple bucks for a decent campsite.
My problem with this route is it puts me in the Ouachita Range, but not in the Ozarks. I came back down through Dallas because I have family in Dallas so it'll be nice to have a bed and a shower after 2 nights of camping. I'm slabbing it to Houston because I've driven from Austin to Houston a number of times, and I'm not sure there's a lot to see between the two, and I'd be slabbing it from Oklahoma back to Austin for the same reason, and for time constraints.
Thoughts, suggestions, warnings? If someone has a better route that I can reasonably do in 4 days that will allow me some time in the Ozarks I'd love it. I'm sure I'll forget something, and I'm sure something will go wrong, but that's what adventures is all about. It's no fun if everything goes smoothly and you always have toilet paper on hand.
