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We Survived MOAMP

Joined
Feb 12, 2013
Messages
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Location
Kerrville
JT and I left Kerrville by 7:30 on a Thursday morning. My little pickup was stuffed with camping gear, riding gear and food. His XR650r and my TTR250 bounced along behind us on his 3 rail trailer. We had five days and planned on spending it riding in the Ozark National Forest.

At our usual blazing pace, we arrived Clarkesville, AR 16 hours later. Let's see ~600 miles took 16 hours, humm....Well, we did detour through Redding Recreational Area, hoping to score a camp spot but it was a no go. Back to Clarkesville and pulled into a cheap motel and crashed. The next morning we found a nice camp spot at Spadra Corp of Engineers Park on Lake Dardenelle. We set up camp and had sandwiches for lunch.


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Then hopped on the bikes and rode out of the park. Yippee! We are riding in Arkansas!

The weather is perfect, warm sun, cool breezes, blue skies. Wildflowers and dogwoods and a few redbuds are in bloom. In town and around the lake, it looks like late spring; trees are almost fully leafed out, flowers and busy pollinators everywhere. Later in the day, I noticed that at higher elevations, winter still holds sway; leafless trees, few flowers.

After a few minutes of pavement, we take a dirt road with a thin layer of gravel on top. Not dusty and easy riding. Our loose plan for the day is to ride to Spainhour Falls, then to Pearson’s cabin, ending up at Oark Café.


The riding is great. Easy enough for me to enjoy the pastoral views but with occasional rocky inclines or a stream crossing to keep it interesting.

On Weimer Rd, we come to a steep, rutted hill with loose rocks. JT stops and says it is in worse shape than he remembers--more washed out. He decides to try it while I wait at the bottom. Very soon his voice comes through the Sena, “No go. It only gets worse.” He returns.

He tries a work around. It quickly peters out. We backtrack a little, ride some county roads.
We take a hwy for a bit, then turn off on a little dirt road that goes to a shooting range, a quick veer to the right puts us on a nearly hidden two track trail that begins a steady climb. And keeps climbing to about 1300’. It is very fun going. We cross many deep, large puddles full of muddy water. But the bottom is always solid and we negotiate them easily. My biggest worry is splashing my boots as they are not waterproof.

The track eventually makes a turn and begins to descend. It also has eroded to the point that it is a narrow chute with a trickle of water running down it. John’s voice in my helmet tells me to take it slow and just pick my way through. Even though I get nervous and tense, it is working. The 250 requires no finessing. Dirty Sally just chugs along steadily in 1st gear. Even when John reports that the rocks are getting bigger and slicker, Sally stays sure-footed.

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John reaches the end of the chute and turns in his seat to watch me. No sooner does he say, “You’re doing great!” than I see a large clay-ey rut that crosses the stream diagonally. I cross the rut with the front wheel but the rear slides in the clay, pushing me and the bike into the soft dirt wall on my left. We come to a stop, still upright, embedded in the dirt. Laughing, I say, “You’ll never tell me I’m doing great again.”

Brush off the dirt, adjust the hand guard and continue.

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John uphill, adjusting the hand guard on the 250

After some very nice riding we come to a river. John is astounded, this is usually a shallow crossing. But today it is impassable; too wide, too deep, too fast. It is beautiful though. So we stop to admire and take pix.

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We left the river but soon come to it again. JT crossed with difficulty, eventually dismounting and power-walking his bike through. He then returned and walked my bike through. As I waded across, feeling the cold water creep into my boots, I thought, ‘ well, I don’t have to worry about keeping my boots dry anymore.’

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t271xE3P4M8"]450 - YouTube[/ame]

As I mentioned, we crossed many large puddles but none presented any difficulty. Even when deep, the bottom was firm.

Teaser: MOAMP = Mother Of All Mud Puddles
 
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Be careful following JT. I've heard stories about him.
 
I missed yall in Kerville, but sounds like it was a blast ! A muddy blast, but a blast!
Great write up Gina ! I was tagging along behind you on my 350 while reading your adventure!
 
We just returned from Arkansas. We spent our last night in Clarksville. I love that area! Our last few days were spent further North near Kingston at the Wilderness Rider Buffalo Ranch. I HIGHLY recommend it!! The riding on site is incredible, but there is also a lot of great riding on nearby county/forest roads.
 
Thanks Gina, that would be a good opportunity to ride/see Arkansas, but I start on the New Mexico BDR that weekend.
 
Thanks, Montejay. Go if you get the chance, it's a beautiful state.

Btw, here's a great opportunity....

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113778

:tab Prior to this recent trip, the last time I was up there with the bikes was for the 2010 Epic event. This recent trip was a good reminder of just how much I love riding in Arkansas. There are just so many incredible places to ride, on and off the pavement!! On this recent trip I was able to take my 1200 GS and take Sarah and Daniel for rides. The Dogwood trees were EVERYWHERE and blooming like crazy! On both days that we rode the GS, the weather was perfect. We had the roads to ourselves. The entire week I only saw a handful of other motorcycles. I could not believe it!

:tab If anyone is on the fence about this year's EPIC ride, I would strongly encourage you to attend. It really is a great time.
 
I was up the road a bit playing in the dirt west of Boxly valley and looking at BIG bear tracks on the trail . Wilderness Riders ranch , great place with fun trails and trails to challenge anybody , nobody could leave there bored unless they can't live without their television . I didn't see any bikes on the dirty roads I rode so we didn't cross paths .
 
You are a good story teller Gina!
I was waiting for Bigfoot..
 
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I was up the road a bit playing in the dirt west of Boxly valley and looking at BIG bear tracks on the trail . Wilderness Riders ranch , great place with fun trails and trails to challenge anybody , nobody could leave there bored unless they can't live without their television . I didn't see any bikes on the dirty roads I rode so we didn't cross paths .

That would have been a kick in the head if we had run across one another out there.

These guys were riding the TAT and pulled into Oark Cafe while we were there.

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Yup, we want to visit Donny's place as well, sounds awesome.
 
So, we are having a fun day; wonderful weather, wonderful tracks, wonderful scenery...

But then we came upon MOAMP. This Mother Of All Mud Puddles split, with a peninsula of land almost bisecting it. JT chose the left-hand side and entered with confidence. Almost immediately he and the bike were in surprisingly deep water. The bike lurched and the rear wheel began to slide sickeningly sideways. John, “I’m in a rut. I caught a rut!“ The intensity of his voice let me know the seriousness of the situation. I watched, feeling helpless, as he fought to keep the bike from falling completely over. He managed to dismount but he and the bike were still sinking. “Come help me lift the bike.” I jumped off Sally and waded into the water. Sinking into amazingly deep mud that sucked at my boots, making progress difficult. When I reached the bike and stopped trying to walk, I continued to sink. It was truly like quick sand.

Doesn't look that bad....

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Well, maybe it does... This is the only pic I took and it is (obviously) after we've gotten the bike out. John is still working on getting it running. The shadows are lengthening, the temp is dropping....
 
I am LEERY of big puddles like that. I have seen bikes disappear. Unless you are brave/crazy enough to walk it first, riding through can be risky!
 
For now, the bike and John are still in hip deep trouble.

The bike had tipped over far enough to get water in the intake. We struggled to keep it from sliding all the way under. Slowly, a couple of inches at a time, we lifted the front wheel onto the peninsula of land. Many times we would move the front, only to have the rear slide deeper in. At one point I looked over at John to see sweat dripping off the end of his nose. With the front wheel on terra firma, we changed tactics. John moved to the rear of the bike and using tremendous effort, muscled the rear of the xr650r out of 2 feet of muck, getting it in shallow water and onto more stable mud.

He tried kick starting it. No way. Pushed the bike out of the morass and onto the peninsula. We discovered the right hand side of MOAMP had firm footing. Shed helmets and jackets. I waded back and rode Sally through while John continued to work on the xr. When he pulled the dipstick, the oil was milky, indicating water had gotten into the crankcase.

John laid the bike on its right side and then lifted the front end, asking me to watch for any water coming out the tail pipe. None came out. We discussed dragging the bike into the brush and hiding it there. We discussed the likelihood of getting a tow truck to come out (unlikely.) We discussed finding a bubba with a 4 wd truck… Even as we discussed the various scenarios, I could see that if he got it started, he was going to ride it out, regardless of the damage done to the engine.

With some patient tinkering from John, the beast finally started. It was getting late in the day. John was soaked through, covered in mud and now was chilled. For several minutes after leaving MOAMP, I could hear his labored breathing through the headset. The ordeal had used a lot of energy. The road was now very tame, no hint of the “terror that lurks beneath muddy waters.”
 
For several minutes after leaving MOAMP, I could hear his labored breathing through the headset. The ordeal had used a lot of energy.

:tab Been there, done that! It is truly amazing how quickly you can burn a LOT of energy when struggling with a bike, especially if it is warm and humid outside. Once that happens, it is really hard to continue riding if the way is not REAL easy from that point on. I am glad you guys got the bike, and yourselves, out of there. It could easily have gotten really ugly...
 
JT and AR.....always an adventure.
Great write up. I guess you are going to tell us how the bike is doing soon :doh:

Why didn't the 690 go? 3 rail trailer = spare bike :rider:
 
JT and AR.....always an adventure.
Great write up. I guess you are going to tell us how the bike is doing soon :doh:

Why didn't the 690 go? 3 rail trailer = spare bike :rider:

Thanks, Vinny.

Had planned to take both. At the last minute, I opted to leave O Orange One behind :shrug: I was very happy with the 250 for the riding we did. If I could stay longer, would want the 690...
 
To resume... We've got the bike out of the mud, it is running and we are riding away.

We're not in the clear yet as there were a couple more river crossings to deal with. We play it cautious, walking through on foot to check the best course and then, John power walked the bikes through one at a time. Either by himself or me ‘running defense’ on the off side.

The ones he did by himself, I video'd...


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av28evCG9kA"]FS1405 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Z9-H3ddJo"]FS1409 - YouTube[/ame]


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5NEuLy7Mio"]FS1409again - YouTube[/ame]



It was 5:45 when we hit pavement and a 45 minute ride back to camp. It was a quiet ride back, not much of the chatter we usually engage in. I was wrapping my head the possibility of our riding being cut short. John was probably dealing with that and also trying not to think about how cold he was.
 
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