I guess I forgot you were going since the rest of our crew wasn't able to go. I was actually camped about 10 miles south of Turpentine Creek on a street bike ride. I should have ridden up to see who all was there. I ended up going back to TX Sunday afternoon and picking up the dirt bikes, then returning to do my own Arkansas 500! We just got back tonight.
No problem, would have enjoyed riding with you. It was a GREAT weekend to ride, street or dirt.
Well that slurps! Hope the rest of the ride was good. Let's see that report
You know me, I loves me some complainin'. Actually, it wasn't that bad. The riding was great and only a couple small incidents.
So a ride report, eh ...
I had driven up with the bike on the back of the Suburban the week before for Easter. The family flew in and we spent the weekend in the lodges there at Turpentine Creek. There is a lot to do in Eureka Springs. Several went ziplining and we also toured the "haunted" Crescent Hotel.
Alas, these were the only ghosts to be found.
Very scary!!!
I spent a week at the lodging compound there at Turpentine Creek. Very enjoyable. A few times I made just a basic meal and sat out on the back porch looking at the scenery.
And I would make it into town as well for some local flavor.
Every day while I was there, I toured the facilities to see the Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my!
I know, I know, it's a leopard. But I didn't get any good pictures of a Lion.
One of my favorites, it reminded me of some of the inmates in our group, especially some of those in our Breakfast crowd. Just add coffee, water, and Big Eggs! Look familiar???
As mentioned on the Clear Lake thread, I also had a chance to visit with FJR Mike and Becca.
It would have been nice to ride with Mike, except he pulled a Lucy on me! You know, hold down the football and at the last second pulling it away. Due to potential work issues, Mike decided to ride the Hillbilly ride that was going on that weekend as well. I have ridden with Mike on street rides but he didn't get into the dirt until he got to Arkansas. May be next year.
Finally, on Thursday we rode a preliminary ride up into Missouri. This was a lot of fun. It was a smaller group, all pretty good riders. We rode 90 miles of excellent roads with beautiful weather. Unfortunately, it was a 100 mile ride. The last 10 miles it rained like Noah's flood.
Spotwalla of the four days of riding.
Friday, the group convened for the ride south. At the riders meeting I ran into Dave G. Dave had ridden to South America and Chuck and I consulted with Dave before our ride to South America. Dave had decided to move back to Kansas City a couple years ago and we hadn't seen or heard from him since.
Here is Dave and his buddy Josh after a river crossing Friday where both had done a little toe dipping.
Scotty holding council at our lunch break on Friday.
Meals were catered by Scotty's son Victor and it was a feast. Victor is right behind Scotty in the picture above.
A break picture during the ride. I didn't get any action pictures because I didn't have my camera in a good place to take them.
One of the other fellow, Jeff who also had a slow leak during the ride.
Josh, Dave G's friend, also had to change out his front tire Saturday morning. At one time, of the four of us in the small group who stopped to fix my tire, three had flats or tire repair.
Some more random pictures.
Lunch Friday
So after a good ride Thursday and a good ride Friday, we camped. I pulled the tent out and set up, various folks camped around. I pumped up the air mattress and hit the hay around 9:30p or 10:00p. Unfortunately, very nearby someone else was thoroughly enjoying their nights sleep. Between the snoring and the leaky air mattress, I got zero sleep Friday night.
On Saturday, first thing, I helped Josh change his front tire and then I had the flat on mine. That put our little group way behind everyone else. I didn't have breakfast and we caught up with the other part of our group right as they finished lunch, so we barely had time to fill up and we were off again.
I managed to clip Jeff's KLR coming out of a cut in the road full of water and then an emergency stop at an intersection. Nothing big, but I realized I was tired and hungry. Eventually that combination, along with no significant tread on my back tire, I decided that riding the Kings River crossing was not for me, so Jeff and I did the loop around.
I also decided it was time to get some good sleep, so Saturday night I high tailed it to a hotel and had a steak dinner, a couple beers and a good nights sleep. Sunday I connected up with a couple riders and the caravan from the ride, loaded the bike up on the carrier (thanks again Jay) and drove on home to Conroe.
I had a great time and will do it again, next year if there aren't any conflicts.
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