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Stook
0
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2006
- Messages
- 276
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- McKinney Texas
- First Name
- Paul
- Last Name
- Smallwood
One of the members here on TWT (MiddleAgedMissle) has a cabin on a river in Northern Arkansas he will rent to TWT members at a very nice rate. So, ChubbyDodds (Mark) and I decided to stay there and use it as our “base camp” for a few days of riding Tigers in the Ozarks. Mark and I both ride Triumph Tigers, in case that comment didn’t register. We’ve just returned and here are a few pictures and comments about the ride.
The usual reasons apply for the lack of pictures (having too much fun riding to stop, there really aren’t any places to pull off on most mountain roads and stopping in the middle the road in the middle of a sharp curve to take a picture didn’t seem like a really good idea to me, etc.).
Mark left from Frisco and we met here in East Texas and headed up FM37 intending to connect with Rt. 70 and continue through De Queen and points north. But, since I’ve been to De Queen a number of times and really don’t like traveling Rt. 70 through that part of Arkansas (log trucks, traffic, speed limits, etc.), we took a random turnoff well south of De Queen and let the GPS route us around that entire area. That turned out to be a really good idea as there was zero traffic for miles and miles and the roads were lots of fun with no traffic (or did I already mention that) and very few little burgs with their slow speed limits either.
We spent the first night in a hotel in Hot Springs. Here is a pic taken from the patio behind the hotel. As you can see, the scenery is already improving.
As it turned out, getting to the cabin was one of those Whoo Hoo! experiences. Hwy 9 between Mountain View and the turnoff to the cabin was one of the best stretches of road we found on the entire trip. Even better than the famous Rt. 7 you read so much about (we rode several miles of that road too). On Hwy 9 you ride through a canopy of trees mile after mile which creates a shady green tunnel to wind through. The road is one of those the Arkansas DOT is constantly warning you about with those "steep and crooked next xx miles" signs. These signs were uniformly accurate, by the way, and we found several of them.
Once you leave the paved road on the way to the cabin, you hit a fairly typical unpaved remote road. It has been graded out of the hillside and it is littered with sharp crushed rock (from boulder size to gravel size). No gravel, just rock – and some loose dirt and sand. The sandy stretches were few and far between and even though they will surprise you for a few feet if you are not paying attention, recovery is easy and the road is well maintained.
We took a different route out which added another 10 miles or so of this type of road to the journey and it included a really, really slippery water crossing. That crossing could be tricky if you don’t know how to go through water with a slimy concrete bottom. Staying in the tracks made by cars making the crossing won’t help, by the way.
On the way in to or away from the cabin, there is a long, steep, rocky hill that must be traversed. There is no bypassing it. My advice is to bring lots of torque to go up, and bring lots of respect going down. Pictures cannot capture the drama this hill holds for the unwary. If you are going too fast heading down, call me when you stop sliding. I'd like to come see what parts of your bike I might like to salvage. If you start the rear tire spinning on the way up, you are going to go in every direction EXCEPT up from that point on. All of that said, it’s a really easy descent and ascent if you’re paying attention.
It looks to me like the cabin would be a terrific fishing destination too. Every time I looked at the river I saw fish jumping.
There is a beautiful spring fed trout stream not far from the cabin (not walking distance unless you are feeling like a hike), but very close by. If you intend to fish, I'm sure you will need a license to be legal.
The cabin was excellent. All the comforts of home with lots of room to spread out and unwind. A thousand percent better than a motel room! The screened in porch allowed for a great spot to unwind from the day and watch the daylight fade and the river currents swirl by.
Traffic was light everywhere we went. I don’t think there was ever a time on the ride up when there was traffic behind us from the time we left East Texas until we hit Hot Springs.
The area around Mountain View was not overrun with bikes (squids) so the locals remain friendly. We walked into one restaurant near one of the many lakes wearing our gear (locked the helmets on the bikes, though) and the waitress clearly thought we were wearing fishing gear. She asked us if we were “having any luck.” That took a few seconds to register and I’m sure she thought we were both either a little “slow” mentally or unfriendly – or both – since neither of us knew exactly what to say in response to the question. Either not many riders stop there, or the ones that do haven’t been wearing protective gear.
We came back through Mena and Talihina so we could have a steak at The Chopping Block restaurant (worth the trip). We debated riding the Talimena Scenic Byway again while we were there but after so much excellent riding we elected to "just get home" instead.
If you are coming back into East Texas from this area, Hwy 2 is an excellent “bypass” or alternate route for Hwy 271 between Clayton and Antlers. Here again, zero traffic and nice scenery.
Both Tigers got a very consistent 50 MPG on or off road so our fuel bill was really small. Our biggest expense was lodging. We could have saved some money by going cheap, but we both like to stay in nice, clean places. The cabin was hands down the best lodging bargain ever. It is “THE” place to stay if you’re going to be in that area.
One other observation is that the Tigers drew an audience everywhere we stopped. From country post office parking lots to rest areas to motel lobbies and motel parking lots, folks gathered around us to find out what they were and talk about them. Frankly, I was not prepared for it and it took me all of the first day to just relax and accept it and roll with it. Might as well since there was no chance we were going to be able to stop anywhere and go unnoticed!
The usual reasons apply for the lack of pictures (having too much fun riding to stop, there really aren’t any places to pull off on most mountain roads and stopping in the middle the road in the middle of a sharp curve to take a picture didn’t seem like a really good idea to me, etc.).
Mark left from Frisco and we met here in East Texas and headed up FM37 intending to connect with Rt. 70 and continue through De Queen and points north. But, since I’ve been to De Queen a number of times and really don’t like traveling Rt. 70 through that part of Arkansas (log trucks, traffic, speed limits, etc.), we took a random turnoff well south of De Queen and let the GPS route us around that entire area. That turned out to be a really good idea as there was zero traffic for miles and miles and the roads were lots of fun with no traffic (or did I already mention that) and very few little burgs with their slow speed limits either.
We spent the first night in a hotel in Hot Springs. Here is a pic taken from the patio behind the hotel. As you can see, the scenery is already improving.
As it turned out, getting to the cabin was one of those Whoo Hoo! experiences. Hwy 9 between Mountain View and the turnoff to the cabin was one of the best stretches of road we found on the entire trip. Even better than the famous Rt. 7 you read so much about (we rode several miles of that road too). On Hwy 9 you ride through a canopy of trees mile after mile which creates a shady green tunnel to wind through. The road is one of those the Arkansas DOT is constantly warning you about with those "steep and crooked next xx miles" signs. These signs were uniformly accurate, by the way, and we found several of them.
Once you leave the paved road on the way to the cabin, you hit a fairly typical unpaved remote road. It has been graded out of the hillside and it is littered with sharp crushed rock (from boulder size to gravel size). No gravel, just rock – and some loose dirt and sand. The sandy stretches were few and far between and even though they will surprise you for a few feet if you are not paying attention, recovery is easy and the road is well maintained.
We took a different route out which added another 10 miles or so of this type of road to the journey and it included a really, really slippery water crossing. That crossing could be tricky if you don’t know how to go through water with a slimy concrete bottom. Staying in the tracks made by cars making the crossing won’t help, by the way.
On the way in to or away from the cabin, there is a long, steep, rocky hill that must be traversed. There is no bypassing it. My advice is to bring lots of torque to go up, and bring lots of respect going down. Pictures cannot capture the drama this hill holds for the unwary. If you are going too fast heading down, call me when you stop sliding. I'd like to come see what parts of your bike I might like to salvage. If you start the rear tire spinning on the way up, you are going to go in every direction EXCEPT up from that point on. All of that said, it’s a really easy descent and ascent if you’re paying attention.
It looks to me like the cabin would be a terrific fishing destination too. Every time I looked at the river I saw fish jumping.
There is a beautiful spring fed trout stream not far from the cabin (not walking distance unless you are feeling like a hike), but very close by. If you intend to fish, I'm sure you will need a license to be legal.
The cabin was excellent. All the comforts of home with lots of room to spread out and unwind. A thousand percent better than a motel room! The screened in porch allowed for a great spot to unwind from the day and watch the daylight fade and the river currents swirl by.
Traffic was light everywhere we went. I don’t think there was ever a time on the ride up when there was traffic behind us from the time we left East Texas until we hit Hot Springs.
The area around Mountain View was not overrun with bikes (squids) so the locals remain friendly. We walked into one restaurant near one of the many lakes wearing our gear (locked the helmets on the bikes, though) and the waitress clearly thought we were wearing fishing gear. She asked us if we were “having any luck.” That took a few seconds to register and I’m sure she thought we were both either a little “slow” mentally or unfriendly – or both – since neither of us knew exactly what to say in response to the question. Either not many riders stop there, or the ones that do haven’t been wearing protective gear.
We came back through Mena and Talihina so we could have a steak at The Chopping Block restaurant (worth the trip). We debated riding the Talimena Scenic Byway again while we were there but after so much excellent riding we elected to "just get home" instead.
If you are coming back into East Texas from this area, Hwy 2 is an excellent “bypass” or alternate route for Hwy 271 between Clayton and Antlers. Here again, zero traffic and nice scenery.
Both Tigers got a very consistent 50 MPG on or off road so our fuel bill was really small. Our biggest expense was lodging. We could have saved some money by going cheap, but we both like to stay in nice, clean places. The cabin was hands down the best lodging bargain ever. It is “THE” place to stay if you’re going to be in that area.
One other observation is that the Tigers drew an audience everywhere we stopped. From country post office parking lots to rest areas to motel lobbies and motel parking lots, folks gathered around us to find out what they were and talk about them. Frankly, I was not prepared for it and it took me all of the first day to just relax and accept it and roll with it. Might as well since there was no chance we were going to be able to stop anywhere and go unnoticed!
Great pics!