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TWTEX Autumn Rally

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Sep 23, 2003
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The trip was fantastic!! I’m really glad I went. Everyone was great and no issues(read inadvertent off road excursions). I decided to ride up this time and I’m glad I did.
Day 1
Left Mont Belvieu Thursday at 5:30am in the fog. Water vapor was condensing on the inside of my face shield and glasses. I stopped three times to clear things up within 30 miles. This is when I decided it might not be worth it. Just as I was about to turn around the fog lifted enough to safely see where I was going. The temperature started dropping as sunrise approached. I was hoping the sun would warm things up but I must have punched through a little cold front north of Nacogdoches. I was shivering when I stopped for my first gas stop in Marshal. I put on more layers and continued on my way. The roads progressively became more fun after about 300 miles. My route took me through Mena, Ola, Russellville, Dover, Hector, Tilly, and Harriet. I told myself that if I had two hours of daylight left at Harriet I’d take 14 through Big Flat and ride Push Mountain Road(341) into Mountain Home. My GPS said I had the time so I did. Good decision! I arrived at the motel around 4:30 with 624 miles on the clock. I was a little surprised to find I was the first to arrive. By 5:30 Scott showed with Noah and Rodger. We had a good dinner at the Mexican food place next to the motel. Bill showed up after dark.
Day 2
Friday dawned cold and overcast. Everyone was fueled up and ready to go by 9:00am. My onboard thermometer was reading 42 degrees. Other than my finger tips I was good. We had a little straight hiway to the ferry on 125 at Bull Shoals Lake and my legs were getting cold. I looked down to see the temperature had fallen to 36 degrees. Fortunately the sun came out at the ferry landing and the day stayed clear from then on. I never really knew where we were in Missouri but that’s what Scott’s for, right? He lead and excellent route from smooth paved sweepers to dirt short cuts. I think we rode 300 plus miles.
Day 3
Saturday started warmer than Friday and clear. I needed to break the trip home up into two days so I only rode with the group back down Push Mountain Rd through Big Flat and Harriet to Yellville. After topping off the tank and saying my goodbye’s I headed towards Texarkana via 123, 16, and 27. I arrived before sunset and turned a 300 mile trip into a 400, good day!
Day 4
Sunday morning I rode to Nacogdoches and met my wife and youngest son for lunch. Beth had brought my trailer so I didn’t have to ride the last 150 miles home. I still rode 1500 miles, 1000 of it on my favorite roads.

This is the first trip I can remember that I wasn’t wiped out by the time I got home. I’ll try to plan an extra day to get home from now on.

AR125 Ferry to Missouri across Bull Shoals Lake
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Tourmeister doing what he does best!
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Noah's Big GS
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Wasabi
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Roger at speed. This isn't the easiest photo to take.
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Roger off-road
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My VFR
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Fall Colors
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And the best for last.
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Hugh,
Sorry I missed the ride. Excellent pics. Maybe Scott will do a spring trip with a little more notice next year.

Where's your report, Scott???:zen:
 
I got the pics uploaded this afternoon. I won't be able to get on it tonite. I'll try to get started tomorrow.

We waited for you Buzz :-P
 
It really was a good trip. We got lucky with the weather this late in the year. The photo below isn’t all that spectacular but it is significant. This is pretty much what the trip home looked like till about Nashville, Arkansas. Very little traffic.:rider:

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Okay... Let me see... Back up a few months...

:tab Since getting the KLR back in Jan of 06, my street riding has dwindled to virtually nil. I love the Dualsport thing... no doubt about it. It gets under the skin and there is no getting rid of it. The problem was that I was not getting to spend enough time with the street riding folks on the site. It seems to me that if I am gonna run a site like TWT, I really need to be able to relate to the folks coming here. At least, this is the line of thinking I sold Beth in my feeble attempt to justify to her why I needed to drive to Louisiana to buy a Vstrom 650 :trust: She just agreed, giving me that knowing look of one that has just been the victim of a hosing with a load of ... Anyway, one thing leads to another and around the end of September, I have a Strom!! :rider:

:tab What to do now...? :ponder: :trust:

:tab October is always a busy month in Texas for motorcycle riders. A few folks had been making some comments about a TWT fall rally. I know it will be short notice and attendance will likely be low, but I decide to throw together a rally and see what happens. I pick Mountain Home, Arkansas, because it has GREAT riding all around it. I pick the first weekend of November for several reasons. First, that gives me about a month to push the ride. The problem is that most folks will have already made plans for October and my short notice only makes things worse. So I need time. Second, many of the touristy things in Arkansas and Missouri close up shop at the end of October. This means there will likely be less traffic on the roads. Third, it will be the last weekend before the time change. Fourth, the trees seem to be changing late this year so maybe we'll get lucky. Lastly, I just happen to be off that weekend :mrgreen:

:tab Plans made, I just wait for the month of October to slip away. Halloween night, Noah "ndmiller" comes up to spend the night and get his bike loaded. Roger "Rsquared" had already come up the previous Sunday afternoon to lend a strong back and get the trailer unloaded and to drop of his bike. Noah and I get the bikes loaded. Roger shows up early Thursday morning and we leave Huntsville a little after 7:00am. 550 miles and lots of great conversation later, we roll into Mountain Home to find Hugh already working on the Shiner Bock :chug: We get everything unloaded, head across the street to load up on the libations, and then grab some really good Mexican food for dinner. Shortly after dinner, Bill "Wasabi" shows up. No word if Buzz "hcope1" will show...

Reports from the previous weekend said little to no color... :shrug:
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The owners are very biker friendly and suggested this parking arrangement :thumb:
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The hotel has a nice courtyard area
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Friday morning we are up and getting ready to roll. It is COLD!
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:tab I hate being cold. Fortunately, I made a point of getting my bike wired for the electric vest. Unfortunately, I do a poor job of getting it plugged in properly before we leave and I am freezing as we ride out of town West on US 62 towards Yellville. Bill must be really stiff and cold. At the first light we come to, he just falls over :doh: :lol2: Gotta be fast to get a shot of Bill's bike on the ground!! Fortunately, he did not fall into me such that I went over as well ;-) With Bill properly righted and no harm done, we head out of town.

:tab It is not long before my fingers are burning from the cold even though I have on thick winter gloves. Man... I wish I had taken the time to get some heated grips setup on the bike :doh: It takes me a few miles of twisty pavement on AR 202 between Flippin and Yellville to start loosening up and relaxing. When we reach AR 125 and head North, I am feeling pretty good, still cold, but I settle into the discipline of mind over discomfort and enjoy the road! Already it is clearing off and looks to be a beautiful day! It is not long before we reach the ferry crossing on Bull Shoals lake.

We arrive a few minutes before the ferry
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He comes into the dock from the side and kicks the ferry around at the last moment. I seem to recall from a previous trip one of the pilots mentioning something about a sand bar they have to miss :shrug:
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We have the whole thing to ourselves
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The view off the back of the ferry... what a beautiful day :dude:
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Our chauffeurs
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:tab While riding across on the ferry, my hands warm up considerably. I also take a moment to make sure that the heated vest is working properly! By the time we reach the far side, I am feeling ready to have some fun! We unload and head up AR 125, cross into Missouri and pick up MO 125 North. If you have never been here, this road is AWESOME!!

Hugh heading off for a return photo op
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Wasabi doing likewise
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and Roger...
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Hugh doing the business...
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Wasabi coming through as Noah heads out
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Roger came through while I was fumbling with the camera and I got rushed just trying to catch him before he shot by... :doh:
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And just a nice view of the main attraction of these parts... at least for us :trust:
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Imagine mile after mile of this with nary a straight section of road to be had... sheer torture... :suicide:
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Noah coming back through on his 1200 GS
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Roger mans the camera as yours truly heads off for his moment in the limelight :mrgreen:
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Tourmeister working the Wee factor... :rider:
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:tab The rest of the run up 125, I just get so into the groove of the road and enjoying exploring the limits of the WeeStrom on such awesome curves, I neglect to get any more pics. But really... how many pics of incredible curves can you really stand to see...!? :-P Just shy of MO 76, we detour off on MO DD, a county road. The really cool thing about this part of Missouri is that most of the lettered county roads are actually well paved and are fantastic roads. I have never been down this particular road and want to see if it is any good as a candidate for future rides.

:tab The pavement is good right from the start and the curves are great. I am running a nice mellow pace, slow into the corners and not pulling hard coming out. I just want to savor the scenery and the moment. I guess I let my attention wander for just a brief instant because as I come into a right hander, I suddenly realize this corner is WAY tighter than I thought. Worse yet... the apex is on an off camber slope on the back side of a slight crest! I look through the corner and no one is coming the other way... thank God!! I proceed to lean as far as the Strom can go, then stand up to scrub some speed once I've already blown into the oncoming lane and the curve opens up again. I guess it was good that I was running a mellow pace because I was only doing about 30 mph coming into this corner and it was still too fast!! Had I been hotdogging, I've no doubt I would have left the road...

:tab Looking back in my mirror, I see the next three bikes do the same exact thing... :doh: We are all dead... :-| Noah is the only survivor ;-) How annoying to think you are riding a very conservative pace and STILL screw up :argh: Perhaps I am just not used to the feel of speed on the Strom just yet. I decide to drop it down another notch just to be sure for the remainder of the ride.

A typical view along MO DD
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:tab When we cross over Beaver Creek, the road becomes MO FF (Patterson Dr.) and eventually we drop out on MO 76 Just north of Taneyville. Roger's FZ1 is the bike limited on range, so I decide to stop for a quick top off and a break.

The town gas station/grocery store
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:tab We head North up MO 76 out of town a few hundred yards to pick up the start of MO AA, another county road of unknown merit. It turns out to be very narrow, about a lane and a half wide. I settle in and just enjoy the serenity of the little country road. It crosses Swan Creek and then wanders back into the woods before turning to gravel. Confronted with an unpaved road, I stop to confer with the GPS. It seems that I missed my turn right after crossing the creek because I was so busy enjoying the scenery :oops: We get turned around and head back up the road about a 1/4 mile to the proper turn.

I wonder when this place last sold gas... Looks abandoned now.
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:tab We cross the creek and are on Lone Star Rd. Right at the turn, there is a lot of loose white sand. In these parts, they use a whitish sand spread over tar to form "pavement" on minor roads and even as patches on more major roads. When it is first done, there is a LOT of loose material still on the road and it is very difficult to spot the loose stuff. Once it is clear, the traction is fantastic, but that takes a while. So I just keep with the mellow pace. We are in no hurry.

Hugh and Bill taking it all in...
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Hugh
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Bill
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Bill again...
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:tab We meander on down the rest of the road and finally come to MO HH. Even though this is a county road as well, it is paved like a regular highway and is a great ride! I usually hit it starting down at US 160 on the South end of the road. I hate missing that much of it because it is a great road, but this little side trip was worth it. We turn North and run HH up to MO 125 where we turn South again for some more seriously twisty fun!

[time for bed... I'll try to do more tomorrow :sleep:]
 
:tab Picking up on 125...

:tab We continued South a ways until we came to MO UU. This is just another in a seemingly endless series of roads totally lacking in straight sections. We spend a minute stuck behind a little truck before I decide it is a good time to pull over, soak in the surroundings and let him get ahead so we can have some fun :trust: The lack of traffic up here in Missouri is great! After a nice break, we take off before another car comes along to hold up the fun. Snaking its way Northeast, UU slithers back and forth through tunnels of tree branches, rising and falling in a hypnotic rhythm. We soon reach MO T.

:tab If you ever see Hugh, ask him about the patch on the knee of his riding pants. It is a story that involves the delicious set of curves where UU and T intersect and a loud scraping sound!:trust: The best part of T is back to the Northwest, but we are headed to Hwy 76 and head Southeast where the road just becomes a series of nice relaxing sweepers. We hit 76 and head East into Ava to find some lunch. 76 is smooooth with great curves!

:tab Once in town, we make our way around the town square to the North side of town where we find Lili's Cafe. This is your basic home cooking stuff where there is never a shortage of locals eating. The food is great and the staff always very friendly. I've brought a lot of folks here and have yet to hear a negative comment :eat:

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Our cheerful waitress
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:tab I opt for something lite, a grilled cheese with fries. The others opt for something not so lite... Glassy eyed and moving kind of slowly, we amble back out to the parking lot. The skies are clear and it has warmed up considerably. Time to shed a layer... It feels good to just stand in the parking lot and absorb some rays :sun: Soon we are heading East out of town on Hwy 14, another perfect strip of smooth asphalt :rider:

:tab When I was selling Beth on the idea of me getting the Strom, part of it included a weak promise to use the bike as a street bike only... I have no will power... :lol2: I've spent many an hour pondering the seemingly endless maze of little back roads in this area. I've yet to get a DS bike up here so I can do some proper exploring. While putting the route together for this ride, I noticed a little side detour that looks pretty "twirly" as my three year old daughter Sarah likes to say. I stop at MO CR Ab and tell the guys that I want to check out this little detour to see if it might be fun for future trip. Roger and Hugh are on an FZ1 and VFR800, respectively, but they are game. So off we go...

:tab The road starts out paved and narrow. Soon though, the pavement ends and the GPS says, "Go dirt young man..." I must go where the GPS tells me :shrug: With an approving nod from Roger and Hugh, off we go, kicking up some dust! A short bit down the road we come to a wide open gravel parking area. There are a few locals standing here talking and they give us a few strange looks. The road bends North and we find a single lane concrete low water bridge. That oh so familiar urge is rising up from the depths of my dirty mind... :trust:

We stop to take a break and ponder the route ahead
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The far side of the bridge... :ponder:
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The water is incredibly clear and creates a strong urge to swim in it... until I feel it with my hand :eek2:
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In the days of my misspent youth, this is a place where I would have spent a LOT of time!
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:tab We decide to go ahead and press on. According the GPS, another highway that I know will be paved is only a little further. When we reach the little intersection just beyond the bridge, the path we want goes off to the left, up a rather rough gravel road. I tell the others to hold here while I do some quick scouting. I bounce up the road a ways wondering if I would really be wanting to do this on a full street bike...? On a previous trip to Arkansas with Wasabi, I did do something like this, only worse and on a fully loaded VFR with him following on the Virago 1100 he had at the time. I head back down and check with Roger and Hugh... "sure, why not?" So off we go... It is not really dual sporting if you have sport bikes following you... right? I wonder if Beth will buy that one... :ponder:

:tab The climb up the hill is not too bad. The rocks are loose and there are some ruts, but it is all very dry and relatively smooth. After a few minutes we've climbed up onto a ridge, about 300 feet above the creek bed below. The road smooths out nicely and we just cruise along in 2nd gear, enjoying the solitude and scenery. After about 3-1/2 to 4 miles, we reach MO C and pavement.

Cleaning face shields at the end of the dirt road
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:tab We head down C and are soon back on MO 14 headed East again. If you ever get a chance, 14 is a great ride all the way from US 65 near Ozark, through Ava, to West Plains at US 63. The pavement is in fantastic condition, the curves great, and the scenery is woods, farms, creeks and pastures. Very idyllic. Like many places that are loaded with great riding experiences, I'd move here in a heart beat if I could figure out how to make a living... which might explain why more people don't live out here :-P

:tab We stop for a quick post lunch break to take care of some... uh... business... Across the road is this beauty!

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Hugh getting in on the fall color thing...
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:tab Relieved and ready for more action, we head South on MO 95. This is another great road that I discovered some years back on a trip that ventured farther Northeast towards St. Louis. Southern Missouri is just criss crossed with a spaghetti ball of fantastic lightly traveled roads. It is starting to get late into the afternoon and the sun is already moving down to the West. I can see that it will soon be an issue with respect to being in our eyes. I try to plan the route to have the sun at our back as much as possible, but with roads that twist all around like these, it is pretty much impossible. We soon reach MO CR N and head South, pick up MO 181 and run on down to US 160 at Gainesville where we stop for gas. The plan now is to head back up Mo 5 towards Ava, and catch MO 95 again.

In a town not even shown on my GPS where N and 181 meet
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:tab Mo 5 is pretty much a straight boring highway between Gainesville and Ava :yawn: So I set the bike on about 65-70mph and just cruise, reflecting on the great riding up to this point... I must be boogieing without realizing it because a car coming the other way joins in with some red and blue disco lights... :eek2: We all play a game of chicken where everyone, including the other car, taps on the brake lights and pretends to slow down. Fortunately, the other drive does not seem in the mood to dance with us and we continue on our way until we reach the turn for MO 95 East.

:tab It is hard to imagine that fun twisty roads might get old... Seriously, I am having a great time. However, if one is not in the habit of doing 300 miles per day of non stop technical riding, it does take its toll on your concentration. I have noticed this on many trips before. Generally, as the day wears on I start seeing people make more mistakes and hearing them speak of close calls. So I have made a habit of gradually bringing the pace down as the end of the day draws near. We reach MO CR N again, but this time head North and loop back to the West. It is more of the same, twisty and undulating pavement. It follows a ridge of about 1000 ft elevation and there are numerous little side roads slipping down into the small valleys below, teasingly calling to me... I focus on the road ahead and ignore the sirens that sing that song that goes so deep in me :flip:

:tab We come back to MO 5. The original plan was to turn South here and pick up 95 again to run it Southwest. Feeling a bit of on itch to do some more exploring, I make an on the fly route change and we head North to the "town" of Squires and head West on MO CR JJ. Just before we turn, a lady in some kind of small import sedan turns in front of me. When she looks up in the mirror and sees several bikes behind her, she gets on the gas :roll: I don't know why some cagers do this :shrug: I just settle in behind her and enjoy the road. It is paved as expected and very much a nice roller coaster. When we reach a nice straight section, I move around to pass the lady and she guns it :doh: :roll: Needless to say, it does not take much acceleration, even for the WeeStrom, to get on around her with no problem. Of course, then she wants to play Nascar and draft my back tire... Seriously, what is the deal with these people? :scratch: She turns off not even a half mile after I pass her.

:tab We enjoy a nice run down JJ until it drops out onto MO 95 at Thornfield. While sitting at the intersection, I ponder the sun getting ever lower. I REALLY want to make the run back up 95 to 5 because it is a SWEET section of road. But it means that we'll have the sun in our eyes most of the way back from 5 all the way to US 160. Hmmm... What to do? Well, what can I do? We are already here! So off we go, heading back to the Northeast... With daylight starting to burn away kind of fast, I don't mess with taking any pictures on 95.

A nice sampler shot from a previous trip up here a few years back
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:tab Sure enough, the sun is low enough that it causes a pretty good glare in some places. However, there are also plenty of places where the trees block it. We really enjoy a nice run up and back. It's worth it! We reach US 160 and turn back to the East, leaving the sun to drop behind us. US 160 is the major East/West highway out of Branson, and also along the North side of Bull Shoals Lake, a Bass fishing Mecca. So there tends to be a good bit of traffic on it. Even though it is actually a really nice road to ride in most places, I generally try to avoid it. However, with the day fading and our mental faculties doing likewise, it seems the prudent way home for now.

The Theodosia Crossing on a North fork of the lake.
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:tab We cross the lake and head for Mo 5 again, where we turn South back towards Arkansas. With the sun so low, it is rapidly starting to get cold again. However, I don't want to waste ten minutes of light stopping to put on more layers, so we press on. We turn East on MO CR T. This drops down off the ridge 5 runs along, down through into Lick Creek Valley. It drops out onto MO CR J and we continue South to the Arkansas State line where it becomes AR 201. By now, the sun is all but gone from the sky and we cruise on into town. It has been a great day of riding!

:tab We walk on over to the local steakhouse for dinner before calling it a day. I must be getting old because we were all in our rooms for the night by about 9:30pm or so... :lol2:

[Day 2 to come soon...]
 
Scott great ride report! Great pictures. It looks like you caught more color than we did.

I need a wee.. :rider:
 
I still have one more day of the report to go... We've been pretty busy at work and both kids have been sick for the last week so I am having a hard time finding any time to work on it :doh:
 
Missouri roads are built by turning a snake loose and following it but not flattening or straightening anything.

My friends live just of AR 125 before the ferry at Peel - we were at their house in the Miata this last weekend and the colors were good.
 
Okay... finally have a break in the madness...

Day two:

:tab I crack open the door to my room and immediately it is apparent that it is MUCH warmer this morning! Last night someone had said something about a frost warning, the reality is about mid forties temps! :dude: There is a high overcast but it should move on out and make for another spectacular day of riding! Hugh is only going to be riding with us for a short while before peeling off to head for Texarkana, so it will leave Bill, Roger, Noah and myself for today. The big group rides can be fun, but they are a lot of stress. A group of four is ideal and we can really cover some ground.

:tab We head South out of town on AR 201. It is a nice two lane highway that rolls out of town but can see a good bit of traffic because of the number of people that live along it. No problem though and we are soon at the turn off for AR 341, better known as Push Mountain Rd. There is a bit of an effort to turn this road into an Arkansas version of Deal's Gap. Seems silly to me as this road and Deal's Gap are NOTHING alike :shrug: Seems to me to be a better idea to sell it for its own strengths rather than trying to pretend it is something that it is not. It has lots of great elevation changes, open views of the surrounding scenery, fast corners, slow corners, and near perfect pavement for much of its length. We cross the White River right away and the rest of the road runs through National Forest lands. After a few miles, it climbs up onto a ridge line and the fun starts...

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Hugh and Noah waiting while I take pics of Roger playing
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Bill digging for his camera
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Roger enjoying the curves
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This lasts for a few miles before finally bringing us out on top of the ridge
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More Roger
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:tab Pictures taken, we head off to enjoy the road. I settle into a nice pace after passing a few slow moving trucks with trailers and then start chanting my favorite TV jingle... "Zoom Zoom Zoom... Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" It is hard not to giggle like a little school girl when having so much fun :oops: All along the ridge, brightly colored trees stand out, lit up by the morning sun crawling over the hills and spreading its warmth. I check for headlights behind me every few minutes to make sure no one is falling behind and just enjoy myself. All to soon we reach the Southern end at AR 14 :tears: We stop for a break and some more pics.

Noah bringing up the rear...
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The view back to the North
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There were a lot of trees like this one, some kind of oak?
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Lots of yellow as well
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Notice the sky has already completely cleared :rider:
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:tab While we are standing around taking pictures, a Forest Ranger SUV turns on to Push Mountain and head North... Not that we were really misbehaving... but I am glad he was not here a few minutes earlier ;-) Shortly after he goes by, a white truck pulls up and talks with Roger. Apparently, this is the guy that sets up and takes pictures of riders and posts them on his website, kind of like Killboy does at Deal's Gap. I guess we won't be getting our pictures taken because we won't be heading back up Push Mountain until later this afternoon/evening on the tail end of our ride.

:tab We turn West on AR 14 and head for Harriet a few miles up the road. Just past AR 263, 14 gets fun! It drops down into a narrow little valley, still blanketed in morning shadows, and follows a few creeks. The tree tops over head are aflame with the morning sun, but down here the air still has a bit of a chill to it, just enough to make me appreciate the heated vest :-P As we are approaching Harriet, with only a few curves to go, I come around a corner to meet a LARGE black cow standing in the road :eek2: Fortunately, it scoots on over into the other lane and runs down into the weeds along the fence line where the other cows are loitering. I cruise on by as my heart rate comes back down and pull into the parking lot at the little general store where 14/27 meet. No one else even saw the cow. A couple standing nearby asks me if I saw it and then informs me they are trying to locate the owners before someone turns it into hamburger. Regrouped, we head North on 14 towards Yellville.

:tab AR 14 is the road where Snoopster finally learned to be a passenger without having to maintain a death grip on the grab rails :lol2: The first time she came up this road, it was during torrential rains as a passenger on the back of my VFR. This was also the first time for Bill to ride in the rain... AR 14 is a seriously twisty road! Between the hypnotic rhythm of the curves, the rising and falling growling of the VFR, and the greyness, Snoopster was having trouble staying awake, hehe. The second time she came up the road, I stuck a camcorder in her hands and she finally learned how relax and enjoy the ride. It was not long after that before we convinced her to get her own bike. 30K+ miles later on her own bikes, she has never looked back! Bill hates riding in the rain, or so he says. Since then he has been on a lot of trips with me and has done a LOT of riding in the rain! :lol2: He doesn't like riding in the dark either. Then there is the whole rain and dark at the same time thing :mrgreen: He keeps coming back for more, so.... :shrug:

:tab Anyway, I try to settle into a nice rhythm and enjoy the road. No sooner than I start to get into my groove, there is a slow moving car, then a truck, another car, another,.... And so it goes, most of the way to Yellville :roll: This is a real problem with this road. It is a fairly major North/South corridor and it also runs along the Buffalo River, so there is a lot of camping, hotels, rafting, etc,... which all means traffic. We finally reach Yellville and stop for gas and a break. This is where Hugh breaks off from the group and heads South. The rest of us start cutting back to the Southwest on AR 125/235 to US 65.

:tab We head North on US 65. This is a fun road but again, it is one of the major corridors that sees a lot of traffic, particular RV and boats. It is the main artery between Little Rock and Branson. Today the traffic is not heavy, but still enough that we just have to settle in and go with the flow. We're only going to be on 65 for a few miles before we cut West again at the start of AR 123, am infamous road in these parts...
 
Trip was a blast, color was amazing even though I generally played cleanup (just making sure noone got left behind) :rofl:. So at least I am not the last one to post been crazy with work (retail holiday coming up :giveup: ), guess I have to figure out how to post the pictures I took of the road to nowhere.

What I can say without pictures is this was my first trip with TWTX, having just moved to Texas and it was a perfect mini vacation. Although my brain was still working in the twisties (but different than work), the scenery (that's why I was slow), topography, and company was first class. I ride significantly better (read smoother), quicker and safer now than before it's almost comical. And I even got a free membership to a yahoo steakhouse so I could drink a beer with dinner. If you missed it, it sucks to be you.

Off to convert all my pics to 640X480,

Noah
 
Thursday 7:00am moving SLOW!
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Bike all loaded ready to roll
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Shooting pictures from the truck.
Best place for a cheesesteak, Philad....no ARkadelphia of course.
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Life speeding by.
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Color speeding by.
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Da plane da plane.
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Sunrise Friday Best Western in Mountain Home, AR.
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Sunrise Friday Mountain Home, AR
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The Ferry Friday.
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What can I say , just another really great Scott / Tourmister ride.

Here are some more pics to prove it.

My GPS track, black is day 1 and green is day 2. Note the water fall waypoint on the green track. Very cool.

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VFR dual sport
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The end of the road. It's a grave yard for giants ;-)
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Pic / water break after the dirt road.
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Day 2 , stop at the ole swimming hole. Water site on map.
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Scott searching for the perfect picture.
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Next Time I am going for a swim.
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I was slowed down for this trip. My front fork seals started to leak on day two. My baby is in the shop getting a full suspension make over , so I will be ready for the next Ark trip. Thats it for me, until the next time.

Bill
 
It's just not fair that roads like these are so far away. To those that didn't go, you missed a great trip. This was by far one of the best I've been on. Scott did an excellent job leading the ride, Hugh is always impressive to watch, Bill and Noah it was great riding with you. Thanks for letting me ride along.

As usuall, I didn't have a clue where I was most of the time (except for which state I was in). So during the breaks, when Scott would ask how we liked road number, so and so, compared to, so and so, all I could remember was one curve after the other curve. Wow!

So... When's the next one?

Anyway, I did take a few pictures.

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Hugh and Noah enjoying the senery
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Bill, Scott, Hugh, and Noah
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Bill on his Strom
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Scott on his Strom
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Hugh on his VFR (not easy to catch a shot of)
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My FZ
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Great reports guys! I get to relive the trip when I read someone else’s report. This was a great get away before the holiday crush.
Hugh:rider:
 
Morning Sun on the Ferry.
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First off-road adventure, man that water was clear.
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View from the bikes.
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The color
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Sunset coming
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When government loses their to-do list.
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Scenery at the front of Cliffhouse Inn Restaurant
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Scenery Back of Cliffhouse Inn Restaurant
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More
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Scott
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Time standing still.
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Who has the vid of this?

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If you look closely, I think you can see the center stand dragging. I thought it was the peg that scraped. I'll have to go look to see if the stand has any marks on it.

Noah, can you email me the original of this? And thanks for the shot of Sarah! She'll get a kick out of it!
 
Noah, can you email me the original of this? And thanks for the shot of Sarah! She'll get a kick out of it!

Did one better, I ordered two 16X20's on metallic paper for you, one of this scene and one of Sarah on the GS. I'll email the originals as well and drop the prints by this weekend or next.

Noah
 
Awesome! :clap:

I guess I need to get busy and finish up my report :doh: We have just been getting slammed with the pre Thanksgiving panic from our clients so I have actually had to work while at work :roll:
 
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