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“What are we doing this weekend?”
“I don’t know……how bout some dual sportin?”
“Sounds killer, lets do it.
That’s how most of my riding gets planned. The short of it is that we were going to ride in parts of both Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had been there before, so I was going to be the guide/navigator and the one with the cleanest air filter. We had two days of riding and we were going to make the most of it.
THE RIDERS/EQUIPMENT
Well, there is me. I selected my DRZ 400s for this trip. The more time I spend on this little thumper, the more I like it. Next up, we have James the Master Ninja of all things dirt. He is going to be a factory rider this weekend as he was riding my prepped out XT600 that will qualify for antique plates soon as it was built in 1984. Don’t laugh too hard as this bike is extremely competent for this mission. The seat alone is worth a million dollars when compared to the latest and greatest of motorcycles. Then there is our rookie. We found out that Noel had been secretly worshiping at ADV for sometime and had been quietly converting a KTM 525 that he did not like for offroad riding to a license plate, rack wearing, soft luggage, DOT tired D/S machine. His total mileage D/S ing before this trip was 200 miles but we were going to fix that.
Navigation was done with Garmin units. We planned on camping out so we carried all the stuff required. I used soft luggage both tank and saddle. I hooked James up with a nifty H20 proof duffle bag that I used on a CopperCanyon trip. Noel had a sweet set up consisting of soft luggage both front and back and a rack.
DESTINATION
We would be riding in the Ouachita National Forest. This federal land lies in both Oklahoma and Arkansas. The loose plan was to ride into Arkansas until it got dark, pitch tents, build a fire, drink alcohol, get up, ride back.
FRIDAY THE RIDE UP
We all got off work a bit early and loaded up the bikes onto Noels trailer and jumped into his Ford. The truck was headed northbound and we had 200 miles to ride to our trips starting point. We live a bit north of the Dallas/Ft Worth area and were headed to SE Oklahoma. Talahina to be exact. We stopped for a bite to eat in Atoka. If you like local food, give Bledsoes Diner on the north side of town a try. Its pretty good eats. We roll into the State Park about the same time another riding buddy does. His name is Full Tilt Roger and if you meet him you will understand. He was going to ride the INT trail system with his son Mikey. Anyway, we get his trailer backed in and get a gas induced campfire roaring in short order. While we pitch tents, Roger gets a flat on his airbed. We hang around the fire and Roger pulls out some cow and throws it on the open fire grill. Roger offers and James and I one *****in steak. Thanks Rog. We hit the sleeping bags knowing we start our ride when we awake.
SATURDAY IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CAMP FIRE WHILE DODGING LEAD
****, its cold and I don’t want to get out of my bag but I hear Roger banging around and my kidneys are full. I got up to find everyone else standing around the relit camp fire. That star that is 8 minutes in light years finally peeked over the pines and started providing some of that stuff we call heat. Its 9oclock and Im dragging my feet because it is still pretty cold and we would be riding at speed the first part of the morning. By 10am we are loaded and I realize that both the DRZ and the XT needed topping off of gas. So we buzzed into town and filled up.
Finally, we start towards the dirt. We blast up the pavement to scenic Hwy 1 that forms the Talamena Scenic drive. This popular pavement winds along a ridge for 50 miles and ends in Mena, AR. We traverse Hwy 1 for a bit and turn off onto the first FS road of the day. We get to the bottom and I check on everybody. I get thumbs up and we make for a FS road that runs on the next ridge to the north. It is a great lumpy road and I am seeing lots of water as the area got pounded 3 days earlier. Its starting to warm up and we are putting the knobbies to good use. There is a little spur that leads to an old fire tower and we take it. This little spur is a little more technical and I wanted to see how Noel felt on his bike in this kind of stuff as I didn’t want to lead him into something he wasn’t in to. Just ask James, Im famous for ending up in roads that double as creek beds or rivers that are deeper than they look. We make it just fine and stop for our first break.
Noel is in the KTM jacket and Im the short guy taking a look from where the firetower used to be.
This is what we are looking at.
We continue along the ridge and Im coming up on a mudhole. As I pick the driest line, I see something that Texas folks don’t get to see that often. I pull everybody over and walk back to the mudhole and point out the oddity.
Real live bear tracks just like on Survivor Man. Im pretty sure this isn’t a Polar bear though as I didn’t find any seal carcasses. We gawk and take our pictures for proof when we get too old to ride and or forget stuff thats happened. Bikes fired up we continue our way East towards lunch. The morning is along with the weather is spectacular. The riding jackets with a vent or two opened is all that is required for comfort. The leaves are starting their colorful showing too. I look down at my watch and realize that we have been buzzing along for awhile without stopping. Yeah, this looks like a good spot and we pull off to the road to munch on snacks and sip some liquids.
We take a peek into the fuel tanks and estimate remaining flight time. All is good. The DRZ has a 4 gallon, the KTM has a Dakkar like 5+gal, and the XT has a 3gallon capacity. Im guessing we have a 150 mile range on the XT and longer on the other two bikes. At this point we are at 85 miles in. We get out of the National Forest and jump onto some great county roads in Polk Co AR just north of Mena. My first goal was to make the ascent up to Buck Knob. Buck Knob is one of the higher elevation points in AR. The best part is the roads getting to it. We hit Polk Co 70 and it fades a bit on this little used road that bisects a ranch. It dumps onto a FS road that climbs up to the ridge. From there we find the road that makes the climb to the summit. The road is rocky and rough…….perfect. We summit and take off helmets and take digital evidence.
Polk County Road on the way to Buck Knob.
Sharing the Knob with a bunch of antanne
Another view from the Knob.
Food starts to climb into my psyche as we climb onto our bikes once again. We point them downhill and make our way to the bottom. We pass lots of folks in camo and orange. They look pretty serious. It looks like they are looking for something and not having any luck. We wave at all of them and are mindful of the chance they might be on the other side of that blind corner. I pull up to the stop sign that keeps me from entering a paved road and getting myself ran over. James and Noel pull up behind me and we head off on the pavement in a fashion that is fitting for the hunger pangs in my stomach. Only problem is when we get to Y City, (Yes, there is a place in AR called Y City) I turn left instead of right. Five minutes later I have to do the circle above my head indicating wrong way. Shortly, we make our way in and to the gas station first. Right next door is the local eating establishment and we dust off before going in.
My MO for any kind of motorcycle trip concerning food is this. Eat a light breakfast at the gas station. Then ride until 3pm or so and get off the bikes and eat all you can handle. One real full meal deal per day. Grab snacks for around the campfire and next morning and that is it. The advantages for this food plan are as follows. If you try to find a place serving a sit down breakfast in the sticks, you might miss lunch. Secondly, full stomachs make no miles. It is a proven fact. Eating at 3 or 4pm finds you in the slowest part of any restaurants day. Service is good and there is little waiting. In the sticks, if you wait too late to eat, you might have to compromise your riding plans just to find a place to eat.
Back to dinner. Ive been here before and knew what I wanted. Miss make mine the pig plate AKA pork chops. James and Noel chowed down on hamburgers and fries. The waitress came back and asked if we wanted dessert. It was right here I realized my mistake. I had stuffed myself and had no room!!! Noel rubbed it in by ordering homemade blackberry cobbler. Crap.
Butts rested and bellies full we got on the bikes for the late afternoon ride that would end in a search for a suitable camp site. We headed off to the north and back into the Ntl Forest. Continuing east we rode the up and downs of the forest on some great FS roads. I was navigating on the fly and found more of those guys in camo. The waitress informed me that it was muzzle loading season. So that’s who they were looking for. We passed numerous deer camps and we waved at every one of them. It was starting to get dark and we had covered 185miles. It was time to find someplace to set up camp. Found a nice spur road that went in a couple of miles and ended in a turn around. We hopped off, set up tents and built a fire ring. Wood was plentiful and Noel made a spectacular fire by gas trail. You would think he was a Hollywood pyro man. A black blanket laced with little lights was soon visible overhead. Sipping our whiskey/cokes, we blathered on about how good the day had been. As the cold settled in, we stoked the fire to stay warm.
Setting up camp.
The source of all things good in the woods
Could have been a cool Terminator shot if I would of lowered my red LED over my eye.
After fun with fire, we took refuge in our nylon forts. I did a thorough examination of the back of my eyelids for a solid 8 hours.
SUNDAY
Again, I was the last one up. Noel was roughing it with just a foam pad and his body was telling him how much it did not like it. James’ one man tent condensed to the point that it looked like he was in a rain forest. My mistake by not telling him to leave the door open. Sorry bout that. I was comfy in my NorthFace Tephra. Did I mention that I didn’t want to get up?
Noel shaking off the cold.
Noel got up several times during the night and kept the fire rocking. There were good coals and plenty of wood to refire and knock off the morning chill. We heard our friends, the deer hunters, take two shots all morning. It got quiet and I figured all the deer that were not going to make lunch had been found. We broke camp in search of a route that would take us home.
We snaked our way south a bit before heading westward. I remembered some of the FS roads from last years trek but I was still having to navigate on the fly. I goofed and lead us down a 5 mile road that deadended. Oh well. We crossed a low water bridge and I decided to take the river route. It got deep but I managed to stay upright. I goaded James into trying it and he chose a narrower but deeper than he thought route. The dirt man almost fell but didn’t. We took a break and admired the morning.
Clowning at a bridge.
While crossing a over another large bridge, I notice a dirt path to a much bigger river. Yeah, its warm now and my water skills need some work. I say this because on a previous ride I attempted a river that didn’t look deep but it was and I went swimming. We ride across on a gravel bar and again we admire the scenery. But its time to make tracks and we head off.
On the gravel bar
My ride for the trip
KTM on her first real DS trip
James and his new best friend
Noel and water.
Getting wet without falling over.
We pop out on pavement and I notice a sign for the town of Board Camp. A little bell goes off as this is an access point for the OHV area known as Wolf Pen Gap. We truck down the county road and I motion Noel to the front as he knows exactly where we are at. We enter the trailhead and poke our way through the area on the main trail which is easy even for DS bikes. There are some impressive water crossings but we didn’t get pictures. We soon emerge on the pavement. I think it is Hwy 375. Imagine the perfect super moto road and you have Hwy 375. Highway is a misnomer as it is two lane blacktop with undulations and bends that only motorcycles would love. It isn’t long and I am hammering on the DRZ. The knobbies (kenda 270s) do a **** fine job and Im throwing the bike into corners with the ferocity of a cat with scotch tape on his paws. I am concentrating on the next entry when I catch a glimpse of a Strom and a KLR on the side of the road. They look ok and I continue with my best Jeff Ward. After 5 miles or so, I back off and James is right there but Noel, being new to pavement, is learning a new skill. That Strom and KLR blow by. No. I tell myself wait for Noel. The road loses its glory and with that comes a very long straight. Noel quickly catches up and we continue. As we come to a stop sign, there are the Strom and KLR again on the side of the road. This time the guy on the KLR is in the road waving us over.
What does this guy want? Oh hey, I know you. This is the short conversation in my head as I realize who the Strom/KLR guys are. It is non other than James H. and his son Alex. I ride with James and Alex all the time but it is usually dirt only. Alex just turned 16 and James has been letting him take the KLR out with him on county roads. As a matter of fact, I tried to get James to join us on this ride but he wanted to stay and watch his boys play football on Friday night. Turns out Alex wanted to ride on his birthday so they loaded up Sat at lunch and trucked to Oklahoma like we did. We catch up and they decide to join us on the ride back over the ridge into Oklahoma on Hwy 1. I planned to do the first 15 miles or so and turn off on the south side of the ridge. We would head into the little town of Muse for lunch.
Muse arrives in the nick of time as we are all pretty hungry. We sit back and wait on the goodness that comes with a well done cheeseburger. My route to finish the day was to hop up on the local DS legend known as the “K Trail”. It is a ridge trail that runs for 20 miles. The highlight is the still standing fire tower that offers spectacular views. I told James H that Alex would have no problem on the KLR but I wouldn’t take the Vstrom up there. I have a 650 Vstrom and I would never even consider it as I just know I would have a hole in the case in short order. James H has the 1000 Vstrom which is even heavier. I thought that was it. We are stuffed in a good way and make our way to the bikes.
I turn off on the county road that heads to the K Trail and I notice 4 headlights behind me. I wave up James on the Strom and ask him if he was sure about taking his bike up there. I got a grin and “Lets go”. The county road to the top of the ridge is a great lumpy, loose rocky, rutty, switchbacking 4WD only kind of road. I told James that if he could get up to the top, the rest would be much easier.
James muscled and finessed that bike up that road with his talent. Turns out I lied about the part about it being easier on top. It had rained and the mudholes were over the cases deep. It was a lot rockier than I remembered too. The Vstrom looked like a Goldwing on the K Trail. James did an awesome job and I just prayed that the bike made it off the K in one piece. We finally get to the fire tower and everyone wants to get a look.
Looking down from the firetower
To the West. Note how the rock runs.
Noel liking it.
Me and my beekeeper uniform.
There are all kinds of bees and wasps swarming the tower but they are not aggressive. Ive seen this behavior before. Seems when the fall season is winding down, they are looking for a place to winter. I kept my helmet/goggles on anyway.
Stone garage still in most excellent shape.
We are in the tower and I look down to see the Vstrom taking a nap. We all hustle down the tower and tag team to get her to her feet. Seems the kickstand found a soft spot. James took it in stride. Bike ended up with busted turn signal and a scratch. It could have been a lot worse. It was just a shame that it fell over on its own after all it had been through.
Its getting late and we have a 4 hour ride home. We pushed starter buttons or kicked on kick starters and made our way west as we had another 9 miles to the end of the K. I came to a mudhole that looked like it had a go around but it wasn’t. As I tried to back the bike back onto the trail I lost my balance and fell on my left side. I already had a tweaked knee and this really hurt when I hit the ground. I couldn’t get up for a bit and I thought I might have really torn up my knee. I limped it off and remounted. Alex and I turn it up and we jump ahead on the trail. Time for pictures.
Is that a Vstrom or a Goldwing?
Noel and his Dakar ready KTM
James and the Ancient One
The pavement appears and we head right and down. The road is another switchback perfect piece of pavement. We wick it up once again and fly down the mountain. It is a quick ride back to the State Park where we started. I had to take pictures of James and his baby. A quick look at the GPS had us logged at 350 miles covered in two days.
James H and the Strom.
We quickly loaded bikes and grabbed a hot shower before leaving for Texas. It wouldn’t be long before dark and the truck tires singing me to sleep.
EPILOGUE
To the crew. I had a great time and I hope yall did too. Noel I think is hooked as anybody can be on D/S. James is a vet with the D/S thing. The bikes performed very well. I prefer to run lots of air pressure to avoid flats and we had none. Running 28 psi front and rear takes some getting used to. I also think it helps tire life when you run at high speed on the pavement. All of the luggage stayed on and after a couple of miles, you couldn’t tell it was there. We had great weather and all of the ingredients for a great trip. If you got this far, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.
“What are we doing this weekend?”
“I don’t know……how bout some dual sportin?”
“Sounds killer, lets do it.
That’s how most of my riding gets planned. The short of it is that we were going to ride in parts of both Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had been there before, so I was going to be the guide/navigator and the one with the cleanest air filter. We had two days of riding and we were going to make the most of it.
THE RIDERS/EQUIPMENT
Well, there is me. I selected my DRZ 400s for this trip. The more time I spend on this little thumper, the more I like it. Next up, we have James the Master Ninja of all things dirt. He is going to be a factory rider this weekend as he was riding my prepped out XT600 that will qualify for antique plates soon as it was built in 1984. Don’t laugh too hard as this bike is extremely competent for this mission. The seat alone is worth a million dollars when compared to the latest and greatest of motorcycles. Then there is our rookie. We found out that Noel had been secretly worshiping at ADV for sometime and had been quietly converting a KTM 525 that he did not like for offroad riding to a license plate, rack wearing, soft luggage, DOT tired D/S machine. His total mileage D/S ing before this trip was 200 miles but we were going to fix that.
Navigation was done with Garmin units. We planned on camping out so we carried all the stuff required. I used soft luggage both tank and saddle. I hooked James up with a nifty H20 proof duffle bag that I used on a CopperCanyon trip. Noel had a sweet set up consisting of soft luggage both front and back and a rack.
DESTINATION
We would be riding in the Ouachita National Forest. This federal land lies in both Oklahoma and Arkansas. The loose plan was to ride into Arkansas until it got dark, pitch tents, build a fire, drink alcohol, get up, ride back.
FRIDAY THE RIDE UP
We all got off work a bit early and loaded up the bikes onto Noels trailer and jumped into his Ford. The truck was headed northbound and we had 200 miles to ride to our trips starting point. We live a bit north of the Dallas/Ft Worth area and were headed to SE Oklahoma. Talahina to be exact. We stopped for a bite to eat in Atoka. If you like local food, give Bledsoes Diner on the north side of town a try. Its pretty good eats. We roll into the State Park about the same time another riding buddy does. His name is Full Tilt Roger and if you meet him you will understand. He was going to ride the INT trail system with his son Mikey. Anyway, we get his trailer backed in and get a gas induced campfire roaring in short order. While we pitch tents, Roger gets a flat on his airbed. We hang around the fire and Roger pulls out some cow and throws it on the open fire grill. Roger offers and James and I one *****in steak. Thanks Rog. We hit the sleeping bags knowing we start our ride when we awake.
SATURDAY IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CAMP FIRE WHILE DODGING LEAD
****, its cold and I don’t want to get out of my bag but I hear Roger banging around and my kidneys are full. I got up to find everyone else standing around the relit camp fire. That star that is 8 minutes in light years finally peeked over the pines and started providing some of that stuff we call heat. Its 9oclock and Im dragging my feet because it is still pretty cold and we would be riding at speed the first part of the morning. By 10am we are loaded and I realize that both the DRZ and the XT needed topping off of gas. So we buzzed into town and filled up.
Finally, we start towards the dirt. We blast up the pavement to scenic Hwy 1 that forms the Talamena Scenic drive. This popular pavement winds along a ridge for 50 miles and ends in Mena, AR. We traverse Hwy 1 for a bit and turn off onto the first FS road of the day. We get to the bottom and I check on everybody. I get thumbs up and we make for a FS road that runs on the next ridge to the north. It is a great lumpy road and I am seeing lots of water as the area got pounded 3 days earlier. Its starting to warm up and we are putting the knobbies to good use. There is a little spur that leads to an old fire tower and we take it. This little spur is a little more technical and I wanted to see how Noel felt on his bike in this kind of stuff as I didn’t want to lead him into something he wasn’t in to. Just ask James, Im famous for ending up in roads that double as creek beds or rivers that are deeper than they look. We make it just fine and stop for our first break.
Noel is in the KTM jacket and Im the short guy taking a look from where the firetower used to be.
This is what we are looking at.
We continue along the ridge and Im coming up on a mudhole. As I pick the driest line, I see something that Texas folks don’t get to see that often. I pull everybody over and walk back to the mudhole and point out the oddity.
Real live bear tracks just like on Survivor Man. Im pretty sure this isn’t a Polar bear though as I didn’t find any seal carcasses. We gawk and take our pictures for proof when we get too old to ride and or forget stuff thats happened. Bikes fired up we continue our way East towards lunch. The morning is along with the weather is spectacular. The riding jackets with a vent or two opened is all that is required for comfort. The leaves are starting their colorful showing too. I look down at my watch and realize that we have been buzzing along for awhile without stopping. Yeah, this looks like a good spot and we pull off to the road to munch on snacks and sip some liquids.
We take a peek into the fuel tanks and estimate remaining flight time. All is good. The DRZ has a 4 gallon, the KTM has a Dakkar like 5+gal, and the XT has a 3gallon capacity. Im guessing we have a 150 mile range on the XT and longer on the other two bikes. At this point we are at 85 miles in. We get out of the National Forest and jump onto some great county roads in Polk Co AR just north of Mena. My first goal was to make the ascent up to Buck Knob. Buck Knob is one of the higher elevation points in AR. The best part is the roads getting to it. We hit Polk Co 70 and it fades a bit on this little used road that bisects a ranch. It dumps onto a FS road that climbs up to the ridge. From there we find the road that makes the climb to the summit. The road is rocky and rough…….perfect. We summit and take off helmets and take digital evidence.
Polk County Road on the way to Buck Knob.
Sharing the Knob with a bunch of antanne
Another view from the Knob.
Food starts to climb into my psyche as we climb onto our bikes once again. We point them downhill and make our way to the bottom. We pass lots of folks in camo and orange. They look pretty serious. It looks like they are looking for something and not having any luck. We wave at all of them and are mindful of the chance they might be on the other side of that blind corner. I pull up to the stop sign that keeps me from entering a paved road and getting myself ran over. James and Noel pull up behind me and we head off on the pavement in a fashion that is fitting for the hunger pangs in my stomach. Only problem is when we get to Y City, (Yes, there is a place in AR called Y City) I turn left instead of right. Five minutes later I have to do the circle above my head indicating wrong way. Shortly, we make our way in and to the gas station first. Right next door is the local eating establishment and we dust off before going in.
My MO for any kind of motorcycle trip concerning food is this. Eat a light breakfast at the gas station. Then ride until 3pm or so and get off the bikes and eat all you can handle. One real full meal deal per day. Grab snacks for around the campfire and next morning and that is it. The advantages for this food plan are as follows. If you try to find a place serving a sit down breakfast in the sticks, you might miss lunch. Secondly, full stomachs make no miles. It is a proven fact. Eating at 3 or 4pm finds you in the slowest part of any restaurants day. Service is good and there is little waiting. In the sticks, if you wait too late to eat, you might have to compromise your riding plans just to find a place to eat.
Back to dinner. Ive been here before and knew what I wanted. Miss make mine the pig plate AKA pork chops. James and Noel chowed down on hamburgers and fries. The waitress came back and asked if we wanted dessert. It was right here I realized my mistake. I had stuffed myself and had no room!!! Noel rubbed it in by ordering homemade blackberry cobbler. Crap.
Butts rested and bellies full we got on the bikes for the late afternoon ride that would end in a search for a suitable camp site. We headed off to the north and back into the Ntl Forest. Continuing east we rode the up and downs of the forest on some great FS roads. I was navigating on the fly and found more of those guys in camo. The waitress informed me that it was muzzle loading season. So that’s who they were looking for. We passed numerous deer camps and we waved at every one of them. It was starting to get dark and we had covered 185miles. It was time to find someplace to set up camp. Found a nice spur road that went in a couple of miles and ended in a turn around. We hopped off, set up tents and built a fire ring. Wood was plentiful and Noel made a spectacular fire by gas trail. You would think he was a Hollywood pyro man. A black blanket laced with little lights was soon visible overhead. Sipping our whiskey/cokes, we blathered on about how good the day had been. As the cold settled in, we stoked the fire to stay warm.
Setting up camp.
The source of all things good in the woods
Could have been a cool Terminator shot if I would of lowered my red LED over my eye.
After fun with fire, we took refuge in our nylon forts. I did a thorough examination of the back of my eyelids for a solid 8 hours.
SUNDAY
Again, I was the last one up. Noel was roughing it with just a foam pad and his body was telling him how much it did not like it. James’ one man tent condensed to the point that it looked like he was in a rain forest. My mistake by not telling him to leave the door open. Sorry bout that. I was comfy in my NorthFace Tephra. Did I mention that I didn’t want to get up?
Noel shaking off the cold.
Noel got up several times during the night and kept the fire rocking. There were good coals and plenty of wood to refire and knock off the morning chill. We heard our friends, the deer hunters, take two shots all morning. It got quiet and I figured all the deer that were not going to make lunch had been found. We broke camp in search of a route that would take us home.
We snaked our way south a bit before heading westward. I remembered some of the FS roads from last years trek but I was still having to navigate on the fly. I goofed and lead us down a 5 mile road that deadended. Oh well. We crossed a low water bridge and I decided to take the river route. It got deep but I managed to stay upright. I goaded James into trying it and he chose a narrower but deeper than he thought route. The dirt man almost fell but didn’t. We took a break and admired the morning.
Clowning at a bridge.
While crossing a over another large bridge, I notice a dirt path to a much bigger river. Yeah, its warm now and my water skills need some work. I say this because on a previous ride I attempted a river that didn’t look deep but it was and I went swimming. We ride across on a gravel bar and again we admire the scenery. But its time to make tracks and we head off.
On the gravel bar
My ride for the trip
KTM on her first real DS trip
James and his new best friend
Noel and water.
Getting wet without falling over.
We pop out on pavement and I notice a sign for the town of Board Camp. A little bell goes off as this is an access point for the OHV area known as Wolf Pen Gap. We truck down the county road and I motion Noel to the front as he knows exactly where we are at. We enter the trailhead and poke our way through the area on the main trail which is easy even for DS bikes. There are some impressive water crossings but we didn’t get pictures. We soon emerge on the pavement. I think it is Hwy 375. Imagine the perfect super moto road and you have Hwy 375. Highway is a misnomer as it is two lane blacktop with undulations and bends that only motorcycles would love. It isn’t long and I am hammering on the DRZ. The knobbies (kenda 270s) do a **** fine job and Im throwing the bike into corners with the ferocity of a cat with scotch tape on his paws. I am concentrating on the next entry when I catch a glimpse of a Strom and a KLR on the side of the road. They look ok and I continue with my best Jeff Ward. After 5 miles or so, I back off and James is right there but Noel, being new to pavement, is learning a new skill. That Strom and KLR blow by. No. I tell myself wait for Noel. The road loses its glory and with that comes a very long straight. Noel quickly catches up and we continue. As we come to a stop sign, there are the Strom and KLR again on the side of the road. This time the guy on the KLR is in the road waving us over.
What does this guy want? Oh hey, I know you. This is the short conversation in my head as I realize who the Strom/KLR guys are. It is non other than James H. and his son Alex. I ride with James and Alex all the time but it is usually dirt only. Alex just turned 16 and James has been letting him take the KLR out with him on county roads. As a matter of fact, I tried to get James to join us on this ride but he wanted to stay and watch his boys play football on Friday night. Turns out Alex wanted to ride on his birthday so they loaded up Sat at lunch and trucked to Oklahoma like we did. We catch up and they decide to join us on the ride back over the ridge into Oklahoma on Hwy 1. I planned to do the first 15 miles or so and turn off on the south side of the ridge. We would head into the little town of Muse for lunch.
Muse arrives in the nick of time as we are all pretty hungry. We sit back and wait on the goodness that comes with a well done cheeseburger. My route to finish the day was to hop up on the local DS legend known as the “K Trail”. It is a ridge trail that runs for 20 miles. The highlight is the still standing fire tower that offers spectacular views. I told James H that Alex would have no problem on the KLR but I wouldn’t take the Vstrom up there. I have a 650 Vstrom and I would never even consider it as I just know I would have a hole in the case in short order. James H has the 1000 Vstrom which is even heavier. I thought that was it. We are stuffed in a good way and make our way to the bikes.
I turn off on the county road that heads to the K Trail and I notice 4 headlights behind me. I wave up James on the Strom and ask him if he was sure about taking his bike up there. I got a grin and “Lets go”. The county road to the top of the ridge is a great lumpy, loose rocky, rutty, switchbacking 4WD only kind of road. I told James that if he could get up to the top, the rest would be much easier.
James muscled and finessed that bike up that road with his talent. Turns out I lied about the part about it being easier on top. It had rained and the mudholes were over the cases deep. It was a lot rockier than I remembered too. The Vstrom looked like a Goldwing on the K Trail. James did an awesome job and I just prayed that the bike made it off the K in one piece. We finally get to the fire tower and everyone wants to get a look.
Looking down from the firetower
To the West. Note how the rock runs.
Noel liking it.
Me and my beekeeper uniform.
There are all kinds of bees and wasps swarming the tower but they are not aggressive. Ive seen this behavior before. Seems when the fall season is winding down, they are looking for a place to winter. I kept my helmet/goggles on anyway.
Stone garage still in most excellent shape.
We are in the tower and I look down to see the Vstrom taking a nap. We all hustle down the tower and tag team to get her to her feet. Seems the kickstand found a soft spot. James took it in stride. Bike ended up with busted turn signal and a scratch. It could have been a lot worse. It was just a shame that it fell over on its own after all it had been through.
Its getting late and we have a 4 hour ride home. We pushed starter buttons or kicked on kick starters and made our way west as we had another 9 miles to the end of the K. I came to a mudhole that looked like it had a go around but it wasn’t. As I tried to back the bike back onto the trail I lost my balance and fell on my left side. I already had a tweaked knee and this really hurt when I hit the ground. I couldn’t get up for a bit and I thought I might have really torn up my knee. I limped it off and remounted. Alex and I turn it up and we jump ahead on the trail. Time for pictures.
Is that a Vstrom or a Goldwing?
Noel and his Dakar ready KTM
James and the Ancient One
The pavement appears and we head right and down. The road is another switchback perfect piece of pavement. We wick it up once again and fly down the mountain. It is a quick ride back to the State Park where we started. I had to take pictures of James and his baby. A quick look at the GPS had us logged at 350 miles covered in two days.
James H and the Strom.
We quickly loaded bikes and grabbed a hot shower before leaving for Texas. It wouldn’t be long before dark and the truck tires singing me to sleep.
EPILOGUE
To the crew. I had a great time and I hope yall did too. Noel I think is hooked as anybody can be on D/S. James is a vet with the D/S thing. The bikes performed very well. I prefer to run lots of air pressure to avoid flats and we had none. Running 28 psi front and rear takes some getting used to. I also think it helps tire life when you run at high speed on the pavement. All of the luggage stayed on and after a couple of miles, you couldn’t tell it was there. We had great weather and all of the ingredients for a great trip. If you got this far, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.
