Well, Daniel and I got to Clarksville around 3:00pm on Thursday. The weather was incredible. We checked in as fast as we could and unloaded my GS for a run up to Mt. Judea on 123 and then dirt back down the East side of the mountains to Falling Water Falls off Hwy 16. It was about 78 F and no humidity. Then we ran 123 back to Clarksville. There was a LOT of wildlife out and about!! The deer were kind enough to stand right out in the middle of the road so they were easier to spot. We got back to the hotel and hooked up with Mike (KubotaMike) and had dinner before calling it a day.
Friday we headed up to Donny's place and dropped off the truck and trailer. We unloaded the GS and worked our way East on back roads through Jasper and eventually up Yellville. From there we ran up to Peel ferry and then up 125 North. There was a bridge out on 125 at Brushy Creek. We got detour instructions from a construction worker that took us up over the mountains on Glade Top road and Skyline road. That plopped us back out on 125 just a mile or so north of the bridge and we were on our way. At MO H, we turned back South to US 160 and ran into Branson for some dinner. Then it was a back road blast back to Donny's place. We got in about 7:45pm, leaving just enough time to set up camp and unload the remaining bikes. Larry and his kids had just arrived and Ian and Debra arrived a few minutes before. That night we watched a nasty storm blow through Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri. The lightning show was impressive. We never got a drop of rain.
Saturday was hot and steamy, but the riding was incredible!! By the end of the day we were beat! Around 10:30pm, serious storms came blasting through the place. It was crazy winds, loud thunder, hail, etc,... until just after midnight. There was a short break where I got out of the trailer to see if the tent campers were still with us and the temp had really dropped!! They were a little wet but fine. Then the lightning got really wild, spreading out over our heads from horizon to horizon
About 20 minutes later it started raining again, but not as hard. I was at least able to sleep through it. The first storm had the trailer rocking and it was LOUD inside. Daniel slept right through it without even twitching once. He was exhausted from the riding.
Sunday morning, it was drizzly and grey, but it burned off by 11:00am or so and got real pretty again. Everyone else went out for another long ride, but I stayed back and started getting stuff ready to go. That and I was just tired from a severe lack of sleep the last few days on top of the riding. The drive back to Clarksville was beautiful, cool and dry. We hooked up with Debbie, Erik, Camillo, Nadeem, and Rusty for dinner. Ian and Debra joined us as well. Apparently, they got into some rain closer to Clarksville and cut their ride short on Sunday.
We didn't hit any rain on the way back Monday. However, between Marshall and Carthage on US 59, there must have been a mess of tornadoes because there were downed trees, snapped in half trees, and huge branches EVERYWHERE. Quite a few were sticking out into the highway, even after crews had come through to cut most back so traffic could get through. I could see where some had come all the way across both lanes into the median!! A few homes had large trees down on the homes. Many had large trees down in their yards. Some had ALL their trees down. The damage went on for miles as we drove South. Hopefully, all the TWT members in that area are safe and unaffected!?
As usual, weather in Arkansas is weird. It stormed like crazy in one spot and was beautiful just a few miles away. Sometimes elevation has a lot to do with it. Trail riding would have been pretty treacherous. However, the forest roads have been getting a LOT of fresh gravel and would not be bad in the rain unless it was just storming like crazy. The roads have a lot of grip, even when wet, because of the aggregate they use for their asphalt. It is like sand paper. My front TKC on the GS is toast because of it!
All in all, it was a great weekend.