Day 3
Third and final ride day of the Arkansas trip. More riders joined us today so we decided to split into two groups. One group of riders would go off in search of the knarly stuff while the newer and/or older riders would go off looking to avoid the knarly stuff. Made perfect sense.... Mikeal had led us on his BMW the other two days and decided that he was tired, and going to lead the old, slow guys.
Our leader had a unique sense of direction. We made a few U-turns, the first coming only 4.6 miles from the parking lot.
Oh well, it was part of the fun.
Once in the woods all was good, and the wrong turns just meant extra miles of fun. Some of the locals were not thrilled to see us roll up to their shack in the woods. I did not stop for pictures of those folks... one could almost hear the banjos deuling it out.
Tom from Oklahoma was afflicted with the flat tire on this day.
We could not find a reason for his flat... the tube held air once it was out of the tire, and there were no objects impaling the tire or tube.
Tom put his new tube in anyway to be safe and packed this one away for a bathtub test after he got home... Wise man!
Gravity claimed a couple of bikes on this downhill section. the photo does not show the steepness ( they never do) and there are loose rocks under those leaves.
Ken got the bright idea to ride back up on his T-Dub...
He made it less than half way up and lost traction. Even the fat tire and small bike combination was not making it up this hill today!
Off to Catalpa for lunch and pie.
The special was roasted pork, mashed taters and gravy, pinto beans, and cole slaw for seven bucks. It was outstanding!
Of course this particular Saturday was IPRD, so for dessert we had....
Pie..... apple caramel pecan pie ala mode.....
From this:
to this:
in no time at all... It was as good as it looks too.
After lunch we helped Scott with a carb issue on his KLR, but it would only limp along, so he decide to head for the hotel instead of the woods.
That is me crash testing my KLR, photo courtesy of Rich...... that hill I got tossed down was pretty steep. I was glad the bike stayed on top. Ken said all he saw going down the hill was helmet and boots and helmet and boots... you get the idea.
This interesting plate was on the front of a Chevy truck....
And the owner of this Ford must know a thing or two about fixing DS bikes too.... or Stroms.....
Many miles of county roads like this filled the afternoon, along with some more bikes bouncing off the ground.
There were a few mud holes too. Gripsters do not do well in mud.... Duh!
As the sun was setting we made it back to pavement and put layers on for the fast, cool ride back down the twisty road.
Once back to town we got word that Dail had fallen in some rocks and hurt himself. Riders stayed with him while Mikeal rode back for a truck to extract Dail and his bike. Pizza was ordered in and we ate in the breakfast area of the lobby, drank some wine, and recounted the tales of glory of the last few days.
I am already wanting to return and explore some more.