xcessive weekend in Arkansas

[Bigfoot]

A couple of us were itching for a ride since it has been awhile between rallies. We had a couple cancellations so it ended uip being just me, trbig, russ79, and kat meeting up in Eureka Springs, AR for a some fun for Labor Day weekend.

Russ and I showed up Friday night and met Tod in Eureka Springs. We went for a short ride that night but nothing major. Saturday morning we arose and headed out for a really nice ride. We left Eureka Springs and went east to Harrison, then to Marshall. We headed south from Marshall on 333, only to find that 333 turns into a dirt road after a couple miles. A quick diversion to AR27 and we were back on our way. Awesome road. We had spirited ride down 27 to Hector and had some lunch and fueled up.

Our plan was to ride up old hwy 27 but that ended up turning into a dirt road as well. Tod and Russ voted to not let me pick the roads anymore after that.

We backtracked up hwy 27 (which was an awesome ride) and took hyw 16 to hwy 123. Wow what a ride. I will put this road against any in the nation. Approx 80 miles of twisties and flat out fun. There was little to no traffic to get in the way. It was a 327 mile day of almost constant twisties and we were beat but couldn't have been happier.

Kat rode up from Texas and met us Sunday morning in Eureka Springs. Since we had had such a great ride on 123 we decided to do it again. We took hwy 21 to hwy 74 into Jasper (a great ride by itself). We hit the northern part of 123 around Mt. Judea and then rode 123 south. We had a nice a spirited ride, luckily running into no local law enforcement.

We had a little over 600 miles for the two days. I will post some picks that Tod took soon.

[Bigfoot]

[CatatonicBug]

So, you opted for the MNS, and not the FJ this time, huh? Sounds like tons of fun! I did a short, local, solo ride on Saturday, and ended up riding through my first real rainstorm. Not super heavy, but enough to soak my socks through my jeans, then all the way to my toes... Sounds like you guys had a lot more fun than I did!

[Bigfoot]

Continued ...

This morning we got up and packed to leave. Had a nice breakfast at the buffet down the road and then headed out of town. Russ and I rode with Tod and Kat down Hwy 23 to the south end of the Pig Trail where we said our goodbye's. That is another great road and the traffic was pretty light. Russ and I headed back to Eureka Springs while Tod and Kat headed south towards their respective homes.

Russ and I loaded the bikes on the trailer and are on our way back to K.C. now.

The weekend was awesome and we had some great weather. One short period of rain (10 minutes or so) on Saturday and Sunday. Not even enough to bother putting on the rain gear. I managed to scrub my new rear tire from sidewall to sidewall. No chicken strips for me.

[trbig]

There's a bunch more pics, but just wanted to say thanks for a great riding weekend, guys (And gal). I'd put our Wildkat up against any woman, and just about any guy in the twisties. She did awesome. She rode 400 miles on Saturday to get to Eureka Springs, then immediately headed out riding with us and did another 300 hard miles with us. Pretty impressive.. especially with no windshield!

I left out for the trip Friday with a back tire that I figured had another 4-5k miles on it. I got 16k out of my last Dunlop and had 7-8k on this one.





Well... a mere 1200 miles later after riding those heavenly Arkansas roads, I'm now due another tire.





I will say though, that this is the first time I've been able to wear out the sides as much or more than the center section. The most tread on it is @ halfway between the sidewall and the center. Seems I was either cornering hard, or straight up.. lol. I was riding it pretty hard... coming into the 10 mph hairpins at @ 110.. braking at the last moment, ripping around the curves and launching out... bringing the front end up while still in the curve and getting the azz end loose as it burned out a bit. Reminded me a bit of my old dirt bike days. I got to a point that my brakes just about quit working and could really smell them cooking, so I had to tone it down... for a while. lol.

Great weather. Great ride. Great friends. What else can I say.

Can't wait until next time.

Tod

[Wildkat]

What a rush!

Man! A few more rides like that one... and I might actually keep up with you guys.
lol


Left here at 3:30 yesterday morning... got home around 6:00 this evening. In between that time, I logged 1065 miles.

A few things I learned (or confirmed... again)
Fog sucks...
Some rain drops feel like needles... some feel like nails...
nails on sunburn suck.
lol
(and no... I'm not putting a windshield on the bike... but I will make certain I bring my mesh jacket next time)


Spending time with great friends (brothers) and great roads?
WELL worth the fog, the rain and the cold I endured to get there...
and the sunburn and spotty rain I hit on the way home.

Can't wait to do it again!

[Bigfoot]

Yes, I totally forgot to mention the best part of the weekend, the great friends that I was able to share it with.

I also take my hat off to Kat. I really don't think I would have been as willing to follow up her 400 mile ride from Texas with another 300 miles, let alone the really hard 300 miles that we did. At least I am sure I would have been complaining more than she did.

It was great riding with you all again. Can't wait until the Talimena rally.

[trbig]

And here's some more pics from the trip. In the first pic Harry posted, it looks like a nice little bridge shot. What was shot is this rickety old bridge! The cross boards were rotten and some missing. The ones remaining were just about the consistency of a sponge. I think the oak boards in the wheel tracks were holding things up more than the supports.. lol.





Here's one of Harry's ideas of a road to take. Be assured.. in Arkansas, when you see a sign that says, "State road maintenance ends"... you had better start slowing down!!





Random road shots...





























Kat arrives and rides along on Sunday...








Signs we LOVE to see.....





It threatened rain toward the end of the day as we were headed towards this thunderstorm, but only got wet for maybe 5 minutes each day.. at the same spot on HWY 21! lol.





We were out off the main roads and back in the woods on most of the trip. These seemed to be the major mode of transportation where we went. I can't tell you how many we passed during the trip.





After a great day of riding, we went downtown and had a decent meal.. with the worst service ever! We had a young hippie that thought he didn't need to write anything down and liked to take @ 30 minutes in between table visits. Including the 2nd and third time you had to ask for something. But as I said, the food was good. We ate out on the balcony of the old Biltmore hotel you see in the back left of this next pic.. which happens to be my favorite shot of the trip. I took it at night with no flash.. which meant a long shutter open time... along with my XJ in the pic. We got to eat and watch all the people.. along with the cool Harleys putting up the hill loud and obnoxious as ever... As stated.. great trip with great friends. Can't wait until next spring when we start doing it again!!







Tod

[Ivan]

I want to go next time, and I want in on a Colorado trip.

I am purely jealous of you guys yet again. I am missing out on my quota of white russians and Captain Morgan.

[Bigfoot]

I fully expect you to be there next time. Wish you would have been up to it this time. And don't worry, we drank your share of the white russians. Nothing went to waste.

[Wildkat]

Well... if you had been there, Ivan... I wouldn't have had to lug that bottle back.. We actually did leave SOME of the kahlua in there...

I'll bring a double batch next time... just to make sure you have all you want.

[Russ79]

I will refer you all to Harry's first post, With all those typos! You can tell the white commies were flowing freely! lol! But all jokes aside, I had a really great time, and couldn't have picked better friends to spend it with. Can't wait to go again!

I'm with you Ivan, I think we should put together a Colorado ride, maybe next summer. I will be all over that one!

Russ79

[slow mo]

great ride

thanks for posting ,,super pictures,,love the bridge scenes thanks ,, ride safe slow mo!!

[Larrym]

Clean Sweepers

Nice road, nice bikes, nice people.

The perfect XS "Trifecta"!!

[Bigfoot]

[QUOTE=Russ79;232688]I will refer you all to Harry's first post, With all those typos! You can tell the white commies were flowing freely! lol! [QUOTE]

LOL. Hard to type when those little letters are sorta double.