left jo mamma long enough to hit arkansas

[andruboz]

I'll make this short and sweet and get back to jo mamma

my ride-

the 06 kaw 750 - didn't realise you could put the luggage on backwards until i took this pic at a rest stop..

wanted to leave in the morn but the ups man didn't bring the laminar lip until 12.

also shown the Tourmaster Saber jacket which in certain vent configurations was doing its best to choke my ass out.

took 21 to the corner of the state where i found 259 which would deliver me to the Talimena pkwy..

Slept in broken bow, Ok. and was back on the road at 6:30 a.m.

got gas 20 miles south of the talimena


This is my brain pulling 3 bars.. which is three more than my phone was pulling.. feh.. who needs to call when your ridin your ass off?


Ok/Ar got scenery if thats what your after.

rode the talimena.. somebody must have posted a pic of that before..

wanted to hit the pig trail but got there just in time to get inline behind 2 trucks pulling 5th wheels and a motorhome.

saw the 215 and took it instead. not bad at all.

Well, a little wait and a little hard pack but i'll take that anyday over a motorhome..
I asked the flagman where are the good roads? he said "I don't know. I just go down into town and come back up again." I came to realise the locals don't want to give up all the gems to the darn tourists. but that is fine with me. its fun finding them all by yourself.

he said the road north was all gravel so i took 103 back to town. that was such a friggin hoot i didn't take any pics..

lets see from 2:30 -5:30 I scheduled in a flat tire fiasco.
I wanted to ride 123 out of clarksville. Got 4 miles out and had to plug [still slow leaked] so had to try the clarkesville cycle shop. Widest tire he had was a 160 so I loaded up with 45lbs of air and made it to russelville kawasaki with a few pounds left. 2 trips to Ar, 2 punctured tires.. sorta see a trend here.

Rode the 27 until I saw a road that said 'Old 27' its been my experience that the new and improved road is always tamer than the one it replaced. Old 27 was a nice twisty piece for the first 6-7 miles.. and then the pavement ran out. Nice place for a KLR. just a touch hairy on a sporting bike. The hard pack was fine but where they had just filled in the ruts with the funky grey gravel, I had to remind myself to stay loose on the bars and easy on the throttle/steering input.

Eventually the old 27 hit the 16 which hit the 123 where i took the sunset pic..

I rode the 123 north thru Mt. Judea in the dark. wow. the road all to myself. fan-freakin-tastic! About 9:15pm I ended up in a hotel in Harrison.
13+hours riding with a 1 spent waiting for a tire change.
A really, really good day.

In the morn [overslept till 7:30] I had to see if 123 was just a dream.

nope. its really there.
rode it all the way back to clarkesville. saw some advrider types but didn't give the salute.

was going to fart around a bit but decided to shoot for home instead..
so no problem. get on 64 out of clarkesville and go over to russelville and find 7 and go home. right? well should have been, but sometimes i can directionally mindfck myself. I get to Russelville and for some reason I can't figure out how to get out of town. 64 doesn't seem to be running the right direction. And when i finally find 7, I accidently grab a branch called 7't'. and the 't' stands for 'take your stupid confused ass back to the middle of town'
where i specificly don't want to be. Saw an airport sign and I thought - hey the airport is usually out of town and this one looks like its on the south side. yeah right . like 2 cessnas and a piper something on a dead end street. .

I'm on vacation forchrissakes. I shouldn't let stuff bother me.. i didn't let the damn flat tire bother me, why was this so darn in my head???
So i wound myself up pretty tight over nothing for a few minutes there. eventually finding a road south and west. another stupid thing is- i have a handheld gps unit in the tank bag - it shows you anyplace you want to go as long as its on interstate 10 or 20 or 30, etc. etc. not so good for surface streets..If I just pony up for the detailed maps i wouldn't get so flustered..

well, shot my creative ride report wad for the night. the rest of the ride: fast, easy, fun, nice, my butt hurt.. 59.5 hours 1768 miles.



go to arkansas sometime. its a nice place.