Day 7/8ish…not sure which goes where, so just going to combine this one. Route was between Beebe AR/Lincoln AR/Oark AR
Pretty hot days, upper 90’s and humid.
7/22-23/17-
Got into a nasty lightning storm at the top of a mountain. I was getting closer and closer, then all of a sudden the trees were thinned out…and I felt like I was just about the tallest thing around. Decided right quick that a 400lb steel lightning rod with a 200lb meatsack sitting on it might not be real smart in that weather. So I grabbed my rain gear and hauled ass back down the trail about 100 yards to wait it out. Luckily I had a little cell connection and got the weather map to pull up. Showed the storm moving away and sat there for about an hour. Once it was far enough away, I started to get my gear back on the bike and a large red dodge 4×4 came hauling ass up the road. Didnt slow down, didnt wave…just looked out the driver’s side window to make sure it didnt get scratches going around my bike. In my 20 years riding up in back country, never saw anything like that before. Guess he was late for a very important date. Didnt need anything, but hell he could have asked if I was ok.
After it cleared up, mighty scenic
Cool rock formations
Was kinda pissed at first that the workers were going to let me through, but they said the gate at the end of the road was locked. Had to re-route…but this turned into a good thing. Instead of the wide gravel highway the TAT route had…I took a few secondary roads around the Ozark National Forest…and let me tell you, fantastic. I could spend a month there exploring that place and love every minute of it.
After I got down off the mountains and out of the forest, I saw the coolest thing. Had to stop and take a pic. There was a heard of black puppies that ran around a house and into the back pasture where a horse was running up to the fence. The dogs swarmed the horse and they were all running and playing together. I was giggling in my helmet watching this whole show. Sorry I was so late in thinking of taking pics, just enjoying this crazy animal show.
Somewhere in this timeline I rode Warloop Rd. This was by far the most challenging of the route so far. It was preceeded by a sign that said “Dead End” so the whole time you are thinking…WTF do I do if I get to the bottom and have to turn around. Well, it’s a decent of maybe half a mile to a mile….large loose slippery rocks and big rock shelf drops. Overgrown with bushes on each side and fairly narrow. I made it down with the overloaded DR…but I’ll tell you I used all of the real estate available to tack back and forth and pick good lines. I dont think I could do it on my GS clean…bottom out for sure and maybe drop it a time or two. No pics, was too busy navigating a oil tanker down a goat path.
Good time to mention, if you plan to ride in the heat…invest in an evaporation vest. They run about $30 and are awesome in the dry heat. They dont work well when it’s humid…but if it’s hot and dry, it’ll cool you down for about an hour or two before you have to rewet it. It was mid90’s when I put it on the first time this trip. I use a gallon ziploc bag to wet it so it doesnt take as much water.
Lots of folks rafting on this river…the route has you going through it, but I decided it wasnt worth the risk of watering it out and having to push this heavy pig out of the water…the bridge was only 100 yards farther up anyway. And what a shocker…it wasnt closed.
Day 9
7/24/17- Started at the Turner Bend campground in Ozark AR and made it to the Riverside RV & “Campground” (campground in quotes since they dont really have any…just expensive RV sites.)
Hot and humid again, at or above 100F
Rode close to 50mi in the Ozark National Forest. The route was only supposed to be about 20-30, but there was a crew in there replacing some road drainage culverts and I had to reroute. This time, I was happy to since I got to explore more of the forest. I think this is one place you could ride for a week or two and really enjoy it. The roads were fantastic…well groomed and spotless, didnt see any trash at all.
After leaving the forest, I stopped in a little town for fuel and lunch. I’ve been eating pretty healthy for most of the trip…but when the lunch special is footlong chili-cheese dog with tots…what can you do?
At one point, got to a little town and found a stationary train stopped and blocking the road. No idea why, just what they do out in the country.
I was a little worried that the bike and my excessive load of gear my be over the bridge limit, but it held…barely
Made it out of AR and into OK. Had a little trouble finding a place to camp for the night. Saw what looked promising about 10mi away and headed off down the road. When I got there, the office was closed and they really only had RV sites. So, while pondering what to do, a guy walks up and starts chatting. Turns out Dowd and his wife Tiffany had an old RV at the place and were renovating it. He offered to let me set up my tent in the grass behind his RV. Once I got to their site and chatted about work (he’s in IT as well) he offered to let me stay in the RV since they are only there during the day to work on it. I accepted gladly…real bed and AC. The rest of it was all torn out and I had to trek to the facilities, but still it was a great find.
random ride pics:
Kept trying to get a pic of the heron and egrets, but they are skittish and would take off as soon as I got anywhere near
Day 10
7/25/17- Started at the Riverside RV in OK and made it to Blackwell OK
It was going to be a bit of a short day since I had plans to get to I35 and find a room. My Dad was going to ride down from Wichita KS to meet me for dinner.
I got packed up and left the borrowed RV in a respectable time…8ish or so. Wanted to get out before the heat kicked in. After about 30mi I realized I had left my phone and charger plugged in back at the RV. So I ran the route backwards to go get it. Luckily no issues, just enjoyed the ride 3 times that morning.
I still got to Blackwell in the early afternoon and had time to wash clothes and take a shower.
Had a blast hanging out with my Dad and we had a tasty dinner at Braum’s…with a killer molten lava sundae for desert.
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