2 Guys and a Girl Tackle the TAT: Part One

After crossing in to Arkansas--find your way North about 12 miles to Bear Lake------really nice lake and campground. A bit off your route--but worth it---I've camped there a couple of times. Hard to tell how to get there--ask locals if it's not on your map.
I found this place after riding Sams Mississipi Hill Country ride a few years ago.

BigDog

Real nice campsite---I think they had showers---and it looks like I had procured some firewood.

Here's the coordinates of my campsite.
N34° 42.653'
W90° 41.792'

Today: We did about 240 miles today. We are disappointed in the amount of pavement we are riding. I did not seem to see them in other ride reports I've read. We made it into Mississippi. The dirt roads have been fun here so far. They are a mixture of dirt and gravel. We hit one that was all smooth dirt. Can we say flat trackin'! Lol. Let's just say I am always behind the guys butin these roads I have been out front. . We have been having some interesting and funny conversations in the headsets but none are coming to my mind right now. Way too tired. Camping tonight. We are hoping that the storms will be OK tonight. We met up with the Walkers again today which was fun. They are super helpful! We did a few more miles than them today and went through some mud holes and crossings that might get worse tomorrow for them after the rain! Who knows what is in store for us as well. Thats the adventure though! Some favorite parts: Mt. Zion Church stop. Outhouse was not worth it though!!! Knox had us stop for 2 hours due to his temp light came on. Ended up finding out it was OK and fixed it by putting electrical tape over it haha. Another funny thing: I was out front of us and Walkers. Knox was behind me and a bunny tried to commit suicide under Knox's tire. He missed it but didn't see the turn! He blew through it and almost went into a mud hole haha! My mishap for today was being distracted by the sweet riding trails and went off the road onto the side of the hill. The boys had to get the bike down but first laughed and called me a mtn goat! We have been lucky and so far no one has actually dropped a bike but we are sure it will come.

yep alot of slab in MS, it gets better. and if you like hanging it out in the turns, you'll love OK!

Subscribed!!!

:d

Try Cycles Unlimited in Pryor, OK.
The owner, Eldon is a real character and likes to talk. This place is sort
of in the middle of nowhere and he has tons of parts.
I picked up some rear brake pads and fork seals for my Dakar(yamaha fork
seals). He even offered us his shop and tools to work on the bikes
if we wanted.

It's just a little way over the border and not too far off the trail.

Here's his number (918) 825-3326.

Here's Eldon:

Great journey so far.

^^^This

My hometown shop and he is likely as anyone to have them in stock.

Could you guys include the map with your location to your post if its not too much trouble?

Thanks!

Enjoying watching both your report and the Walkers. Looks like a trip of a lifetime!

Really enjoying following along on your adventure!

My sons and I are planning to ride our 3 KLX250's around Colorado for a couple of weeks in July so we will be watching your progress in that area closely.

I am documenting the prep and some of my son's riding history leading up to our trip, so if you are interested in following along, please go here:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=988800

Since I am following your thread as part of our prep, I linked to your thread in our thread.

Thanks and keep up the great posts!

I was was too tired to post last night! We stayed at an awesome cabin past Helena, AR. Thanks Al!!!! It was amazing! The famous Mississippi mud that locals call "gumbo" claimed it first victim yesterday from our group. The Rookie is the first official person to go down. However, it was low speed and he us OK. He actually walked off the bike. We met a local that came up on his four wheeler. He carried a gun for the snakes he said. (Which I found out why later). He just wanted to make sure we were OK. He was a character and even said if he had some turtle soup and moonshine he would have invited us over lol!!!! He also said his cousin was Conway Twitty lol. We got going again and then a snake came out of the grass as I was fighting the mud. That about scared me enough to go down haha. Just a scared black snake thankfully! We crossed the mighty Mississippi River and it is always impressive. I always wonder what the Indians or early explorers thought about that when they came to it. We got up later this morning and ate at the local place called the Carousel. Good food! We also stopped at the famous store and talked to Percy, Glen, and Al. Great stop! They are truly some awesome guys! We are thankful for the hospitality! We continued on and that's when things got serious!! We found that famous stretch of road with more of the same Delta mud on it. We were going at a good clip down a gravel road and it just came up from nowhere. Boom! Instant mud. I was leading and slowed down some. Wheelie King was going too fast and passed me trying to stay up. He did a good job of it for awhile but finally got squirrelly and ended up somehow in the ditch. Knox also went down at about the same time to the right of me. He managed to keep his out of the ditch thankfully lol. The mud was so bad it was hard to stand up or walk in. We managed to get both bikes out and going. Wheelie King went ahead to see if it got any better. He got so far that he decided to keep going...let's just say that we had to go find him later. Knox and I decided to turn around and find another way lol. We finally found Wheelie King at the end of a road and he was talking to a woman who lived there. She was nice enough to let us wash the bikes off and gave us some bottled water. The people in Arkansas have been super friendly so far. We decided that we wouldn't make the TAT Shack tonight so we stopped and just got a motel room. We did bike maintenance. Tomorrow we will shoot for Oark General Store.

Nice pics!

I wonder how many non-riders pull up at the places marked along the way with the "TAT stop" signs and go in to ask for a tattoo?

OMG - That looks like deep and sticky mud... :huh

Enjoyed meeting all of you and hope the rest of your ride goes well. I will be following along. Doesn't look like your ex riding companions are faring too well. Must of had too much whiskey cake! Good luck.

In!

We got in late to Oark, AR last night. We camped and went to breakfast at the famous Oark Cafe. Best French toast I've ever had!! They were very nice and had let me ship my front bearings in the day before. After breakfast, Wheelie King and Knox got some horse riding lessons from some locals. They came back with big smiles and even got to do a water crossing. We are about to head toward the OK border. Yesterday was fun riding in the back country and national forest of AR. We stopped for lunch in Scotland, AR. The sweet lady at the country store saved me by cooking us up some awesome lunch! We have met the nicest people in AR! More later! No phone service here just WiFi. Will call families later today!

...and taking notes...

It sounds like you three have had a lot of long muddy roads to deal with. The only people I know who like mud is the 4wheeler crowd. Keep up the awesome pictures and report and try to keep the wheels down and handlebars up.

It was GREAT to meet all three of you today at Oark. I probably delayed your departure a bit. Too much fun talking with ya'll. Good luck on the rest of the trip!!!