Arkansas Ride Reports

Today Albie, Marlin and I rode to Chester for lunch and back to Fayetteville. It was a great ride, near perfect weather and great company. Albie called shortly before 10 am (our departure time) and said the clutch on his KTM 690 quit working so he went back to his place to get the DR. No harm done as we finished plenty early and still managed to have a great lunch in Chester and the Chester Cafe.

Our route for today



My stats for the day (I don't think the maximum speed is correct though)



We had a bit of pavement today but the pavement that we were on was sufficiently curvy to make you forget you were scrubbing your tires off.

Winfrey Valley Road



Marlin at the same stop. I caught his best side don't ya think?



There was pavement



And there was gravel









Really nothing special for today but riding Winfrey Valley Road an Bidville (the lower end) always makes for a good time. I've got a couple of videos I want to post as soon as they are loaded and edited.

Aw contraire, mon Charles: ANY day spent healthy and riding a scoot is a VERY SPECIAL day.

Nice pics. Love that Winfrey Valley area.

V-man

Followed Charlie and Albie through the woods. Good ride and company!

Lunch stop at Chester


Photo stop. The only time I saw them in the rear view mirror.

Good stuff Charles and Marlin! It sure was a great day to be out and about. I haven't been to the Chester Cafe in a long time. Prolly cause they are not open on Saturdays and some folks have to work during the week. Great photos, thanks for posting! Happiness is seein Charlie and Albie in your rear veiw mirror. LOL

FINALLY started posting the Colorado Ride Report from last year that I promised!

Not an Arkansas Ride Report... so it's in the "Riding" section. Here's a direct link:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20674068#post20674068


V-man

Got out for a few hours yesterday afternoon up into Missouri which I am know to do when I only have an afternoon to kill. The low water bridge at Camp Tilden crossing the Big Sugar is now complete. Looking good if you like a modern looking low water bridge that will last a century.







There is a horse campgrounds called Ponderosa Trails Campground southeast of Pinveville. I did not know what a Coggins was but I looked it up and it is a test for horses. Coggins is not a disease, but rather the test performed for equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). Most horse owners are more familiar with the term 'Coggins' than the disease it tests for because state regulations require a negative Coggins certificate before a horse can participate in a show or be transported out of state. I saw this sign and had to find out what it meant.





Crossed the old bridge crossing Mikes Creek just before you get to Powell.

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Rode on down the Mikes Creek for a ways on my way to Washburn where I got fuel. I switched the fuel tank on my bike back to the stock 2 gallon so fuel stops need to be more frequent now. More water in Mikes Creek than I have seen in a while.







On my way to Washburn on Missouri Uu I came across this. I stopped and turned around and looked down into the ravine below to see if there was a vehicle down there cause I wasn't sure how recent it had taken place. No vehicle, just some saplings sheared off. Looked like a bad accident happened here tho.



Thats all I got from a short Satruday afternoon ride. Later.

Nice report Tim, interesting about the equine test too! Yeah I'd have hated to take the ride down the ditch that that cage did. Bet the pucker factor was way up about then

Thanks for sharing the pictures Tim. Why did you pull the big tank? Going to try more single track?

Hey Mike I think I saw you last last Thursday by Lake Ft Smith. The waitress at Chester said we just missed you.

Kind of reminded me of back in AberDabber when I left the highway doin about 100 mph with my old mans Olds. Went from one ditch to another until I finally slowed down enough to gain control. Luckily the ditches are much shallower around there. The ditch in the picture dropped about 50 feet.

Yeh kind of! Since I have two bikes, I thought I would make one more of a trail bike and the other the adventure bike. Since that one has the suspension modified by Go Race and the Scotts steering dampener I thought it made more sense to make that one the trail bike. I really need a little bigger tank tho like a 3 gal IMS tank.

Hi Charlie, yeah I thought that was you and Albie wasn't sure who the third guy was. I see in your excellent ride report and pic's that it was Marlin. I was kind of disappointed in the chow at Chester, guess Grandmas has me spoiled. Was good to get the WR out and ride again too.

Whoa, didn't know about that one. But then back then we were all 10' tall and bullet proof right!:eek1

Nice pics n' ride reportin' OLEARY!!

I too, wouldn't mind the 3.1 tank that retains all the OEM plastic... but so far my stock tank hasn't been an issue. However, I'm gettin' a hankerin' to start learning the trails down around Talimena State Park... so a 3.1 would be a nice thing, me thinks?

V-man

I see a lot of those kind of road "signs" as a UPS guy. They're always fascinating and a good reminder that driving is pretty dangerous. Good on you for checking to see if the vehicle was down there.

Not much of a ride but kind of a milestone for me. My Bonneville has been out of commission for about two years. Long story. Yesterday I got it back. So today was the first day I've had it available to use at my discretion. So I rode it across town to meet some friends at the movies.



Then I rode over to my dad's, where I had left my DR650 yesterday, and did a little light maintenance. Took a pic of my "stable". Glad to have a choice now.



On the way home I managed to get a grab in a game of photo tag (a capitol building), then get a new item for someone else to find, which was a school for the deaf.




Then I zoomed home at highway speeds. It felt good to have few more horses.

Nice Duane. Bet your glad to get her going again.

As I cruise through the Ozarks north of Dover, I often see a trail taking off of the one I am on that I figure needs exploring someday. So today I decided to start that exploring on Adams Mountain Road north of Scottsville. It is also known as FS1328 and PO72 (Pope County). I was starting on the south end and planned on taking every trail that went to the east. I did not get to all of them.


The first one started off nice enough.


But then I started running in to a bunch of this stuff with little sign of previous traffic so I turned around.





The second trail was pretty decent but it dead-ended after a mile or so.

The third one was much more promising since it was actually a numbered road &#8211; FS 1328B.


The trail eventually forked so I took the one to the right.


It was fairly easy going until it started meandering through some young pines. There was a short stretch with big rocks and then ruts and mud as it started going downhill.







I was heading pretty much south now and eventually came out here on Mill Creek. I had been here before. The water was deep but the bottom was fairly smooth.


After crossing the creek I came out on FS 1322. Continuing south on 1322 put me on Granny Gap Road but first I had a bunch of these to get through.




I followed Granny Gap Rd back to Adams Mountain Rd and retraced my tracks to the fork I took at the end of FS 1328B. So this time I went left at the fork and had to ride through this mess.


Just kidding. That is what it looked like off to the right of the trail.


The trail started heading down Adams Mountain. Except for a few steep places, it had a heavy layer of pine needles that felt like I was riding on a carpet.


Once again I came out on Mill Creek.


If I continued to follow the trail downstream I knew I would come out on Granny Gap Rd again. Another trail had come in from my left (north) a short distance back so I turned around to see where it went.

This was a little creek that dumped in to Mill Creek just out of sight to the right.




Uh-oh. It may be hard to see in this picture but the trail began a long, steep climb just after crossing the little creek.
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Now, I have gotten a bit smarter lately when I come to this steep stuff. Instead of just going for it or turning around I have been getting off and walking up or down it first to see if I think it is something I can handle. No need in inflicting any unnecessary abuse to the ole DR or myself when I am out here by myself. So this is what it looked like as I walked up the trail. The first two are looking down and the third is looking up.






Unfortunately, I have not gotten much smarter in my evaluation and I figured this was doable. The fact that it was wet and there were lots of loose rocks did not seem to affect my decision making. So off I went, well sort of. I had cleverly stopped on some loose rocks and I killed the poor DR several times trying to get going again without flipping it over. Most of the ascent was in the washed out rut because the trail was too narrow and/or sloped too much to stay out of it. Luck on my part and the DR&#8217;s torque got me to the top or what I thought was the top. The DR is barely visible in this picture.


It turned out the climb was far from over but the worst part was behind me.





It was a relief to get back to this kind of stuff.




When I finally did get to the top, I took a short trail to a clearing and found this, which I think might be an old well.


Back on the trail again I come to the mother of all mud holes, at least on this trail, anyway.


I was not turning back now, though. I eased around the left side of it and about half way through I find two batches of frog eggs. A little warm weather in February and the frogs are making babies.





After this it was pretty easy going and I eventually came out on Adams Mtn Rd. There were still plenty of trails left to check out but they will have to wait. I had had enough exploring for today so I headed back to Dover.

Wow, great stuff Bo. All I managed to do yesterday was go to the gym. I like your work out routine a lot more than mine.

Thanks, Charlie. It was definitely a work out with hiking up the hill first and then wrestling the DR up it.

That looks like a heckuva lot of fun, Bo.

GREAT STUFF, bohawk! Man I love your ride reports. I referenced this report for a ride some of us KC boys are doing end of April.

Thanks!