Arkansas Ride Reports

[mdawg12]

Met up with Albie, Dale and Leon at Natural Falls and did the Last Ride of the Year a day early. Rode through the dirt roads on the east side of the Illinois River to Tahlequah. Had a late lunch at BJ's Great Ruben by the way! Splited ways with Dale and Leon. Albie and I burned some highway miles on 62 back to Arkansas. I clocked 110 miles but I it was a lot shorter for me than the others.

Great day of riding for the end of the year.

Some pics here, although Dale should have a lot more. I was to cold and bundled up to pull out the camera

http://advrider.com/forums/showpost....6&postcount=87


Dale's ride report here:

http://twowheelsthreeamericas.com/20...the-year-2012/

[scotty69]

Hold your breath Charlie! I'm keeping my simple enclosed trailer! Just curious.

[scotty69]

My wife broke her ankle bad on Thanksgiving. I have been playing house husband in the evening and working my arse off during the day. I did take a two week vacation in the middle! I did get to ride today for half a day. yee haw

[OLEARY]

Hey Guys! Way to go! I really liked that rock formation at Bathtub Falls. Pretty kewl! Glad to see you got out and braved the cold. I got out for a few hours as well.

I was riding down Butler Creek Road from Sulphur Springs last weekend and I noticed quite a few ATV trails coming off of that road so I went out this afternoon to check some of them out. I saw some snow packed on the roads as well on Butler Creek Road. I got mostly video today. It seems like I am just too lazy to stop and take stills like I used to.



I spent most of my time today on the ATV trails that I wanted to check out. They were in pretty good shape for the most part. Hit a few roads where there were trees down. The one that went thru ended up in the Highway Dept. laydown area which is at the east end of Rocky Dell Hollow Rd. Here are a few vids of todays outing.





There was a water control dam & weir built downhill of the laydown area. This is interesting. It looks like it was built fairly recently and I believe that it was built to control the runnoff downstream of the laydown area. I took a somewhat overgrown trail downhill of the dam & weir but I stopped when I could not see a road further down near the creek and it was pretty steep With all that grass getting out once I got down there might have been a problem so I turned around and went back. Here is a vid and some photos of what I am talking about.











The last ATV trail that I rode I had stopped to take a break and the road was veering off in the opposite direction of my route. I heard gunfire further down that road as well so I turned back to Butler Creek Road. I worked up such a sweat on that ATV trail that I was soaked under all my layers and heated jacket. Once I got out on the county road I was cold from being so drenched with sweat. It didn't seem like my jacket was heating. I am not sure if that was the case or if I was just so wet. I need to check the jacket again. It may be the controller too. I have sent that controller in a time or two already. It was a short ride of only a few hours but I got some exercise and my adventure for the day so I am good.

Happy New Year everyone. I look forward to meeting all new faces that I have not met as yet riding in the new year. Be careful and I'll see you next year.

[mdawg12]

Those trails look interesting. How far from Sulfur Springs are they?

[Dragon43]

Originally Posted by scotty69

My wife broke her ankle bad on Thanksgiving. I have been playing house husband in the evening and working my arse off during the day. I did take a two week vacation in the middle! I did get to ride today for half a day. yee haw

Sorry to hear about the wife. That is a bummer. Be nice cause she is a keeper.
Tell I said to hang tough. You do that too.

[DRZ Charlie]

O'Leary, I road that area about a week before we moved. The guys working on top said they were about to install a major chicken operation up there. I think he said 15 or 16 chicken barns were going in.

[MartiniUp]

Enjoyed the videos. That little 250 sure seems to torque up the hills just fine. Stock gearing?

[OLEARY]

Originally Posted by mdawg12

Those trails look interesting. How far from Sulfur Springs are they?

Not that far really. The ATV trails are about 3 miles from Sulphur Springs on Butler Creek Road. The trails I rode were south of Butler Creek Rd but there are a couple on the north side as well.

Originally Posted by DRZ Charlie

O'Leary, I road that area about a week before we moved. The guys working on top said they were about to install a major chicken operation up there. I think he said 15 or 16 chicken barns were going in.

No kidding. I thought it was a laydown area for the bypass they are working on around Hiwasse.

Originally Posted by MartiniUp

Enjoyed the videos. That little 250 sure seems to torque up the hills just fine. Stock gearing?

No, I've got it geared down some. I am running 13 on the front and a 46 on the rear. I really like the gearing. It works really well on the offroad stuff and still do 70 on the tarmac. It is screaming at 70 but doesn't seem to be any problem. I never go that fast unless I am on the interstate and I try to avoid that like the plague. I was surprised how well it climbed the hills out in Colorado on the Alpine Loop. Even with the altitude and it was apparent that I had lost some horsepower, it still torqued up the hills pretty well.

Originally Posted by scotty69

My wife broke her ankle bad on Thanksgiving. I have been playing house husband in the evening and working my arse off during the day. I did take a two week vacation in the middle! I did get to ride today for half a day. yee haw

Sorry to hear that Tanya broke her ankle. I feel her pain. Take good care of her, she is a peach!

[DRZ Charlie]

There are a number of pictures hidden beneath this picture. Click the picture as it is the link.



Short video of a hill climb. As always it was a LOT steeper than it appeared.



Typical of the Quale (Gwal Le) Loop





The next two are pictures borrowed from RDS and Ebbs15





The campsites in South Leyva Campground. Roughing it is a mild term however, we did have a shade structure and a picnic table so it was somewhat ok. No running water, composting toilets (no really, the toilets were old and becoming compost).



Some of the roads had minor ruts in them. (Next two borrowed from RDS and KosmicKlr)



Some required a spotter (or three)



There were a few steep sections

[Dragon43]

Great ride Charlie.

[DRZ Charlie]

Thanks Gus. I tried to get my fancy smancy GoPro Hero 3 to work down there but I only got it two days before I left. It took me five days just figure out how to turn it on. It took another three days to figure out I needed an SD card and another two days to learn how to set it up. Now I am ready to use it but I missed the ride in BBRSP with it.

I doubt I will take much video but it takes great pictures. I managed to get a few when we were at the ole Model A truck. Those were taken with the GoPro then the battery died...sheesh.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by DRZ Charlie

Thanks Gus. I tried to get my fancy smancy GoPro Hero 3 to work down there but I only got it two days before I left. It took me five days just figure out how to turn it on. It took another three days to figure out I needed an SD card and another two days to learn how to set it up. Now I am ready to use it but I missed the ride in BBRSP with it.

I doubt I will take much video but it takes great pictures. I managed to get a few when we were at the ole Model A truck. Those were taken with the GoPro then the battery died...sheesh.

LOL, welcome to GoPro ownership. It's the reason I bought a couple Contours.

[mdawg12]

Originally Posted by Albie

LOL, welcome to GoPro ownership. It's the reason I bought a couple Contours.

I been looking at camera's - need some feed back on the Roam vs gopro?

[mdawg12]

Great pics and report Charlie!