LA HSTA October 2008

Eureka !!! Springs, That Is

Drew T. Newcomer

Finding myself in the middle of a job change that I was not anticipating, I was disappointed to realize that my fall motorcycle trip of at least a week would not happen. People, politics, and money converged and I found myself changing hospitals at the end of September. I did have a little respite when I learned I could make the R1150R rally in Arkansas that I, and fellow HSTA member Bob Mizner, attended last year.

I quickly came home from work on Thursday, October 9, and after lunch mounted the BMW which recently had a new set of Continental tires mounted. Up the familiar LA 15 to Farmerville and then up 558 to El Dorado is my usual path for going north. The weather was ideal and there was not a cloud in the sky. Once in El Dorado, I continued north on AR 7 to Camden where I picked up 24 and headed northeast. One quickly enters the country once out of Camden and I had not been on 24 in several years. I continued until I intersected AR 53 which runs due north to Gurdon and then northwest till it ends with the intersection of AR 8. AR 8 is also a favorite road of mine and the Beemer and I turned west and enjoyed the asphalt and very nice weather. Traffic was light and it was so nice to be riding again. I had not done any significant riding since I rode to Branson in August.

AR 8 runs to Mena if you don’t make a turn north when AR 27 splits off and heads to Mount Ida. I had planned to spend the night in Mount Ida but there was one little hitch – all the motel rooms were taken. The receptionist in Mount Ida told me there was a small motel on 27 about 7 miles north of town called the Agua Motel. So, after making a phone call and securing a room, it was off to the Agua Motel. Now, the Agua Motel is kind of an old place and there is no cable, no TV, no telephone, and no place to eat. I was starving when I arrived and the little old lady who was waiting for me told me I could find something a little ways up the road. So, without unpacking, it was up 27 to find something before the sun went down. Fortunately, I did find a chicken fried steak and potatoes which I knew would help me survive until Friday morning.

Once back at the motel (which I was able to make before the sun went down) I unpacked the bike and took a shower in some of the nastiest smelling water I have run across in a long time. Don’t know how clean I was, but I had no trouble sleeping and looked forward to heading north the next morning.

Friday dawned brilliantly and after a large breakfast (where I had dined the night before) it was up 27 to Danville and then west on AR 10. 10 runs east/west and it is a short run to Havana where I turned north on 309 to head up to Mt. Magazine. The ride up to Mt. Magazine was ideal. The sun was out, the temperature was in the 60s and the view from the top was as nice as I have ever seen. This was when I discovered that the batteries in my camera needed replacing. Really, I don’t suppose that much of a problem since all the HSTA’ers from around here have seen this view for themselves on more than one occasion, I am sure! 309 took me north to Ozark where I picked up the famous Pig Trail, AR 23; another very popular motorcycle road that I have ridden several times before. The Pig Trail took me into Eureka Springs where I promptly turned the wrong way in an effort to find my motel – easily enough corrected when I figured out my mistake. Naturally there were many bikes in Eureka Springs and there are places here that cater to the motorcyclist and there are “Motorcycles Welcome” signs in much abundance. I checked into Carolyn’s Alpine Swiss Inn and took a load off for awhile.

After breakfast with the R1150R group on Saturday morning (there were 10 of us) I headed north to Missouri taking AR 23 till turning east on MO 86. I rode east until turning north on MO 13 and on up to view Table Rock Lake. This is a very nice area and the road surface in Missouri was almost as good as in Arkansas. I turned southeast on MO 265 skirting very close to Branson before intersecting US 65 for a few miles before turning west on 86 before turning south on 221 which takes you to Berryville – 10 miles east of Eureka Springs. Saturday was another gorgeous day and the color change of the fall was very evident. Back at the motel when the other riders arrived we sat outside and discussed our rides while consuming various libations. The weather was so nice we had pizza delivered and the motel owner brought us a homemade cobbler to enjoy. There were several large tables by the pool where we sat and enjoyed both. This turned out very nicely for me since I missed much of the LSU/Florida game which was worth missing!!!

The next morning I decided to head back to West Monroe in as quick a manner as possible so I rode US 62 east to Harrison where I found US 65 which took me to Conway and on into Little Rock. From Little Rock I came home on the very familiar US 167 and was in my easy chair by 130pm Sunday afternoon.

It is really amazing what a little ride can do for your sanity. I am sorry I am not going to be able to take a significant fall ride but I’ll correct that soon enough. I had good roads, good weather, and realized that so much of this trip is what riding, for me – and many of you too, I am sure – is all about.

ByWay Boogie 2008 Paris, Arkansas

By Dave Dickson

The weekend of the ByWay Boogie, the first anniversary of my joining HSTA, had finally arrived along with the first of the tolerably cool weather.

In New Orleans, our criteria for cool temperatures is set with rather low expectations, the heat breaker of summer was for a high in the mid-eighties, but the humidity was predicted to be LOW also. Again, we don’t expect much, the humidity was dropping into the 50-60% range. That’s our fall weather. That’s our favorite riding weather.

After the hurricanes of late August and again in September, I was ready for some days off that didn’t involve portable generators or bottled water and canned food.

Dennis and I planned on this since arriving home from the Great Trip of 2008, where we rode around (literally) Colorado in late May and June with Bob Chappuis, Kevin Yeats and lead by Tony Crowell.

Dennis had recruited one of our riding neighbors, Eric Babcock, who in turn invited his grown son, Derrick. I had recruited Larry Crow. Larry had to be offshore at work. He is a Moto Guzzi rider, no let me re-phrase that, he is a Moto Guzzi enthusiast/fanatic. He won’t actually make your ears bleed, he knows the limits. Ya know, I’m just kidding Larry. Really. We missed you. Next time.

Checking with Dennis on Wednesday on last minute route ideas, he came up with a surprise. He was having arterial mechanical work done. He’s fine, just out for this trip. He was sure it was indigestion.

The trip up from New Orleans to central Arkansas is in the Mississippi delta/valley. The roads are featureless – no turns- no hills. When we got to Benton, Arkansas, however, things changed dramatically. A tree canopy covers Highway 5 as the hills and curves show an early promise of their early fall colors. The cruise control was off and the David Hough turn tips were engaged. The steep lean, the power pulling you through, the trust in the grip of your tires, as your eyes search for gravel, leaves, your heart races. Then the feeling of elation, a perfect turn! Then another and another. Any vestige of any chicken strips long gone, you get a reprieve for a few straights and it’s hard not to blast along at full throttle. “The Pace”, Nick said, “The Pace”, okay, okay! The acceleration is so tempting, but we are mostly rational, aren’t we?

Highway 5 leads to Highway 7 at Hot Springs Village and then 7 leads north to Ola where we turn west on Highway 10.

Hey Kevin, I didn’t see our friend in Hot Springs Village. On an earlier trip, Kevin and I irked an older gentleman in a Buick. I’m sure he thought he owned the road.

Memories are evoked by scents. Along the way, the strong smell of fresh pine and newly cut wood permeated the air above the roadway. Suddenly it was Christmas at a ski resort in Colorado, the kids were young, the snow was drifted high. Then soon it was gone, leaving a smile on my face.

West on Highway 10 to 309. This takes you north into Paris and in the way is Magazine Mountain. This is the highest point in Arkansas at 2,753 feet. The road through this state park has long switch backs and very few straights. There are no side roads and little traffic. As you glance at the stunning vistas, you can see for miles. Deer are a constant and unpredictable threat. We saw a dog eating an unlucky highway volunteer.

Turn, accelerate, turn, turn, turn, it was an excellent finish to the first day’s riding.

We checked into the Paris Inn and met the crowd at the Hot Dog cookout. Eric’s ZUMO said 556.6 miles, which agreed exactly with mine. I had reset my bike’s odometer and it said 557 miles, Scary!

The highlighted animal of the trip was spotted by Eric. We were in Arkansas, in the hills, in the curves, and at speed. With all that going on, he spots a spider crossing the road. At 50 mph, he spots a spider. I did not know that there were tarantulas here.

Mario Caruso, our host, was getting the pit stoked up, okay, he was lighting the gas flame, people were signing in and the highlighted maps were handed out. Mario is the author of two touring books, one featuring Arkansas, the other Colorado. He rides a Scurro Moto-Guzzi, quickly. His wife rides a bright yellow 600cc sport bike.

The culinary delight dog of the cookout was a dog-a-ritto. Dog in bun, refried beans, picante sauce, guacamole, sour cream etc. was interesting and good.

On our travels, Dennis and I had come with a routine for traveling, ride for a couple of hours, stop and eat a large breakfast and skip lunch. This leaves you hungry for an early dinner. Famished, really. We did the same today.

The dog-a-ritto was delicious, as was the potato salad and coleslaw, which satisfied the growl in my stomach.

The highlighted state maps featured some excellent routes to the destination lunch spot, The Ozark Cafe in Jasper. Dinner Saturday night was back in Paris at the Grapevine Restaurant.

After a very sound sleep, a large breakfast at the Grapevine, we were off. The waitressing for the Saturday morning breakfast were women volunteers working for tips/donations for the Cancer Fund. They remembered me from last year and liked our big tipping crowd.

Mario had highlighted several longer and shorter routes to Jasper, our lunch rendezvous, including parts of Highways 7, 16, 21, 23, 27, 71, 123 and smaller roads. I had programmed in the easterly route going to Jasper and the westerly one for the trip back into my ZUMO GPS.

Garmin may think it is an exact science and an impersonal electronic tool. Personally, I believe my GPS is haunted and has a mischievous sense of humor. We made it to the lunch but ZUMO had us doing switchback routing, then directed us to some great unplanned roads and then to a gravel road once or twice. At least ZUMO would automatically recalculate when we didn’t take the bait.

We generally took Highway 27 north, a piece of 16, tortured 123 and finally country 74 into Jasper. We used “The Pace”. This actually works very well when riders have different skill or confidence levels, as they can catch up in the straights. This takes off the pressure and leaves in the fun. We did see two cows in the road which I am glad we met at the pace.

Lunch was at historic The Ozark Café. Well, it was old anyway. It opened in 1909, probably the same year the current phone system was installed. If Waldo was hiding in Jasper, you wouldn’t be able to cell phone him.

After lunch we found out the first gas station had closed at noon and the only other station only sells regular (87 octane). I passed, thinking I could get gas up the road. Elusive gasoline was found after a couple of closed stations were passed. A little country store saved the day for me and I got over my no-regular gas in my high test bike. It did run fine. Thanks BMW. Dennis would have been laughing at me with his 7 gallon tank on his BMW R1200RT. As it was, Eric and Derrick were very polite, they had filled their bikes in Jasper. Eric was on a 6.2 gallon ZZR1200 Kawasaki and Derrick was on a ba-zillion gallon 1992 Kawasaki Concours. Neither had been riding the bikes they were currently on very long and their progress getting used to them was noticeable. Both ride very well.

After the fill-up, ZUMO had other plans and we were off on another mystery tour. If we were all driving Jeeps, all would have been fine, even if it would have surprised the farm animals. On the way back to Paris we took (generally) Highway 74 west to 71 south. Highway 71 has been domesticated and has three lanes for the most part which alternate from side to side for passing slower vehicles, (which most of them are). It follows a ridge of some respectable altitude and the cliff views were tourist caliber. Speaking of which, the antique (faux?) stores and souvenir shops lined 71.

Group dinner at the Grapevine ended the ByWay Boogie Saturday night. Arkansas is a beautiful state and they like us there.

The ride home on Sunday was immediately over Magazine Mountain. No, that’s a lie. After a ZUMO trick and a short backtrack, we then crossed Magazine Mountain in the foggy darkness of an overcast dawn. There was a deer but it was no factor as it boldly watched us from the edge of the woods. The clouds had thankfully stayed with us for the rest of the day, reducing glare and temperatures. The highlighted animal (living that is) on this day, was a five foot long snake crossing the road. What is it with all these suicidal small mammals? There were uncountable dead opossums, raccoons, turtles and un-identifiable road kill smudges. Personally, I murdered thousands of insects, but no mammals.

We stopped in Benton at Dennis’ Waffle House at the end of Highway 5 for our mid morning feast. Dennis discovered this location on an earlier trip and then treated. After breakfast, we stayed on two lane country Highway 35 and then too soon we were back in the Delta country.

As soon as we got home, Dennis heard the sounds of our bikes and came out for the news of the missed trip. Eric was asking, “When is the next HSTA trip”?

Me? I have to go offshore for two weeks; I think Eric and Dennis are going to the Gap to get some stickers.

No tickets, no accidents, great riding and altogether the ByWay Boogie is an enjoyable event. Thank you, Mario.

FOF ’08 Trip Report

Hey boys and girls……you too Lee Nangle, whatever you are. Let me first start off by complimenting Tony Crowell for losing 50 pounds. Tony went by the nickname Fat Bastard. This is no longer appropriate……….so now, we’ll just call him bastard! One added benefit of Tony’s weight loss is, he no longer snores like a herd of water buffalos.

Tony and I met in BR and picked up Bob in St. Francisville on Thursday am. We basically took 61 north and crossed the Mississippi River just south of Greenville. Then on to Pine Bluff for the night. Pine Bluff was boring except for Tony and me laughing at Bob. Bob manage to pack his booze, but failed to pack underwear. It took him 45 minutes to find the local Walmart and buy a pack of tighty-whities. I guess remembering to pack the booze is more important than clean underwear. No guessing about it Kev, Ed.

We departed Pine Bluff and again stayed on the major roads until we picked up AR 9 five miles north of Mountain View. The section of AR 9 up to Melbourne is a great curvy road, and once on it, Bob and Tony took off. I think they thought it was Track Day and quickly left me in their dust. We continued on AR 9 to Mammoth Springs. Then MO142 east, MO “Y” north, US160 east, MO 21 north, US60 east, MO “A” north, and US 67 to the Rosener’s Inn. US60 should have been a great road but freshly applied asphalt patches with lots of loose aggregate made entering the corners very spooky, which resulted in me and Bob slowing way down.

Once at the Rosener’s Inn, Bob bunked with Jimmy Girton from Olathe, KS who happened to be riding his new Connie 14 abs. Like always, Friday night at FOF included grilled dogs, chili, and chips. Except this year we had bowls, so we could eat bowls of chili, instead of just on the dogs. Y era muy bueno!

Saturday brought beautiful weather and a great ride. We headed west out of Park Hill on Mo 8, then south on Mo “Y” and east on Mo “C”. The next two roads, south on Mo “DD” and east on 32 to Bixby, are arguably the best two roads in the area. This year’s lunch stop was at the Cowgirl Café located just south of Bismarck. The food was very good and it was a welcome change over the previous years’ Ralph’s BBQ. We returned to the Rosener’s around 3pm after a 260 mile ride. The evening banquet was a typical HSTA affair, free beer, Buffalo wings, curly fries, and topless Hooter girls. Oh wait, that’s my fantasy HSTA banquet. I did entertain myself at the banquet playing with Tony’s cool new iphone (warning, just stay away from his favorite folder named “Happy Ending”). None of us LA boys won anything, but our adopted brother, Jimmy from Kansas won a t-shirt.

Sunday was our get back home day. We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then headed south. We cross the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau into Illinois, and then crossed the Ohio River at Cairo into Kentucky. Just south of Wickliffe, Ky, Tony showed us a really nice park which overlooks the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi River. The park has a huge cross, Fort Jefferson Cross, see picture. If you’re ever in the area, make sure you stop by and check it out. It offers a great view of the Mississippi and Ohio River junction. After Kentucky it was Tennessee. South of Memphis, Tony and Bob took new I-69 west for a short distance to US-61 and beat it home on US-61 from there. I stayed on I-55 for what seemed like 1000 miles and arrived home to the happy homemaker at 6:50pm. I was one pooped puppy (okay old dog). Total miles for the trip 1735, total miles for Sunday 677, and Sunday was a six state day, Mo, Ill, Ky, Tn, Ms, and La!