"Arkansas, April 2000"

Well here we go, high anticipation for another wonderful year enjoying my ST

After waking up SarahT1100 from her LONG winter nap, I did a few piddlin miles (around 500) here and there but was itching to get out and have some fun.  I first have to say that I dedicate the theme of this trip to my son, Chad who CONVINCED me that I NEEDED a more comfortable seat.  After much procrastination and grumbling, I ordered up a new Corbin.  All I can say at this point is Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Chad!        (  Chads homepage  )         Reading on will explain.
 

I was going where others that I ride with have been before, the Arkansas Ozarks and was in high anticipation's.  Plans for my first day were to get me from Belvidere (Illinois) to somewhere in the middle of Missouri.

Day 1, Thursday, April20
The morning started out shaky.  It was pouring down rain with thunder and lightning :-(   I turned on the weather channel and started "cyphering" what it all looked like.  I was planning on mostly slabbing the first day so I would interstate straight down 39 to Bloomington, then catch 55 sw to St. Louis, and then go from there.  Well, there were red/yellow blobs on the move yet to cross 39 and I told my wife I'm not that eager to leave yet.  After delaying my departure nearly 2 hours, I finally decided the weather pattern said it was time.  So, I did what I have frequently asked myself if I would ever do, that is to leave the comfort of my garage in a downpour.  Ya, I did it.  But I had good insight from the weather channel, that I would eventually run out of rain after around 2 hours.  I knew I really WAS crazy when I finally reached 39 and saw all the lightning bolts striking the ground.  Yikes!

But, purging on, (or should I say "praying" on)  I was about 50 miles from Bloomington when all of a sudden I came upon SEVERAL 18 wheelers on their sides!!!  What the fu*#?  At the next intersection, the state police were diverting all southbound over to the old route 51.  There were more 18 wheelers on their sides blocking the road ahead.  After traveling south on 51 to get to the next 39 exchange, I decided I needed a nature break to get rid of some of the excess coffee I had consumed waiting for the weather to improve.  I stopped at McDonalds and a girl came out only to say, sorry sir, we are closed.  (Calling me sir, she obviously didn't look past my exterior to the kid inside)  She said "We have no power".  I explained my immanent problem and she said I could use the facilities.  Lucky old boy scout bob carries a pocket flashlight.  The rest room was pitch black!  Had to hold the ol flashlight in my mouth to take care of business.   I later asked the McD girls what was going on and she said 2 hours earlier there were 2 tornadoes crossing 39, uprooting the semi's,  also taking out their power!  Remember those two red/yellow blobs I mentioned earlier.  Ya.  I can just see it now.  If I would have left on my planned time, Dorothy would have been waving to me, riding on my ST along side the cows and the wicked witch.  (maybe I would have been the witch with my black ST :-)  After getting back on the road, my memory was creating all kinds of scenarios, like trying to hide behind a big rig in the event of a tornado and having the damn thing tip over onto me.  Ouch!  Ok, stop those kind of thoughts!

But, it had stopped raining and I was constantly searching the skies for a "blue clearing line" I knew was down there someplace, thanks again to the weather channel.  Then, all of a sudden...... THERE  SHE IS, I said in my helmet.  A blue clearing line ahead.  I thanked the rain gods and sped up.  I later found out my excitement was to be squelched. :-(    All of a sudden, there was WIND.  And I mean WIND.  Coming out of the southwest at a 45 degree angle to the ol ST.  35mph sustained, 50mph gusts!  MAN, I was a cussin those damn gusts and getting a damn sore neck fighting the half crosswind.  It wasn't fun!

Oh well, I realized my first day was just to "get there" so I plunged on.  After passing St, Louis and saluting the Gateway Arch, I headed west on 44.  At least the wind was now a direct headwind, so I could rest my pour neck.  It then kinda struck me.  I had gone 400 miles already, and that ol familiar tailbone pain was missing.  The CORBIN!  My but didn't hurt!  Wow, cool!

I took 44 west and was originally planning on staying the night in Rolla, but was feeling good so hit the scenic19 south, skirting and fishing through Mark Twain Nat'l Forest.  I now knew, whatever the miles and time, I would hit Mountain Home, Arkansas for the nights rest.

Just before crossing the Arkansas border, Rt 19 turned into a roller coaster!  Something wasn't right with my system and I started feeling ill :-(  I don't like roller coasters and I was on one!  I had to slow way down but it was still getting my stomach.  I finally had to stop or I would have lost it inside my helmet.  I had packed myself a couple of "PBJ's" and bottled water so I stopped and had a real late lunch to calm my stomach.  It kinda worked so I headed on.  After reaching Mt. Home, Ark, I smiled at my Corbin and at my still, "capable of more miles" buttox! :-)  But, I was where I wanted to be and felt happy and proud of my 602 mile run for a day!  (Not an iron-but, but a good one for me)

After that really late lunch, I decided to have a crunch bar and pop as a snack for dinner and just called it a day.  At this time, I was missing companionship, but was indeed having a ball.

Pictures from day One:
 rollercoaster1.jpg
 roller2.jpg
 first_pbj.jpg
 ark_welcome.jpg
 lone_st_at_motel.jpg
 

Day 2, Friday, April 21
I awoke feeling mighty fine and started planning out my route for the day.  This is a very new concept for RCT.  Not having detailed plans ahead of time.  Yes, I had some tips from others, but was truly planning my route that morning.   COOL!

I headed north just a bit to hit Bull Shoals Dam (just cause I hadn't been there before).  Then, on through the very cool Arkansas winding roads toward a town called Ben Hur.  No real significance to the town (almost back to back town signs), but just recommended roads to and fro.  Damn, heading toward Ben Hur, once again the nausea hit.  I must have had some kind of bug, cause the roads were perfect and I usually don't have an issue with this.  So, I again stopped at what turned out to be a VERY peaceful spot to consume my other PBJ.  I sat there for at least a 1/2 hour and ONE vehicle passed me in that time period.  No problem with traffic congestion down here!

After Ben Hur, I set sights on Mount Magazine.  The view from the top was very nice, but of course not as high as I had been last fall with the gang on the Blue Ridge and of course not as high as I'm going to be the middle of June on our upcoming trip to Colorado!  Again, nice roads and really enjoying the ride, the weather and the solo feeling of doing whatever the heck I wanted to do.  Oh no, was it that Easy, Peaceful Feeling hitting me so early in the season?  I think so!  No, I KNOW so!

I, of course had to take a shot of the eagles hovering above catching the updrafts of the cliff.

I wound around here and there and all through the Ouachita Nat'l Forest.  Went through Havana and Ola??  Hmmmm have I made a wrong turn and warped down to mexico.  I stopped at a store looking for a Mt. Magazine T-shirt for my daughter and everyone was looking at me funny being the only non-Mexican in sight!  I finally wound up in Benton, Ark. (just SW of Little Rock)  Wow, cool sign ahead, Ramada (attached to a Dennys for $39/nite)  That was my call to spend the night!

Since Chad was also doing his Arkansas solo trip, I thought I might run into him by now and later found out we had missed each other by what had to have been only 30 minutes on mt, magazine.  We hadn't planned on meeting up till the next day, though, so I wasn't really looking for him.

Once again, after my 357 miles for the day, I had NO but pain and very little fatigue.  The Corbin was sure the answer for me.  I had initially upon getting it, thought I was going to have an issue with the increased knee bend angle due to the slight lowering of the seat, but things must be cool and good, cause it never crossed my mind and instead had me concentrating on the enjoyment issues instead!

Pictures from day Two:
 bull_shoals_dam1.jpg
 bull_shoals_dam2.jpg
 bull_shoals_dam3.jpg
 bull_shoals_dam4.jpg
 go_to_ben1.jpg
 go_to_ben2.jpg
 go_to_ben3.jpg
 go_to_ben_eat_road_curve.jpg
 st_go_to_ben6.jpg
 to_ben7.jpg
 ben_hur_sign.jpg
 mt_magaz_sign.jpg
 mt_mag_lake.jpg
 mt_mag4.jpg
 mt_mag6.jpg
 mag_outlook8.jpg
 mag_outlook9.jpg
 st_on_mt_magazine_2.jpg
 st_on_mag5.jpg
 st_mag_upshot.jpg
 eagle.jpg
 

Day 3, Saturday, April 22

Day 3, I decided to start right out heading for Carbondale, Ill, where I was that night to meet up with Chad, share a motel and (finally) a nice restaurant meal.  I had seen what I wanted of the Ark Ozarks, so I decided I would arrive in Carbondale early and enjoy some of the Shaunee Nat'l Forest for this day's entertainment.  After just taking my time traveling and enjoying my SarahT1100, I spent a little time riding around Carbondale, with fond memories of the days Chad was going to college there.  I snapped of a few pixs of his old dorm and trailer, and then headed toward Giant City, a nice forest ride.  After riding around for some time, I decided I would just stop and take off the gear and enjoy what was left of the late afternoon sunshine on my bones.  I had barely gotten my coat off when .......What the heck, there was a Red VFR.  We were both shocked at the strange meeting in the middle of nowhere.  After relaxing for a bit and exchanging exciting stories of our trips (including the neck whipping from those damn wind gusts) we headed toward town to the Holiday Inn so we could walk from there to town for dinner an a brew.

Where else to eat, but of course, Trace Ombrays(sp?).  Great meal, great companionship and more stories of the trips, but sorry to report to Steve that Elvis is dead and not to be seen!  I'm sure Chad will let you know about that.

Day 3 was 413 miles

Pictures from day Three: (For Steve Budde's benefit ;-)
 brown_hall.jpg
 pleasant_hill_rd.jpg
 giant_city.jpg
 
 

Day 4, Sunday, April 23

After a refreshing night's sleep (well after Chad called the front desk 3 times to bitch about some unwanted racket),  we awoke to the weather channel again telling us that our ride back north would again get interesting.  Wow, this is cool, once we get down to Ark, we had 2+ days of prime springtime weather under clear blue skies.  Now, I guess this is mother natures way of reminding us of the dreadful place we call home. (when it comes to weather anyway).

We were prepared for the rain but I got awful cold on my way from Bloomington back to Belvidere.  At one point, the temp got down to 39F with light rain. I was wondering if I was going to encounter those horror stories I read on the ST digest of people running into snow on their bikes.  I must have hit a cool spot though, cause by the time I reached home, it was back up to around 45F.  I was very relieved to see that temperature gage inch back up from the 39 low reading!  I was totally dry, and happy for all my gear.  (I did spend a good 1/2 hour in the shower emptying the hot water heater warming up my bones)  I really should have stopped along the way and put on something more than just a t-shirt under my coat!  I think I would have been just fine with my normal flannel shirt.  I just wasn't anticipating the temps to drop that low.  A cool (and I mean that in two ways)  350 miles took me home.
 

Conclusion
I was happy to get home but happier yet for the wonderful trip I had just finished.  I can't express enough, the thanks I have to Chad, Tad, Jeff and others who got me back into this wonderful experience of Sport Touring, just a year ago.  After 9500 miles last year, I have seen so much already and have kid like excitement in anticipation of upcoming trips for this year.  Tad... remember just last spring when someone was fearful of a 300 mile jaunt over to the Mississippi?  Wow!

If anyone reading this has ANY buttox pain, tailbone pain, lower back pain, etc, don't even think about it a minute more.  Get a different seat.  The Corbin was good for me, but I know there are others out there.  Thanks again, Chad, for the prodding.  I owe ya one!

Total miles for the trip totaled 1722

Good luck and safe riding to all

bob

 Click here for my homepage

Send me an email if you like
(rctrank@execpc.com)