Day5--where are the BMW's
Wednesday Oct. 6th--Carendon, Arkansas to Russelville, Arkansas
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I was forced to disqualify one rider---I
hated to do it---- but if I don't put a stop to this kind of thing---I
don't know what is next. One rider washed his bike---I was horrified
when I saw the bike all nice and shiny !!!
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Seriously------Rodney on the BMW1150GS was going to hit
the interstate as he missed his wife and little ones at home. I knew something
was up earlier when I saw him looking at a map :)
And then next it was John on the BMW650GS---John had to get back to his BMW shop as the service work was really piling up and he was lucky to ride with us this long.
I guess it was contageous---as next, Jay on the BMWF650 was hitting the pavement for a while and would hook up with us later-----actually he was on a mission of mercy as Kevin's rear knobby was toast--and Jay went off to the big city to get Kevin a tire and we would hook up with him down the trail and put it on--very nice of Jay. He also said he needed a break from the dust------"what dust--I didn't see any" :)
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So this is all that's left. 3 KLR's and a DR650 This would have made a nice remote campsite---but it was very early in the morning. |
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I think I was actually off route
here---as we headed down a very fun dirt road and the road got less
and less traveled the further we went. Any adventure rider worth his
salt knows the trail is going to dead end.
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Sure enough--you
can see Joe checking the old bridge structure out. This bridge had been
gone for a very long time. Do we turn back--I don't think so !!
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I looked to the right and saw the
bridge carrying interstate traffic to my right. After a review of my
GPS I saw we could go down thru a smaller dry creek---barge thru the
trees and brush, climb upon the interstate and beat it down to the nearest
exit before a state trooper spotted us making a illegal entrance to
the interstate. Everyone was OK with that--so here we go.
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Here's Kevin dropping down off the
dead end road into the dried up creek--piece of cake !!
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I was the first one thru the tight trees and weeds and you can see I picked up some of them going thru there. I knew if a state trooper spotted me I was in for a citation that would mean something---I've had them before. On we went to Beebe, Arkansas to meet up with Jay and Kevin's new rear tire. We got there and no Jay--We had breakfast (yes it was still breakfast time as we left early) at the "Boxcar Cafe" while waiting on Jay. What a hoot we had in there---the waitress was a little ornery, and acted like she was giving us a hard time. |
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Now here is a serious adventure
dude. The new tire gives it away. You can see his old knobby is in pretty
bad shape---it was still usable, but Kevin knew it wouldn't finish the
ride. Pretty nice looking tire--a Maxxis I think.
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We got the wheel off and I dove in and changed the tire for Kevin. I had something to prove here in front of all my adventure friends----as about 2 years ago I pinched a tube so many times it just wasn't funny anymore--and I had lost a lot of face. We aired the tire up----seated the bead--and I nervously kept checking the tire pressure to see if my repair was holding up. Well----at least Kevin thinks I can change a tire--while all others rolled their eyes and were thinking "Oh--here we go again". I broke the bead with my boot---sometimes breaking the bead of an old tire is the hardest part---I had to have a car roll its wheel over my motorcycle wheel once to break the bead off my old F650. 45 minutes and we were done and down the road !!!
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Jay joined us again----he went down
thru a low water creek crossing--pictured here right behind his bike.
There was a bridge--but this was more fun !!
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Well I'll be---I guess it was dusty out !!! Here comes Joe Hart thru the dust. |
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I seem to have a knack for finding
great places to eat. Just North of Russelville Arkansas on famous rt.
7 is the Bayou Bridge cafe. It was party time in the cafe---there was
a birthday part going on for a 12 year old girl and after we ate the
waitress gave us cake and ice cream--what a treat. The food was awesome--most
of us ordered a big hamburger--but big ole' Larry ordered a "Swamp
Burger"--the biggest hamburber I have ever seen. They even had
a "Double Swamp Burger" that was 10 inches tall and was famous
for miles around. She said they sold about 1 a day--but they never could
eat it all--but couldn't resist trying. I ordered a dinky Jr. Burger
and the waitress kept making little smurks about the "Dinky"
guy--ordering a teensy weensy little "Juuuuuniorr Burger".
It was all in good fun and we all left big tips.
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In the dark we rode to Russelville and got a motel again
as the guys had to have a bath after following the big dust trail of my huge
23 horsepower rip snortin' KLR !!
219 miles--what a day !!! We hoped to make it to Oklahoma with the time we had alotted for this trip---I don't know if we can make it or not ???
Day 6 A run for the border
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