Monday, July 14, 2008

July 11,2008 Just tooling around

The late morning was clear and getting warm(hot!) fast. I got on the road about 10:30 and headed out for Harrison And Jasper and the usual visits with the Doctors. Traffic down 412 was light and the construction has progressed to a point that is not a problem. With out thinking about it I got on to 21 and was in Kingston before I knew it. I enjoy this stretch of the road a lot. All the curves and hills make it a lot of fun to ride.
As I came upon the intersection at the bottom of the Boxley mountain I thought About how long it had been since I had been over that side of the mountain to Jasper, through Low Gap and Mt. Sherman and decided that it had been too long and before I knew it was jamming up through the close curves twisting up the mountain. If you like riding curves these are some of the best in N.W. Arkansas and they have good sound bounce too. My pipes, I run glass packs, never sounded as good as they did going up the first set of curves, really sweet sounding.
Before I knew it I was at Jasper and at the Doctors. After some conferring with the doc I headed out for Harrison to see a bone specialist and another consultation. The ride over to Harrison was pretty much uneventful and even traffic seemed to be light. After the doc consult I headed back south again and traffic had picked up. Along Hwy 7 between Harrison and Jasper is the "Hub." Billed as a motorcycle resort. I decided to stop in and see what was happening up there. The last time I had been there was about two years ago and they had a good thing going. it's an out of the way place with a good restaurant and convention center and a decently priced motel. While there I had a very good burger and fries and visited with the folks there. They seem to be busy as all get out, especially on the weekends. Also, I met a couple that rolled in from the Texarcana area, Cull and Diane Smith. I believe that they said they were getting away for the weekend and were heading for the Iron Horse rally at Eureka Springs the next day.They were good folks and I hope that their weekend was a good and safe one.
From the Hub I headed south on Hwy 7 to my place in Deer. I had a really good ride down 7, not too much traffic and even a few other bikes on the road.
Once I got to Deer I spent a couple of days visiting with the folks and riding some with my brother. A thunderstorm blew up Friday night and soaked everything down so it turned into a lazy visit. But family is everything and it had been a long time since we just set around and caught up. Unfortunately I had to head back on Monday so the trip my brother and I had planned for the weekend didn't happen. But it's sort of rescheduled and everyone is still looking foreword to it.
This trip totaled almost 355 miles just around here close but it was lots of fun. I'm hoping to make it again this coming weekend. Maybe hit a couple of the park type areas in the country.
Hope to see ya on the road.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

No particular place to go.

Saturday July 5. 08
This weekend was a real blast. I didn't have anything to do or anyone to do anything with so, I just took off.
The first 67 miles were good, then the rain stopped. It rained hard for the first 70 miles or so the off and on. I managed to make it to Russellville on hwy 7 before throwing in the wet towel. I got a room at the Motel 8, Or was it 9?? Anyway I watched TV until I conked out and slept through on heck of a storm.
Sunday morning I woke and checked the bike over and was totally happy with it's overall performance.(it was still together)
I got gas at a truck stop type station and had the only trouble I had on this trip while gassing up. I was about to add my fuel additive when a woman parked on the other side of the pump advised me that I could go to Federal Prison for adding things to my "motor fuel". I gave it some thought and offered to let her use my cell phone to call the police. Seriously, I wanted to hear her explain it to the cops. She huffed at me and drove off. (hope she paid for her gas)
After gas, I grabbed a cup of coffee and a biscuit and headed back north in a lazy round about manor. I did alot of small town detours and just killed the day looking over the country side and hitting what few tourist stops were open. I think I need to come back down through the week when some of these places are open. A couple of them had older motorcycles that interested me.
A quick stop at moms and visit with the family and then back up 21 to 412 and a lazy 327 miles. Again, not too bad on a 31 year old machine. I did have a little fun on the way back. A new Softail blew by me in passing a car and gave me a silly grin like I got a Hog and you don't. Now I don't have anything against a Harley, I've owned several over the years. But his attitude, well I couldn't resist and I pushed him up 412 from 21 to where you get off on 45. I do mean pushed. I could see in his mirror his expression and I think he got the message and I'm proud to say that my grin was even more silly.
Hope to catch ya all on the road next weekend.