BBBQ 2008 Friday, another great time.

Once again, the Bikes, Blues and BBQ was a lot of fun. There seemed to be even more of a crowd this year along with more vendors. The traffic was terrible as usual and was expected. I've been enough times now to know how to skirt the traffic if I want to and that helps.

The food, well, I didn't eat from any of the vendors. I ate at restaurants and they were all good.

We didn't see as much drag racing or tire burning in the parking lot of the Motel. I was told that anyone doing it would be kicked from the motel. There was some anyway and I saw only one cop in the parking lot for both nights. We actually wondered why everyone was actually being so quiet. I did manage to get some videos.

Here's how the trip went. We missed a couple of extra riders who said they might be going. They missed a good ride.

We started out at the PDQ Hwy 7/I-40. This picture really sucks, I was kind of in a hurry to leave and didn't think about the sun being in the background. There were six of us that rode up together.

We went I-40 West to Clarksville and took the Walmart exit. Went on into downtown Clarksville and made a right on Hwy 103 N. This is one awesome road for those of you who have never taken it. It takes you to Oark, Ar. a nice little small town with a gas pump and an old store. They make some really good chicken tenders there if you feel like eating after a long ride on a curvy Ozark road. Hwy. 103 is paved until Catalpa, Ar. then it turns to dirt for longer than most cruisers would want to ride on it.

We didn't go all the way to Oark though, we made a left on Hwy 215 just shortly before reaching town. This Hwy skirts along the Mulberry River on one side and the forest and mountains on the other side, sometimes the ride is through a canopy of forest. A beautiful ride.

Before going on this ride I new the road had a short section of dirt to ride on and a single lane bridge. To our good luck, the bridge has been rebuilt, widened and the road paved. That was good news to Zach, I think he had spit shined his bike before leaving.

At a pull over on 215 along the Mulberry River.
In the foreground is Cindy and "Coondog". In the back from the left is "Hammer", "Major", "Zach" and Cathy. Of course I took the picture.

After reaching Hwy 23 at Cass, Ar. we went North on the Pigtrail. Not too far up the road was the Pig Trail Rally http://www.pigtrailrally.com/rally-info.asp. It looks like a good rally which would be a good camping spot or just a side trip from BBBQ. Bikes were thick on 23 and I heard that Saturday it was fender to fender bikes.

After arriving at Hwy 16, we turned West towards Fayetteville. There were now as many or more bikes on the Hwy as automobiles. The video below is of Hwy 16.

FAIR WARNING ABOUT VIDEOS - TURN DOWN THE SPEAKERS. I've done everything but put JB Weld in the mic holes and its still loud.



When we reached Hwy 265 we turned right and were supposed to turn left onto Township Rd. but due to a computer glitch which said I should turn onto a road called TPI or something like that, we passed Township. Eventually we did arrive at the Motel via Township and unloaded our gear.

We were all hungry by then and decided to eat at Hugo's. Hugo's is at the Square in town. If your going South on 71/College, make a right at the Castle on the left (it looks like one). After turning right, go to the NW corner of the square and make a right. Hugo's will be on the left beneath the sidewalk. You've got to really watch for it, you'll miss it. It's down some stairs but inside is some good food. I had a guacamole Burger, awesome!! I got a huge order of fries. They also serve alcohol if that's what you like.

So next it's back onto Hwy 71 to Dickson St. Here's a video of the ride down Dickson, the time was about 1pm.


Zach and I got separated from the rest of the group at this point. We had to use the cellphone to find them. Obviously before cellphones, people must have made prior plans for places to meet in case they got separated.

There were a lot of people downtown even though it was early in the day. We checked out the vendors,the bikes and the people. One thing about rallies like this, it brings out some interesting people.






After staying on the strip for a few hours we headed back to the motel for some rest and refreshments and to decide what to do next.


We took a short break, sitting around, then went for Dinner at a sport bar about a block from the motel. I forget what it was called but I got a big cheeseburger and fries for $5.11 and played all the pool I wanted for free.

Later on, some of the guys went to another bar nearby while some stayed at the motel and watched the tires burn. Here's a video of smoking tires with background noise of crazy drunks at the Days Inn.


Stay tuned for tomorrows post of Saturday at BBBQ and more pictures from Dickson Street.