Open Road

I would like to thank Crus'n Open Road for this video. It and his website is below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4mU8ZqMZPU


http://virtualhale.com/cruzn/openroad.php

I went and didn't go

I put a couple of better pics on the Telegraph Tree post (9/16/2009), hope you like them better Dick.

Zach and I went for a ride to Clinton with the intentions of going to the Rally of the Ozarks there. We took Hwy 95 from Morrilton and arrived in Clinton about an hour later. It still looked early for the rally. We both didn't have a lot of time to spare that day so we didn't bother paying the $5.00 to go in. There wasn't a lot of people there yet and we had already heard bad news about the rally T-shirt. I have a bad habit of collecting rally T-shirts but I refuse to ever buy another one with the back covered in business advertisements and we had heard that was the case with this rally T-shirt. That's too bad because the logo really looked good.

We decided to eat at Western Sizzlin in Clinton. WORD OF CAUTION-DO NOT EAT THERE. That was the sorriest buffet I have ever had. I won't go into details but suffice it to say it just plain sucked.
While at the restaurant more and more bikes came down the highway, giving me the impression that this rally has a late start. Next year I'll come back but later in the day, possibly stay the night in Clinton. I'll just bet this rally really picks up momentum late in the evening.

My thoughts are this... Don't get there early and it'll probably be a good one. Hopefully they will take off the ads from the back of the T-shirt next year. The Mountain View rally had the same problem in 2007, but this year they had a really cool looking T-shirt devoid of ads.

On the way back from Clinton we took Hwy 65 South to 285. Hwy 285 is a very narrow highway. It and parts of Hwy 95 got me a little nervous. This time of the year the deer move a lot during the middle of the day. We had one cross in front of us on both 95 and 285.
After 285, we took Hwy 25 into Conway, at Hwy 64 we made a right. We made a left on Salem Rd at the next traffic light, following it all the way to Prince St (you can go a little further if you like and take a left on Hogan Ln. it also takes you to Prince St) where we made a right, next make a right on Hwy 60, cross the Ark. River. We continued on 60 to Houston and then took Hwy 9 to Morrilton.
If you feel the need to go to Little Rock after crossing the River, a little ways up the road is the Hwy 113 turnoff to Bigalow that will connect with Hwy 10 into LR. It's an interesting and at times very curvy road.

You probably didn't need all that info, but if your looking for an easy way to get to the South side of Conway without going through the busy part of town, Salem or Hogan is a good turn off.

BBBQ 2009

Have I mentioned yet that I won't be attending the event this year. It just so happens that I work all four days of the BBQ and I won't have any vacation until January. I'll make up for it next year. Zach is in almost the same situation, he's going to make it there for one day though.
So have fun all of you that make it to the 10Th anniversary of BBBQ.

A new camera and reading glasses.

I finally bought a new camera. I opted for the small easily transportable Sony which is not even as big as a pack of cigarettes. It has 12.1 mp, which is awesome. It takes really good videos also.
It has a rechargable lithium battery which I hope will last a long time between charges. Until I figure out how long the battery lasts I'll take along my old camera as a backup. Which brings me to the reading glasses part of this post. Remember the ghosts I had on all the pics, which is the reason I bought the new camera? The other day my father in law was at the house, I was showing him my new camera. I told him about the old camera having the ghosts problem. He pulled out his reading classes, looked at the Pentax and told me that the smudge was on the outside of the lense. I borrowed his glasses and the rest is history. I used cleaning solution and the smudge came off fairly easy. So there you have it, stupid is as stupid does.

The end of the Telegraph Tree, Pottsville, Ar.

The last one. It's only a tree, I suppose that's why it hasn't made the news. I know how it is, these things stand around for ages, collecting dust and bugs, getting rained on, losing appendages, fighting off diseases, making it from one winter to another, soaking in the sun between naps, waking up without a complaint. Kids play around them, wagons stop, drivers have dinner beneath the towering branches. Lovers sit on blankets having picnics while the armies of ants and other insects crawl up the gnarly trunk. Year after year, home to thousands of birds, many calling it home. Squirrels, Raccoons and Opossums must have sit on the branches watching the world below. Possibly with old man Pott's hunting dog barking up the trunk.The Telegraph chattered for a time, the tree didn't care, they never do. A Civil War and World Wars have gone by and the tree stands solemnly, quietly, except for the wind through it's branches and the creaking of it's limbs. The road went from dirt with horses traveling by to asphalt and automobiles thundering past.


The tree is dead, there will be no burial, it will stand above the plaque, it's one recognition, waiting, rotting, until someone decides it time to move the corpse. Then in an instant in time, dust will be all there is, as it was and will always be.

The end of an era

The place where people that didn't have a lot of money could actually afford to take there kids once in awhile. I rode by to see what was playing and the old mans picture was on the window. Check out the website below.
http://valleycinematrio.org/default.aspx

The Tsubaki chain.

I've done it before, but this time it didn't work out the same. I bought a 39 tooth rear sprocket and a 120 link chain. The last time I did this, the chain stretched a little (wore out quickly is probably a better word for it) and it worked just fine. This time I bought a Tsubaki chain and it is obviously a very good chain. The old Honda model chain wore out with enough slack in it after about 50 miles. The Tsubaki was still as tight as new after 300 miles. So I decided it should come off until I get a 38 tooth rear sprocket.
I'm not the greatest or smartest mechanic in the universe but I know its not good to have a lot of pressure on the cam shaft, transmission or rear axle.
The 120 link would be great for a 37 to 38 tooth sprocket. For the 39 to 41 tooth, the 122 link will work great. Actually I probably could of used the 121 link chain but I'll not be cutting it that close again.
I'm back on the road again. Not that it will do me any good. It's really difficult getting used to not having a 7 day break every three weeks. It sucks really bad. Well, having a good job was good while it lasted.
I can remember when I was a kid watching tv (yes they had tv then). I remember watching news about how work is changing for the American family, how that soon instead of working 40 hours a week, it would be 20 hours a week. Plenty of time would be left over to use the camper and go on vacation. Higher wages and less time at work, what a dream, what a dream that was only that. Welcome to corporate america, the great American dream.
I think it's time for some "Northern Exposure", now thats the life.

I finally got out of town.

I got up early Saturday morning and went to the Mountains, Music and Motorcycle Rally in Mountain View, Ar. It was a perfect day, a cool morning turned into a lot of sunshine and a not too warm day. The last time I went to the MMM rally was in 2007, I was impressed with it, it was easy going not too crowded and had bike games, a fun rally. The rally t-shirt sucked bad that year but this year it was a good looking shirt with not even one advertisement. I wrote a letter to the guy in charge that year, maybe that helped. I know I've got lots of t-shirts but it's just a thing of mine, I always buy the shirt, patch and pin (ya never know when you might need them).

It was good to be back out among people that love to ride bikes. The crowd this year has grown, it seemed to be at least twice the size and maybe three times as big as the 2007 crowd. I look forward to going next year. Its going to be on my yearly calendar now.

I got some bad news the other day, I may not be going to the Bikes, Blues and BBQ this year. This job I have has pulled me around so much I think my joints are going bad. I was going to be off this year and now as of a few days ago, right here before the rally, I won't be off. Not one day of the rally will I be off. If I can't find someone to trade with I won't be going. My daughter has been bugging me for the last couple of years to take her to the BBBQ and this year we were going up on Saturday, she had already informed her boss that she wouldn't be working that day. Now its right back to the same ole thing, my job screwing with my family life. I guess I should be used to it. I'll never forget the time I was at deer camp about 22 years ago. My wife's aunt come into camp about 6pm and said she had a message for me that had gone to my wife and then to her to give to me. She said that my job scheduler told her that I was to come to work immediately or don't bother coming back to work except to pick up my personal stuff. Stupid me I left camp, went home, went to work and stayed up all night after having scouted for deer all day. That was really smart on the schedulers part, stupid on my part for showing up. I missed the first day of deer season got into it with the scheduler and my wife learned to not be answering phone calls intended for me.

That was probably a little too much to talk about that didn't have anything to do with motorcycles. Here's some pics from MMM. Oh yeah, the ghostly smudges have returned to my pictures, I guess it's time to get a new camera.

Above is a statue of a Bison, its along Hwy 95 just South of Clinton,Ar. Its out in a field with nothing else around except grass. A really nice bronze statue and if you weren't looking for it you might not see it. Its probably at least 100 yards off the highway.

Now this is something you don't see very often nowadays. The old 750Four Chopper. The one below is also a 750 but I wouldn't call it a chopper. I saw a third one but didn't catch a pic of it. More than I've seen at any other rally in recent years.

See you at Mountain View next year, I plan to get a room or take a tent and spend both days there. Cya then.

The Good, the Bad and the Idiots.

What shall I start with? The good news, the bad news or the idiots? How about the good news.

The good news is a couple of Saturdays ago I went for a ride. Turns out it was most definitely a good day for a ride in more ways than one.

I've been stewing over this posting since then. I decided I would not get on the blog and post immediately after my ride. I felt it would not be constructive in any way and I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

The family other than myself were camping at John F. Kennedy park on the Little Red River at Heber Springs. I couldn't leave with them initially due to work so I decided to ride up later. I know what your thinking....yeah right, he planned it that way so he could go for a ride. The truth is I honestly couldn't leave earlier.

I decided I would make a good ride of it and hit a few roads I hadn't ridden yet. I went to Morrilton and took Hwy 95 to Clinton (more on Hwy 95 later in the bad news). Hwy 95 is one of my favorite rides, its got its share of straight sections, but also has plenty of good curves and hills. The scenery is really nice and I've never been on it when the traffic was anything but sparse. I especially like the town of Scotland, I had intended to hang around Scotland for some good photo ops I knew the area had. As it turned out I didn't hang around due to the afore mentioned bad news.
When I reached Clinton I turned left onto 65, taking it to Botkinburg and made a right onto Hwy 110. This is one of the roads I hadn't ridden yet and it turned out to be an interesting ride, I wish I'd stopped and taken more pics, but my mind wasn't in the right place since I still hadn't recovered completely from the bad news. This road has some good views with beautiful hillside farm land. I caught myself wondered how the area had eluded me all these years. Maybe the reason why its still so nice is because it's off the beaten track.
I followed 110 until I reached Hwy 16, then rode on into Greer's Ferry on a section I hadn't been on until then. Afterwards I took 92 and 25 on into Heber Springs.
I'd wanted to take a detour off of Hwy 92 and hit a section of 225 to Prim, Ar. then 263 back to 92. That would of finished my roads in that area, but just after passing through Greer's Ferry, it started to rain hard so I bypassed those two roads.

I made it to camp on the Little Red River, had a meal, visited and made ready for the trip back home. I had intended to stay the night but something had come up as often happens.

Now for the bad news.
Just before reaching Scotland, traveling at 50-55 mph on an easy left hand curve, I noticed two motorcycles coming towards me. I can still picture what happened, I know exactly what I did and why I did it. There was a rapid thought process as usually happens in these type of situations. I know that the time involved could not have been more than two seconds at the most. It seemed like more and still does. I thought of a lot in that minuscule amount of time. One motorcycle was hugging the outside part of the lane, the other was in my lane and leaning as much as he could possibly lean and both were traveling at I would guess a minimum 75 mph, maybe more. When I saw the bike in my lane I remember thinking....do I take the left or the right....the other bike was left...I'll take the right...apply brakes...not too much....I don't wanna start a slide. There was no shoulder, only a drop off, I was on a hillside. I remember...thinking...you idiot (the other old fart), don't brake and slide!! I thought about my family at the camp. I hugged the white line, that and a few inches more was all that separated me between today and tomorrow. All this in possibly only a split second. I saw the look on the idiots face, a weird smile, a do rag around his head, the leather vest, the sound of the Harley's engine, the whoosh within two feet of me. Then I was out of it, my heart didn't have time to beat fast, I didn't have time to be afraid of what could happen. I thought for a second about chasing them down and telling them what I thought, then decided I wouldn't be able to catch them even if I wanted to.
I pulled over after the curve, took my helmet off. I thought to myself... out loud. You freaking idiot!!! A few more choice words and I got off Cindy, being careful, pulling the Mustang seat out of my arse. I walked around thinking how nice it was to still be in one piece with no broken bones and still having to wonder if there really was an afterlife.
I'm telling ya people, I was pissed. Another motorcycle almost caused me to buy the farm. That just isn't funny. I also got to thinking how I had saved the old farts life. That's right, I rode my bike, I could of driven, but I like to ride. If I'd been in a car, I'd have a new hood ornament. He for sure would of been killed and I may not of made it out any better.

Now its time for the idiots. Pretty simple, idiots come in all shapes and sizes and they can ride or drive anything. The guys on those bikes may have been new to riding but I doubt it. I think he was just an idiot, possibly a drunk idiot. I don't know that though, but I'm sure of one thing, he counted coo this time and made it, next time he may make it to that great motorcycle road in the sky.

Be careful out there people.

I have some pics, I just don't have them with me, I'll add a few later

I guess its not fixed

Now the registar of my .com address is sending me a refund. As always though, if I lose it, just go to www.bikingarkansas.blogspot.com .
I'll be glad when I can finally go on a ride somewhere. I've had alot going on and it seems that everyday my plans change. I'm hoping for smoother riding in the future when I go to a 40 hour a week (yeah, right), 8 hour a day job. Same job, just getting off the rotating 12 hour shifts.
I'm now looking at a ride within the next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. David

I believe the problem has been fixed

They reopened my .com . Back to business, as soon as I get a day off when the weather is right:).

My .com

I've been having some trouble with the registar of my .com address, they have locked me out because I won't give them personal information.
Until further notice, anyone who visits my site will need to use the entire address, which is www.bikingarkansas.blogspot.com .

Drive in Theaters in Arkansas

I found this and thought it was interesting enough to pass along. Russellville also had a Drive In Theater, it was still being used in 1982. I'm not sure when it was demolished, I know the sign stayed there for years afterwards. I regretfully do not have a picture of the 64 Drive In Theater.
Heres the link I mentioned. http://www.driveinmovie.com/AR.htm

Finishing up Highway 10 West.

A few days ago I went for a ride to complete Hwy 10. I had ridden it from Little Rock to Booneville, this trip was to take it to Oklahoma and hit a few roads on the way back. The weather was great at around 70 to 80 degrees with very little wind.

I first went to Dardanelle, then traveled Hwy 27 to Danville, then Hwy 10 all the way to Oklahoma. After that I doubled back and traveled on Highways 45, 96, 71, 252, Old 10, 60, and back onto Hwy 10 for the trip home.

View Larger Map

I passed the above scene just East of Blue Mountain. The Mountain in the background is Mt. Magazine.

After arriving in Greenwood, Ar. I noticed this Tank (a M-41 Walker Bulldog) across from the city center park. Which was a good thing, because thats when I noticed the museum which can be seen under the gun barrel.

This is the old Greenwood jail and museum complex which consists of among other things, the jail, a cabin, an old barn, an old church, a famous grave stone and a miner memorial.

The old cabin and water well.

The old barn with carriage under the overhang.

This is the old church.

This was in the city center park. I don't really understand what its referring to. A guy lived a long time, was in the civil war and maybe he was a Senator. I'm not really sure. Heres what I found after researching.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=3595

http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/h/Heartsill,W.B.W.html

The Miner Memorial, with a lot of names on the two walls.

Awesome minor statute.

If you double click on the pic you can probably read the memorial.

The next three pics are Hwy 45 going south towards Hartford, Ar. This one is up the hill and the next is.....

down the hill and after a long curve to the right then another uphill, its over the top and ...

back down again. I believe that is Sugarloaf Mt. in the distance.

The town of Hartford, it was here I turned left on hwy 96 to go towards Mansfield, Ar. Hartford is a very sleepy old town. Lots of old houses, a wide street which at one time was probably busy with traffic. The most exiting thing in town this day was the girl seen to the right that came out of her old downtown house to argue with her boyfriend.

This is the Hartford miner memorial, or part of it. Two rock walls with rock seats inside, and a ghost that can be seen in the left corner :(.

After traveling through Mansfield and Huntington, I took 252, a really cool road going through farm land with lots of curves and scenery. After making a right on Old Hwy 10, I found these Buffalo.

This would have been a good pic, but as luck would have it, a gray bar turned up at the bottom.

This was taken at the old Booneville watershed lake. Its a big lake with bluffs on one side, looks like there might be some good fishing. Its a quiet lake, there were only a few people fishing. Old Hwy 10 eventually turned into Hwy 60 when state maintenance took over.

When I arrived in Danville after a cool liesurely ride East on Hwy 10 I stopped at the Vientiane Restaurant. It has Laos, Thai,Indian, and Chinese dishes. I chose the Chicken with yellow curry, jasmine rice and an order of three spring rolls. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was 7 pm. I ate all but two spring rolls, they were good the next day for lunch. I would recommend this place to anyone that likes good oriental food.

In case anyone really wanted to know. Vientiane is the capital city of Laos. The name of the city is derived from Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. Its original meaning is "royal sandalwood grove" or "city of sandalwood", this tree being highly valued in classical India for its fragrance. In modern Lao, the meaning of Vientiane is ambiguous, and is often mistakenly believed to mean "city of the moon", because the words for 'moon' and 'sandalwood' are written and pronounced identically. However, the name in Thai, เวียงจันทน์, retains the etymologically correct spelling, and clearly indicates "city of sandalwood" as the meaning. The romanized spelling "Vientiane" is of French origin, and reflects the difficulty the French had in pronouncing the hard "ch" sound in the Lao word; a common English-based spelling is "Viangchan", or occasionally "Wiangchan". Was that interesting or what?

There is a new Laos/Thai Restaurant in Russellville, its called "Kob Jai" which means "thank you" in Laotian. Its good also, I've eaten there several times.

Todays ride was a good one, full of good scenery, history, good roads, great weather and exploration.

I may not be doing much riding yet.

At least some people are. A friend and co-worker of mine got back from a trip to Texas a few days ago. Below is a link to his ride log, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Tonight I work OT, tomorrow, its my turn for a ride.

http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223581

Galla (Galley) Rock

Finally, I was able to go for a ride on that nice Sunday about a week ago. It was around 70 degrees and felt wonderful. I got Cindy out and cleaned her up a little. Not much, she doesn't need much care. I'll probably wash her sometime this spring and oil change time is coming soon. Since I quit riding in November of last year, I had started her only once, that was in January. It was cold then and it took about three cranks for her to fire up. This time it took one and she was purring to go. A little miss here and there, which cleared up quickly, then smooth as always.
I dont know if I ever mentioned this but the big reason I don't ride when its below about 55 is because of my hands. I've got some good gloves but my hands still just about freeze solid in cold weather. I think I may try some of the HD winter gloves, I've heard they're some of the best available. I spent three years in Alaska and my hands got bad cold a couple of times. Maybe thats why they get so cold nowadays, I don't know.
This was to be the first good ride of the year, although it wouldn't be a long one. I decided to take some pictures of Galla Rock. Galla Rock is on Hwy 105 along the Arkansas River between Pottsville and Atkins, just East of Sweeden Island Park. I loaded up and started riding in that direction. It felt good to be back on the road with the wind in my face. I would say with the wind in my hair but I don't keep alot of hair and I wear a helmet.
Galla Rock is a town full of history. Did you know that the city of Atkins was started with immigrants from Galla Rock? After the Railroad went in, a lot of Galley people moved to the area that is now Atkins. Before the railroad, most commercial travel was by way of the Arkansas River.
Also, did you know that several hundred Cherokee Indians settled at Galla Rock before branching out to other areas in the River Valley. George Guess, better known as Sequoyah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoyahwas one of these Cherokee. He was the one who invented the Cherokee Alphabet. He inventually moved to the Scottsville area where he had a blacksmithing shop. He also had a natural salt lick in the area, he boiled the water down and sold the salt. Later, along with so many other Cherokee he was moved to Oklahoma.
I took Hwy 247 South from Pottsville, then River Road until it turned into Hwy 105. Along the was I found this old house on the North side of the road. I know this isn't a good picture but the land was posted. The thing I like about this place is that it's two story and has windows lined up like it was an old hotel or something. I'd like to find out more from someone in the area and if I do I'll be sure and post it.

A little further down 105 I found this old house sitting out in a pasture.
I thought this old tree was kind of neat, its just to the left of the house in the above picture.
Below is the infamous city of the dead, all that is left of Galla Rock, Arkansas. You may notice the sign says Galley Rock, it was known by both names.
The historic marker.
Masonic Lodge 172 put this marker up.

The Jonquils were blooming. Along with the Dogwood, Peach, Pear, Cherries and Red Buds, among others, the river valley is starting to look like Spring.
An old rock grave, in the distance is Petit Jean Mtn.
Some of the graves have fences around them and some of the fences have been stolen and all thats left are the posts.
This was the tallest gravestone. Can you see Cindy back there.
This is looking towards Petit Jean and the Arkansas River. On that land below is where the town of Galley Rock once stood.
Heres a couple of links I found pertaining to Galla Rock.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=350

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~argrha/

After getting back on Cindy, I rode on to Atkins. I raised a little havoc in the area, revving my mighty Honda engine and scaring children, honking my horn when I got up alongside skaters....that kind of stuff (just joking of course). I rode around looking at all the old houses and finally, stopping on Hwy 64 across from the Atkins Cafe, I wondered what it would be like to have about 500 bikes show up here one nice spring day for a meal. Five Hundred burger baskets. After taking a short break at the Hwy 64 park, I rode up Crow Mtn. and back home. It was a good ride, just a beginning, hopefully this year will be great for Cindy and I. Theres still alot to see out there.

Clinton Library "Art of the Chopper"

On February 7th, I went to the Exibition at the library http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/. I almost didn't make it, Feb. 8th was its last day there. It was a wonderday for a ride, but ride I did not. I can't complain though, I spent some quality time with my wife and daughter.

Before going to the Library we first stopped at the Arkanas Maritime Park http://aimm.museum/where my daughter Shanna and I went on a tour of the USS Razorback (named after the whale, not the hog, but cool none the less). Being a military minded man, I really enjoyed it as did Shanna.

If your very big around or are claustrophobic, don't bother going. They also have a museum there, which was really nice.

Above is the hatch going into the sub, which shows how small the entrance is. I won't put alot of pics of the sub here, thats for my other blog.

After leaving the sub we went to the Little Rock Riverwalk area and had pizza at Iriani's. Im not sure if I'm spelling that correctly but it's close enough. This was the second time I've had pizza there. The price was right and as usual, in my opinion its the best pizza in Arkansas. The Supreme is awesome.

It was time to walk off some calories so we all headed to the Library. I took alot of pictures, too many in fact to put all of them here. So I'll just put some of my favorite and some of the strangest. Here goes.

\