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.