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I have had 2 major surgeries, and will be recovering till the ride so attending is out of the question.I have been advised to rest the old body and brain to relieve stress and heal quicker. So I will not be there with you this year. Go to the archives of rides from past years to get routes. Backroads touring, rideforum,net, and rideok.net will have info you can use. Motel is the same Americas Best, Eureka Springs Arkansas. I'm sorry things have worked out this way, but thank God I'm still alive. Planning a new route each year was a labor of love, and I miss doing it.

Hopefully. if answers are needed, one or more of you can respond to them. I will not be responding to people about the ride. Rest is a high priority for me.

Hope to be back to riding by mid April, David H

Is there a sign up for this ride? Details?

I may be able to make this one this year. Got a new seat for the bike to pamper my ass too Just gotta shake off the winter blues, do some bike maintanance, and off I go!

Having only attended once (last year) I'm far from experienced with this event. But my understanding is that an individual just needs to call down and get a room reservation and be there. There is no real organized sign-up roster or anything of that sort. There are no registration fees associated with the event either. Just go ride. Last year there were lots of folks to drop in with for the day.
If you can make it I would recommend it, the riding in that part of Arkansas is a lot of fun.

Kingrider

Here is a little of what you can expect to see if you jump in and follow someone on this ride!

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!!

Are you headed down to the event this year Bob? I think there are a few others from the Backroads Community goingto the event.

david h wrote: Hope to be back to riding by mid April, David H

Get well soon!

I saw the gps files from older rides. Can anyone post routes from 2011 or possible routes for 2012. I didn't have my GPS in 2011. Much appreciated.
Jim Gach

No new routes were created since 2010 unless someone did this one their own. With David's limited his involvement in 2012, I would not expect new routes to be created.

Check with the folks on Ride Oklahoma site for alternative routes... they tend to do their own "Thang" when they ride that weekend.

How technical is the ride? I know these can be pretty challenging. I am looking for just some easy going exploring. I missed the last time this happened and I would really like to make this one if I can.

I don't recall it being too bad, I would encourage you to hook up with someone to ride with of similar ability. I've ridden it solo couple years ago, and Uncle Dave let me ghost in and out of his group a bit.
My favorite part was kinda SW of Jasper in the Castle Bluffs area, never been able to find it in topo, but all of NW Arkansas is fun.
There's a big long water crossing east of Jasper, but just before that's where I picked up a nail that went completely through both sides of the tube.

Thanks katbeanz. I will have to think it over and see if I can get the scheduling to work out.

Foster wrote:How technical is the ride? I know these can be pretty challenging. I am looking for just some easy going exploring. I missed the last time this happened and I would really like to make this one if I can.

Nick, after riding with you and Chris this past Sat, I am confident that both of you have the riding skills and machine for the Hillbilly Dualsport. You will LOVE it!

Disclaimer, I've never actually ridden the Hillbilly event, but I've ridden almost all those roads and have reviewed their routes in years past.

I do believe that some groups will incorporate some ATV trail in the mix. If you hear mention of the "Mill Creek ATV system", I would say the DRZ400 is great in there while the KLR is too heavy for some depending on skill. For example, I do everything in there on my KTM 450. I've ridden that system a lot. The trail difficulty depends a lot on latest erosion and use. I've been there when some hills have guys on 2 strokes failing to get up the rock ledges. Other times, I believe I could ride my F800 up the same hill. They went in there with a grader this last year and smoothed over the really rough sections...but a lot can change in 6 months.

All that said, if you are looking for "easy going exploring", then just get in with a group that does not plan to hit ATV trails....but you'll be missing out on some great fun! Definitely no worries for you guys. If you go, I guarantee when you come home you'll immediately start figuring out when and how to get back down there!

Hey Nick- Alissa and I are strongly considering doing this one as well, but we're wondering the same things as you guys. I'd love to do the ride, but I'm a bit afraid of falling in with the wrong group of riders and ending up on terrain that is a bit above Alissa's comfort level. If I were going alone, I wouldn't worry as much since the DRZ seems pretty capable (I've ridden it in the same riding areas as my KTM 200 and it did surprisingly well other than being heavy and softly suspended).

If you guys are serious about going, we could get a plan going. I don't have a GPS, so I can't download the tracks, but I was figuring we'd just hook up with some other riders down there and hopefully tag along. Also, I haven't called the hotel, but we are pretty familiar with Eureka Springs since we go down there several times a year and are confident that we won't have any trouble finding lodging.

I will talk to Chris and see what his plan is. We had planned to do a bunch of street riding down south this weekend but he needs a new sprocket and chain set so I think he may cancel on me. If that happens I will most likely do the ride (Hillbilly Tour)

Kendall- are y'all riding down or hauling the bikes? I figured y'all would haul the bikes, but we all know what assuming does...

I will figure out what Chris wants to do and what the plans are, then get back to you. Sounds like a blast and I think I would be willing to pass on the street riding on the V-strom this weekend just to make the Hillbilly Tour happen.

We'd be hauling down for sure. I'd like to ride down, but there's no way I could slab it that far on the DRZ and to make it a fun route would take some major planning.

Luckily, the ride is still a little over 2 weeks away, so we have a little bit of time to get a plan going.

Forgot to mention- if you haven't done street riding down there, I'd highly recommend it. We've been doing a spring trip and fall trip down there every year for the last 5 or 6 years and the roads are awesome.

Being down there on the pavement is what makes me want to try some dualsporting even more. With epic twisties like they have, there has to be some impressive off-roading.

I have ridden a ton of street down there and I LOVE it!! It is freaking awesome . My brother has only done a little bit and I was really hoping to get him down riding a bunch but he told me at lunch time he has to cancel this weekend. So pending a discussion with my wife, it looks like I will most likely do the hillbilly tour Should be a great time!

Let me know what you find out with your discussion and we'll get some plans going if you guys think you'll be in.

I'm in. My brother is a possibility but it is unlikely.

Sounds good. Are you doing any riding this weekend? I'm going to have my wife's bike back together tomorrow with any kind of luck, so she will definitely want to go riding this weekend. I was thinking it might be a good day to do the White Cloud run again. If you're interested, it might be easiest to plan the Hillbilly trip at lunch or something.