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Independence Day Weekend Ride?
My wife & daughter will be out of town for a wedding over the July 4 weekend. So I figure to ride. Duh.

Riding Arkansas in July can be a bit of a sticky situation. Riding anywhere around these parts in July can make a guy hot in the saddle. But I'm not figuring to take enough time off to get out to Colorado and back....so....what to do?

Off-Road? Gravel adventure? I-435 loop?

One thought I have is to run a 3 or 4 day adventure that includes some riding along Glade Top and points further East to find old logging roads. I'd find motels along the way. I'd ride my F800GS. The nice thing about getting into the forest vs a KS gravel ride is that I can find more shade, low and cool valleys, and clear water creeks to cool off in along the way.

One vague plan would be head out Thur after work to at least get the boring part over as I head towards the forest. Ride all day Fri & Sat with Sun being the day to head back West for home.

If you are comfortable on your dualsport or adventure motorcycle running about 45 MPH on gravel, you can endure a long day in the saddle, and you have a bit of cash or credit to buy a few days of motel, food, and gas--this ride should be compatible with you.

Fellow adventurers welcome but not required.

I'd love to get down to Gaston's Resort at the bottom of Bull Shoals Lake for Saturday night. They have a great restaurant there and some nice lodging. We could enjoy taking the ferry across the lake, BUT...around the lakes, there really is not any way to create off-pavement routes that go anywhere. All minor roads dead-end at the lake eventually. So to make any progress, you have to stay on highway for quite a ways....still great, scenic, twisty riding, though!

So..there might be a good deal of pavement in this little adventure as well.

If you get down that way and need a place to stay you could call some fellow Manhattanites that moved there and bought this place.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lakewood ... 9279621860

Or you could enter your 500 into the hare scramble on July 4th. I think its in Missouri.

I DO NOT RACE.

Thanks for the tip, Quinton!

Troy put me down in pencil for this ride. It will all depend on my shoulder rehab and of course permission from the family.

I'd be interested... I've got the 3rd off and that weekend. Wife is on board so pencil me in.

Troy-

I'm definitely interested, but have to work out some logistics.

I have to be Bentonville Monday afternoon, so would need to trailer my bike and leave the car and trailer some place I can get back to easily on Sunday. Which is fine with me, because I do not enjoy riding the 800 for long stretches of straight, flat highway such as the kind that leads from KC to southern Missouri. Once I get into twisty or hilly stuff, I can ride all day.

Also need to meet up with you guys at some point early in your ride, or follow you down on Thursday evening (could double as a "support vehicle" for that small portion of the trip).

-James

jasbaum wrote:Troy-

I'm definitely interested, but have to work out some logistics.

I have to be Bentonville Monday afternoon, so would need to trailer my bike and leave the car and trailer some place I can get back to easily on Sunday. Which is fine with me, because I do not enjoy riding the 800 for long stretches of straight, flat highway such as the kind that leads from KC to southern Missouri. Once I get into twisty or hilly stuff, I can ride all day.

Also need to meet up with you guys at some point early in your ride, or follow you down on Thursday evening (could double as a "support vehicle" for that small portion of the trip).

-James

I was planning on trailering out there as well. If you have any interest you'd be welcome to join, or if you didn't mind I'd happily pay for gas in exchange for a ride for my bike and me.

Feel free to PM me if that interests you. And no offense taken if you'd rather not do either...

-Sam

Hank Moody wrote:Troy put me down in pencil for this ride. It will all depend on my shoulder rehab and of course permission from the family.

Daryl, man it would be great if you could ride with me! I do know from years past that the 4th is a pretty big deal for you and your family. Think there is a real possibility you can ride?

James & Sam,

I plan to be home Sunday evening regardless. I also don't plan on burning along the Interstate for any significant miles. Only exception might be out of necessity end of day Sunday to get home before dark, but my plan will be to have time for minor highways.

I will build a route between now and then, but I won't care about sticking to it. I also don't figure to care much about time other than getting off the bike before dark.

Point is, trying to coordinate somewhere along the way is not recommended.

So Troy i should qualify by the upper criteria and im glad to see that a special fondness for beer or an odd sence of humor is not liseted as an exclusion. Too bad i will be teaching the boys about explosives instead.

jasbaum wrote:...or follow you down on Thursday evening (could double as a "support vehicle" for that small portion of the trip).

Thinking more about this, since Thur evening would probably have a motel destination point that should be reliable, it could work for you to haul down to the motel then start your ride Fri morning.

Obviously I have yet to plan where that point is.

ChrisCrash wrote:...an odd sence of humor...

That's putting it mildly.

Troy I would like to join you. It sounds like a wonderful ride.

I could meet you Thursday night as long as you are not too far from KC. After a Friday morning ride I would like to have a nap after lunch for about a hour and half. I hope that is OK. After the nap we can get in a couple of more hours before I head home. On Saturday let me know were you will be for lunch and I'll meet up with you again. On Sunday can we head home around 10? I would like to be home way before dark in order to mow the lawn.

Sounds great don't you think?

Count me in for this one. The Mrs. is scheduled to work Friday and Saturday, so I don't even have to feel bad about leaving her home alone on a holiday.

I'll plan on riding the VStrom to work Thursday (Legends / Speedway area) and meeting up with the group somewhere in Johnson County in the afternoon.

Troy, thanks for posting this ride. I haven't approached my wife about this ride yet, but it has some definite possibilities.

You mentioned Glade Top, as you know, the actual glade top is a very wide, flat road. But, within the glade top land, there are a lot of big bike friendly trails. I've got tracks of some of these if you would like them.

Gaston is a cool area but I wonder if the lodge would be full over the 4th? Seems to be a popular place.

troy wrote:

Hank Moody wrote:Troy put me down in pencil for this ride. It will all depend on my shoulder rehab and of course permission from the family.

Daryl, man it would be great if you could ride with me! I do know from years past that the 4th is a pretty big deal for you and your family. Think there is a real possibility you can ride?

Just got the OK from my wife, so now it's just up to me and shoulder rehab. Rode to Atchison last weekend and was a little uncomfortable. So still keep me in pencil.

Also, since this is the 4th of July weekend it might be hard to find rooms, just saying

Sounds great Troy. Wish I could go but the 4th is big deal here.

Hope it quits raining. I was going to do the Swinging Bridges or parts of MoTAT maybe in the next few weeks or at least part of it, something down there, but this rain! Need pontoons on the bike.

I could do this ride.

Need latest info.

Troy, I sent you a PM.

Carl

I don't have any concrete details yet and probably won't until mid next week just a few days before. I started some route planning last week. Here are some thoughts I had.

I plan to take off on my F800GS Thursday afternoon or evening and hit a hotel in Joplin, MO. I am thinking that anyone who wants to join me on this little adventure can just find their way to Joplin. I don't care if you ride or haul, but be ready to take off from Joplin early Fri morning. Early because I like early and to enjoy the cooler part of the day. By early I mean kickstands up around 8 am.

I figured to pick a hotel once I got there rather than book anything, but I guess folks need to know where to meet, so I'll figure that out.

For Friday, I have a route that should be lots of fun and ends in Eureka Springs, AR for Fri night. Personally I'd like to attend The Passion Play that Fri night. I've seen it twice, and I think it's an amazing performance. Even if you aren't a Jesus freak like me, it's a great drama to watch unfold in a live, outdoor theater experience.

I need to figure out Sat route, but it might be a loop that ends back in Eureka Springs...so we can leave luggage at hotel that day. Sunday is the day to get home and most likely results in some pavement pounding Sun afternoon.

So cost is a few hotel stays, food, & gas. If you choose to watch The Passion Play, it's a pricey ticket.
http://www.greatpassionplay.org/

Sounds great, I would be riding to Joplin not hauling unless someone wants to share expenses if they have room for another bike and person. PM me if so.

Carl