April 3-6, 2008: April Fool's Ride in Arkansas!

[Nobiman]

A quik update on Russell. A tentative release day of this thursday the 10th if the lung stays inflated after removal of the chest tube has been set. If anyone would like to give him a hard time and help keep him from going stir crazy you can give him a ring in his room at 479-441-4473.

Oh, and Dan, although I didnt get to meet you I hope you have a speedy recovery too. Glad to hear that the injuries were not as bad as originally thought.

Randy.

[tom reiner]

Here good do'ers Craig and Phillip come to the rescue.

Yeap, Craig has the helmet cam running while this happened,, LOL

P.S.

I dropped my bike there too, just the bike didn't go in the drink, I did,,, only boot high thou.
It's not considered a crash if you're still on your feet right??

[Shadetree]

Hey, Guys,
I just wouldn't feel right unless I threw my own thanks into the mix. You were all great to ride with, and that is an understatement. With all the slicing and dicing going on, empty bellies (except in the evenings) and fuel tanks, rocks, mud and rain, mettle was tested to the limits, but all stood up well.

The injuries are a sad reminder that we are human, even if we feel otherwise at times with a throttle in our right hand. I for one will continue praying for Russell and Dan and their rapid and complete recovery. I am sorry you guys got hurt doing what you love to do. I hope to ride with you again at the next opportunity.

Sean, Troy, and anyone else who helped put this ride together...thanks. It was first class all the way.

As for the riding itself, I have this to say, and I've mentioned this to a couple of you already. Any time someone doesn't want to go with Jeffro on the single track enduro trail, especially if it is Jim Deveroux (?sp), (one of the local Arkansas guys who showed us their home turf), who bows out, do not be the one guy who says, "Sure, Jeffro. I'll go." He will put the hurt on you in ways you can't imagine! I'm sure I'll be ok in a week or two.

And Randy( KTM 525), when I washed the mud off my KLX, there wasn't much plastic or a bit of glass left that could be salvaged. My chest protector looked like Samurai armor after an attack on a 50 caliber machine gun nest. Even my pocket knife was busted by a rock! Talk about a "Rooster!" Whew!

I can't wait until next time...

Bill Dragoo
Norman, Oklahoma
KLX 331

[Nobiman]

And Randy( KTM 525), when I washed the mud off my KLX, there wasn't much plastic or a bit of glass left that could be salvaged. My chest protector looked like Samurai armor after an attack on a 50 caliber machine gun nest. Even my pocket knife was busted by a rock! Talk about a "Rooster!" Whew!

I can't wait until next time...

Bill Dragoo
Norman, Oklahoma
KLX 331

I know what you mean Bill, my nice new black fork legs look like one of those turkey hunters stood in front of my bike and let 'er rip with a magazine full of buckshot! I guess I should be used to losing a headlight each time that I go to Arkansas, I mistakenly thought that a 1/8" lexan shield in front of the light would protect it. Wrong!


Sandy & I are prepping the V-Strom now for a return trip to Arkansas to check on Russell tomorrow.

Catch ya later, Randy & Sandy.

[rxcrider]

Troy - thanks again - a great trip - a better lodging and meal deal than 2 years ago & great to see so many of the same crew back there again. A thought for the future... Would an extra $20 each from 40 guys prepaid in late Summer cover you and Sean taking a long weekend to preride and have track logs dialed in to routes with the the best trail sections included. You get a free adventure and we get a ride with all the best trails...

Russell - get well and hope to see you on the bike again soon

Josh - JR! Junior rooster - Your dad must be proud! you roost like Craig and find mud holes like my LC4 - seriously though - nice job in the rocks! You get a big for filling Craig's $&!% eating grinn with mud! Hope you had enough fun to play in the woods some more.

XR - Figured it out - Rooster just covered most of the other tracks back up while his front wheel was in the air.

Darrell - My LC4 is available for 4/20 if you are interested / see you at Mid-O

Sean - Thanks for guiding

Everybody else - good to see you again!

and Stu - we missed you (again)

[troy]

Troy, ...Would an extra $20 each from 40 guys prepaid in late Summer cover you and Sean taking a long weekend to preride and have track logs dialed in to routes with the the best trail sections included. You get a free adventure and we get a ride with all the best trails...

Are you suggesting that you didn't get enough "best trails" in this time?! Was there a lot of stuff you rode these 4 days that bored you? Did you end each day thinking, "man, I sure wish we could have ridden more good trails today"?

At this point, after about 5 big rides in the area, we've assembled quite a collection of accurate trail routes and the best roads to connect them. There is always more there to discover, and as I must have heard a dozen times, "there just aren't any bad trails!". A lot of those trails, I've now ridden many times, but I'm not bored with them yet! Despite all the time I've spent riding the Mill Creek system, I still have not seen everything it has to offer. We barely touched Mill Creek this time around. It's an easy fall-back. If you run out of other options or new trails to discover, go hit the Mill Creek system--it is fantastic.

I think more than previous rides, the groups ended up doing different routes. What I appreciated most about the 4 days I rode was the relatively small amount of road riding required. We were able to string together a lot of trails to make routes that did not require mile after mile of roads to connect them. For me, it's about the trails. This is one of the advantages of staying at the Mulberry Mountain Lodge instead of a motel in Clarksville. A motel in Clarksville isn't even cheaper. There simply is no comparison--the lodge is wonderful.

There are other areas we could explore. We could do the entire 4 days in the Brock Creek area. From the locals such as Devro, I understand there are a lot more trails there than just what is marked in the official Brock Creek system. I'd like to hear some of you guys weigh in with your opinions about how the Cass area trails compare with the stuff around Brock.

I'm also told there are hundreds of miles of trails in the Wolf Pen Gap (Mena, AR) area. Again, experience with this area? Tell us about it.

There is also the Talimena stuff--Eastern Oklahoma I think?

If anyone recommends we do Chadwick, my opinion on that is no way. I'll definitely drive 5 hours to Mill Creek before I'll drive 4 hours to Chadwick. Mill Creek, in my opinion, blows Chadwick away in quality of trail, scenery, and the lack of traffic.

As for everyone pitching in $20, that is definitely not necessary. It's not a money issue, it's a time issue. Sean & I tried several times to get down there for a pre-ride. Between lousy weather and scheduling conflicts, it just didn't happen. I have SO MANY potential trails I want to research. It's hard to do that kind of exploration leading a group ride. So I'm hoping to get back down there several times this year with just a buddy or two, a map, a notebook, a camera, and the GPS. (Oh, and my TE450.)

Thanks for the thanks!

[devro]

Troy, Sean,
Thanks so much for all your effort and concern for each and every rider. I didn't get to get too close to many of the riders but I'm sure I saw each of you at least once, and enjoyed that too. I did meet a few new riders I'll probably be in touch with on and off for the rest of my life, Sean, Bill and Keven to name three.

Russel, I don't think I rode with you or your group much but I feel for ya. Do those deep breathing exercises and get the heck out-a that hospital!
I feel for ya because I did nearly the same thing a short distance from there, got helioed to Ft. Smith too. Busted ribs, busted shoulder, deflated lungs, died twice that day - and went home four days later! It don't hurt till the bone shows!
Hope you get feeling better soon.

I rode 297 miles and didn't even break a fingernail. Yesterday I decided to get the street bike out for an evening ride with the fender bunny and pulled a muscle in my back! What's with that?!

Take care to all of ya. When/if you want to ride down this way, a three day DS from Fly Gap to Brock Creek or just to ride in one area for a day, drop me a line. Or make a post on the River Valley Dirt Riders forum: http://rvdrs.com
Until we meet again....,
devro

[tom reiner]

Hey, Guys,
I just wouldn't feel right unless I threw my own thanks into the mix. You were all great to ride with, and that is an understatement. With all the slicing and dicing going on, empty bellies (except in the evenings) and fuel tanks, rocks, mud and rain, mettle was tested to the limits, but all stood up well.
,,,,,,,,,,,,


Bill Dragoo
Norman, Oklahoma
KLX 331

Hey Bill,
Great meeting you and having you ride with us, Hope we can do it again soon
Cya

[Shadetree]

Roger that, Tom. I'd ride with you guys anytime! If you're coming south at all, let me know. I'd like to come up your way too, but it'll be awhile before I get the chance to go that far.

Bill Dragoo
Norman, Oklahoma
KLX 331

[Shadetree]

Hey, Troy, Sean or Tom. Heck, even Jonathan can answer if you're online. I am working on one of the stories about our trip last weekend and I need to confirm spelling of Johathan's last name. I wrote it down, but it was difficult for me to read my writing. I have (Kaesgen). Is this correct? Also, if Jim Devro is around, I'd like to get the correct spelling on your name too.
Please email me at bill_dragoo@hotmail.com.

Thanks, Guys.

Bill

[rxcrider]

Troy, ...Would an extra $20 each from 40 guys prepaid in late Summer cover you and Sean taking a long weekend to preride and have track logs dialed in to routes with the the best trail sections included. You get a free adventure and we get a ride with all the best trails...

Are you suggesting that you didn't get enough "best trails" in this time?! Was there a lot of stuff you rode these 4 days that bored you? Did you end each day thinking, "man, I sure wish we could have ridden more good trails today"?

Troy - I'm not complaining - If I have anything to be complaining about, it is my stupid crash on Friday that left me riding with my lips flapping for the next two days - speaking of, thanks to the big blue berry with the helmet cam who helped me with the big pig on Sunday. I couldn't even lift my bike up at the end of the weekend. (Sean is the little blue berry and you have the same gear) Once again - compared to Russell, my lips are flapping.

Back on topic... I know that you have a lot of great trails logged, but laying out a ride from the laptop isn't easy or as much fun as riding it and we stumbled into a few more great trails by making "wrong" turns. Also, while the rest of us were eating and watching the vids, the two of you were back at work improving the routes for the next day. I was just thinking out loud of a way to let you build routes from the saddle and not have to work so hard while we are all together. If time is the issue, not $ - well my pockets are empty and I don't know how to paypal that to you. Maybe scheduling a small group with hand saws 1-2 days in advance to pre-run and let you know about turkey crossing signs... could I make it a week long trip?

PS - I was trying to get you a free vacation

Bill - The spelling is Jonathan Kaesgen. Craig (AKA Rooster) hasn't spelled it right in 5 years so you did great on the first try.

Sean - Hanging Rock is May 17 & 18 if you can make it

Randy - When you talk to Phillip, thank him again for the fuel

[hawkeye]

Just want to add my thanks to everyone for a spectacular weekend of riding, particularly Troy and Sean for lodging, routes and great food. Glad the injured riders are healing and on the road to recovery. I enjoyed meeting new ride partners and riding with famaliar ones again. We were lucky to get the weather we did for the weekend. They are getting storms and monsoon rains again!

Dennis

[Nobiman]

Hey all, Russell has been released as of 2 PM today from Sparks in Ft. Smith. The final talley on broken bones was/is 7 broken ribs and a shattered elbow socket. Ouch! Daryl and I are piecing together parts of of our personal parts bins trying to get Russell'a bike back together again so that he wont have an excuse not to ride again in about 6 weeks.

Catch ya later, Randy.

[Jeff620RXC]

I thought Brian was going to pick up that snake and say:
Crikey, have a go at this. Ain't she a beauty!?!

[troy]

Randy, thanks for the updates on Russell. 6 weeks may be just a bit aggressive! Heal up fast, Russell.

[BGG]

The only way I was grabing that snake was if it was attached to Tracy's !(*#&$!!. I figured I would grab the snake and then we would see who's Tracy's real friends were. Darl, Ya out there?? All joking aside it was a great trip thanks to Troy and the others who helped with all the organizing and route finding. I am glad to get the updates on the wounded folks. The trip will go down as a real (soggy) highlight for the year!!-BGG

[Nobiman]

We had to do some surgery of our own on Russells cast, he couldnt get his hand around the throttle on his bike. He said that just wasnt right.


So we broke out the Dremel tool and went to work:


Hand on throttle and a happy man! (even if he cant actually turn it )


He's suppose to get his cast off just as soon as he can get in to see a Doc, but he is far from being out of the woods. We were over there today putting new cams in Daryl's Triumph street bike and Russell would go to help out by reaching in and instantly freeze in pain. Broken ribs dont let you forget that they are there.

Later, Randy.

[troy]

VIDEO and PHOTO request

Craig is putting together another video compilation like he did for our Spring 2006 ride. That video was really fun to have, so I'm looking forward to what he finds time to put together this year! He needs your help! In 2006, I took a ton of photos and he was able to use those in the video. This time, I did not have a camera with me, but a lot of you did. Two of you other than Craig also took helmet video. The more people that will share their video and photos with Craig, the better overall product he'll be able to produce and the more memories will be preserved.

So if you've got video or photos to share, contact me and I'll give you Craig's contact info.

THANKS!

[Jeff620RXC]

[quote="Nobiman"]We had to do some surgery of our own on Russells cast, he couldnt get his hand around the throttle on his bike. He said that just wasnt right.

So we broke out the Dremel tool and went to work:


Hand on throttle and a happy man! (even if he cant actually turn it )

He's suppose to get his cast off just as soon as he can get in to see a Doc, but he is far from being out of the woods. We were over there today putting new cams in Daryl's Triumph street bike and Russell would go to help out by reaching in and instantly freeze in pain. Broken ribs dont let you forget that they are there.

Later, Randy.[/quote]

That is funny. Glad he is in good spirits.
Later

[devro]

Hey, devro here.
I'm looking for Kevin from Nebraska who camped with us in his new big toyhauler.

Keven, send me an email add or somthing. We got rides to plan and Bud to swell!