Badlands or bust

[Onkel Neal]

Moto-Dude checking in!

Day 1
The journey begins!

Well, it begins right after I take my daughter to school. But first she has to go by her mother's house to get some book or something. So, I take her to get breakfast, a book, and then to school. And then return home to load the bike. The plan is to exploit America's chain of cheapo independent motels so I don't need the camping gear this time (which saves packing time and gives me more space on the bike.)

So, bike is loaded, gear secure, chain lubed, iPod charged, maps ready--and I'm off! Before you know it, I remember three things I forgot to pack. Things like the balaclava and heated vest, in case it gets really cold up in the Dakotas. Oh well, the regret of freezing cold a thousand miles away can't overpower the reluctance to turn back after three blocks, can it now?

Right. Off we go, me and my trusty Suzuki V-Strom 650. For those unfamiliar with the Strom, it's Suzuki's version of an adventure bike; affordable, stone reliable, and great fun to ride. And really yellow. Her name is Wendy (postcard to the first reader to correctly guess why). I've had this bike since new in 2008 and it has 42,000 miles on it. I really cannot say enough about this bike, it's great fun to ride and gets 50~53 mpg.

As outlined in the preamble post, this journey is very unscripted. The main goal is to ride through the US to the Badlands in South Dakota, pivot there and return through the western US. I aim to get some good riding in northern Arkansas; they have some great roads and wonderful scenic drives. I would also like to pass through Cross Plains, Texas on the return home to pay homage to Robert E. Howard.

I've scheduled only one social stop on this trip, that's a quick hello in Livingston with an old high school friend. We haven't seen each other since the 10 year reunion, and that was quite a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Livingston is only an hour and a half away, so after I parse the Houston traffic, I meet up with Suzi at the Fain Theater, which is one of the oldest movie houses in Texas. Suzi and her husband run it and right now they are undergoing a massive restoration. Suzi greets me with a cheer of "Moto-Dude!" and gives me a tour of the theater and answers a bunch of geeky questions I've always had about how a projector works. Thankfully, Suzi knows her cinema tech.

Afterwards we go to El Burrito for some Tex Mex (another facet of my motorcycle trips--dining; let the gorging begin). We reminisce old times, friends, and get each other up to date on our lives. Suzi is not a Livingston devotee, shall we say. She tells me some of the area's shortcomings. She says there are backwoods areas where the sheriff deputies never venture. I listen breathlessly as she describes endless miles of deep woods roads where you see hillbillies sitting in their underwear in front of abandoned shells of trailer homes, in tattered lawn chairs, surrounded by numerous plastic water containers to beat the heat, with a dog chained to every tree. I nearly chuck the whole South Dakota trip right there, to go explore these Deliverance outposts!

After the waitress brings the check, we part and the journey north continues. East Texas is pine trees and gently rolling hills. There is a VFW hall in Corrigan with an M42 Duster armored vehicle. My route takes me up through Marshall, the setting for the move We Are Marshall.

Around 2:30 I began to get really sleepy. Lunch wasn't part of my original plan, and I began flirting with the idea of pulling off onto a county road and taking a nap in a field.

I crossed into Arkansas at Texarkana. I picked up a map at the Welcome Center. The lady behind the desk suggests a route through Hope and then North through Nashville (Arkansas, not Tennessee). She says it's very scenic and she was right. This part of Arkansas is very pretty, almost as pretty as Texas. Or maybe more. And very fragrant, the air is fresh and naturally scented. I rode through Arkansas on my return from Chicago a couple years ago and they have some of the best roads and scenic routes I've seen.

Arkansas is famous for Johnny Cash, former President Bill Clinton, the only natural diamond mine in the US, Wal-Mart, and General Douglas MacArthur. But what Arkansas is really known for is being the place where early Texas settlers paused before venturing on to the eventual Lone Star state. "Ma, I think we can do better, let's keep going."

Speaking of Bill, I took a turn in Hope to visit the first home of former President Bill Clinton. I admire him for his rise from middle class roots. I voted for him in his first election, thinking that George Bush had broken his "Read my lips, no new taxes" pledge from his first '88 campaign. Sadly, Clinton would teach me the difference between a politician breaking a campaign promise and a politician lying under oath. His house was closed, I got there about 15 minutes too late.

Along the way to Nashville, I came across this charming little village, Washington State Park. The town is "a lovely, peaceful tree-shaded town in and one of the most amazing historic places in Arkansas that you'll want to experience. Here you will time travel back to the 19th century as you stroll the plank board sidewalks alongside streets that have never been paved, and tour the historic public buildings and former residences. Established on George Washington's birthday in 1824, the town of Washington today is one of America's premier historic villages." It really was cool, but as luck would have it, everything closed at 5pm, and I rolled in at 5:45.

I want to get an early start Tues, so maybe some things will still be open when I get there, so I decided to end the first day in the small town of Murfreesboro. I found a small motel advertising $49, and after some sweet talk, the front desk girl lowered it to an even $50 with tax. Winning!

Had dinner at the Rattler's Den. The service was good, cheerful and friendly, but the food was pretty bland, and the pie - blech!

Map link
Close calls: saw a 2x4 in the highway, but in plenty of time
Song of the Day: Long Time -- Boston
Philosophical thought: Take care when being chivalrous around Russian women
Dining: El Burrito: fajita nachos, B-
Rattler's Den: CFS, Coconut cream pie F.

[Sailor Steve]

Wow, quite a first day! Sounds like it's going to be a great trip.

[Onkel Neal]

Coffee Stop, Livingston, TX





M42 Duster, Corrigan, TX






First home of President Bill Clinton, Hope, Arkansas





Historic Washington State Park




more WSP



Shamrock Motel



More pics can be found in the Badlands or Bust Picture Gallery


.

[Jimbuna]

Received your postcard an hour ago Neal.

I looked up Georgetown, Texas and must say it looks cool buddy

By my calculation that was you travelling approx. 160 miles from Pearland.

Wish I was there with you

[Onkel Neal]

After typing the report, I was relaxing and reading Bonfire of the Vanities. It was a little cool, so I decided to look in the closet and see if there was a blanket. Lo and behold! The closet is actually the door to an adjoining room, which was unlocked. The other room plainly had occupants, but they were not in. I could not get the flimsy door knob lock to work, so there was no locking this door. (Shrug) I pushed the chest of drawers with the cathode tube TV up against the door instead. About 10 minutes later several people entered the other room, it was clear that hearing through the door was unhindered. I switched on my TV to let them know someone was here (I looked for Animal Planet channel to produce a lot of animal sounds.)



Anyway, the night passed without incident, as one would expect. Except I can still hear people snoring in the other room

Other than that, this motel is great, spacious room, clean, and a great value for the price.

Here's the route for today. Chad, looks like I will be passing through KN this afternoon/evening. Not sure how long it will take me to get through Arkansas, I have planned a very detailed but scenic route to Eureka Springs.

[mapuc]

This is very interesting to read. Just keep on posting these daily-day-to-day diary.


Markus

[Onkel Neal]

Thanks, Marcus! Appreciate the feedback.

Day 2
The trek through all the best winding mountain roads in western Arkansas begins. But not before one of the motel residents comes by to see me off.

I'm guessing Nikki can tell us the brand of dog this is.

I wrote out the route, and in my crappy handwriting, there was bound to be some mistakes. Sure enough, I missed a turn at Amity, the first town I got to, and went six miles out of the way. I backtracked, and shortly came across CR 346, which soon turned into a logging road.





Undaunted, the V-Strom and I soldiered on. The paper map showed a bridge crossing a narrow part of Gray Lake, but when I finally got to the end of the line (literally),



there were remnants of a bridge from years ago.




On the way back to HWY 84, I noticed on my notes that I had written CR347. Why was I thinking CR346? Well, that's more like it.

I'll let someone else caption this one.


Road 346 led to the Old Amity Road and that did carry me across Lake Hamilton to Hot Springs.






By now it was after noon, and I stopped by a Suzuki dealer to see if they had a 2012 V-Strom 650. They did not. But they were able to suggest a great place to eat, Stoby's. The building has a couple of railroad dining cars built into it. The food was really good, and so was the service and atmosphere. They had a small model train that ran around the room on a track overhead. They even had a steam whistle you can blow at the entrance. Very impressive place.



Back to the route: Arkansas really is a fantastic place to ride a motorcycle.



An old one lane bridge





I stopped to shoot the breeze with an older gentleman running a country store. It had a screen door at the entrance. Felt very nostalgic to open a wooden screen door as opposed to a metal and glass door. He explained that country stores like his are slowly fading away, soon only pictures will be left. I picked up some eye drops, AAA batteries, and an RC Cola.




Because I had been on the bike 5 hours and still have only covered 100 miles, I decided to motor on through other photo ops. It was 4pm when I got to Eureka Springs. This was a very interesting town. They had their very own Occupy Wall Street hoo-hah going on.


Seriously, can't a guy get away from this stuff?


There is a section of Eureka Springs along HWY 23 that is very unusual--the street is very narrow and the shops fronts are right on the edge of the street, with only a narrow sidewalk separating them. There seems to be a lot of arts, antiques, and other touristy shops in this section. I think this is where all the hippes in Arkansas come to rest. It also appears to be round zero for bikers. Just about every motel and hotel had an icon or silhouette of a cruiser or motorcycle on the marquee, with plenty of inducements like "Bikers welcome!" One place called Biker Rest proudly regaled the tourists with "Bikers Only". Since I'm not a biker, I continued on to Missouri.

The first 40 miles into Missouri were so much like Arkansas; I thought maybe they got the borders wrong. But, then the real Missouri came along, mostly flat, some gentle grades, but nothing like Arkansas. At least the gas is cheap!




That's it for today. Tomorrow I plan to chew up some mileage, since I can't extend this trip past next Monday.

Map link: Days 1 & 2

Close calls: did not see a curb divider splitting lanes in Hot Springs, clipped it with the rear wheel at an angle. Seriously, I can't see why it was even there. Very strange.
Song of the Day: Like Steve McQueen -- Sheryl Crow
Philosophical thought: Someday may never come, but today is here right now.
Dining: Stoby's Restaurant: Cheddar Cheese fries, Reuben sandwich (I'm thinking about it right now), Italian cream cake: A

[Reece]

Some very interesting spots there Neal, love the diner with the old carriages, wish I was there!

[nikimcbee]

Run Moto dude, it's an (old) pug!



Since you're in Arkansas, watch out for the boggy swamp creature:

[Jimbuna]

You've got my head spinning I'm still in Georgetown, Texas

[Catfish]

Thanks for the photos, nice trip !
Almost a journey ..

[Onkel Neal]

Day 3
Thanks for the comments, guys. It's almost like you're riding along with me.

Well, the last two days have been very fun, lots of backroads exploring and great twisty riding. This morning I decided I better make some progress, so I lit the warp drives and lunged into South Dakota.

I just got in to the Motel 6 in Mitchell, SD, I'm going to grab something to eat. I'll upload my pics and write my ride report in a bit.

BRB

[Chad]

Sounds good Neal! You're doing good

If you stop around Kansas City let me know. I'm actually about an hour north of the metropolitan area in a small city, large town called Saint Joseph, where Jesse James was shot!

http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/jessejames.cfm

Here's the longitude/latitude coordinates:

N 39° 45.481 W 094° 47.208

Good luck Neal!

[Chad]

Ah I see you went on through! No problemo, next time then

[Reece]

Originally Posted by Chad

Ah I see you went on through! No problemo, next time then

He did say he engaged the warp drives!