The trip was not only going to be my longest ride on a motorcyle before, but also the first time I've crossed state lines on a bike. I wasn't sure how my backside was going to handle a trip this long, but I've been wanting to ride this road for a few years now. I ended up going way further than I expected, but I'll get to that in a bit. =)
I started off by getting my bike packed and ready to go Saturday morning:
That's my mom in the background, haha.
The camera adds 5(00) pounds.
Ready to hit the road!
Here's a map of my first part of this trip, from Oklahoma City, to Talihina. I took
no interstates the entire first day of the trip. It was really nice and relaxing,
cruising through all the little towns and seeing what America really looks like.
My first stop was in Shawnee, OK. There's this little diner there called The Rainbow that I fell in love with about 4 years ago. They have the most AMAZING grilled cheese sandwich. Seriously, if you're ever there, you MUST get it.
There was a random bra hung on a shrubbery outside the diner. It warranted a pic.
Here's a couple of pics from when I hit McAlester. It's hard to see in the second
pic, but there was this really neat hotel there that still had the old style sign
held up by metal frame work at the top of the building.
The highway leading in to Talihina was amazing. Before I even got to the twisty scenic drive, I was riding through the foothills of the Ouichita mountains. We don't have roads like that here in the city! It was such a blast. I stopped in the state park area to take a couple of pics.
This is the road leading up to the park.
I made it!
You can see my bike hiding in the trees.
Ah, there she is!
Heading from the park stop to the actual scenic drive itself.
If you were to turn to your left from the pic above, this it what you'd see.
Finally, I made it to the actual scenic drive. The map doesn't do it justice (if you
pull it up on Google Maps and zoom way in, then you can get an idea of how fun it is). It's roughly 50 miles of twisty goodness, and it definitely gave me a chance to find out not only my bike's limits, but mine as a rider. I will say though, that I was surprised and impress with both myself and my bike. There were a bunch of vistas you could pull off on to look out from the mountains, and I made sure and stop and take pics.
My destination! The beginning of the drive.
The first turn, leading to the fun.
I met these Harley guys at the first stop off. They got about a minute or two head start on me from here (I actually had to take the time to put a helmet and gloves on). I caught up with them in about two turns, and painfully followed behind them for one turn. I then weaved my way through them, and got up to speed. Harleys are so damned slow around a turn...
Crossing state lines for the first time on a bike!!!
Ah!
Parked right on the line.
She's a pretty bike. =)
On the Arkansas side of the drive.
At the end of the drive, I was in Mena, AR. I wasn't near as tired as I thought I would be. So, I decided to go through the Ouichita National Forest and head to Hot springs, AR. It looked like it'd be a fun ride, and it was. Nice and curvey.
It almost looked like the trees were standing in formation along the road.
That car came past me when I snapped the pic, and it distorted it so the wheels look all crazy.
Once I was in Hot Springs, I was starting to get kind worn out. I stopped for dinner, and found out it was only about 50ish more miles to Little Rock. I figured, "What the Hell," and I headed back out on the road. I took highway 70 until I hit I-30. I wanted to do no interstates at all on the first day, but I was really tired by this point, and just wanted to get to a damned hotel, shower, have a drink, and lay the hell down, haha.
Ahhh, a bed!! It was a very welcome site!
Ahhh, a bottle of wine!! Another very welcome site!
After a good night's sleep, I woke up feeling pretty refreshed. I was going to take I-40 the whole way home. It was boring, straight, and tedious, but it would get me home much faster.
So, that was my trip this weekend. I ended up going a hell of a lot further than I had planned to go, and as sore and tired as I was when it was all over, I'm glad to know that not only can my bike make a trip like that, so can I. I'm sure the more I start taking trips like this, the better I'll get at it. I definitely plan to do this much more often, as it was damn good times. Thanks for reading!
I'd like to thank all the guys at The GS Resources for all the help
they've given me the last few years in getting to know these bikes.
