Friday, July 27, 2007
Arkansas Motorcycle Trip - Day 4
Day 3 itinerary was Mt. Magazine State Park, AR to Kansas City (home)
I woke up from an awesome sleep at dawn (6:00am). The evening weather had been great and the morning I awoke to was temperate and nice. There really was not much to do. I was not properly equipped for hiking. But, the park appears to be a good candidate for a future trip to do some mountain hiking. After leisurely packing I head off north.
My plan was to head north on Hwy 309 and then connect up to Hwy 23 (part of which is known as the "pigs trail"). Hwy 309 north from the state park is a pretty nice ride. Unfortunately I hit one spot with a highway flag man only allowing traffic one way. Because they were just getting equipment to the work this stoppage lasted over 10 minutes. This was kind of drag as it had already warmed up. When I was allowed to continue I continued along 309 through the town of Paris, AR. This was somewhat ironic as I passed through Paris, TX the previous day and it the time of the Tour de France (of which I am a fan). Paris, AR is not really a remarkable town. From Paris, I connected up to Hwy 23.
Hwy 23, the Pigs Trail, is pretty well touted as an excellent motorcycle road. As I have ridden this road a couple of times before I am somewhat familiar with it. While a very curry road, it does have the drawback that there is some traffic on it. This includes logging trucks which can be a real drag. Fortunately with a fast bike there are some opportunities to pass. Besides the thought that the extra traffic is a drag, my second thought is that after a few days of mountain curves they get to be somewhat uninteresting. The analogy I will give is like a roller coaster. For several times it is very exciting and fun. Too much and it becomes a little monotonous. THen some time away and it can be new and exciting again. For me probably no more than two or three days at a time is plent.
My plan was to head up to Eureka Springs (a little over 100 miles away) and stop for breakfast. I arrived in Eureka Springs right around 10:00 am. Once again I have been to Eureka Springs a couple of times before. This highly touted town confuses me. There are many, many hotels and the town is a popular tourist destination. Bur every time I have been here, I really have not found that much interesting to see, do, or eat. Upon arrival, I cruised through the downtown shopping district. Not much appeared to be open of going on. I had eaten at an okay restaurant on a previous visit but it was closed. Eventually I just headed back to the main highway passing that passes through the town and stopped at a Subway for an early lunch. After a quick lunch, I stopped across the street to gas up my motorcycle. I chose to pass on this gas station when I realized that they charge 12 cents extra if you paid via credit card. This and there regular (cash) price was no lower than other gas stations. I chose to gas up at another station up the street.
Leaving Eureka springs and heading northwest was less pleasing as there was significantly more traffic. With the curves it is hard not to pass or end up being stuck by the much slower progress of cars and RVs on the curves. Shortly after passing into Missouri I has my one "pucker" moment. I had just passed a couple of slow moving cars and a RV when my radar detector lit up from a state police car. And yes I was going over the posted limit (for the pass :) ). On top of that I had to make the pass over a double yellow after following the caravan for some time. Very fortunately the state trouper either chose not to turn around or was impeded by the other traffic. I continued on at a normal clip. As an aside, I really hate to pass over a double-yellow line. In fact I very rarely do it. Generally it is easier to wait for a passing zone and then use the much superior speed of the motorcycle to make and easy and safe pass. The problem with being behind a an RV is double, first their progress on back roads can be extremely slow and also it can be very nervous to follow behind something where you have no chance to see what is ahead.
I followed Hwy 37 to I-44 (for a short length) to Hwy 71 North. As I had previously mentioned Hwy 71 is actually a pretty good divided highway. Passing and flow is not a problem. On this occaision (as generally the case on this road) I was able to follow a car that was traveling very fast. In this case it was a "soccer-mom" driving a small SUV. This women was traveling between around 95 miles an hour (70 mph limit) almost the entire way. I followed at a safe distance. Along the way I only noticed one police officer. Somehow the SUV women didn't get tagged as she had come up on some slower moving traffic.
Nearing Kansas City my bike was running on fumes as the low-fuel light had come on several miles back. Gas mileage on my bike can wildly vary and seems to be significantly affected by high speed cruising. Since I was close to home and my normal gas station I decided to chance going the whole way. To put this in perspective I have run out of gas once (while traveling). I have run my tank down very low on several occasion but still do not know the exact capacity of the tank. Because of wide variance in gas milage it may not matter that much anyway. At any rate, I made it to my "home" station and filled up. Peering into the tank it appeared that I was truely on "fumes" and would have not gotten much, if even, 10 more miles before running out of gas. After gas I made it home ending a very enjoyable trip.
I woke up from an awesome sleep at dawn (6:00am). The evening weather had been great and the morning I awoke to was temperate and nice. There really was not much to do. I was not properly equipped for hiking. But, the park appears to be a good candidate for a future trip to do some mountain hiking. After leisurely packing I head off north.
My plan was to head north on Hwy 309 and then connect up to Hwy 23 (part of which is known as the "pigs trail"). Hwy 309 north from the state park is a pretty nice ride. Unfortunately I hit one spot with a highway flag man only allowing traffic one way. Because they were just getting equipment to the work this stoppage lasted over 10 minutes. This was kind of drag as it had already warmed up. When I was allowed to continue I continued along 309 through the town of Paris, AR. This was somewhat ironic as I passed through Paris, TX the previous day and it the time of the Tour de France (of which I am a fan). Paris, AR is not really a remarkable town. From Paris, I connected up to Hwy 23.
Hwy 23, the Pigs Trail, is pretty well touted as an excellent motorcycle road. As I have ridden this road a couple of times before I am somewhat familiar with it. While a very curry road, it does have the drawback that there is some traffic on it. This includes logging trucks which can be a real drag. Fortunately with a fast bike there are some opportunities to pass. Besides the thought that the extra traffic is a drag, my second thought is that after a few days of mountain curves they get to be somewhat uninteresting. The analogy I will give is like a roller coaster. For several times it is very exciting and fun. Too much and it becomes a little monotonous. THen some time away and it can be new and exciting again. For me probably no more than two or three days at a time is plent.
My plan was to head up to Eureka Springs (a little over 100 miles away) and stop for breakfast. I arrived in Eureka Springs right around 10:00 am. Once again I have been to Eureka Springs a couple of times before. This highly touted town confuses me. There are many, many hotels and the town is a popular tourist destination. Bur every time I have been here, I really have not found that much interesting to see, do, or eat. Upon arrival, I cruised through the downtown shopping district. Not much appeared to be open of going on. I had eaten at an okay restaurant on a previous visit but it was closed. Eventually I just headed back to the main highway passing that passes through the town and stopped at a Subway for an early lunch. After a quick lunch, I stopped across the street to gas up my motorcycle. I chose to pass on this gas station when I realized that they charge 12 cents extra if you paid via credit card. This and there regular (cash) price was no lower than other gas stations. I chose to gas up at another station up the street.
Leaving Eureka springs and heading northwest was less pleasing as there was significantly more traffic. With the curves it is hard not to pass or end up being stuck by the much slower progress of cars and RVs on the curves. Shortly after passing into Missouri I has my one "pucker" moment. I had just passed a couple of slow moving cars and a RV when my radar detector lit up from a state police car. And yes I was going over the posted limit (for the pass :) ). On top of that I had to make the pass over a double yellow after following the caravan for some time. Very fortunately the state trouper either chose not to turn around or was impeded by the other traffic. I continued on at a normal clip. As an aside, I really hate to pass over a double-yellow line. In fact I very rarely do it. Generally it is easier to wait for a passing zone and then use the much superior speed of the motorcycle to make and easy and safe pass. The problem with being behind a an RV is double, first their progress on back roads can be extremely slow and also it can be very nervous to follow behind something where you have no chance to see what is ahead.
I followed Hwy 37 to I-44 (for a short length) to Hwy 71 North. As I had previously mentioned Hwy 71 is actually a pretty good divided highway. Passing and flow is not a problem. On this occaision (as generally the case on this road) I was able to follow a car that was traveling very fast. In this case it was a "soccer-mom" driving a small SUV. This women was traveling between around 95 miles an hour (70 mph limit) almost the entire way. I followed at a safe distance. Along the way I only noticed one police officer. Somehow the SUV women didn't get tagged as she had come up on some slower moving traffic.
Nearing Kansas City my bike was running on fumes as the low-fuel light had come on several miles back. Gas mileage on my bike can wildly vary and seems to be significantly affected by high speed cruising. Since I was close to home and my normal gas station I decided to chance going the whole way. To put this in perspective I have run out of gas once (while traveling). I have run my tank down very low on several occasion but still do not know the exact capacity of the tank. Because of wide variance in gas milage it may not matter that much anyway. At any rate, I made it to my "home" station and filled up. Peering into the tank it appeared that I was truely on "fumes" and would have not gotten much, if even, 10 more miles before running out of gas. After gas I made it home ending a very enjoyable trip.
