Monday, July 30, 2007
Dallas Ramble - Day 1
Wednesday I took off on another motorcycle ramble for a couple of days. The main initiative for this ride was to meet with some business contacts in Dallas Texas on Friday as well as try to catch up with some friends. Day 1's itinerary was riding from home (KC) to Mt. Magazine State Park in Arkansas.
Initially I debated whether to start my ride on Wednesday or Thursday. Leaving on Thursday would have me riding the entire way to Dallas on the same day to get there in time for meetings set up on Friday. I would then continue the trip for longer during the weekend. The forecast showed a slight chance of rain on Thursday, so I chose my Wednesday departure instead.
As seems to be becoming the norm, my initial packing and getting started dragged on later than it should have. After doing some necessary work prior to my start and finishing packing it was nearly 11:00 am. By now, I decided I might as well have lunch at my favorite lunch place. Chipotle. This plan was coupled with my basic timing of not hitting the state park until evening.
After dropping off my mail and lunch I finally hit the highway. The route out of KC on Hwy 71 was pretty straight and fast. As in the past I was able to find a fast moving car to follow. In this case it was a contruction company pickup that was traveling 95 to 100 miles an hour the entire way to Joplin, MO. I was able to lay back and follow this truck the entire way with no police encounters. Passing through Bentonville and Rodgers was a little bit of a drag because of the traffic.
At Fayetteville, AR I cut through town in accordance with my plan to take AR-16 to connect to AR-23. I had not been on AR-16 before and wanted to see if this was a good route. This route took me through the main part of Fayetteville. While an interesting diversion (as I have not been to Fayetteville before) I really don't recommended it as a must see. It was between 4:30 and 5:00 pm now so I experiences a little traffic. I followed AR-16 to AR-23 finding that the AR-16 is just an okay road and I would not highly rate it for motorcycling. Once I connected to AR-23 (the "Pigs Trail") the riding got much better.
I had based my timing to arrive in Ozark, AR in time for dinner. I had read about Model Cafe on an internet motorcycle forum posting and thought it might be a good place to get something to eat prior to camping at Mt. Magazine. To my disappointment I found that the cafe was closed. I am not sure if it was just for the night or permanently. I rode around this very small town but did not find any other places to eat that looked interesting. Thus, I continued on south to Paris, AR. Paris is the last town north of the Mt. Magazine state park. I was confident that I could find someplace to eat there. Upon arriving in Paris, I decided that I wanted a relatively short dinner as I wanted to get to the state park before it was dark. I chose to eat at Subway. The food was uninspired, but it was pleasant to see a group of high school aged kids (friends of the employees working there) hanging out in the restaurant. Overhearing part of their conversations I was reminded that kids are kids no matter where you are.
I left the Subway and rode on AR-309 up the mountain to Mt. Magazine state park. While their is construction on 309 part of the way I was not bothered as the construction crews had already quit for the day and there was very little traffic. This stretch of AR-309 (Paris to Mt. Magazine State Park) is a very nice motorcycling road with curves, relatively good pavement, and scenery.
Upon reaching the state park, I made a quick pass through the campground to verify that it was full before heading to the Brown Springs picnic area. As I have posted before the picnic area is the designated spot for overflow camping. On arriving, I found one other set of visitors. This couple and their young son where finishing a late picnic and indicated they were not planning on camping. I set up my camping gear and then headed back to the campground bathhouse for a shower. Once again, the bathhouse was very clean and amenable. I spent a few minutes talking with other campers before heading back to my campsite.
When I returned to my campsite, the other visitors had left and I had the place to myself. This peace was only interrupted twice when a park ranger vehicle drove through (8:00 pm and 9:00 pm). The ranger did not stop or otherwise bother me. As my previous visit this campsite is very peaceful and relaxing. On this visit the cricket sounds where much louder. Also the sky was a little overcast. My only worry was whether it was going to rain. I chose not to put the rain fly over my tent and leave the "moon roof" unzipped. The "moon roof" of my Mountain Hardwear Hamerhead 3 tent allows for almost 2/3 of the tent to be unzipped (leaving a mosquito net) which allows you to look out. I enjoyed the outdoors setting for a long time before going to sleep. Throughout the night I heard varying shift of the wind rustling through the trees as well as a few different animal sounds.
More on Day 2 in my next posting.
Initially I debated whether to start my ride on Wednesday or Thursday. Leaving on Thursday would have me riding the entire way to Dallas on the same day to get there in time for meetings set up on Friday. I would then continue the trip for longer during the weekend. The forecast showed a slight chance of rain on Thursday, so I chose my Wednesday departure instead.
As seems to be becoming the norm, my initial packing and getting started dragged on later than it should have. After doing some necessary work prior to my start and finishing packing it was nearly 11:00 am. By now, I decided I might as well have lunch at my favorite lunch place. Chipotle. This plan was coupled with my basic timing of not hitting the state park until evening.
After dropping off my mail and lunch I finally hit the highway. The route out of KC on Hwy 71 was pretty straight and fast. As in the past I was able to find a fast moving car to follow. In this case it was a contruction company pickup that was traveling 95 to 100 miles an hour the entire way to Joplin, MO. I was able to lay back and follow this truck the entire way with no police encounters. Passing through Bentonville and Rodgers was a little bit of a drag because of the traffic.
At Fayetteville, AR I cut through town in accordance with my plan to take AR-16 to connect to AR-23. I had not been on AR-16 before and wanted to see if this was a good route. This route took me through the main part of Fayetteville. While an interesting diversion (as I have not been to Fayetteville before) I really don't recommended it as a must see. It was between 4:30 and 5:00 pm now so I experiences a little traffic. I followed AR-16 to AR-23 finding that the AR-16 is just an okay road and I would not highly rate it for motorcycling. Once I connected to AR-23 (the "Pigs Trail") the riding got much better.
I had based my timing to arrive in Ozark, AR in time for dinner. I had read about Model Cafe on an internet motorcycle forum posting and thought it might be a good place to get something to eat prior to camping at Mt. Magazine. To my disappointment I found that the cafe was closed. I am not sure if it was just for the night or permanently. I rode around this very small town but did not find any other places to eat that looked interesting. Thus, I continued on south to Paris, AR. Paris is the last town north of the Mt. Magazine state park. I was confident that I could find someplace to eat there. Upon arriving in Paris, I decided that I wanted a relatively short dinner as I wanted to get to the state park before it was dark. I chose to eat at Subway. The food was uninspired, but it was pleasant to see a group of high school aged kids (friends of the employees working there) hanging out in the restaurant. Overhearing part of their conversations I was reminded that kids are kids no matter where you are.
I left the Subway and rode on AR-309 up the mountain to Mt. Magazine state park. While their is construction on 309 part of the way I was not bothered as the construction crews had already quit for the day and there was very little traffic. This stretch of AR-309 (Paris to Mt. Magazine State Park) is a very nice motorcycling road with curves, relatively good pavement, and scenery.
Upon reaching the state park, I made a quick pass through the campground to verify that it was full before heading to the Brown Springs picnic area. As I have posted before the picnic area is the designated spot for overflow camping. On arriving, I found one other set of visitors. This couple and their young son where finishing a late picnic and indicated they were not planning on camping. I set up my camping gear and then headed back to the campground bathhouse for a shower. Once again, the bathhouse was very clean and amenable. I spent a few minutes talking with other campers before heading back to my campsite.
When I returned to my campsite, the other visitors had left and I had the place to myself. This peace was only interrupted twice when a park ranger vehicle drove through (8:00 pm and 9:00 pm). The ranger did not stop or otherwise bother me. As my previous visit this campsite is very peaceful and relaxing. On this visit the cricket sounds where much louder. Also the sky was a little overcast. My only worry was whether it was going to rain. I chose not to put the rain fly over my tent and leave the "moon roof" unzipped. The "moon roof" of my Mountain Hardwear Hamerhead 3 tent allows for almost 2/3 of the tent to be unzipped (leaving a mosquito net) which allows you to look out. I enjoyed the outdoors setting for a long time before going to sleep. Throughout the night I heard varying shift of the wind rustling through the trees as well as a few different animal sounds.
More on Day 2 in my next posting.
