Arkansas Visit #2.

6th October 2012.

Plans for this year’s riding trip were for another visit to Arkansas.
I had missed the previous ride on which Henry, Tony and William went further north to visit the southern part of Missouri.
My only trip to Arkansas had been great riding and the stories that Tony and William brought back from that trip were very thrilling. Tales of great riding and scenery made me feel that I had truly missed a great ride.
Henry was excited to have us over in Arkansas again.
For as much riding he’s done in his locale of Arkansas, he was excited to show us more roads and places he had since discovered, that he was sure would thrill us. He knows all the back country, mountains and valleys of Arkansas like the back of his hand.
Most any weekend when I call to say hi to him, he’s out riding his favorite roads and discovering more new ones.
Henry is “good people”. He’s always been “good people” - right from the very first day we met and befriended him.
Typically our annual rides spanned 4 calendar days, starting on a Thursday and ending on a Sunday.
Our earnest preparations for this trip had begun a couple of weeks earlier.
William’s new-to-him Triumph Sprint had spent a couple of weeks at the dealership for preparation work, which unfortunately could not be undertaken because they were unable to loosen and remove his front axle to facilitate tire/wheel removal for a brake job and related issues!
So having been and still being the kid on the block who could fix anything, I suggested he bring it over to me for repairs.
Oh, that axle nut was on tight!
Whoever put it on last obviously knew nothing about anti-seize compounds or torque application in this circumstance.
So the challenge was to get this off without damaging and/or galling the threads on it.
Anyway, cut a long story short, I had to fashion/fabricate a removal tool, strong enough to insert, hold fast and turn the inset hexagonal nut/head without rounding off the internal corners on the flat edges. I had no shortage of helping hands either.
With a lot of patience, a little heat and my gentle but forceful touch, I was successful. This was not my first rodeo for a problem of this sort. If anything at all, it was common place from all my years of wrenching on equipment halfway across the world in an earlier time. Back in that era of my life, if you did not save/fix it, you might as well would have had to write off and salvage the equipment.
The service and repair work that followed was pretty much routine for me from this point onwards.
In about 3 hours I had his machine ready to roll!
Little did I know that in 6 days from this time, I would part ways with my employer! - that’s a story for another time.
But here I was at that juncture, brand new bike, only my first payment made so far and I was out of a job!
Talk about priorities needing to be instantly rearranged!
So I promptly cancelled my participation in the ride to Arkansas. I could not bring myself to go out on a fun ride when I had to worry about how I was going to prepare myself for the immediate, major challenge of continuing to provide for my family.
Feelings of depression began to set in. I was not destitute yet, but knowing how life is, it would not be long before I would get to the bottom of my financial barrel.
I needed to be proactive and hit the ground running to make sure I could generate the required funds to keep my new toy as well. No way did I want to lose it!
So to cut a long story short, it was at my wife’ insistence that I go on the ride.
“It will do you good, Babe. You’ll have the chance to get your thoughts together and put a game plan together.
The ride will give you good thinking time and reduce your stress. I think it will do you more good than to sit around the house and wallow in your depressed state”.
She made sense.
She had a point.
So we both agreed that I would make the trip, although quietly, in the back of my mind, it just didn’t sit right with me. I’d give it a shot though.

Ride Day 2.
October 18th, 2012.
I awoke with the rising sun.
It’s rays streaked through the gap between the curtain panels and directly into the room over my bed which was right by the window.
I felt fresh. I think I had a good sleep.
George was up early too and we prepared and made our way down to the breakfast area downstairs, just off the lobby area.
Breakfast this morning was quick and okay - the usual continental breakfast.
I ate alone as George does not “do” breakfast. Health reasons, and it shows. He passes easily for someone 20 yrs. younger than he actually is.
He has a perpetual smile on his face. Just being with him made me feel relaxed. He constantly reassured me that everything would be okay. The support of my pseudo big brother is /was priceless. You just can’t buy this anywhwere!
I was parked on the upper parking floor of the garage on the level of his room so that made it easy to load the bike back up and prepare for my journey onward towards the Days Inn in Benton, Arkansas - my destination for the day and our meeting point and home base for the next 3 nights.
Tony and William would be leaving Corpus today, taking a different route to arrive in Benton.
I was looking forward to meeting up with them and getting to see Henry again.
I had 417 miles to knock down before arriving at the Days Inn Motel in Benton, AR.
So as time would have it, George and I parted ways. Him for work and direction Arkansas for me.
Exiting the parking garage of the hotel, I made a right turn towards the south onto Sage Rd. The second street, Richmond Ave. took me eastwards towards the highway.
This had to be the longest underpass I had ever driven/ridden.
6 lanes of the highway ran overhead.
It did not take me long to find the ramp that afforded me access to the 610 Loop.
The morning commuters of Houston began to pile up on the side streets in their bid as well to access the highway system en route to their individual places of work.
So with the speed of the flow of cars on the highway, the ST was more than happy to oblige me with her performance. (She was showing off now).
In the blink of an eye she not only caught up with, kept up with and worked her way ahead of them all, but also worked her way into a nice comfortable spot with good space around us as we began to put distance between the city of Houston and our backs.
Settling down to comfortable pace of speed limit +5, we embraced the open highway that lay perpetually ahead of us.
The journey was uneventful.
The highway was boring.
I ”pounded” it for the best part of the day, maintaining speed limit +5.
The biggest excitement I had was stopping at the state line marker and taking my obligatory picture! After which I got back on the highway and continued my journey, arriving at our designated meeting place and home-base to be, the Days Inn in Benton, Arkansas. I checked in promptly and for assurance, asked the desk clerk to verify that Tony and Williams’ room and mine were next door to each other.
Yup, that had been taken care of.
With directions from the clerk, I drove around to the side and rear of the premises and found my room. I promptly unloaded my luggage and rehydrated myself with some water.
Tony and William arrived just before sundown and not much long afterwards, Henry, off work, rushed to meet us as well, riding his new-to-him Honda Goldwing, which we aptly named The Yellow Submarine.
This thing had all sorts of lights on it. It lit up like a decorated Christmas tree after dark. Henry liked it a lot. Much more than his Kawasaki Concours, he said.
So we chatted into the evening over a steak dinner at Colton’s Steak House which was situated pretty much next door to the motel. We left the riding plans to Henry, who already had the whole of the next days’ ride already mapped out. Yes we trusted him that much to “put” us onto an all-round great riding experience.
After all, this was his neck of the woods!
At the end of the day, I said my prayers and settled in for the night, not before calling my wife to report in about my safety and find out about their well-being at home.

Ride Day 3.
October 19th, 2012.
I was up early again. I had slept reasonably well. In part, due to the road weariness and fatigue of the stress I was carrying from the day before.
My mind was in overdrive, but for now I had a new machine that promised to give me a thrill ride and fun times.
That part of me was looking forward to that and it helped a great deal to put me in a better frame of mind.
Drawing the curtains aside, I glanced out of the large glass pane window of the motel towards the large, shiny black bike sitting outside my motel door.
My mind flashed right back to that day in Bandera when I laid eyes on the one that drove right by me as I stood street side.
It felt like a dream. Not very long ago I was dreaming of having one. Now I had one. It was a pleasure. I was grateful. I said a quiet prayer of thanks.
I had always wanted to own a brand new bike of my own. And here I was, many years after first entertaining that wish - that dream - and now I had one right there waiting for me to ride it.
Over the previous 2 days, I had really not given much time to the thought of enjoying this fine machine. I had not paid attention to the quality ride. All I could think of was to get to Benton, Arkansas safely. And now as my mind gradually slowed down and I began to put things into perspective, I found myself anxious to get on it and ride!
I Got myself ready and joined up with William and Tony for breakfast.
They had both arrived yesterday from their visit to the Diamond Fields in Arkansas, where apparently, the largest diamond to be surface-mined had been found her several years ago.
This had therefore become a tourist attraction to lure prospective prospectors.
Although not for me.
I’ve always been leery of tourist traps, mainly because I can’t afford them.
Not long after breakfast, close to 8:00 a.m., Henry arrived with a friend of his in tow, JP.
JP is another lovable character that we all “took to” immediately. A friendly chap with a constant smile on his face. The kind who would make you laugh, and boy, did he make me laugh. JP has a way of finding humor in any sentence or situation.
So true to form, I gathered my friends, old and new together, and set up my camera gear to immortalize the moment.

Huddling together, we shared a prayer
……………. after which we set off into the brisk, crisp early morning air of the Arkansas countryside.
It was shaping out to be a lovely morning and I was looking forward to the day. I was looking forward to the thrill of a fun ride and the freedom of floating through the countryside on this great iron horse.
Following Henry, as always, we wound our way northwestwards towards and eventually along AR 298 West, through the forest and by a beautiful lake, enjoying the sight and smell of fresh morning vegetal growth of now slowly-changing colors of the Autumn (Fall) season.
We came across a church, set in a sweeping curve of the highway which presented a nice overlook of the valley well off in the distance but below us. It was a serene setting. Nice choice for locating a church. The kind of place that made you take note of the beauty in nature and of God’s handicraft.
I couldn’t help but say a silent prayer for forgiveness and begged for mercy and a wish to be gotten out of my immediate employment (or should I say, unemployment) predicament that I was in.
Maybe at this time I was being selfish, thinking only of myself, but I knew I needed the good Lord’s help and was not ashamed to ask for it - either way.
The highway continued to wind through the forest with gentle changes in elevation. It was shaping out to be a lovely cruise of a ride.
The road quality was excellent. Arkansas really has some good quality motorcycling roads.
All the roads in Arkansas that I have ridden have not disappointed me.
So we continued to lay down the miles. We were on the Talimena Highway, heading westward towards the Oklahoma state line.
The Talimena Highway runs right along the ridge-line/apex of this mountain range. It is the only mountain range in the lower 48 that runs in an east-west or west-east direction, depending on what direction you flow along it.
Again, the road quality was great.
I was beginning to take notice of and appreciate the smooth ride my machine was delivering.
Engine so quiet and lots of power underhand, I felt like I was floating. Cruising was seemingly effortless, making it feel way less heavier than it actually is.
The sights and colors of the leaves in the trees, being struck by the bright sunshine of this clear late morning, made for very pleasing scenery.
We were moving along in convoy, at a pretty good clip and I was therefore unable to stop and take pictures. In retrospect, I wish I had insisted on doing so. But the memories of the images have been seared into my memory!
I did have my video cam mounted on the bike and ultimately came away with some good footage of us on this part of the ride.
Riding in last position (tail gunner) in our convoy, my mind continued to wander. I had too many thoughts running through my mind.
I was thinking a lot about challenges I would probably be facing when I eventually returned home.
Subconsciously I had begun mapping out my plan of action to find work.
The only sight in front of me was the back end of William’s Triumph Sprint motorcycle.
Somehow through my maze of thoughts I saw him make a quick change in direction to avoid a rock right in the middle of the road.
Before I could fully process that view/input, the rock was directly in my path!
I was no more than a second or two in time behind him.
Gathering my thoughts and redirecting them to the possible danger posed by this rock in my way, all happening in a split second, I tried my best to make a quick direction change as well, opting to head towards my rightsize in the hopes of avoiding the rock.
In slow motion, I could see myself running into/over this huge rock, losing control and being thrown off my lovely new machine.
Case in point - at 336+ kg (740+ lbs.), this is not the kind of machine to easily “chuck about”.
So I leaned the bike over as hard as I dared to towards the right, closed my eyes and waited for impact for I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no way I was going to be able to avoid it. I just did not have enough time and distance!
Next thing, I heard a “plunk” and felt what seemed like the familiar experience of a tiny pebble or piece of gravel getting caught just under the side of a tire and being flung away.
I was still on the bike and upright. I thought I had made it to heaven. Everything was quiet. I could not hear a sound. I opened my eyes and my senses came back to me as I pulled off the road and brought the bike to a stop on the shoulder of the road.
Naah! Impossible. No way I could have avoided that huge a** rock.
I got off the bike after I put the side stand down to hold her upright and gave her a look over.
Everything seemed fine. Nothing out of place, nothing missing. No broken plastic. No sign of bodily impact damage.
I was sure I must have hit the rock. There was absolutely no way I could have missed it. It didn’t seem possible.
I pinched myself to be sure that I was not dreaming, as William pulled up to me, having turned around after he realized I had fallen behind and out of the view of his rear view mirrors.
Together, we looked over my bike, neither of us seeing any evidence or contact with the stone.
He had also been taken by surprise by it, but had sufficient time to maneuver safely around it. His bike was way much lighter and that afforded him the ability to make a quick directional change.
Only then did our attention turn to my well-being.
Like the bike owners we are, we worry more for our bikes than we do for ourselves.
Isn’t it funny?
Those of you who ride bikes and are reading this will probably agree with me when I say that when confronted by riding predicaments situations similar to this for example, we always worry more about the damage to our bikes before ourselves! Ha ha.
As long as the bike is okay, everything else is secondary!
Reminds me of a cartoon I once came across years ago.
It was a drawing of a chap all bandaged up and in traction, lying in a hospital bed, with only one eye able to peek through the plethora of bandages wrapped around his head, right arm broken, left leg set in P.O.P. (Plaster of Paris) and hooked up in traction, chest and left arm wrapped in layers of bandages etc etc. and the doctor, holding a clipboard, standing at his bedside for the medical visit. (I mean this guy was really banged up and in visibly bad shape!)
And the caption read: “Tell me Doc, Is the bike okay”?
I was grateful to be in one piece. I was happy that my bike was not messed up. I was grateful that the good Lord had an angel assigned to ride with me. I shuddered at the thought of how bad a situation this could have turned out to be.
I was lucky. I said a silent prayer, offering my gratitude for my safety and well-being.
What impact would this have had on my family in a bad case scenario? OMG. I was scared to even contemplate that.
It made me realize the importance of how careful I really ought to be when out and away from home and being on the road - lesson taken note of and learned.
Yes this was a freak situation, but I still had to be cognizant of the fact that I would have to exercise a very great degree of safety henceforth and at all times.
In retrospect, I was obviously riding too close to The bike ahead of me and I was not sufficiently focussed on the road due to my on-going thought process of work or the lack of it thereof.
In the life and times of a long rider, unfortunate and unexpected situations will come about sooner or later. We hope never, but through this I have come to learn that I will need to be totally focused on the road and be in tune with the machine through all the miles I hope to ride.
My thoughts and worries had hypnotized me, robbing me of fractions of seconds that my safety relied on. It could have been worse. I was lucky. I chalked this one off to Divine Intervention.
In my state of mind I realized that I had become hypnotized and my sight was fixed on the rear end of William’s bike. So much such that when he swerved to change direction all I saw next was the rock heading right at me, with no seemingly possible way for me to avoid it easily. It took a lot of effort. I was riding a little too close for the speed we were at. (<96 k.m.h./<60 m.p.h.)
So we set off to go join up with the rest of the group who coincidentally had all started back to look for William and I.
Arriving in Mena, AR we pulled into the parking lot of the Lime Inn Restaurant for lunch. It came highly recommended – by Henry.
And indeed, it was good lunch.
Ed Johnson, our friend from our first trip to Big Bend, Texas rode out here to rendezvous with us again for a ride together. It was good to see him again. Great camaraderie and a new friend in tow, our group size now grew. Our circle of friends was slowly growing. We were making good memories on this journey of life on our motorcycles.
Seated at the table we began to relive the events of the past hour over a great southern meal of fried chicken, mash and all the trimmings!
So back on the road after lunch we fell back in convoy, with Henry in the lead again. He had chosen a lovely ride for this trip. I was enjoying every minute of it so far.
We continued to wind along this seemingly empty part of the highway, with Henry finally filtering us along a very narrow road that dumped us out into a big opening at the top of a rise.
Here, the forest clearing greeted us, much to our surprise, at the end of which stood a Forest Tower.
We were atop the Rich Mountain at the Rich Mountain Forest Tower.
Years ago these towers were second to Smokey The Bear in popularity amongst about 4000 in total managed within the National Forestry Service, during the 1940’s.
Manned day and night they were the “first eyes” for any signs of potential and/or otherwise forest fires. Today, less than 1000 remain standing.
This area of mountain is comprised of 11 ranges. Each had its own fire tower standing vigil over the forest in the past. As I learned, this is 1 of only 3 remaining in the area today. The advent of aerial surveillance in the 1980’s brought about the decommissioning of all the others, leaving these 3 for preservation and educational purposes.
So with camera in hand, I joined other visitors and climbed to the top to take in the views and get a sight of what the forest looked like from that perspective. I was wowed! I could almost see forever. It was a really clear day. For a brief moment in time I imagined being the solitary lookout at this post, having to keep my eyes constantly peeled looking for signs of fire - or should I say making sure there were no signs of fire. Those folks posted here for this job must have been really special and dedicated people to undertake such an important and responsible task. I tipped my hat to them.
I looked back towards the parking lot and could see our bikes parked in formation. They looked so different from above too.
I verified that they were not on fire either, so there was no need to raise the alarm!
Clambering back down and off the tower, we fired up and headed away towards the town of Talihena, Oklahoma.
A few miles along the road we pulled off into an overlook that gave us a magnificent view of Sugarloaf Mountain. No sooner had we shut off our engines when a group of Harley Bikers also pulled in behind us, doing the same thing we were.
We mingled with them for a little while, exchanging pleasantries and sharing a few ride stories, then bade them farewell, good luck and safe journey and resumed the next leg of our westward journey.
Arriving at the state line, I forced a group-stop in order to get my obligatory state line crossing pictures. After which we continued with an uneventful, but pleasant journey all the way to Talihena, OK, the end of the Talihena Highway, and our turn around point for the days’ ride.
The Talimena Highway incidentally takes it’s name from the merging of names from the towns of Mena, AR and Talihena, OK which form the starting and end points of the mountain ridge road.
Now in the latter part of the afternoon, Henry, with the rest of us in tow, pointed us back in the direction of Benton, AR for a mostly uneventful but very scenic ride back to Benton. Early October and the leaves were beginning to turn and showoff their seasonal colors.
On highway 5, Henry and Tony peeled off away from William I. They got immersed in a game of “Try To Keep up with the Leader”. We hung back content to cruise at our leisurely pace. It was too nice a late afternoon to just “tear through” the countryside.
On this evening we opted for dinner at IHOP (International House Of Pancakes) and conversed and again, laughed the night away.
It’s great fun to be with good friends, sharing good times over a good meal. How much more social does it get?
We were the last to leave the restaurant that night!
It had been a pleasant day. It had been a lucky day. The weather had been great, road quality (aside from the lock lying in the middle of my path on the road) had been very good, scenery was unsurpassed – relatively speaking, in relation to the vast, dry open areas of Texas.
After showering that night back at the motel room, I called my wife and checked in. All good, all safe and well.
It had been a blessed day and as I lay down that night to sleep, I prayed the lord my soul to keep.