The Fall of the year is approaching! The annual Bikes, Blues and BBQ Rally is at hand.
Contact my riding partners. Who is in? “Easy G”. “RoadRunner” answer the call.
‘Happy Hour” is ready also, just got to ride to his place in College Station.
Wednesday, September 18th is departure date. Meet in Fredericksburg shortly after lunch for departure. Gas-up and head east. Normal route,
through Johnson City and Austin.
Maybe since it is mid-week and mid-day traffic won’t be so bad? Guess what I was wrong. West Austin by Convict Hill, wow unbelievable. Bumper
to bumper. Maybe get passed the airport, not so bad? Wrong again, Stop and go, mostly stopped.
Bike is overheating and I am hot. Time for a change, move to the shoulder of the pavement. Not the smartest thing to do. But it worked. maybe couple of miles on the shoulder. No problem if you don’t get caught.
Meet up with “Cannon Ball” at the America Legion in Bastrop. Little cool down from the heat and wet our whistle. After solving the world problems, continue eastward.
Make it to “Happy Hours” place just before dark. Lock up the bikes and head for dinner. Local little burger joint fits the bill. Arrive just before closing time, Burgers and brew always a good combo!
After a good night’s rest, Time to ride northeast. Roxie, “Happy Hours” wife decides to go, By the way her new name is “Rainmaker”, every time she rides it rains. More about that later!
We make our way northward, zigging and zagging on farm to market roads, Hit a few roadside parks for refreshments and snacks. Finally make it to Texarkana, Hit the interstate, time to make some time.
Make good time, catch the exit for Hot Springs. Hit town and go to the “Ohio Club”. Right down town, Where back in prohibition, Al Capone was a regular. Lots of history in this place. They had music, which was a plus. After a snack and a few drinks, hotel time. Secured a room right around the corner.
Unload our gear, parking garage up the street about a block. Not to keen to this, but no option. Not a secured area. But it all turned out ok.
We go to the bar and grabbed some food and a few drinks. Nice relaxing evening.
Next morning, coffee and pack up and head north on Hwy 7. Run north up through Hot Springs Village. Do a left turn and catch Magazine mountain, 2753 ft height. Make our way back to Hwy 7 and continue northward. Jasper is in our sights. Just south of town, clear skies. All of a sudden, thunder! Heavy rain out of nowhere, Here we go “Rainmaker.” I don’t know, but seems to happen on every trip! All well part of the journey.
Stop in Jasper to dry out and fuel up. Getting kinda late, need a room, Harrison fits the bill, 20 miles up the road. Roll into Harrison, secure a room, next to a bar and grill, how convenient!
Unload our bikes and walk next door. Local hangout, but with a lot of bikers passing through. Good food and great people. Finished the evening here, with live music.
Next morning, Rogers bound, scene of the annual Bikes, Blues, and BBQ Rally. Head westward, maybe 10 miles out, “Happy Hour” pulls over. What’sup? Rear tire is low. Try to air it up. Bead is broken won’t take air. Call a wrecker, Load it up and back to town. The bike shop is right next door to the bar and grill. Good place to hang while a new tire is installed. Only delays us maybe 2 hours. Part of the trip. Could have happen back down the road 50 miles?
Back on the road again. Stop at Eureka Springs, Harley dealer has vendors and other activities going on. Spend awhile here checking out all the stuff.
Pull out and continue on our quest for Rogers. Arrive in about an hour. Lots of people and vendors. Park and survey the grounds. Great music venue just to the edge of the Harley Shop. Tribute band for Bob Seger. This guy was spot on. Played about every song that Seger had done. Probably hung out here about 3 hours. Great people and good music, cold brew, all good.
Time to roll, it’s getting near dark. Bentonville right up the road. Birthplace of Wal-Mart. Secure a room right in town. Unpack and head across the street for some grub. Another sports bar. Get some food and head back for some much needed rest.
Next morning, breakfast, and head southeast, looking for a place called War Eagle Mill. Plug in the GPS, 20 miles down the road. Beautiful drive with winding turns.
Arrive back in town. Mill was constructed before the Civil War. Legend has it that the Confederates burned it down when the Yankees were coming. Anyway, it was rebuilt after the war, and still grinds corn. Nice to get a little history lesson on a trip.
Roll out on a back road, not much more than a pig trail. Work our way back south towards Ozark. This is Sunday, so everybody is parting ways. “Happy Hour” and “Rainmaker” go to see family in eastern Arkansas. “Roadrunner” heads back to Fort Worth to family. “Easy G “ and myself travel south to Mena.
We run to Ozark and hit Hwy 23 south towards Mena. Intersect Hwy 21 and continue to Mena. Reach Mena, lunch time!. Mexican restaurant just
south of town. As luck would have it, they close at 3 pm. It’s 3 pm!, Plan B, Italian restaurant right up the street. Pizza is in order, but no alcohol on Sunday! Get our fill of pizza and head west over the Telemena trail towards Oklahoma.
Great road up the mountain towards the state line. Great scenic overlooks, very little traffic. The road is rough as a cob, can’t hardly stay on the bike. Notice at the overlook my taillights were not working! Try to make Broken Bow before dark. Arrive in Broken Bow just before dark. Catch a motel at the south end of town. Sunday night nobody at the motel? A good thing we got the run of the place. After a few crowns it’s off to bed.
Next morning breakfast at the motel, Only person there is the owner of the motel. Singing the blues about business!
After listening to his sad story, time to fix my tail lights. After 30 minutes of messing with them they start working, hard to figure sometimes!
We pull out and travel south toward Clarksville, Traveling with the GPS always interesting, never know where you are going.
We zig and zag down to Canton. At Athens we hit Hwy 31. Run south through Corsicana on to Waco. Interstate 35 at Waco down to Temple.
At Belton it’s west to Lampasas.
Good food stop just east of Lampasas. Been a long journey today with some rain and heat later.
Enjoy some good Mexican food and a margarita and recount what a great trip we had.
The home stretch is upon us, Hwy 183 down through Burnet, Marble Falls, and Johnson City.
Johnson City catch Hwy 290 west. On to Fredericksburg where “Easy G “ splits off.
Always good to see that front gate, greet the wife and my dogs and cats.
Like I always say live life to the hilt, you never
know when it’s your last trip!
RIDE FREE AND OFTEN!
DAD
