TMac seemed like such a good idea! Memorial ride on a nice weekend, situated close enough to my Birthday to allow some guilt-tripping on the wife to gain a kitchen pass. It almost worked as well. When I let her know the dates, she informed me that I was missing one key event….my youngest daughters 3rd birthday. Piss. As I prepared to let the opportunity pass me by, I looked with envy on the plans being made by other riders from all over the continent to attend. T-shirts were designed, old memories re-hashed, and routes with CURVES were designed. Curves….what would it be like to take a flat-land DFW bike on a road that curved for something other than an exit ramp? I would not be able to find out.

As I jealously monitored the plans of various riders, I noticed DutchInterceptor was planning to go up a bit early, and hit the Ozarks on the way….now the Ozarks aren't that far…maybe I could make it a 2 day run, and get some fun in? The inventive mind took over, and I began planning….in the end I decided I would go as far as Nashville….for a couple reasons.

#1. It would still allow me to get back by sometime on Friday…the key date I must not miss or I would need a dog-house addition to fit my sorry behind.

#2. I would be able to meet more VFR people….especially Bailyrock. I had to see his hardbags for myself to believe them, and view his Laundry room/Race Takeoff room.

#3. I would be able to travel through some states not previously seen, and certainly not on a bike.

As Dutch solidified his plans and routes, along with HS and others, I was stoked. All my slush fund money went into my ride budget. I checked and rechecked my bike….as a daily commuter it stays pretty current, so that wasn't an issue. It didn't seem like the day would ever arrive, but slowly it came closer and closer. With 1 week to go I even found a suitable deal on my TomTom One GPS, which would prove to be a nearly invaluable purchase. 2 days before I was set to leave I was still building GPS mount. 1 day before I was modding my GPS mount to include my Camera….thank goodness this last ditch effort worked out ok.

Monday Arrives!!!!!

Yup, the time was here! MGTX73 sent me a text message at 6:00 saying he was off…and that was the end of my sleep. As I puttered around, pretending I had stuff to do (I had been packed for a full 24 hours already), I realized my Registration would expire at the end of the month….say around….Nashville? Oh crap. I got online and renewed it, knowing I wouldn't get the sticker in time, but at least it would be current. Inspection would also be expired, whups. Another txt message arrived….after Mike should have arrived…traffic holdups….more puttering. I got the bike out, and had my wife snap a picture of my grinning mug (Camera/GPS mount can be seen here):

Mike sends another txt…."Almost there"….turns out there had been two bad accidents on the freeway between his cousins place and mine…and he got lost (GPS got him to my place tho). He rolled up and we took off….he needed fuel but we decided to get out of town first. Finally gassed up and we were on our way…running behind about 40 minutes for our meeting with Dutch. Luckily the time estimated did not account for possible triple digit speeds (did I do that??). It was a bit chilly, and the speeds didn't help….poor Mike had been on the road 2 hours already, and was now getting beat up by my attempt at leading. I had a short learning curve for using the GPS navigation, part of which included quick mind changes for exiting or not exiting freeways….overall the ride was uneventful. Texas drivers were very considerate, 4-5 times they pulled off to the shoulder so we could pass. At one point it is rumored that speeds may have approached 2x the limit, but that is hearsay and not admissible in court.

We managed to make up all but about 10 minutes of the lost time, putting us in Clarksville well within the time span we had agreed on with Dutch. Mike spotted him at a gas station….I had been paying attention to the GPS and not looking at the surroundings…this was a theme I carried much of the way. We had to turn around, but we made it! After gassing up and chatting a bit, we headed out for Oklahoma and the Talimena Parkway.

The ride to the Talimena was pretty boring. Actually really boring mixed with mildy boring. Here is a fuzzy picture taken from my Camera, as it was shooting through the windscreen.:

We finally started getting into some actual trees (very rare in DFW) and some rolling hills. We stopped for fuel/rest somewhere in OK…I didn't note the name of the place:

Dutch on the left, Mike (mgtx73) on the right

Here is a shot of the whole place:

After this, we hit the beginning of the Talimena parkway. Dutch warned me in advance of the first curve…and even what he said didn't give me enough warning…the first curve is one SHARP left hander….>180 degrees decreasing…and the last thing you see before the curves start is a nice view of the valley laid out below…where you know you will go if you miss the turn. Unsettling, but no mishaps.

Just a couple miles into the parkway we came to a nice overlook, so we took a photo-op, and learned about how the rocks came from Texas at some point

Mike took a bathroom break, then seems to have misplaced something….

Just as we were about to leave, a motorcycle gang accosted us. At first we thought they wanted our bikes, but then we realized they had their own VFR's, so we joined forces

The rest of the ride to Mena was through some nice gentle curves, until you get to the area right above Mena where the mountain dumps into the valley and the curves get more intense. I remember sections of the road from time spent there while in College on summer break…back then I had a 79 Z28 that was faster than I had the money to pay for the tickets for. Overall I was comfortable on the bike.

In Mena we stopped at a pizza buffet place (Really great Pizza). It was ~2 PM, so the place was empty…as was the buffet. They offered to make any pizza we wanted, but we weren't too picky. Pizza was not spectacular, or even marginal, but it was warm and editable and cheap. If I had it to do over again I probably wouldn't, except I needed to get shots of the place as I had worked in an ajoining business that was no longer in existence.

From here Ernie headed back to OK, and the 5 of us continued up towards Russellville. HS did a good job of describing the ride up, so I will just add a couple pics I took.

All the bikes lined up nice

HS has trouble restraining tears as his fear of heights takes over. Gary berates him to "buck up and act like a Web Forum owner already"

Outside the Russellville hotel….Mike is missing as he slept in a bit

More to come as we hit day 2, and Tightwad learns how to turn corners.