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Ladies and gents, it's on like Donkey Kong. Hog Tie 2014 is now scheduled for September 12, 13, 14 of 2014. I have talked to Debbie at the Hub (where we've stayed the last 2 years) and thus far we are the ONLY group coming in to the hotel that weekend. She's got 20 rooms blocked off for us as of now, so please give her a ring to make your reservations! The number for The Hub is either (870)-743-4062 or 1800-597-9963. Please ADVISE DEBBIE YOU'RE WITH VFRD. The hotel is about 8 miles south of Harrison Arkansas on the Highway 7 Spur off of Scenic Highway 7. It's southeast of Mystic Caverns and north of Dogpatch USA. I'll be editing this post with all the pertinent information in the coming days. Traditionally, this has been a come-as-you-are, invite whoever you want and don't plan on any organization event. We just kind of put out the call and see who shows up. That's not everyone's proverbial cup-o-tea, but the riding is absolutely fabulous and the fellowship is good! I know a few people will choose to show up early (or stay late) and make a longer trip of the ride, but the "Hog Tie" is officially as follows: Day 1: Show up... sometime. Take some rides around the area if you're inclined and eat some pie. Day 2: Get out of bed whenever you feel like it or the group you're riding with wakes you up. Put on your gear and go ride. All. Day. Long. Day 3: Roll out of bed, shower on this morning... it's Sunday after all, and either go for a ride or head home. Randall and Debbie, the owners of The Hub, have been tremendous for us in the past. They've allowed us to grill up some burgers, and do a cook-out. They do have a restaurant on-site that is really damn good, we typically have a few beers and sit around the campfire in the evenings. Some things to be aware of: 1) You are ultimately responsible for your enjoyment of your event. Try and pick a group to ride with and keep your groups between 4-6 bikes. 2) Ride within your limits! We've been blessed so far with NOBODY having an accident, let's keep it that way! 3) Have some cash on you. Some of the small shops in the area are cash only. 4) This is some technical riding, and the roads out here chew up tires. Have good rubber on the bike and lots of it left. 5) The Hub is NOT the Ritz. Know that. It's clean though! 6) Road-side scenic overlooks are a good place to pick up chicks. Personally, I plan on taking a LONG trip this year to the Hub. I've moved 600 miles further away than I used to be from there, so I'll be taking a few days for some good vacation time. Likely, the week prior to the event. There are several other topics in the Hog Tie section of the forum with much information. Read up! PM me with any questions. -Jon

Well, last night (10/09) my buddy Dustin and I were talking. He let me know that he started his staycation on Thursday (10/10) and would be home for a week, so if I wanted to go for a ride some time to just let him know. In about 15 minutes we formulated a plan to get together for a ride Thursday around 1. LOL He rides a Suzuki V Strom 650, and we have done a few rides together before. So we met in Ozark, just outside of Lambert's restaurant, and then began our ride. Not at Lambert's It was an awesome day for a ride: 75 degrees, sunny, pretty much no wind... just about perfect. We started out by heading east on NN and then south on some lesser traveled, but still nice, roads. Our first main goal was crossing the recently reopned Riverside bridge. It had been closed for a couple years due to storm damage, and probably some other things. It's a single lane bridge, and it looked like they had done a nice job in repairing it. From there we took some more "outer" roads to Hwy 14 and then east to Sparta. Almost a mile from Sparta, I noticed that there were a lot of vultures circling a hay field that had recently been mowed down. They hadn't bundled the hay yet, and as we got closer I noticed that there was probably about 30-40 vultures picking through the hay, all over the field. I hadn't seen anything like it before. We caught 125 just east of Sparta, and then headed toward Hwy T. As usual, 125 was in really good shape and the traffic was light, probably because it wasn't even 2pm yet. Catching Hwy T, we automatically noticed that the surface wasn't as good as 125. It didn't have loose gravel on it or anything, but it just wasn't as smooth. We decided we would try UU back to 125, as neither of us had ever ridden that road before. About half a mile into it, we pretty much regretted that stretch of road. I hate chip and seal, and this road had loads of it. Usually right in the middle of a corner, after you've already commited yourself to a certain line. I had a bad experience with that crap before, and it puts me on edge now. Needless to say I had to pull the stock VFR seat out of my ass once we hit the stop sign to get onto 125. The rest of 125 south was amazing. There were no cars on the road, and we were able to run at a nice brisk pace. The scenery on some of the roads is spectacular, and makes me wish they had turn off points. There were times when I forgot that Dustin was behind me with his video camera going, as I was focused on the road and the next turn. I didn't have to worry too much about him though, those VStroms are pretty nimble bikes. We made our way down 125 to 160, and stopped and a deserted Post Office to try and decide where we were going to go next. After a few minutes of looking at maps, and remembering certain things, I finally convinced him that we should ride down to Peel's Ferry, as he had never been on it. Wrong way down UU. Pavement ended. Just another silver VFR... Again, the roads were nice, and there wasn't a car in sight. When we finally made it to the staging area for the ferry, there was a couple of bikes in front of us. A guy on a Harley, and another on a fully bagged 2008 FJR. Those two had ridden from Kansas, and were on their way to Eureka Springs, in a round about way. LOL. So the four of us finally loaded our bikes on the ferry and were standing by our bikes for a couple seconds. The guy on the FJR looked over at his friend with the Harley and said "Have you ever ridden a ferry before?" I couldn't help but laugh, and said "That's a loaded question!" The guy on the FJR laughed and corrected himself with "Has your bike ever been on a ferry before?" Not too long after that, there came an older couple, maybe in their 50's or 60's, riding a couple of BMW 650's. Nice bikes. We all enjoyed the bikes only ferry ride to the other side, and it was kind of nice having a few bikes to ride with for a bit. The guys on the Harley and FJR cut off at 265 (I think that's the highway) and the four of us kept heading south toward Peel. I was in the front, so I had to set the pace. Now given that the older guy on the BMW had a full face helmet on, I couldn't see his face, but I could tell by the way he was keeping up with us (and leaving his wife to go at her own, still respectable, pace) he was enjoying having other people to ride with as well. We went our separate ways once we hit 14. Dustin and I went west and they went east. Abandoned Post Office. Boy, that Government shutdown has taken a toll. Waiting in line for the ferry, which is in the distance A half-full ferry of motorcycles. Hwy 14 was a fairly nice stretch of road with nice sweepers, good pavement, and pretty decent visibility through the corners. We rode 14 all the way to 65, and then headed back north. We were going to go west on 86, but they had 12 miles of road construction, and that sounded like a bad idea. Instead we kept going north to 160. Heading west on 160, which is another fun little road with plenty of twists and turns, we finally hit some traffic. They weren't slow, but not really up to the pace we wanted to keep. Either way, it was still a nice little jaunt. Once we hit 165, we went north until we came to 176. Once on 176 we went west toward Galena. 176 was another nice road, and this time Dustin took the lead. He kept a faster pace than I had up to that point, but he knows that road like the back of his hand. Another reason why I let him lead. :) Once we were past Galena, we went north on AA. This road is probably one of my favorites in the area. It is nestled between a hillside and creek for just about the entire road, and it's covered with trees. Even when we took that road in the middle of summer, the road was totally shaded. Today it was still totally shaded, and dropped the temp to closer around 68 degrees. It has some nice sweepers, strung together with tighter, higher speed, corners. And then there is the scenery. Simply amazing. Again, another road I wish they would make turn outs for. Once we hit A, Dustin headed west, toward his house, and I headed East, and then north back to my house. Overall, a good way to spend a few hours in the afternoon with your friend. The nice thing was that I still had a bit of gas in my tank when I got home. So roughly 200 miles on a tank, with PLENTY of spirited riding. Yep, I still love my VFR! Here is the route we took: http://www.mapquest.com/embed?hk=1bKTvtC And just something we saw on the way home:

Ladies and Gents, it’s happening again! The 2nd (possibly annual) HOG TIE, September 13-15, 2013 in Harrison, Arkansas at the Hub Hotel. After the great turnout last year, (and at the behest of many fanatics that seemed to enjoy themselves) I am putting out the call a little earlier this year to enable those needing to juggle vacation time ample opportunity to make the appropriate plans. (I have found a sacrificial virgin and the weather gods have deemed it good. The weather this year will be as good as last year. You’re welcome.) This year will include: 1.A cookout Friday night (13th). I’ll be bringing a truck and trailer this year and will tote along all the necessary bits to put together a burger/bratwurst/hotlink cook out. 2.Led groups for those that haven’t been to the area and are looking for a slower pace or a sightseeing group. There will be other groups looking for a faster pace, but I myself like to look around and take it relatively easy. Once again, this year will be at the HUB HOTEL (www.hubinfo.com) as Randall and Debbie were fantastic for us last year. I’ve got a block of rooms reserved, tell Debbie that you’re with VFRD when you call to make reservations. No money is required up front, I think they keep reservations on Post-it notes. However, if you do cancel, please call them and advise so we’ve got an accurate tally of people coming out and availability of rooms. Rooms start at 60/night, campsites (the lawn) are 10/night and campsites have access to bathrooms. While accommodations are not the Ritz Carlton by any stretch of the imagination, the sheets are clean and the owners are wonderful. There is a restaurant on-site that’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the food is pretty good. Randall makes his AMAZING prime rib on the weekends. There is a beer cooler for a small donation as the Hub is in a dry county. If you prefer to bring your own, there’s a store about 6 miles north of the hotel that sells beer. Remember, this ride is NOT limited to VFR's. If you have some family or friends that you'd like to invite, help yourself. That's part of the beauty of not making a bunch of plans. ***Edit 5/7/13*** There's a new and fancy liquor store now about one mile north of the Hub. What to expect: If you decide to join us at this meet, I can promise you great roads, good food and wonderful people. Beyond that, this weekend will be what you make of it. I’m not good at planning things, so I don’t really even pretend to try any more. Ultimately, your enjoyment of this event depends on you. Come out, enjoy the scenery, the roads and the company. Don’t expect a weekend full of planned events for you, it won’t be there. Keep an open schedule and leave your OCD at the house. I will provide T-shirts again this year, and will take pre-orders as the date approaches. I’ve still got some vintage 2012 tees available if you’re skinny or looking for some spare rags to wipe down your bike. Hopefully I can sweet-talk Grapes and Randy at Barefoot Designs to help out with that again this year. ***Added 5/7/13*** VcFR is planning on making some name badges/info cards up this year. This was one thing I'd hoped to do last year and just didn't work. Take some time to start the conversation on this thread about finding riding partners and scheduling runs. The ONLY thing I’m scheduling is a meal on Friday night and a weekend at the hotel. While officially, the HOG TIE is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, don’t be surprised if a few show up early or stay late. (I’ll be there early, there’s a bunch of stuff in the area I want to go see and do.) If last year is any indication, ride groups will be pretty much out the door by 9:00am and will filter back in and out throughout the day, coming in for the night an hour or so before sunset. Take time and ask questions to find a group that is within your skill-set. If you are not accustomed to this type of terrain, I would strongly encourage you to pair up with people who will be doing a slower pace. There’s not much room for error (Right Rush2112?) and we really REALLY don’t want anyone to have a mishap. Last year, nobody was cited or went down… I’d really love to keep that record. Try to keep rider groups to 5-6 people at most. There will be PLENTY of talk about routes. Keep your eyes peeled for it. This ride is NOT limited to those on VFRD, but I’m not advertising it anywhere except on this site. Friends, husbands, wives, main squeezes and kids are all welcome, no matter what they ride. Here’s some clips from last year a few of us compiled, along with a couple screencaps of some good routes. http://vimeo.com/50389681 http://youtu.be/H789O2QJR-I http://youtu.be/4FCFt0q2K48 RSVP list- Confirmed: Yokel (+2) 2thdr + Christina Gswanson 00Yeller GadiantonRob VcFR Argsxrlady Huntingguns Dutchinterceptor Adam79 (+the epic pillion, Leslie) - (Mr. Francis and the wife.) Gloryracing + Ellen RUSH2112 (+ the non-pillion, BEEMER ROD) 09zzz veequattrorazzo pluseb0 kyledonahue JeffInFranklinTN MaxSwell Nick from Loooooouisiana on a purty red veefalo. rdg59 Panamawing Tentative: HispanicSlammer Vecky5 There are NO FEES for this event. The goal is to encourage as many as possible to take part, and we had a LOT of last-minute additions last year. That was a bunch of fun! Keep your eye on this post as it may change if I add any information or need to communicate anything to the group. ***** Additional information on GROUPS: Several folks have been kind enough to offer route suggestions or to lead a group. I feel that I would be doing a disservice to many of the folks planning on coming out without offering the following disclaimer- Take a moment to seriously consider your abilities. If you're a flat-lander (like me) you may want to take in to account that you will be surprised at the roads here. The pavement is generally good and offers a lot of traction (chip-seal) BUT the roads will be more technical than you're used to. Baileyrock has set the standard for making sure people find the right group, and he's posted some wonderful information on the TMAC threads that I'd encourage you to look up. While the roads in AR aren't quite as twisty as what can be found near Deal's Gap, they can still catch inexperienced riders off-guard. When I came over with the Triumph guys last year, 4 people rashed up their rides and two were hospitalized due to injury. Nobody wants that. It's far better to get into a sightseeing group and just enjoy the ride than it is to push yourself beyond your limits and pay for a poor decision. Last year, I led the sightseeing group. Several of us would happily do that again, and any VFRD ride leader worth their salt wants you to get home in 1 piece. Do NOT hesitate to ride within (or below) your skill level, it will be fun regardless. Don't be surprised if the group you want to ride with veto's you. We've got some quick riders coming and they may ask you some honest questions about your experience. Give them honest answers and listen to what they say. Surely some of the folks from this area will be willing to either lead a group or offer route suggestions. Feel free to ask! -Jon ****** Group lead volunteers- Yokel (intermediate) Huntingguns (sight-seeing, intermediate) Gloryracing (good luck keeping up.)

This is Saturday Morning, 8-31-13 riding with 2thdr in Arkansas on our way to meet up with Gloryracing on Hwy123. It was a gorgeous morning about 0730. The lighting and time of day are dead giveaways to keep an eye on the sides of the road and keep speeds somewhat manageable in order to give yourself some recovery room if it's needed. Even keeping the pace moderate and scanning the sides of the road, you can tell this one caught me off guard. My swerve was delayed, and according to 2thdr, this guy chased me for a couple hundred feet after I almost tagged him. Keep those eyes peeled, kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cqhEnlMKtI&feature=youtu.be

Did you book a spare bed? Willing to put up with someone else snoring? Looking to piggy-back on someone else's reservation, make arrangements for a shower, toilet, or gear storage if you're camping? Post up here.

Figured I'd start this thread to get the subject launched. Part of the Hog Tie is the planning neglect on my part, and reliance of you, the rider, to make your own weekend of this. In that spirit, on this thread I will list lead/sweep volunteers. Take the time to PM the person volunteering to lead and start the discussion on whether or not you think you'd be a good fit for their group. I would prefer groups were kept to a maximum of 6 bikes, but to each their own. Six is a good, manageable number and will allow the lead to be able to see the whole group in rear-view on the straights. If you haven't, check BR's thread on the PACE. More leaders and sweepers are always welcome! The groups: Sight-Seeing or Beginner - This will typically be around the speed limit, take your time and take in the sights. Twisty bits will be taken at prudent speeds for the average novice rider. Intermediate - This will typically be a little more rapid than the Beginner group, corner speeds will be a bit on the "whee!" side. If you typically live in flatlands and are an experienced rider, this grouping should be a lot of fun. Advanced - Hold on to your butts. If you are not proficient and well-versed in cornering, you'll be working too hard for a decent safety margin. As of right now I've got the following for leads/sweeps: Huntingguns leading beginner/sightseeing group with VcFR running sweep. Yokel leading intermediate group with no sweep designated at this time. Gloryracing leading advanced group with no sweep designated at this time.

EDIT: This report is Finally DONE. Day ONE: Several award nominations will be made throughout this multi-day report. The first nomination goes to ADAM79 for his tenacity for getting this journey underway. Looking at a forecast of rain, all it took was 2 now infamous words, "I'm GOIN'!" to motivate the rest of us to take the proverbial plunge. Any good trip needs a start, and Adam ponied up the guts to make this one get out of the gate. Friday the 29th of March started for me on the 28th when I woke up to go to work overnight. Our "kickstands up" time was 8:00am Friday morning, so I left from the shop loaded up and we met up in a McDonalds Parking lot off of I-35. In the assortment of bikes was a 6th gen, a 7th gen, then a Concourse 14 and a BMW K1200S. The sun was coming up and the day looked to be pretty much amazing aside from some rather threatening thunderheads poking up to our east, directly the way we needed to go. Ominous to say the least. Steve, (or 2thdr to the un-initiated) mapped our route out on Rte 66 to pick up our 5th rider for this leg of the journey on an FJR, then off to Arkansas for some twisty goodness in the company of Gloryracing and his over-talented and gutsy pillion, Ellen. The route looked like this: We jetted up I-35 to Route 66, then swung out 16 (which is flat as a cow-flop I might add), and the ride was fairly boring central Oklahoma stuff until Talequah. The sky continued to darken as we turned north and on to some entertaining roads. Steve set the pace at a good clip on damp roads while we meandered along the Illinois river. Fortunately, the river float season hasn't started as there are typically suicidal bus drivers along this road shuttling canoe, kayak and raft folk to the put-ins at speed approaching Mach 2. Instead, we were treated to signs of early spring and very little traffic. Just before we merged on to 412 there was a state trooper that passed us by on the intersecting highway. His neck must have popped because THAT guy was so busy giving us the stink-eye. In fact, he was kind enough to wait for us on a bridge on 412, then proceed to pull behind our group tailgating me as he ran my plate, then proceeded to split our group and tailgate EVERYONE in turn running THEIR plates. Didn't this guy know we had places to be? Get the heck out of the way so we can speed already man! Once the LEO was no longer a threat (HOORAY for State Lines!) we picked up the pace a bit. I was getting kind of tired as my day had already been quite long. Typically, my mind wanders a bit when riding on State highways for long periods and inhaling all the exhaust while running sweep for the group might have made me a little more "off" than normal. I'd been eyeballing the darkening sky with trepidation, and for some reason, passed the entire group to pull up next to Steve. I waved up at the sky, gesticulating in ways that made perfect sense to me enough to say "Hey, can you believe it's not s*$tting all over us yet?! Look at those CLOUDS!" I think 2thdr interpreted it as "Did you know rain makes watermelons?" or something equally stupid. I've never seen such a look of pure confusion from behind a full-face helmet in my life, and that's about the point I realized I may *actually* be more tired that I'd initially feared. We stopped for a light lunch in Siloam Springs, topped the tanks and made a bee-line for the Ozarks. I had been in touch with Gloryracing for the few days prior to our ride. I was in a bad way for tires having been completely unaware of how bad mine were getting with an impending 3000 mile ride. The plan was for me to split off and head in to Harrison while the other guys went the more creative way to Dogpatch and the Hub which would become our jumping off point for Saturday. At HWY 306, I waved and broke away (further confusing a few of the guys with my abrupt departure) and headed for Gloryracing's casa and a fresh set of shoes. Another award nomination goes to Mark for being such a hell of a guy. I sat around peppering him with questions for the better part of two hours and watched him change out the tires on the 1200 for me while he gave me a lesson in torque specs (turn, turn, tuuuuuurn and it's good!), using a no-mar and wheel cleaning. After Mark finished up, I headed to the Hub for dinner and to scrub in the tires. Mark and Ellen joined us for dinner in the "Hot Tub" at the Hub, and as the sun set Adam's buddy Arion lit a fire for us. We kicked up the feet and swapped some advice and stories for a while. All told, a pretty fitting end to the day and a great start to what will become an epic adventure on my part. More to come...

Ok, I'm not going to as why you say Arkansaw and not Arkansas and I was going to open with something along the lines of ... After flying XX,xxx kms to get to Arkansas only to find I would miss a ride, due to work commitments so I plugged the two locations into Google maps for a laugh - turns out it's a 25,000km trip and I need to drive all the way to Darwin, kayak to Japan, Hawaii and Washington, before driving across America. Sounds like a great trip, ask me sometime about the adventure it was!! Actually work flew me non stop to LA, missed my connection to Dallas, get rebooked, made it to Dallas and eventually Little Rock. Where I was to spend the next three weeks working completely messed up days of naps and work for about 18-20 hours every day, for the whole time. I was actually going to try to drop in one of the nights of the ride, I even had a car available to me. But it turned out that even though it was towards the end of my trip it was about the busiest part as we prepared to come home again. So it would have been nice, but I'll have to wait until you all come down here! -- and then I'll miss it due to having to look after the kids or something :) So while you lot were out enjoying a very nice part of Arkansas in the sun and the rain, I was not that far away, stuffing about with work (outside in that sun and rain). I didn't see many bikes about (didn't seem to be a lot of commuters on bikes in LR, though my hours were a bit unusual). I did happen across Thursday night, Bike night at Hooters, totally by accident. Organised by the A-State Boys (whom I know nothing about) it seemed a fairly friendly gathering of all kinds of riders on all kinds of machines from across the city. A lot more custom paint jobs and more lengthened swing arms than I've ever seen in one place before. Some nice jobs and some that didn't appeal personally. Chatted to a couple of guys and hung about, but without a bike and not even having my Casey Stoner cap with me (in possibly the only place I went all trip where wearing a hat with "Stoner" emblazoned across might actually have been understood, and not had any association with the non medicinal use of plants) I probably looked a fair bit out of place. And I'm sure the Camry I was driving helped the image :) Bit of everything at the gathering This kinda thing I don't see too often Some of our hosts Along without requiring a helmet, there seems to be pretty open regulations on noise in the state as well (I know other states are different)