[ST] Ride Report, Barber

["STeve Duncan" <xhippy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a ride report for my journey to Birmingham AL, and John (Apex Dawg) 
Petrey's house, and the AMA races and Museum at Barber Motorsports.  Six 
days of hooligan fun.

Wednesday morning arrived all dark dank and dreary.  Par for the course.  
Long rides always seem to start this way for me.  Kinda a reminder of what 
"could be".  No worries, I left town in a perf leather jacket and phoenix 
pants (gerbings at the ready).  Up 75 north to meet Walker at the half way 
point, I stopped in Dennison and hooked up the Gerbings.  It was a cool 
morning and a light mist just would not go away.  Toasty, I soldiered on.

Walker and I had agreed to meet in Daisy OK at 9:30am.  It's about 150 miles 
for each of us.  We would then take the backroads across Arkansas, including 
the wonderful Talimena Scenic Drive.  This would be a real treat as we had 
not the opportunity to ride the "Drive" together in a couple of decades.

I make the little store in Daisy about 15 minutes late (the little store 
"is" Daisy, BTW).  But no Walker to be seen.  I leave a voicemail and get a 
DP (Dr. Pepper) while I await the mighty Vulcan.  Sure enough about 10 
minutes later I hear the rumble of his pipes as he pulls in.  Then looking 
out the window of the little store I see a frantic movement in my friend.  I 
walk outside to see what the problem is.  He is motioning to the gas pump 
saying "they have no GAS, they have NO gas!"

I look at the ancient pumps and concur, "Yep, that paper sign there sure as 
hell sez, no gas"

But what am I gonna do, sez Steve?  I've been on reserve for the last 20 
miles?  Well, I say, we got to get to the next gas, and that's at least 30 
miles away.  CRAP, sez Steve, I can't make it that far!  I calmly mount my 
bike and say, "You ain't got no choice, dude, follow me"...................

We ride along "43" east  at a much slower pace than I am accustomed, finally 
making landfall at the thriving metropolis of Clayton OK.  Walker fills his 
thirsty tank with 4.87 gallons of petrol.  This is a 5 gal tank.  That's 
cutting it pretty close.  I don't even bother with gas  :-)  I only have 80 
miles on a 250 range.  But this is a sign of things to come

Relaxed and in the groove, we head east on 270 and into Talihina.  We have a 
great lunch and then make our way to "my road", the Talimena Drive.  This is 
just one of those few "perfect" motorcycle roads.  I'm sure I've gone on and 
on about it here before.  I've ridden it more than a hundred times.  As a 
kid I lived right on it's down slope into Mena AR.  I love this road, it is 
"my road" on so many levels.  It had been cloudy and dreary the whole trip, 
so far.  But as we asended the Winding Stair Mtn's the cloudy magically 
parted and it was a beautiful clear day all the way across the Talimena.  
Riding it once again with my old friend was a special treat, one I will not 
soon forget.

After the Drive we followed "88" over to "270" and then all the way thru Hot 
Springs and Pine Bluff. This was a very nice ride, all big sweepers and pine 
trees.  We had planned to stop for the night around Pine Bluff but the mojo 
just wasn't there.  Pine Bluff sucks.  So we continued northeast on "79" 
looking for accommodations.  This area is the floodplane for the confluence 
of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers.  Flat does not even begin to 
describe this area.  They grow rice out there. Now, I've ridden with Walker 
many thousands of miles over the years.  I don't have to actually "hear" him 
to know what he is saying inside his helmet.  What he was saying at this 
point was "I will kill you dead, if we don't find a place to stay, real 
fukking quick".

I had my mojo working, we arrive in Stuttgart, just before sunset and see a 
motel shining like a diamond on the rice fields.  Western Sizzlin just 
across the street, and beer store next door.  I avoid homicide, just barely. 
 What a first day.  The steak was just "ok", the beer was very cold.  The 
bed was most comfortable.


Next, "Day Two".  Or, Throttle cable?  Thunderstorms?  Yer kidding, right?



eL Donut
jinete en la tormenta

STeve Duncan
'00-Sprint-ST
'96-DR350S


_______________________________________________
Triumph Sprint ST/RS mailing list
Send list posts to ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Change your list options at www.TriumphNet.com