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The Arkansas Super Enduro Itch

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woodsguy said:
BTW, not near as big a deal for me, I'll never get to do his adventures, unfortunately! lol
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Yeah Stevo is out there getting it done. Life doesn't always line up for me to make these types of trips. Don't kid yourself @woodsguy you have made many memories and friend through all your years of racing, just a different method.
 
bwdmax said:
Yeah Stevo is out there getting it done. Life doesn't always line up for me to make these types of trips. Don't kid yourself @woodsguy you have made many memories and friend through all your years of racing, just a different method.
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You're correct and didn't mean my comment as pity just he's way more adventurous than I was and no way at this point in life! Yes I have some awesome memories and feel very blessed. Anything now is icing on the cake.
 
I had a brand new clutch cable fail in the middle of a ride on my old 250EXC. It was warrantied but still didn't make the ride back to the truck any easier. I managed to get it going and my buddies ran ahead of me scouting and making sure I had clear sailing all the way back.
 
I have had multiple cable failures, but never a hydraulic. The only good thing about the cable is that if you plan ahead and have a spare, it is an easy repair. Repairing hydraulic could be more involved and it is harder to carry what you might need. For riding though, I'll take hydraulic all day every day because I have all kinds of hand issues.
 
woodsguy said:
You're correct and didn't mean my comment as pity just he's way more adventurous than I was and no way at this point in life! Yes I have some awesome memories and feel very blessed. Anything now is icing on the cake.
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I've been dreaming of a like minded well put together rider that just can't physically do the riding anymore. But wants to be part of the adventure. A small 4 wheel drive with a spare bike in the bed, camping gear, cold beers and ribeyes....that shows up in the middle of nowhere based off a SPOT coordinate received.....and then partakes in the camp life and tall tales. I plan on this being me when the time comes. Where is my someone now?

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Ok back to the ride. Took an off the bike break here, there was enough slope to get going again. This is such pretty terrain. I usually tell people when they ask about this area and what it is like…..just picture the rolling Texas hill country with pine trees instead of cedar. With a lot more water. And a lot more public lands. And a lot more good camping. And a lot less fake wineries. Ok, it’s nothing like the hill country really.

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Hit some pavement and stopped at an old defunct gas station that now was just a greasy spoon. Guess what the special of the day was….fried catfish. I got a cheese burger….but that’s not the point. I asked if they could spare a little cup of cooking oil…..

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Hooked me up and I topped off the clutch reservoir. Back in business….but for how long? Roll with it, she feels good till she doesn’t.

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Jumped a state highway to get into the Deckard Mountain area. What’s that about? Legend has it that one day a man by the name of Deckard was out hunting and a black bear attacked him. After an intense fight, both the bear and Deckard were found dead side by side. The bear with a knife wound to the heart, Deckard with his fallopian tubes removed, or something like that. The mountain also makes the top 10 tallest points list in Arkansas. Couple more factoids, it is a rare mountain range that runs east to west instead of north to south like most….hmmm, never thought about that before. And this is a really large turkey habitat. I tried to hang out and catch a gobble floating in the air, nothing. But the view was worth the stop….and to think about ol boy fighting a bear to his death in these parts. Scary. Super Enduro yawned again. Dadgum it, I hate being the weak link.

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This next stretch was just easy cruising for like 30 miles. Kind of relaxing riding parallel to a creek for a good bit. And with good clutch feel.

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I needed to make some routing decisions. The clutch was still holding well, that’s good news. The weather forecast for the next day wasn’t holding, not the best news. I decided to route myself into part of my planned route for tomorrow. I was feeling good and the forest road route to get there was just about perfect. Like the guy that cut the road was a dirt bike rider. It had a cool roller coaster feel and just enough curves that you could stay in 4th gear and just float without hitting the brakes.

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I have no idea what this joint was about. Pretty sure some joints were about when it was built. I didn't hang out long, was worried I might get tackled by some bald hippie in a robe.

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Next move, I got in the Wolf Pen Gap OHV complex. Hold on big boy, let’s see what you got. He was talking to me.

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We were rocking it. While I acknowledge it would have been easier to frolic a 350 or 450 through here, it was still cool to punch it out on a big bike. There wasn’t anything too tough, just had to plan your moves and be deliberate. And be happy with the wonderfully operating hydraulic clutch.

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I got some strange looks from the SxS weenies. As I snuck around them or was coming down the trail towards them. It was obvious who the offroad guys were that just happened to be riding with their wife that day. They would give me a big grin and a thumbs up as we passed. The non-offroad SxS type owners, I’ll hold those comments.

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The Super Enduro was really shining today and taking everything in stride. Fun to flip flop back and forth from a little bit spicy dirt roads, to typical forest roads, to twisty paved roads, to 50” stuff. All we needed was a little sip of cooking oil. This bike really is a good little touring machine, it walks the line well.

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Back at camp. Happy to have my sandals on, my big toes were hurting and are still healing from the Great Utah Toenail Debauchery from 6 months ago!! It took 2 months to lose the nails and 4 more months for them to grow this far along. Licketysplat’s femur healed faster. This pic is for @gixxerjasen and his wife. And @ConejoDon likes to see them as well. Heck everyone does, besides the fact that I have beautiful feet, my toe deal is kinda like the scar on Indiana Jones’ chin. Chics dig it.

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Repeat……music, cold ones, fire, meat, stupidery. And happiness I’ve known proves that it’s right, because your mine, I walk the line.

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How many times do I have to correct you. First and Second Fallopians are books in the Bible, silly. Seriously though, as always, great report Steve! Are you treating the Arkansas countryside to your peculiar music play list? I hope so...
 
I tried, had some tunes playing at camp but kept the volume respectful. The SxS dinguses coming and going were really loud and I was trying to set a good example. It was their wake board speakers set to cringe and the mashing of the skinny pedal as hard as they could every time they would leave/come back to camp that was over the top. I did make comments, out loud, for each one to not hear regarding their extreme skills. Made me feel better.



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So with the cooler temps (46f this morning) and rain moving in at 8am, I threw in the towel on riding today. Cold, wet and slippery trails….pass. We loaded up. Job well done Super Enduro, appreciate you more and more big little buddy.

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I ran into town for a real breakfast. Found this cafe in the downtown Mena area, Skyline Cafe. It worked. Normal breakfast and good ice tea. No crappy sausage biscuits this morning.

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Rolled out of town and had to stop and check out this old truck. It was calling to me. I love it.

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Owner of the automotive shop as well as this truck came out to talk to me, in the rain. He was excited that I was excited! He got it recently, it moves under its own power and the PTO winch still works. He is going to make a few improvements but mostly keep it in its 1957 1 ton time capsule. I made him pose with it. We both laughed about his T shirt, classic Arkansas!!!

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Moving on. But I still wanted to poke around a little more before I left this general area. Thought about Little Missouri Falls but I’ve already been there and it was raining pretty hard, pass. I routed south with Shady Lake as a target. Took a while on these slick curvy wet paved roads.

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And then hit the slushy wet dirt roads.

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It was still kind of fun driving roads I would normally do on the Super Enduro. But I was warm and dry.

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Little waterfalls were presenting themselves. I got out of the truck for this one.

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About a hour later, finally made it to Shady Lake. My imagination was better. But if you were traveling and running out of light, it would work well. Coming from the south, it’s pavement access. If you left to the north, immediately on dirt. Again, not a bad way to access this area and bed down for the night off your bike. Or out of your camper for that matter. I’m not sure if the camp sites were marked with letters or not, the spot I liked had a S on the lantern post.

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Meandered my way south about another hour with a target of another campground I had been wondering about, Blue Ridge. This was out of the way a little more, several miles one way into this complex, all paved. Had a view at first but went away quickly even though you knew you were driving on a ridge. Once at the campground, this appeared to be a bigger lake.

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I also explored a road to the south in the complex and I liked those campsites better….spot 22 if anyone cares.

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Still headed south and in Arkansas, was wanting a break from the truck. I was pretty stiff from throwing the Super Enduro around, or him throwing me. I’m not much on graveyards, but this was a nice spot on a hill overlooking the rural landscape. This lackadaisical traveling without a care where I go or a strict timetable to get there felt weird. Is this how retirement feels? I could get use to the freedom compared to what I normally have to do.

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My phone was trying to route me to I-30. Nope, not having it, shut your mouth Siri. I bailed off on to a farm to market road and she recalculated. All was well for several miles, then all of a sudden on a straight road it turned to crap. Out loud I said what the….then Siri announced over my speakers “Welcome to Oklahoma.” I laughed out loud, touché you old hag.

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Didn’t last long and I was back in Texas. Phone still trying to re-route me and a state highway had a detour I didn’t like. I don’t work for you, I bailed off onto county roads for a while.

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Eventually landed in Mt. Pleasant for the night. Had time to meander around town. Mostly a cool feel to the town. I really liked this mural.

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Grabbed some crappy Mexican food and meandered to the KOA campground outside of town. I got accustom to staying at these places in camping cabins when traveling with my little family in Texas, NM and Colorado. The kids could have fun on the playgrounds, the bathrooms are always clean and the wife and I could relax outside and throw something on the grill. And you don’t have to worry about your truck/trailer/toys growing legs at a motel.

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And that is that, the next day was just a shorter day in the truck traveling my normal route through this part of the world back home, not getting on I-35. After trip thoughts, I probably should have just taken the 450 for this trip but I originally thought I was going to get to be more nomadic and not base camp. I held onto that plan a little too long but the Super Enduro stepped up and got it done. It worked out, I won’t forget the time I took a big desert machine into the wet piney woods for a romp fest. Till next time.

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Great report as usual!
"The non-offroad SxS type owners, I’ll hold those comments."
Some of those goofballs have a problem with you on the trails?
 
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