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lobo10s
0
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2004
- Messages
- 1,066
- Reaction score
- 242
- Location
- Bella Vista Arkansas
- First Name
- Jerry
- Last Name
- James
Jamie had not been on the bike for an extended period of time, since we tried to do the Mena things over the Easter Holiday. It was freezing; the Trophy broke, so there was not much riding going on. So we had a free couple of days so we asked some friends if they wanted to go with us. Jackie and his wife Alta said yes and Old Paul came along as well.
We all met at the café Brasil in McKinney to have breakfast before heading out on Saturday morning. We took 121 - 82 – FM195 – SR 37 – US70 – US 259 – SR1 (Talimena drive) into Mena that is somewhere around 250 miles, give or take a few.
We headed off, it was hot and humid, but it was all good as we were getting out of the metroplex for a couple of days. We stopped in Idabel and had lunch.
When we were turning into the restaurant we pulled in behind Rocket Bunny on her BMW. We did not get to speak with her as she was on her way, but I know from reading the ST.net board and thei board that she is on a good little adventure, we wish her safety all the way.
We started up US 259 and the clouds looked like they were building. As we approached Big Cedar it started to rain.. really hard. We pulled over, trying to decide if we should put on our rain gear. Well again the group listened to me, as I said that we would probably run out of it and that getting the gear on would be a waste of time…. NOT! We started up the hill to the Skyway and the rain just came down. We road the skyway in rain, so by the time we reached the lodge we were pretty well soaked. Paul said he should have listened to his instincts about getting his rain gear on, but deferred to me, he will know better next time. Hehehe We stopped at the lodge and tried to warm up and dry off. We then went down the hill into Mena and checked into the Sun Country Inn. The plan was for me to take a little ride up the ridge on the Multistrada, but the clouds were heavy and we dodged rain the rest of the evening.
We walked to dinner and to Wal-mart as I forgot underwear and mine were soaked. (get that vision out of your head.. haha) We hung out after dinner outside enjoying the good conversation and watching as the bugs had a feast on us.
We got up on Sunday morning and decided that we would ride up to the lodge for breakfast and then back track home since we did not get to have much fun on the skyway the day before. Well the motorcycle Gods were against us this morning as well. It was FOGGY, soupy thick fog, could only ride 35-40 MPH at the fastest.. Bummer..
Picture taken by Alta - See their pictures here:
We ate breakfast and then headed down the ridge to make the trek back to Dallas. I was getting ready to start cursing the Trophy. I tried to start it at the lodge and nothing.. it almost seemed like it was flooded. I tried a couple of more times, before getting Jackie to loan me some tools. I thought I was going to start wrenching.. you all know how scary that can be. Paul walked up and said here let me try one more time. He puts the bike in N and hits the starter.. The **** THING fires right up. I guess you have to have the bike in N, if the side stand is down to start the thing.. I guess I have always had it in N so never thought about it.. well I felt like an idiot! And yes Paul and Jackie and even my beautiful wife could not stop giving me a hard time for the rest of the day..
We rode back to Dallas in the heat and humidity but other than that it was an uneventful ride home. I clocked 560+ in the mileage dept and had a great weekend. We all had a good time. See all of the pictures here
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) or shine. Sure wish there was an autobahn between Houston and Dallas; I'm kind of ticket-shy these days.
hope they get it worked out!
