Spring Chicken Ride
Friday, April 29
The annual Chicken ride is something I look forward to every year. A bunch of guys riding south to enjoy great company, good food, phenomenal riding, and more than a little B.S. This ride usually takes place on the first full three day weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) in May. This year, however, mother's day is part of that first full weekend so our ride leader, Gary, moved it up a week.
Larry, Bruce, Carl and I met in Shawnee, KS for the ride to our starting point, Gail's Harley Davidson, in Grandview, MO. There, we met up with Gary, Bill and James. Seven riders (all on Goldwings) are the fewest participants we've had in a very long time.
At 8:20 we took off southbound on 71 Highway (also I-49). It was cloudy and 54 degrees. The first chicken-worthy event occurred just north of Archie, MO. One of the rear speaker covers flew off of Bruce's motorcycle. Larry saw it happen so he, Carl and I stopped on the shoulder. While Larry guarded the bikes Carl and I walked about a quarter mile back down the highway and recovered the speaker cover from the shoulder of the road. We stopped at Mama's Kitchen in Archie for breakfast. The speaker cover was returned to Bruce, who reinstalled it. Then, of course, he was presented with the chicken.
After breakfast we were off again, southbound on 71 Highway. When we stopped for gas in Carthage, MO there were wet streets but the sun appeared and the temperature increased to 60. Further south, we rode through Neosho and on towards Noel. The plan was to ride Hwy 59 south into Noel, which takes us on a route with rock bluffs on the right and a river on the left, but the road was closed so we had to take a detour into Noel. In Noel, we rode along (under) one rock bluff.
Highway 59 took us south to Siloam Springs, where we jogged west into Oklahoma before riding south on Highway 59 in Oklahoma. In Salisaw, OK we stopped for gas and lunch at Braum's. It was 3:00 so I was plenty hungry and the burger, fries and shake were just what the doctor ordered.
South of Salisaw we ran into some light rain before we turned east onto the Talimena Scenic Byway (Highway 1) in the Winding Stair National Recreation Area. This road follows a ridge, with fantastic views, into Arkansas.
On the Talimena Scenic Byway we encountered high winds, rain and dense fog. I tried to keep the tail lights ahead of me in view to avoid riding off the road.
We landed for the night in Mena, AR at the Sun Country Inn having ridden 413 miles. We did experience a high temperature for the day of 71. After dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the street we called it a night - and then it rained more during the night.
Saturday, April 30
We woke up to wet bikes but the motel was kind enough to offer us rags to clean and dry them. After partaking of the motel's breakfast fare we were ready to hit the road. Carl hit the starter button on his motorcycle but he got no love - it wouldn't start. I had jumper cables so we hooked him up. Several more attempts to start failed. Gary, our resident mechanic, thought it sounded odd. After sitting a short spell the bike finally started, running rough at first and then smoothing out. So we were on our way again, after a chicken transfer from Bruce to Carl.
After refueling just down the road from our motel we were off eastbound towards Hot Springs at 8:10. It was cloudy and 63 degrees but we did see sunshine for briefs periods on the way. We saw a lot of standing water. Ponds were filled to the brim and creeks were running full or out of their banks.
From Hot Springs we rode north on the Highway 7 Scenic Byway. I was riding third behind Gary and Bill which provided me the opportunity to hammer the curves at a higher speed than during the previous day. It was a lot of fun. At Ola, AR we turned west on Highway 10 headed to Magazine Mountain, the highest point in Arkansas. The sun came out along the way making for a beautiful day.
At Magazine Mountain we enjoyed lunch at the lodge. Some ordered off the menu while others of us indulged in the buffet. It was good food but in an attempt to get my money's worth I may have eaten a bit too much. I also enjoyed the view from the lodge.
We rode down the north side of Magazine Mountain and on to Dardanelle and Russellville, where we stopped at Honda of Russellville. It was fun looking at the new motorcycles, especially the custom painted Goldwings. They have some very nice looking machines.
Our destination for the day was Eureka Springs so we continued north on Highway 7, took Highway 16 west and then Highway 23 north into Eureka. This entire route was scenic with numerous hills and curves to up the fun meter. Arkansas is a great place to ride. Today our route covered 385 miles and the highest temperature we saw was 81.
Lodging for the night was at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks. They offered us free secure parking for the motorcycles. SWEET!
Sunday, May 1
We unlocked our bikes, cleaned/packed them and we were on the road at 8:00. It was 61 degrees and sunny, a beautiful day. We rode north through Eureka Springs on Highway 23 into Holiday Island, where we stopped for gas. Then we continued north into Missouri, caught Highway 86 east to Highway 13 north.
We had a LARRAPIN good lunch (tenderloins) at Smith's Restaurant in Collins, MO before continuing north on 13 to westbound county road A to Highway 52 west to Highway 71 north to Harrisonville, where we made our final stop of the trip at a DQ. From here we said our goodbyes and headed home.
My total mileage today was 267 and our high temperature was 64.
It was another fantastic Spring Chicken Ride orchestrated by Gary. We had a little rain on Friday but that was all. It was much dryer than we expected based on weather reports before we started. Carl concluded the trip in possession of the chicken so he will start with it next year.
 |
| note the chicken dangling from his trunk bag |
To see all the pictures taken during this trip click on the following link:
Comments