whitewolf
Member
First Trip on the new FJR --- 1/27/08
Whitewolf (John) and I needed to get out and relax way from the house. Being there is another family living with us. Our Daughter, her husband and grandson are living with us right now. I am the live in babysitter for them. OK, that is another story.
We decided on going to Fayetteville and Rogers for the day. The plan was a slow drive up the hill, meet John’s parents for lunch, and then to Rogers to go to the outdoor mall. Neither one of us have been to it yet. You know the saying “Best laid plans of mice and men!” That was true and our plans changed.
The first change was John’s folks wanted us to go to church with them. OK, no problem, except we had to get up earlier to make it. We can still do it of course. Then they where not sure about the pizza place. John told them we could decide about that after church. This was all Saturday night.
After feeding the calves, we loaded the bike on Sunday morning. I decided to ride pillion
on this ride as I always do. John has more exerience in driving in this weather than I do. The temp was 34 degs in Greenwood and a cold heavy fog had set in when we pulled out. Taking the long way to get to 540, going through Greenwood, we turned north on 96 until we came to hwy 22. Traveling west into Barling (speed trap), that is where we turned north onto hwy 59 and headed for Van Buren. At Van Buren, the temp was 27 degs, turned onto 540 and headed north. This area has newly built on and off ramps put in, very nice.
The first stop was going to be at Mountainburg. There is a BP gas station with a wonderful café. The name of the café is “Silverbridge” and the food is great. The price is real good as well. But sadly, we were not there to eat, but just a rest break. I had to warmup a little. I am not a very good cold rider. John went in and bought a soda and glove liner for me. The liners where just what I needed to keep warm. As I was getting my lung treatments (ok, medical joke for smoking), we talked about the bike and any other trips we wanted to make. The sun was shining and the fog was gone as we pulled back onto the highway.
The drive was fantastic. It was warming up quickly and so was I. By the time we reached the tunnel, the temp was 48 degs. Just before we went into the tunnel there was a herd of deer grazing on the side of the hwy. I counted about eight. As we went into the tunnel, we both lifted our visors and yelling like kids inside. The rest of the drive to Fayetteville was just laid back and peaceful.
At 10:17am, we arrived at my inlaw’s church. The temp was sitting at 49 degs. Yea! John’s folks were real surprised to see us come into the church, they where expecting a lame cell phone call about
we could not make it. The people in the church could not believe we made the drive either. After the service we all were standing outside talking. John checked the temp for me and it was 54 degs. Then after that John was becoming the bad son. They wanted to go to their home to eat and visit. That would be fine but, they live down a washed out dirt road. He did not want to risk it with the bike or park and ride. John kept his foot down and they finally gave in. So they agreed to meet us at Tiny Tim’s pizza in a hour. Taking the long way back to the square of Fayetteville, we parked and I did some more breathing treatment. John went in to get a table and drinks ordered. I was watching the bike as a young man driving to fast and talking on a cell phone tried to pull into our space. He barely missed the bike when he hit his brakes. I was thinking that John would go ballistics if he saw this. The young man thru the car into reverse and split. I guess he did not want an angry biker on his butt.
Lunch went real well and we all had a great time. Of course the fight started over who was paying. We had sat there long enough we knew it would be dark before we got home if we went to Rogers. Plus, my mother in law did not want us out after dark on the bike. OK, what she doesn’t know will keep the lectures from happening. So we settled on heading home. I really was wanting to any way. I had chores to do and my back was starting to hurt. Taking the back roads out of Fayetteville we reached 540 south. Finally seeing another bike, I waved. Of course, no waves back. The temp was a lovely 58 degs at this time. I had to stop at Mountainburg on the way back, you know pee and smoke break.
As we where sharing a soda and I was smoking, the mating call of the sport bike was coming from 71. By this time we finally had seen one sport bike and three hogs. Back to the mating calls, the first bike came into view was doing a wheelie. All together there was eighteen sport bikes heading north on 71. It was pretty impressive seeing that big of group. I asked if we could change our plans a little. I wanted to go down 71 south to Alma. There was no problem with that change; last time we did that run was in September on the GS500f. The FJR was impressive going thru the turns and the power in the hills.
After filling the tank up on the bike, we arrived home. It was around 4:30 when we got home. Our total miles ridden for the day was 192. It was real fun and relaxing. This was the first short trip of many. We are planning several more to build up to the big one in May. We are taking two weeks in May to visit our daughter at the University of Denver, plus drive around Colorado as well (You know, from casino to casino!).
Thanks for taking the time to read this report. Next time I promise pictures and a better write up. Hopefully, that will be this coming weekend. We are planning to go to Mount Magazine and eat at the lodge. I will write that up as well.
Thanks again Alphawolf (Phyllis)
Whitewolf (John) and I needed to get out and relax way from the house. Being there is another family living with us. Our Daughter, her husband and grandson are living with us right now. I am the live in babysitter for them. OK, that is another story.
We decided on going to Fayetteville and Rogers for the day. The plan was a slow drive up the hill, meet John’s parents for lunch, and then to Rogers to go to the outdoor mall. Neither one of us have been to it yet. You know the saying “Best laid plans of mice and men!” That was true and our plans changed.
The first change was John’s folks wanted us to go to church with them. OK, no problem, except we had to get up earlier to make it. We can still do it of course. Then they where not sure about the pizza place. John told them we could decide about that after church. This was all Saturday night.
After feeding the calves, we loaded the bike on Sunday morning. I decided to ride pillion
on this ride as I always do. John has more exerience in driving in this weather than I do. The temp was 34 degs in Greenwood and a cold heavy fog had set in when we pulled out. Taking the long way to get to 540, going through Greenwood, we turned north on 96 until we came to hwy 22. Traveling west into Barling (speed trap), that is where we turned north onto hwy 59 and headed for Van Buren. At Van Buren, the temp was 27 degs, turned onto 540 and headed north. This area has newly built on and off ramps put in, very nice.
The first stop was going to be at Mountainburg. There is a BP gas station with a wonderful café. The name of the café is “Silverbridge” and the food is great. The price is real good as well. But sadly, we were not there to eat, but just a rest break. I had to warmup a little. I am not a very good cold rider. John went in and bought a soda and glove liner for me. The liners where just what I needed to keep warm. As I was getting my lung treatments (ok, medical joke for smoking), we talked about the bike and any other trips we wanted to make. The sun was shining and the fog was gone as we pulled back onto the highway.
The drive was fantastic. It was warming up quickly and so was I. By the time we reached the tunnel, the temp was 48 degs. Just before we went into the tunnel there was a herd of deer grazing on the side of the hwy. I counted about eight. As we went into the tunnel, we both lifted our visors and yelling like kids inside. The rest of the drive to Fayetteville was just laid back and peaceful.
At 10:17am, we arrived at my inlaw’s church. The temp was sitting at 49 degs. Yea! John’s folks were real surprised to see us come into the church, they where expecting a lame cell phone call about
we could not make it. The people in the church could not believe we made the drive either. After the service we all were standing outside talking. John checked the temp for me and it was 54 degs. Then after that John was becoming the bad son. They wanted to go to their home to eat and visit. That would be fine but, they live down a washed out dirt road. He did not want to risk it with the bike or park and ride. John kept his foot down and they finally gave in. So they agreed to meet us at Tiny Tim’s pizza in a hour. Taking the long way back to the square of Fayetteville, we parked and I did some more breathing treatment. John went in to get a table and drinks ordered. I was watching the bike as a young man driving to fast and talking on a cell phone tried to pull into our space. He barely missed the bike when he hit his brakes. I was thinking that John would go ballistics if he saw this. The young man thru the car into reverse and split. I guess he did not want an angry biker on his butt.
Lunch went real well and we all had a great time. Of course the fight started over who was paying. We had sat there long enough we knew it would be dark before we got home if we went to Rogers. Plus, my mother in law did not want us out after dark on the bike. OK, what she doesn’t know will keep the lectures from happening. So we settled on heading home. I really was wanting to any way. I had chores to do and my back was starting to hurt. Taking the back roads out of Fayetteville we reached 540 south. Finally seeing another bike, I waved. Of course, no waves back. The temp was a lovely 58 degs at this time. I had to stop at Mountainburg on the way back, you know pee and smoke break.
As we where sharing a soda and I was smoking, the mating call of the sport bike was coming from 71. By this time we finally had seen one sport bike and three hogs. Back to the mating calls, the first bike came into view was doing a wheelie. All together there was eighteen sport bikes heading north on 71. It was pretty impressive seeing that big of group. I asked if we could change our plans a little. I wanted to go down 71 south to Alma. There was no problem with that change; last time we did that run was in September on the GS500f. The FJR was impressive going thru the turns and the power in the hills.
After filling the tank up on the bike, we arrived home. It was around 4:30 when we got home. Our total miles ridden for the day was 192. It was real fun and relaxing. This was the first short trip of many. We are planning several more to build up to the big one in May. We are taking two weeks in May to visit our daughter at the University of Denver, plus drive around Colorado as well (You know, from casino to casino!).
Thanks for taking the time to read this report. Next time I promise pictures and a better write up. Hopefully, that will be this coming weekend. We are planning to go to Mount Magazine and eat at the lodge. I will write that up as well.
Thanks again Alphawolf (Phyllis)
