Southern Missouri, Northern Arkansas ride..

[FJRocket]

Well, is 3pm, and the rooms at the Anglers are paid for. I guess we will be in Arkansas on Friday!!!

Yup. We're stuck with the rooms now. And each other. OH NO!

Storms were coming this way. Big line about 1/2 state long. Got to the border and fell apart. It sprinkled here. Heck, it's nice enough now that I could even go riding. Too wet to mow though. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Going to be tough working tomorrow and Friday knowing you guys are on the road. ENJOY! And HEY, be careful out there!

 

[smitty141]

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday. Ride careful, shop opens at 12pm. I picked up soda, chips, dip, other stuff. We will try to make it to dinner around 5-6 pm, if thats to early we can wait till after the supper crowd. Most places are open till 9pm. So if we have a lot of service work, we can do it before we eat...or come back and finish it up. If someones bike is apart I can always take the cage :angry: to dinner... See most of you on Thursday...ride on, Smitty

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I was out riding tonight and got hailed on! :angry2: That really hurts!

I am going to leave the house about 9am and head that way smitty. See you tomorrow :clapping:

 

[KSFJR]

I was out riding tonight and got hailed on! :angry2: That really hurts!

Adam your getting soft. Whats a little hail on your noggin.

Am leaving in an hour or two see you guys later.

Chester

 

[spcombs95]

Smitty, I'm getting the skins on this morning and heading to your place by noon hopefully. I'm going to have to head back home by about 2:30, because my oldest daughter sprung on me that I need to pick her up from Track today and take her to her Choir concert tonite. Aaaay, the things we do for family.

See you guys later. Ride safe! :yahoo:

 

[smitty141]

spcombs95, Steve you missed a great catfish dinner. Sorry you could not stick around. See you in the morning at the Huddle House for coffee and breakfast.

Smitty

FJRocket and Petie... We will see you guys at the anglers in Allison Friday around 5-6pm. Have a safe ride... smitty

 

[FJRocket]

Yep, looks like I MIGHT get there about the same time. Have a great ride!

 

[spcombs95]

Yep, looks like I MIGHT get there about the same time. Have a great ride!

Weather looks better ... at least for today. here we go, whooooeeeee!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

[GalaxyBlue]

We are at Ralphs restuarant eating lunch... Woo Hoo!

Smitty,Mark Dave,Skip,Chester,Mark and myself are having a GREAT ride today! I found a wifi signal so thought i would post up a quick update!

Weather is ALOT better today than yeaterday was... I left in the rain from my house, Picked up a nail in my rear tire :angry2: , but fotunately, I had it rapaired in Rolla

Thats it for now!

Adam

 

[FJR1300]

I'm jealous... but I'm glad the weather improved for you guys. Hopefully the weather will be nice for my ride to Arkansas in two weeks!

 

[roadrailer]

Good to run into to you guys this weekend. Wish we could have tagged along, but we had to head back. Fortunately (as you noticed) we got a chance to run 14 and 341 one more time before heading back home.

I'm anxious to hear about the trip. Have fun and be safe!

(To fill everyone else in: My wife and I had ridden up from Memphis on Thursday and were staying at the same hotel as these guys. Unfortunately, we had to head back today.)

 

[KSFJR]

Guys - just got home. Pretty steady rain once I left you at Yellville all the way to Belton, MO (a suburb on the south side of Kansas City) with temperatures in the low to mid 50's.

I was damn welll chilled after that.

I must admit, my primary objectives were met, the catfish in Farmington, MO, the fresh rolls in Piedmont, MO at Ralphs BBQ, and the Wilbers Fork Springs installed by Smitty.

It was great seeing all of you guys, even if all I ever saw was taillights, scratch that, rear ends. No one was using brakes but me. Actually, it was a great ride and Smitty did a fine job of putting things together and making sure that everyone was safe and not lost. We travelled some really nice roads at speeds that exceed my skill level but the rest of the guys were having a great time. I'm sure that there will be pictures to follow.

Roadrailer - we saw you blasting up 341 at close to the beginning. It looks like your wife has great confidence in your abilitites, either that or she was scared to death and frozen solid. I'm sure a number of the guys will be back and maybe your schedule will allow you to hook up then.

Thanks for everything Smitty.

Chester

 

[spcombs95]

Chester, glad you made it back safely. I peeled off from the group after a fine lunch at the Cliff House. It had just started raining while we ate, and I too rode through rain for 5 hours, up 65 to Springfield and then most of the way to STL on I-44. It didn't stop raining until I got to Sullivan, which is about 45 minutes from my house.

Hope the rest of the gang found their way out of that rain and had a good ride the rest of the day. I really enjoyed meeting and riding with all of you and can't wait to do it again. Those Arkansas roads (ala 123 for example) are AWESOME. Who needs the Dragon when you've got all those great roads in the Ozarks?

A big THANK YOU to Smitty for putting this ride together and for the wrenchin' day at his shop. Smitty, you are the real thing man, and I can't thank you enough for your hospitality and leadership on this great event. I hope I can repay the favor someday, somehow. Oh yea, you're an awesome rider too! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

That's all from here now. Skip, do send those pictures along as soon as you get back.

Ride safe boyz! B)

 

[KSFJR]

Steve, glad for your safe although I'm sure uncomfortable return - when I got home I saw the weather and I wondered if you were going to be in that mess. I would like to have joined all of you guys for lunch but am happy with the choice that I made. When I got home I stood in a hot shower for 10 or 15 minutes trying to warm up a little. Rain in the mid 50's for 5 hours is not great.

I will say one thing. This is my first big time experience in the rain and the FJR with the Avons handled like a champ. For all practical purposes, the bike ran as though it was dry. I was doing 80-85 most of the way and not one person passed me in almost 300 miles. I talked to a guy on a 78 Gold Wing and he said that he had some hydorplaning problems a few times.

Another thing that was surpising was all of the bikes that were out in the rain. There were all kinds of bikes but the Gold Wings just kept on coming.

Until the next trip.

SMITTY'S THE MAN :clapping:

 

[smitty141]

Here's my check in. Myself, brother Darrell, Tom, Dave, and Matt (rocket) made it back to Bonne Terre, Mo. around noon today. The ride on friday was great, the first 3 hours on sat. were dry...then the rain came. We left Cliff house in Jasper Ar. and it rained the rest of the day. I think it was a great weekend, and no one crashed, but there was several close call's. One thing most of us don't do it want to ride in the rain. But for me it is a good thing, for one it makes you a much smoother on the brakes, and gas. Today was dry, and cool. And had a nice trip home.

I would like to thank everyone for a great time. I hope everyone had a good time, dispite the weather. It was nice meeting a few new guys. Mark,(FJR Wheaton) Peter (Petey), Steve (spcombs95), Skip (zzzzip) along with Adam (galaxy blue), Chester ( KCFJR), Matt (FJRocket), Dave, Darrell, and Tom.

Please post or email the pic's. And thanks to everyone who just had to buy me a meal, or fuel.

smitty

 

[petey]

I too made it home safe and sound. I had a good time riding with you fellows, even after the rain moved in. Like smitty said, in the rain, one works on being smooooth with the throttle and the breaks.

Glad to have met all of you, and hope to ride with you again. Thanks smitty for doing such a great job organizing this get together and leading us on those great AR roads. I'm impressed with your and Dave's riding skills...it was a treat to follow you.

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I made it home safe and sound also.

I rode back home via:5,341,14,125. What a blast! it sure was better to hit these roads dry!

It was great meeting you Mark and Peter! We will need to do this again for sure!

Here is a link to the Pictures . I have more to put up, But cant figure it out.

Adam

 

[smitty141]

Works now!! Thanks Adam...smitty

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Adam, linky no worky... smitty

Try it again...

Also,

I sent you thr pics via email again. Let me know if you get them.

Petey,Mark,Matt, PM me you email add's again since i seen to have lost them. :huh:

Adam

 

[roadrailer]

Roadrailer - we saw you blasting up 341 at close to the beginning. It looks like your wife has great confidence in your abilitites, either that or she was scared to death and frozen solid. I'm sure a number of the guys will be back and maybe your schedule will allow you to hook up then.

Chester

Well, I hear a bunch of screaming back there, but I'm not sure if they're screams of joy or terror. It's gotta be joy, right? Right? Actually, she's a great pillion.

Looks like you guys had a great time. We got sprinkled on a bit on our way back to Memphis on Saturday, but nothing like the gully washer we came up in on Thursday. Needless to say, we've already made a trip to Cycle Gear for some waterproof glove for her (I didn't have any luck with boots, though).