Goodman4
Pressing on
We had a family vacation last week visiting our nephew and his family in Ozark, Mo. We worked it out where the girls drove there and I drove the bike. I was able to take one day to ride with my wife and another day to ride with my nephew on his recently converted dirt bike. Forum friends gave me advice on roads and while I was limited on time, I was able to see how great this area can be.
To start the story, the trip almost didn't happen. I strained my back the weekend before and missed two days of work unable to sit down. Between the doctor and a few chiropractic apts, I was better enough just in time. I hadn't ridden since the back strain so I wasn't sure if I could do it but we had planned on stopping at the in-laws on Friday night. This is just a couple hours in Southern IL so I knew if I was struggling I could just give up and leave the bike there. No trouble at all that night, so I took the long route I was hoping to do on Saturday.
The first fun road I took was the Old Cape Road from Jonesboro, IL to Route 3 toward Cape Girardeau. Not much more than a one lane road that winds 9 miles through the Trail of Tears park. I know it really well from when I lived in that area growing up so I was able to make it a fun ride.
Then I made my way up to Farmington Mo where I wanted to try Hwy 32 to Salem that was recommended. The GPS got really confused in Farmington and had me bouncing all over the place trying to find 32. I was frustrated and looking for a road that still might exist when I realized I was driving 35 in a 25. I realized that because the cop driving by me hit his siren. Oops. Fortunately it was just a warning blast as he kept going. Good thing I slowed down because the next back road it took me on had bambi and her mom waiting for me.
I finally found 32 W and the traffic was pretty heavy which took most of the fun out of it. I think the exciting parts were the multiple long sweepers that can be taken pretty fast. It wasn't my favorite road, though.
Finally found Success but it was in Texas (county, that is).
The rest of the trip went fine except for a thunderstorm right after Seymour. The worst part is I had to slow down to see when some of those one letter roads would have been really fun.
Sunday morning I snuck out for a quick ride down 125 from Sparta, which was just 5 miles from our cabin to see if it was as good as promised. The answer is, "definitely!". I rode down to Rueter and the turns just kept getting tighter the farther south I got. Rode across 160 through Forsyth and back up.
Didn't get to ride again until Tuesday when I talked my wife into going down 125 with me. Unfortunately we didn't know it was going to get over 100 degrees with high humidity. She loved the road, though. This time we road all the way down across the ferry at Bull Shoals Lake
Here's my wife getting a headache from dehydration (she didn't tell me until we were on the ferry). The guy on the Harley says his dad lives an hour from there and a few times a year just drives over and rides up and down 125 a few times and goes back home. I see why.
We ate at the Wagon Wheel in the park there since I didn't want to go any further without getting her something to drink. I got out the Hyperkewl vest for her and she did her ice cube in the bandana trick for both of us and it made the rest of the trip a little better.
All the roads down in Arkansas were pretty great. Took 14 over to 65 to make it a shorter trip back since it was so hot. At a gas station in Hollister some young surfer guy looked at my bike and said, "Gorgeous". At least I think he was talking about the bike. I KNOW he wasn't talking about me, and while my wife is really cute for 48, she didn't look so great in the 102 degree heat that day.
Wednesday I spent a lot of the day with another of my hobbies:
My nephew and I took a short evening ride partway down 125 after he got off work. He had just put a new sprocket on and wasn't sure yet it would handle the speed. He didn't like driving 55 and took the corners at 40, so it was a little boring for me unless I went way ahead.
We looked for a shortcut on the way back and ended up on Red Bridge Road which was gravel. It was longer than I expected and the FJR started overheating a little. I stopped on a neat little bridge to let it cool down, then made it back fine.
Thursday my nephew was off work so we were planning on riding through Ava, down 5 to Bull Shoals park and up 125 together. From the practice ride I figured it would be a boring ride unless I rode by myself a lot. I suggested he go ahead and I'd look for a shortcut and we'd meet up in Ava. Unfortunately this is where I screwed up. I found myself on Red Bridge Road again and realized that wasn't going to get me in the right direction so I needed to turn around. There was another side gravel road and I thought I could turn around, but right after I started I knew I was in a little trouble. I took it really slow and worked my way back and forth until I was most of the way around when it started sliding backwards downhill with the front brake on. I tried to correct by going forward but it went over before I knew what happened. This is the first time I dropped it, and while she's still "gorgeous" she's got a couple battle scars now.
She'd have a lot more if this hadn't taken almost all the force of the drop:
I recommend the extra long OES sliders strongly.
I pulled a muscle in my leg from trying to keep it up, so I couldn't come close to lifting it up. I probably couldn't lift it on a good day anyway. A nice guy in a truck came by and helped me lift it and I got back on my way.
I called my nephew and let him know what happened and said I'd still meet him in Ava. He had gotten turned around himself and so I had time to catch up. I am trucking along on 14 E and I see familiar side bags and taillights ahead. A man and woman on an FJR is in front of me. They are obeying the speed limit and I hate to pass an FJR so I follow for a couple miles until he pulls over to talk. He moved to Sparta from England and switched from BMW's to an FJR. They were doing a mill run of 8 area mills. Nice couple.
I met up with my nephew at Ava and we traded bikes for a little while. He hasn't ridden anything on the street much so it was fun to see him on the FJR. I opened up on his trail bike and it had plenty of power for the road. I was going 70 easy and it cornered well. Bounced me around like crazy, but I rode a Honda CT90 on the road for years, so I felt like I was going back in time. He said he loved the feel of the FJR, but the bars were so close it hurt his arms so we traded back after about 15 miles. He's a lot taller than me.
The good news was that was the end of 40 mph corners. From that point on he decided the bike would handle it and he drove 70 on the straights and almost as fast as I like to push the corners. The rest of the ride was a blast.
Hwy 5 S from Ava was the only straight road of the whole day. Everything other road was either good or great. Here are pics from around Bull Shoals park:
Back up to ferry and while waiting went to the large sundial in the park there:
Somebody needed to adjust the sundial for daylight savings time because it was off an hour.
After the ferry, up 125 was a really great ride.
Friday it rained the whole day but I got some pictures I thought I'd include:
Saturday was the drive home. Just over 400 miles which is a full riding day for me. I decided I'd take 160 all the way from Rueter since I heard it was good. I had done 125 so many times by then I tried something different and took Hwy T off 125 to Hwy UU back down to 125 before Bradleyville. This makes this route an even better road because they are even tighter curves than the north part of 125. One of my favorite rides.
Anyway, 160 was really great at first and the bridge at Theodosia is really nice:
A little bit past Theodosia I thought 160 got a little boring until maybe somewhere near Alton. The curves started getting twisty there and I was getting really too tired to enjoy them so I pulled over and napped under an awning at a church. The curves stayed really good and it was a great ride from there all the way to Doniphan. After that, except for a few sections of connections near Cairo, IL the rest was pretty much slab riding and I made good use of the throttle lock. Made it home safe just as it was getting dark.
Thanks for reading!
Paul
To start the story, the trip almost didn't happen. I strained my back the weekend before and missed two days of work unable to sit down. Between the doctor and a few chiropractic apts, I was better enough just in time. I hadn't ridden since the back strain so I wasn't sure if I could do it but we had planned on stopping at the in-laws on Friday night. This is just a couple hours in Southern IL so I knew if I was struggling I could just give up and leave the bike there. No trouble at all that night, so I took the long route I was hoping to do on Saturday.
The first fun road I took was the Old Cape Road from Jonesboro, IL to Route 3 toward Cape Girardeau. Not much more than a one lane road that winds 9 miles through the Trail of Tears park. I know it really well from when I lived in that area growing up so I was able to make it a fun ride.
Then I made my way up to Farmington Mo where I wanted to try Hwy 32 to Salem that was recommended. The GPS got really confused in Farmington and had me bouncing all over the place trying to find 32. I was frustrated and looking for a road that still might exist when I realized I was driving 35 in a 25. I realized that because the cop driving by me hit his siren. Oops. Fortunately it was just a warning blast as he kept going. Good thing I slowed down because the next back road it took me on had bambi and her mom waiting for me.
I finally found 32 W and the traffic was pretty heavy which took most of the fun out of it. I think the exciting parts were the multiple long sweepers that can be taken pretty fast. It wasn't my favorite road, though.
Finally found Success but it was in Texas (county, that is).
The rest of the trip went fine except for a thunderstorm right after Seymour. The worst part is I had to slow down to see when some of those one letter roads would have been really fun.
Sunday morning I snuck out for a quick ride down 125 from Sparta, which was just 5 miles from our cabin to see if it was as good as promised. The answer is, "definitely!". I rode down to Rueter and the turns just kept getting tighter the farther south I got. Rode across 160 through Forsyth and back up.
Didn't get to ride again until Tuesday when I talked my wife into going down 125 with me. Unfortunately we didn't know it was going to get over 100 degrees with high humidity. She loved the road, though. This time we road all the way down across the ferry at Bull Shoals Lake
Here's my wife getting a headache from dehydration (she didn't tell me until we were on the ferry). The guy on the Harley says his dad lives an hour from there and a few times a year just drives over and rides up and down 125 a few times and goes back home. I see why.
We ate at the Wagon Wheel in the park there since I didn't want to go any further without getting her something to drink. I got out the Hyperkewl vest for her and she did her ice cube in the bandana trick for both of us and it made the rest of the trip a little better.
All the roads down in Arkansas were pretty great. Took 14 over to 65 to make it a shorter trip back since it was so hot. At a gas station in Hollister some young surfer guy looked at my bike and said, "Gorgeous". At least I think he was talking about the bike. I KNOW he wasn't talking about me, and while my wife is really cute for 48, she didn't look so great in the 102 degree heat that day.
Wednesday I spent a lot of the day with another of my hobbies:
My nephew and I took a short evening ride partway down 125 after he got off work. He had just put a new sprocket on and wasn't sure yet it would handle the speed. He didn't like driving 55 and took the corners at 40, so it was a little boring for me unless I went way ahead.
We looked for a shortcut on the way back and ended up on Red Bridge Road which was gravel. It was longer than I expected and the FJR started overheating a little. I stopped on a neat little bridge to let it cool down, then made it back fine.
Thursday my nephew was off work so we were planning on riding through Ava, down 5 to Bull Shoals park and up 125 together. From the practice ride I figured it would be a boring ride unless I rode by myself a lot. I suggested he go ahead and I'd look for a shortcut and we'd meet up in Ava. Unfortunately this is where I screwed up. I found myself on Red Bridge Road again and realized that wasn't going to get me in the right direction so I needed to turn around. There was another side gravel road and I thought I could turn around, but right after I started I knew I was in a little trouble. I took it really slow and worked my way back and forth until I was most of the way around when it started sliding backwards downhill with the front brake on. I tried to correct by going forward but it went over before I knew what happened. This is the first time I dropped it, and while she's still "gorgeous" she's got a couple battle scars now.
She'd have a lot more if this hadn't taken almost all the force of the drop:
I recommend the extra long OES sliders strongly.
I pulled a muscle in my leg from trying to keep it up, so I couldn't come close to lifting it up. I probably couldn't lift it on a good day anyway. A nice guy in a truck came by and helped me lift it and I got back on my way.
I called my nephew and let him know what happened and said I'd still meet him in Ava. He had gotten turned around himself and so I had time to catch up. I am trucking along on 14 E and I see familiar side bags and taillights ahead. A man and woman on an FJR is in front of me. They are obeying the speed limit and I hate to pass an FJR so I follow for a couple miles until he pulls over to talk. He moved to Sparta from England and switched from BMW's to an FJR. They were doing a mill run of 8 area mills. Nice couple.
I met up with my nephew at Ava and we traded bikes for a little while. He hasn't ridden anything on the street much so it was fun to see him on the FJR. I opened up on his trail bike and it had plenty of power for the road. I was going 70 easy and it cornered well. Bounced me around like crazy, but I rode a Honda CT90 on the road for years, so I felt like I was going back in time. He said he loved the feel of the FJR, but the bars were so close it hurt his arms so we traded back after about 15 miles. He's a lot taller than me.
The good news was that was the end of 40 mph corners. From that point on he decided the bike would handle it and he drove 70 on the straights and almost as fast as I like to push the corners. The rest of the ride was a blast.
Hwy 5 S from Ava was the only straight road of the whole day. Everything other road was either good or great. Here are pics from around Bull Shoals park:
Back up to ferry and while waiting went to the large sundial in the park there:
Somebody needed to adjust the sundial for daylight savings time because it was off an hour.
After the ferry, up 125 was a really great ride.
Friday it rained the whole day but I got some pictures I thought I'd include:
Saturday was the drive home. Just over 400 miles which is a full riding day for me. I decided I'd take 160 all the way from Rueter since I heard it was good. I had done 125 so many times by then I tried something different and took Hwy T off 125 to Hwy UU back down to 125 before Bradleyville. This makes this route an even better road because they are even tighter curves than the north part of 125. One of my favorite rides.
Anyway, 160 was really great at first and the bridge at Theodosia is really nice:
A little bit past Theodosia I thought 160 got a little boring until maybe somewhere near Alton. The curves started getting twisty there and I was getting really too tired to enjoy them so I pulled over and napped under an awning at a church. The curves stayed really good and it was a great ride from there all the way to Doniphan. After that, except for a few sections of connections near Cairo, IL the rest was pretty much slab riding and I made good use of the throttle lock. Made it home safe just as it was getting dark.
Thanks for reading!
Paul
