Perfect weather. Perfect temps. Perfect roads. And the best of all: Perfect riding partner.
We base camped out of the KOA in Eureka Springs like we've done many times before. We explored slightly different routes both Fri and Sat this year though.
Friday we went all the way down AR 23 to the I-40 corridor, then East a few miles and then back North to a tiny spot in the road called Oark, AR. About the only thing in the town is an old-time general store with burgers, pie and ice cream. Then we meandered our way back up through Boxley Valley and back to AR 21, for a round trip total of approximately 225 miles.
On Sat, we followed US 62 Eastbound to Harrison, AR, then angled down until we made our way to the south end of AR 341 aka Push Mountain Rd. 341 seems a little known AR gem to me. It's a magnificent ride, with very little traffic on it. While riding it, I think we met it' owner. Lol. By that, I mean one of the few riders we did see there, FUKING OWNED THAT ROAD! I'm not sure what make his machine was, I suspect an Aprilia Tuono, but man could he ride. He ran it's length nearly three full times in the time it took us to traverse it only once on our Runes. He wore b/w leathers head to toe with knee sliders, and his knees were down on all four corners we could see (this was as far as I could keep him in sight while stepping up my pace for a tiny self-comparison). I suspect he was local, and was simply putting in some practice for motoGP'ing at later dates.
Anyway, after working our way up to Mountain Home, AR, we decided to simply follow US 62 straight back to Eureka Springs. We stepped the Runes up to a 70-85mph mile eating pace back towards the RV and it's awaiting "cold ones". This was when we ran out of our perfect luck for the weekend. Of the thousands of fellow bikers of the weekend, this is where we managed to find the ONE AZZHOLE HD rider in the entire state. As I approached him from the rear, it was apparent that he and his lady co-rider were travelling well below the 55mph limit, and with oncoming traffic, I had to disengage the cruise control to slow to his pace until an opportunity to pass became available. No dice. When he noticed me in his rearview, he took his feet off his hwy pegs, down shifted 3 times and kicked the HD into race mode (in his mind, I suppose). I thought, what the hey, if he'll go 80, I'll ride along, then later, when he will inevitably slow down, I'll pass him then. OH HE!! NO. That wasn't what this
AZZHOLE had in mind. As we neared the next small town and it's 2-3 mile long stretch of 4 lane, he picked the slowest moving cage in the right hand lane and slammed his brakes to match it's speed - thereby deliberately blocking me from any legal pass on the 4 lane. At first, I didn't give it any thought. I thought he simply worried about the local PD, or some such. But after a few blocks doing 30 in a 45 zone, I realized he was deliberately blocking. WTH? Aggrevating, only slightly. After all, the stretch of 4 lane had a center turn lane. Again, not too big of deal, I used the center turn lane to blow past him, then reached down for the resume button. On to Harrison the two Runes travelled.
In Harrison, I pulled in for fuel. Shala had to tinkle. She pulls in laughing and tells me of how both the HD riders were flipping me off as a blew past them in the turn lane. Hummm, news to me. Oh well, probably good that I didn't notice. I fill the bikes. Shala goes in and tinkles.lol. reset the trip meter, and off we go. OH HEL! NO. A mile outside Harrison, this same sumb! tch is dragaszing along doing 20-30mph, or so, in a 60mph zone - seemingly waiting for us. Sure enough, his passenger is cranked around watching, and as we near, he does his usual downshifting, only this time I pull alongside him and shout my feelings regarding his manhood, etc, and what I thought of his ride bla, bla, bla. I think they were trying to cuss me as well, but between my itunes earbuds, and inability to lip read, I couldn't understand their Harleyspeak whatsoever. Anywho, HDs, riding double, even the extra loud ones with all the Screaming Eagle BS bolted up, are no match for a Honda Rune (and Runes are no hotrods). I wasn't about to pull over onto the shoulder to see if the jerk needed help fixing whatever caused them to have to pull over shortly after he gave up trying to race. Or, if it weren't broken, I certainly didn't want to see him flex his muscles, pull a gun, or whatever - after all, the "cold ones" were still waiting.
Round trip mileage for our Sat excursion was closer to 300 miles. All in all, disregarding the one bad attitude HD, it was one mighty fine weekend, and I can't wait for the next one. :clapping: :clapping:
A couple pics of the RV and campsite
Our fav KOA owner, Bob.
We base camped out of the KOA in Eureka Springs like we've done many times before. We explored slightly different routes both Fri and Sat this year though.
Friday we went all the way down AR 23 to the I-40 corridor, then East a few miles and then back North to a tiny spot in the road called Oark, AR. About the only thing in the town is an old-time general store with burgers, pie and ice cream. Then we meandered our way back up through Boxley Valley and back to AR 21, for a round trip total of approximately 225 miles.
On Sat, we followed US 62 Eastbound to Harrison, AR, then angled down until we made our way to the south end of AR 341 aka Push Mountain Rd. 341 seems a little known AR gem to me. It's a magnificent ride, with very little traffic on it. While riding it, I think we met it' owner. Lol. By that, I mean one of the few riders we did see there, FUKING OWNED THAT ROAD! I'm not sure what make his machine was, I suspect an Aprilia Tuono, but man could he ride. He ran it's length nearly three full times in the time it took us to traverse it only once on our Runes. He wore b/w leathers head to toe with knee sliders, and his knees were down on all four corners we could see (this was as far as I could keep him in sight while stepping up my pace for a tiny self-comparison). I suspect he was local, and was simply putting in some practice for motoGP'ing at later dates.
Anyway, after working our way up to Mountain Home, AR, we decided to simply follow US 62 straight back to Eureka Springs. We stepped the Runes up to a 70-85mph mile eating pace back towards the RV and it's awaiting "cold ones". This was when we ran out of our perfect luck for the weekend. Of the thousands of fellow bikers of the weekend, this is where we managed to find the ONE AZZHOLE HD rider in the entire state. As I approached him from the rear, it was apparent that he and his lady co-rider were travelling well below the 55mph limit, and with oncoming traffic, I had to disengage the cruise control to slow to his pace until an opportunity to pass became available. No dice. When he noticed me in his rearview, he took his feet off his hwy pegs, down shifted 3 times and kicked the HD into race mode (in his mind, I suppose). I thought, what the hey, if he'll go 80, I'll ride along, then later, when he will inevitably slow down, I'll pass him then. OH HE!! NO. That wasn't what this
AZZHOLE had in mind. As we neared the next small town and it's 2-3 mile long stretch of 4 lane, he picked the slowest moving cage in the right hand lane and slammed his brakes to match it's speed - thereby deliberately blocking me from any legal pass on the 4 lane. At first, I didn't give it any thought. I thought he simply worried about the local PD, or some such. But after a few blocks doing 30 in a 45 zone, I realized he was deliberately blocking. WTH? Aggrevating, only slightly. After all, the stretch of 4 lane had a center turn lane. Again, not too big of deal, I used the center turn lane to blow past him, then reached down for the resume button. On to Harrison the two Runes travelled.
In Harrison, I pulled in for fuel. Shala had to tinkle. She pulls in laughing and tells me of how both the HD riders were flipping me off as a blew past them in the turn lane. Hummm, news to me. Oh well, probably good that I didn't notice. I fill the bikes. Shala goes in and tinkles.lol. reset the trip meter, and off we go. OH HEL! NO. A mile outside Harrison, this same sumb! tch is dragaszing along doing 20-30mph, or so, in a 60mph zone - seemingly waiting for us. Sure enough, his passenger is cranked around watching, and as we near, he does his usual downshifting, only this time I pull alongside him and shout my feelings regarding his manhood, etc, and what I thought of his ride bla, bla, bla. I think they were trying to cuss me as well, but between my itunes earbuds, and inability to lip read, I couldn't understand their Harleyspeak whatsoever. Anywho, HDs, riding double, even the extra loud ones with all the Screaming Eagle BS bolted up, are no match for a Honda Rune (and Runes are no hotrods). I wasn't about to pull over onto the shoulder to see if the jerk needed help fixing whatever caused them to have to pull over shortly after he gave up trying to race. Or, if it weren't broken, I certainly didn't want to see him flex his muscles, pull a gun, or whatever - after all, the "cold ones" were still waiting.
Round trip mileage for our Sat excursion was closer to 300 miles. All in all, disregarding the one bad attitude HD, it was one mighty fine weekend, and I can't wait for the next one. :clapping: :clapping:
A couple pics of the RV and campsite
Our fav KOA owner, Bob.
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unk: As it was, we made a couple sets of new friends at the campground, and hope to meet up with them again some day.
