Arkansas
Dual Sport
By John Clements
I
can think of no better way to spend a vacation than taking a scenic
tour on a motorcycle. I have a passion for riding. Touring, Sport
Touring, Dual-Sport Touring, (Gold Wing, V64 Saber, XR400) I love
it all. (Hey, I NEED three bikes.) Of the three, the hardest trip
to plan is a Dual Sport tour, so when I found the Trans American trail
website, I was thrilled. I contacted the creator of the TAT, Sam Correro,
and starting planning a trip across Arkansas. I figured I'd ride one
state to see what kind of route Sam had laid out before I signed up
for a multiple state ride. He was extremely helpful and for a nominal
fee, provided roll charts and maps of the entire route.
I
can't imagine a better way to see the country, or a better vacation
We
loaded up the truck and left for our Dual Sport vacation on a Saturday
morning. Me, on my Honda XR400 made street legal with a Baja Designs
kit, and my wife on a Yamaha XT225. It was a full day drive to our
friend's house in Hot Springs, Arkansas where we planned to start
and end our trip. We spent Sunday visiting and watching the weather
reports which called for rain during the evening and into Monday.
So we decided to drive to the trail head in Helena. That way we could
keep dry and avoid the 200+ miles of strictly pavement riding. My
friend happily agreed to join us since there was a casino nearby and
didn't mind taking the truck back for us. It did rain quite a bit
and we were glad to drive into Helena on Monday.
Our
accommodations in Helena were at the Stone Ridge Inn, a Bed &
Breakfast. We stayed in the Garden Suite inside the Altman House and
got a free upgrade from our reserved room. This old restored Victorian
home is on the National Register of Historic Places and was elegantly
furnished with antiques and decorated very nicely. We did have the
modern convenience of a bathroom/shower in the room and television.
We unloaded the bikes and all our gear then headed across the Mississippi
River to the local casino. Unlike a Los Vegas casino, this place had
lots of five-cent slots and Coors Light was the only beer served on
the casino floor. Anyway, we got a bite to eat before heading back
to the room and going to bed early. Eleven miles out of Helena. The
only closed road on the whole route.
Tuesday
we awoke to clear warm weather and we were very much relieved that
we would not be riding all the way across Arkansas in the rain. We
loaded and gassed up the bikes, took our GPS coordinates off the roll
chart and headed for the beginning of the trail. it took us a few
moments to get out bearings, but we were soon heading out of town
on dirt roads and on our way at last. Our first (and only) snag was
a road closure about 10 miles out of town. The bridge was out and
there was no way around. The roads were a bit muddy and slippery,
but we managed to get turned around to look for an alternate route.
This is where the large supporting maps are invaluable! We backtracked
a ways and got around the closed road, but it set us back about 45
minutes. Oh well, everything can't go perfect.
We
continued on the prescribed route and became accustomed to the roll
chart and watching our odometers. I would track the point-to-point
turn mileage and my wife kept a running total (for gas mileage). We
never really got lost and only once had to check the GPS coordinates
to make sure we had not missed our turn. The roads we encountered
this first day were flat and usually gravel or fine dirt (i.e. mud).
We rode through rural residential areas and past large farms and ranches.
Some of the roads were even overgrown with grass and wild flowers.
Pretty soon we came across a section with large pools of water that
had not drained which covered the entire road. I would ride through
first to check the depth and see if it was slippery underneath the
muddy water, then my wife would follow.
Some
areas were slick and rutted with deep truck tire marks,
but we never fell or got into trouble
Soon
the flat roads gave way to slightly rolling hills with trees lining
both sides of the road. We climbed up and down the green hillsides
with picturesque views and farms dotting the countryside. Everything
was green except the roads, which were gray gravel or a reddish dirt.
We crossed Hwy 40 on a dirt road, concrete overpass, then dirt road.
Very odd. Every now and then we'd have to take a paved road across
a major river, or to drop into town for a gas stop, but most of the
time we were on the dirt back roads. We may have encountered a half
a dozen cars on our first day out, but that was it. Pretty soon it
was getting dark (we spent too much time enjoying views and taking
pictures). We decided that we'd better head for our hotel. We crossed
a major paved road and took it into Clinton for our second night's
stay.
We
stayed at the recommended hotel which was on top of a high hillside
overlooking a small valley. We walked into town for a pizza and discovered
we were in a dry county! No beer to go with our pizza! (Now that's
just not right!) We slept good and decided to get an earlier start.
We headed out to the next checkpoint off of another major road. Pretty
soon we were back on the trail with quite a different terrain. We
were in deep forest now with tall trees towering over the roads. The
sun and shade made it difficult to see pot holes and depressions in
the road, but the bikes didn't seem to care and flew over everything.
We again climbed up and over hill and dale and followed a bit of a
winding stream for a little while. Then we got into the official Ozark
Mountains and the road became more rocky. Literal rocks protruding
out of the ground as we climbed and then descended over and over.
Cabin we stayed at on White Oak Mountain.
We
popped out near Oark and stopped for gas and a burger. Taint no small
town. They got both kinds of gas there, diesel and unleaded. Every
town and store you walk into you catch the eye of the locals. I had
on my fancy helmet, bright orange and yellow racing shirts, red kidney
belt and, of course, motorcycle boots. During our lunch, we overheard
the locals at the other table telling tall tales about our attire.
One guy said '... a bull elephant could step on his boot and not break
his ankle...' it was kinda funny! Everyone was very nice and we never
felt unwelcome anywhere we went.
We
had made our own overnight plans (as opposed to booking at Sam's recommended
hotel). We made reservations at a campground at the top of the mountain
and directly off the trail. We climbed straight up a gravel road and
made our way to White Rock Mountain. We reserved a small cabin and
our generous hostess had provided us (for a small fee) with linens
and bought us our provisions for the evening. We arrived early (it
was a short day, only 130 miles) but it was very nice to have the
daylight to explore and view the scenery.
At
the top of this mountain you could see for 40 miles
in about a 270 degree panorama
The
high cliffs of 80-100 feet dropped off severely and they have had
7 deaths from people falling from the cliffs. The breeze was nice
on the warm 85 degree day and helped to keep away the incessant black
flies. We took a short hike around the top of the campground and along
a scenic nature trail. We came back and took a very much needed hot
bath (no showers here) and made our dinner. We built a cozy little
fire in the old stone fireplace for atmosphere and sipped our bottle
of wine while we nibbled on dark chocolate for dessert.
Thursday
was going to be our longest day so we headed out fairly early. Pretty
soon we turned off on a less than well maintained section. In fact,
there were no other tire tracks on it at all! Giant mud puddles would
cover the road for 20 feet or more. There was no way around them,
so we'd just have to go through. I hit the first one too fast and
splashed muddy water all over myself. We had two more large sections
that we more technical than anything else we had encountered on the
trail. The road had huge ruts and rocks the size of watermelons. We
crept our bikes down. I'm surprised my wife didn't make me ride her
bike down too! This challenging section of the trail was only a half
mile or so long. I enjoyed it, although I'm glad I didn't have to
ride 'up' that road. My wife was just glad it was over. Trish riding
through one of the many sections of flooded trail.
After
ticking off many more miles, we found ourselves at a Taco Bell. We
took a break and looked at the maps. We didn't realize that we had
taken the 12+ mile detour to the second nights recommended hotel.
We had to back track to the main trail. It was the farthest I'd ever
gone for 'fast food'. With only 110 miles of dirt roads left, we took
our time and enjoyed the change of scenery The forests and rocky roads
soon gave way to the local heavy gravel and farms cut out of the trees.
All the cows looked really healthy and happy out in the waist high
green grass pastures. I'm sure the chickens were doing well as we
passed quite a few farms (boy do they smell foul)! We saw several
wild turkeys, a couple of snakes warming themselves in the middle
of the road, turtles and armadillos.
We
hit Lincoln at about 3:30 P.M. and figured we'd better head back to
Hot Springs. We skipped the last 10 miles into Oklahoma and got back
on the freeway. I was not looking forward to the miles and miles of
pavement and I'm sure he wished that we were continuing on the next
dirt road section. We had to keep a pretty good pace since we had
close to 200 miles to burn, so we got on the main roads and maintained
55 mph back to Hot Springs. We got into town just before dark. We
had the next day to just laze around and enjoy. We took an authentic
Hot Springs bath at the Buckstaff Bath House. This is the only remaining
bathhouse and has been in continuous operation since 1912. For $38
we got to lie in a huge deep tub filled with mineral water for 20
minutes, then sit in a sitz bath which continually runs even hotter
water over your lower back, then take a 3-5 minute steam cabinet with
only your head sticking out, then off to the hot pack room where you
lie on your back with very hot wet towels placed on various parts
of your body for about 15 minutes. Just as you drifted off into sleep,
you are transferred to the cooling room for awhile then get a 20 minute
massage. It was absolutely wonderful and relaxing after the long trip
on the road.
—
Overall
we had a great trip, we spent three days on the trail and put on about
450 miles in the dirt. We saw some beautiful parts of the state and
got to spend some time with a good friend in Hot Springs. We're looking
forward to our next vacation adventure on the Trans-American Trail.
Sam
occasionally leads rides on sections of the Trans-American Trail.
In 2002 he is planning a 'end-to-end' 4000+ mile, 20+ day ride of
the trail. This trip will have a chase vehicle (Don't have to carry
all that stuff on your bike) and provisions for transporting your
bike back to the starting point. I can't imagine a better way to see
the country, or a better vacation. I'll be there!
—
John Clements
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