Labor Day Ride

Just back from the annual Labor Day motorcycle ride with my family. This year, I flew into Dallas on Thursday. Dad & I rode Friday afternoon from Plano, TX to Atoka, OK where we trailered the bikes on up to Fayetteville. It was a nice ride, but a little boring on US 75. I had the Goldwing so I was surfing radio stations the whole way. Found the local country station in Sherman & listed to it for a good bit. We finally got to Fayetteville, AR around 10:00 PM.

The Kemp Crew at the foot of Mt. Magazine, AR

Saturday morning dawned clear, but a little cool. We left Fayetteville around 8:30 AM & headed out Hwy 16 down what is called "The Pig Trail." It got that name as the favored route for college students at the University of Arkansas travelling home to Little Rock & parts east. It was quicker & less travelled than US Hwy 71. The Pig Trail puts you on I-40 at Ozark well east of Alma where 71 catches I-40. However, with the completion of I-540 several years ago, neither route gets that much traffic anymore and the roadway shows! Its a little rough, but the switchback curves are great! My sister & I frequently took the curves faster than the old folks. Of course, they are both riding 2-up & sis & I are singles.

It was a great ride! We stopped just south of the Hwy 16-Hwy 23 junction at Turner's Bend for a break. Mom bought us all t-shirts advertising Turner's Bend & The Pig Trail. Mine is black & long sleeved with a snarling pig on the back, complete with earring, do-rag & thumbs-up sitting straddle handle bars. Very cool. I almost bought a black cowboy hat, but resisted as I couldn't figure out how to get it back without crushing it in a saddle bag. My uncle especially liked the gal behind the counter wiggling her butt to the classic rock station on the radio!

Crew plus bikes at foot of Mt. Magazine

I'm 2nd from left with Leroy. Dad is next to me with the 'wing.

Uncle & Aunt with the new BM'er are on right

We continued on down State Road 309 to climb Mt. Magazine, the highest point in Arkansas. Lunch was at the lodge on top. What a beautiful view from the top!

View from the top of Mt. Magazine at the lodge looking south

Upon leaving the lodge on the mountain, I promptly ran Leroy out of gas! I knew it was going to be close, but neither Dad nor I could remember the mileage when we last filled up. Leroy can go around 130 miles on a tank. We last filled up somewhere around 20 miles from Atoka, OK before trailering the bikes at Atoka. At that time, I was riding the 'wing & Dad was on Leroy. Fortunately, Leroy has a reserve tank. It took a few minutes to pump the gas down from reserve, but he soon started up. Sis was leading with strict instructions to hit the first station at the bottom of the mountain!

Falling back down into the Arkansas River Valley, the temperature shot up to over 90 degrees. We rode over to Petit Jean State Park, which is up a slightly shorter mountain. We rested there for probably an hour and a half or so. Then we contined on to Danville & into Dardanelle where we crossed the Arkansas River & into Russellville, the first town I remember living in. Not much has changed in Russellville recently. We ate dinner at Whattaburger, not the chain, but the original drive-in owned by the Feltner family. Great burgers. Last stop of the day was in Clarksville about 20 miles west of Russellville.

Two problems: 1.) travelling west at sunset is brutal! & 2.) the Razorback football game kicked off at 6:00 PM so every state trooper on duty was patrolling so he could listen to the game on the radio! We must have seen 4 or 5 in the 20 miles between Russellville & our motel in Clarksville.

Funny story though. Just outside of Russellville, we crossed a levee that forms the southeastern bank of Lake Dardanelle & protects Russellville proper. Dad said that his dad, Grandpa Kemp, was driving the water truck for the construction company that built the levee. As work progressed, the bank became too steep to safely drive the water truck on. Grandpa got into a tiff with the foreman over it. The foreman insisted that the slope be watered down by truck & would not listen to reason. Grandpa turned the truck around so that as he drove on the slope, the driver side was high & he locked the door open. When the truck began to roll, he stepped off the running board & let the truck roll off into the dale below, just as he knew it would!