EUREKA!!!! 2015

We are on our way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

This is a shot of the bikes already loaded, at breakfast at the Gold Country Inn in Deadwood, on our way out of town.

Today was a good day, with not much wind. We did have one minor detour that ended up on us having to go on about 7 or 8 miles of gravel road south of Chamberlain. Trouble wasn't a fan of that. AT ALL! We ended up at Days Inn in Yankton, SD.

409 miles today.

Day Two

We started the day in Yankton with our normal McDs breakfast. It was a cool 50 degrees to start the day, but it started warming up quickly. We had a high of about 83 degrees, and a south wind all day. We happened to be going south. All day. It was windy, but it was better than a side wind for sure. 

We stopped at a small town in Kansas to visit Troubles niece. We had a nice visit after getting to the Sonic. I wanted to get something to eat earlier, but she said to just go to the town we were stopping at anyway. She thought it was only 20 miles, but it was over an hour. I was hungry!

Other than that, the day was uneventful. I like those days. We ended up at the Super 8 in Chanute Kansas, and we are going to the Kansas RV Center in the morning. I meant to get  picture of a large steam locomotive they had in a city park, but I forgot.

441 miles today, and no pictures. It was Nebraska and Kansas after all!

Day Three - Monday

We started the day looking at 5th wheel campers at Kansas RV Center. We are just looking at ideas for retirement or at least full time living. We looked at several very nice, very expensive units, but we both liked the Alpha Gold. It was more reasonably priced, and very high quality.

After we left there, we just meandered along in the general direction of Springfield Missouri. We didn't know how bad the winds would be, and didn't want to commit to any one route. When we got north of Joplin, we decided things were going well enough to go to Lamberts for our annual stop. On our way there, we ended up on Mo highways 97 and 96, and they were fabulous roads. Smooth, and newly surfaced. After that, we headed south on 65 towards Berryville. I had forgotten how nice that ride is. They have great motorcycle roads in this area. It is part of the reason we keep coming here.


This guy wanted a ride I think. It was there when I took the cover off.

 This is early in the rally, and this year seems to be a 4 wheel rally. We are all getting older, and medical issues forced many people to bring cars instead of bikes.

Here Moparman was showing Badger his sausages. Seriously.

Once we got here, it was great getting to see everyone. Waterman and I did a count, and there were 11 Hondas, 6 Vulcans, 1 Yamaha, and 1 BMW at the Vulcan rally. Reverse has been to ES on two wheels, three wheels, and now four wheels. They said next year she might try a unicycle!

We took a car last year, and we had just as much fun as we have any other year. Funny how that works. We also noticed that whenever we wanted to go somewhere, people were more than happy to ride with us.

253 fun and easy miles today.

Day Four

We started with breakfast at this place.

The sign was right. None of us died. Yet.

 Here was a bunch of the breakfast group. Wompass and Monteign are in the light.

After breakfast, I walked across the street and bought a couple dodads for the BMW. Everyone has to tell a story when they find out you ride a BMW. I think that might be my least favorite thing about the bike so far. BUT, there have been some pretty neat stories.

Trouble was worried about where I got off to after breakfast, and they found me at this shop. Here is a gaggle of VROCers hustling across the busy road.

I couldn't resist. I wanted to get a bunch more of the Honda bunch, but before I got it done, someone went and pulled a Vulcan in near it. I don't know what they were thinking!

Here is a before picture of a bunch of the girls heading out for a small "bachelorette party". They headed downtown Eureka Springs for some hooting and hollering. Oh yeah, and some "**** whistle blowing".

Here is just a mess of pictures of the "RETURN"!

Who would ever expect Zmean1 to get out of a PINK limo?????

There were enough of them that the limo had to make two trips, but everyone had fun.

A quick getaway

We decided to go to Ten Sleep, WY this morning when we were planning our day. We haven't done a spur of the moment trip in quite a while.

It was another windy day, but not as bad as last Saturday. The K1200LT  showed 101 degrees at the hottest part of the day.

We have been through the Bighorns many times, and have never seen a moose. This time we saw two. I tried a cell phone picture of the second one.
When we got to Ten Sleep, we stayed at the Log Cabin motel, but we wouldn't have to stay here again. The parking lot was the worst part of the place, it was large rock and no fines, so the kickstands would just roll the rocks around and sink. We got the bikes situated and went to eat at the Ten Sleep bar, and they made an INCREDIBLE burger. After that we went to the Ten Sleep Brewery, a mile west of town. They make good beer, and tonight was their second anniversary. They were making homemade Indian tacos that were piled high. The beer was good and so was the day.

The bikes are ready to go.

We stopped at Powder River Pass, for a quick picture.

Elevation 9666 feet. Here it was 75 degrees on a 95 degree day.

Here is an attempt at a moose picture, at Meadowlark Lake.

After supper we went to the Ten Sleep Brewery, and they were having a second anniversary party.

A shot of the place we stayed.

At least we didn't have to wait for hot water, and using the toilet included a diet plan. If you wanted to use the toilet, you had to squeeze by the sink, and you could rest your chin on the sink!

 This is the Ten Sleep Saloon, and they have very good food.

 We had breakfast at the Crazy Woman Cafe, and the food was good with very fast service.

 Ten Sleep Creek from the west looking east.

There is one spot with 25 mph switchbacks on a long decline, and this semi decided to park on the wrong side of the guard rail. The tires in the picture are the drive axles from the truck. There was a runaway truck ramp uphill about a quarter of a mile before this, it would have been a much better place to park!

 Bighorn Peak is the one above Melanies bike.

A link to our route there.

A link to our route home.

Day two of our "wind ride".

These were the ride home. We started with breakfast at the place we ate supper at, the Anchor Grill. If you are ever hungry and near Chamberlain, SD, you owe it to yourself to eat here. Our waitress happened to own the place, and you could tell she cared enough to make sure you had a good meal.

This is a picture of more normal waves from our second floor balcony. The wind is about 20-25 mph now.

This was a gas stop, with todays wind easier to deal with. Yep you can still count the stripes, but the wind is much better today. The CTX isn't bothered much by the wind. Probably less than the K1200LT.

We made a detour through the Badlands National Park. We don't get here often enough, and we live less than two hours away. 

Here is a gratuitous pic of the CTX 700 in the Badlands.

And one of the reason for this little road trip.

Finally, something to write about.

We took Melanies new CTX 700 to Sioux Falls to look at a different bike for me. The CTX isn't a great two up bike. We did ok, but can't wait to put the new Corbin seat she ordered on it. The hard side wind didn't blow the CTX around much at all. I was very impressed with it. Honda got this bike right.

I ended up buying the bike, and we are on our way home as I am writing this. We stopped at Chamberlain , SD because the wind got worse than yesterday.
There are high wind warnings for the rest of our ride home.

Alert: Wind Advisory issued August 22 at 12:56PM MDT until August 22 at 8:00PM MDT by NWS Sioux Falls

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

* TIMING...STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PERSIST BEHIND A COLD FRONT

THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY TO MID EVENING.

* WEATHER CONDITIONS...NORTHWEST WINDS WILL SETTLE INTO A 30 TO 45

MPH RANGE.

That was the weather warning in effect when we got here. We were glad we chose to stop.

This was the swells on the Missouri River from our second floor room.

Road selfie!

Here are a few mote pictures of the ride home on Sunday, with the wind greatly reduced from Saturday.