2015 Transam Trail Days 12-14

The two things, so far, that make this trip stand out above all others are changing my oil and buying a new tire. Things like these aren’t done on a one week trip. These things are done when one is out for a long time, long enough that they can’t be done before leaving or after returning. Changing oil in a parking lot because you have to, stopping at a local hardware store to ask where to find car parts are things done in a foreign land. Cool!

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Day 12, 8/29: Crazy About the Ozarks
Odometer start: 9790
Odometer finish: 10,030
Miles: 315
TAT Mile Marker: 1043

Well, the Ozarks have been the most awesome riding of the trip. The trail was close to 100% off-road through woods with nice overlooks, nice surface conditions and nice weather.

It’s warming, as predicted; warm for the first hour or so in camp at night now. Swinging in the hammock creates enough of a breeze to be quite comfortable. Once the sun sets it cools down and by bed time an unzipped sleeping bag over the top is just right.

The sky was overcast all day and the air was humid. It was still perfect to start with a wind breaker and lose it by lunch.

This guy must be a dual sport or adventure rider:

Late morning I came up to Russellville so I pulled off and headed to the Honda dealer for my new rear tire. Everything was in order so I put the bike up in the parking lot and changed it out. This is a tubed tire like most bicycles, so it’s the same change technique just a lot more of a pain in the butt.

I hadn’t thought of how much of a cool novelty I’d be outside a power sports dealer. It seemed like everyone that came in wanted to know what my story was. People took pictures and offered to help while I just wanted to get the new tire on and stop sweating. Favorite quote from the affair was “woah man, you’re the real deal”. Second favorite was from a lady who asked “doesn’t your butt hurt?”

I had to be careful not to overlook anything or make a careless mistake as I chatted with everyone. These guys always offer to help when I need it so the least I can do is indulge them with some stories.

The guys inside recommend a BBQ joint down the road. It was spectacular. The pork sandwich was great but it was the fries I wanted to order seconds of!

The rest of the day was just more really nice riding. Hours and hours of scenery like above and below.

Around 3pm I came across Hal, another guy doing the TAT, on an R1200GS, a newer model version of my BMW R1150GS. That’s one heavy bike, almost 200 lbs heavier than mine. He was helping a woman and two young kids find their way back to their car, they had been lost in the woods much of the day. We talked only for a minute, but he is trying to make it to Utah before having to head home so we might possibly cross paths again.

As evening approached I came across a National Forest campground on Mulberry Creek, a very nice creek I’d been following for a while. After chatting with some guys in a nearby camp site I set up camp, lubed the chain, looked over the bike, showered and laid in the hammock to read Countdown to Zero, a book from my parents that talked about the Stuxnet virus. Awesome book so far. As I started to drift asleep in the hammock I decided to wander to the tent and crash for the night, it had been a long day of riding: 315 off-road miles.

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Day 13, 8/30: Biggest Scare of the Trip so Far
Odometer start: 10,030
Odometer finish: 10,230
Miles: 200
TAT Mile Marker: 1190

I was packed and ready to go before sunrise so I walked around camp while I ate oatmeal for a half hour. Once the sun started to creep through the trees I hopped on the bike and hit the trail.

The day started off with some pretty technical riding on bike rocks on a steep downhill grade. I thought about Hal on his large bike trying to ride this. Good luck buddy, I hope it went well.

There were two road closures that were pretty easy to route around and a couple of trees down on the trail. Nothing major, just some entertainment to break up the day’s ride.

A couple of hours after this tree crossing I decided to look at the maps to see if I should grab a snack now or wait until the next town when I would gas up. I was paying attention to the GPS instead of the surface and when I stopped and my foot didn’t reach the sloping ground. Uh oh, down the bike went.

Laying in the ditch like that made it very tough to upright the bike. I was barely able to get it up without unloading everything. Giving myself a few minutes to catch my breath I saw that the next town was over 20 miles away so I grabbed a small snack.

Ok,  fire up the bike and ride. 30 seconds down the trail the bike starts making a loud clacking noise,  peters out and dies. Then it won’t start. I waited a few minutes and it started right up. Great! 30 seconds later it dies similarly. Hmm. A few rounds of this and I was really worried. When I dropped the bike, nothing on that side looked damaged in the slightest. This clacking noise was not good and I was in the middle of nowhere Arkansas. I decided to let the bike sit while I had lunch.

A truck came down the trail so I flagged it down to see if these good old boys knew anything about bikes. Nope, but there were happy to follow me to town or toss my bike in the truck. I took them up on it so we loaded the bike up and went to town. Better get to town now than be stranded in remote woods with no cell service.

All I could think was, if the bike is toast, whay do I do? Order parts and help some local small engine guy rebuild it? Sell it and get a ride to a larger city with a rental car agency? I was in podunk nowhere on a Sunday. I could be stuck here for a week or two.

Fortunately, after letting the bike sit for an hour it fired up and seemed to run well. I gassed up and rode to the next town via a busy highway. All was well so I got back on the trail and rode without ear plugs so I could hear anything that sounded off. I imagined noises every mile of the ride for the rest of the day but the bike performed perfectly.

This cool old schoolhouse was a great spot for a short break.

There was a state park almost right on the trail near quitting time so I checked in with the camp host. He said I had the place to myself, pick anywhere I want to camp, no need to park in an official spot. Nice, I chose a flat area by the lake and set up camp. The host strongly recommended I try a BBQ sandwich down the road. After a long and stressful day, a couple of hours of air conditioning and real food sounded great. I have to say, thay sandwich was so good it didn’t need BBQ sauce. The best I’ve had in years.

I called Denise to hear how her weekend in Asheville with our sister-in-law went. They had a great time to say the least. I tried to look at maps to see what was coming but kept drifting off so I crashed to bed around 9pm.

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Day 14, 8/31: Beautiful Prairie Land
Odometer start: 10,230
Odometer finish: 10,445
Miles: 215
TAT Mile Marker: 1380

I was wide awake at 5:30am so I broke the maps out to plan ahead. I will need a new front tire in a week or so, so I chose a couple of likely candidates for a spot to have a tire delivered with Trinidad being my preferred spot. I packed up camp and headed out at sun up.

I couldn’t get that clacking noise from yesterday out of my head so I shot into Pryor Creek to find an auto part store. I went ahead and changed my oil mostly so I could see if it looked ok. I don’t know why, this made no sense to do but peace of mind is a good thing and oddly it seemed to give me that. All was perfect and it only cost $13 and 15 minutes. I also went to Walmart to see if they had a replacement bite valve for my Camelback since mine has develped a small hole. No dice so I hit the trail.

The day started off with lots of right and left turns in a 1 mile x 1 mile grid. Pretty but slow. It soon turned into very remote grasslands. I have to give it up for Sam, the trail creator. He found an awesome route through here. Man, was this scenic. I was tearing along at 45-50 mph for miles on end, on loose gravel, making good time, slowing now and then to check out the scenery.

My camera battery was nearly dead so I only got a few pictures. Wish you could have been here. Oklahoma has some nice terrain.

The gravel roads were endless. I’d get up to 45-50 mph and just float on top of the rocks. Now and then a surface problem would show up but there was no time to react so I’d just blow through them full speed. Now and then a crossroad would catch me by surprise. I blew through one at 50mph and slid sideways through another and into some powdery sand. I’ll have to figure out how not to do this, I don’t need to get plastered by a truck out here.

I had a short lunch/snack break at these working oil tanks. It was hot but there was a nice breeze.

Coming into Newkirk, OK I was fried. I had riding off-road almost nonstop for 6 hours. I knew there was a park and campground 10 miles south in Ponca so I headed there as a opposed to another 2.5 hours to the next one 85 miles away.

I set up camp and went into town to find data so I could plan my next couple of days and do a blog post. Next I’m headed back to camp to put up the hammock and read until I drift to sleep.

Thanks for readjng, I’ll be back in a few days!