| On Wednesday, October 3, 2001 Suzanne and I loaded up the old Vulcan,
"and I do mean loaded", and set out for the 2001 Vulcan Rider's Owner's Club, VROC Rally in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. This was the first VROC rally either of
us had ever attended. The weather was clear and sunny and the temperature was in the lower sixties when we left Henderson around 10:00 a.m. for a little 380 mile
trip up to North West Arkansa. We had made 300 mile trips in one day before, so this was gonna be a "cake walk" ride. Couldn't wait to get going. |
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We rode up through Tatum, Marshall, Jefferson and New Boston Texas. Crossed the Red River and hit Arkansas Hwy 41, up to De Queen, where we stopped for
lunch around 1 p.m.. From De Queen we took Hwy 71 on North. We Stopped in Mena around 3 p.m. to fuel up again. The ride from De Queen to Mena is pretty
nice with some good roads and scenery. As we left out of Mena, we got into some hills and mountains. Very Pretty country through this area. Just North of Waldron,
we veered East onto FM 23, since it looked like the most direct route to take. Well I'm here to tell you, 23 is a very scenic road, but talk about twisty and hilly.
Our average speed went from around 65-70 mph to more like 45-50 mph.
We wound our way up 23 to the town of Ozark, crossed the Arkansas River, and stopped for more fuel around 5 p.m. We spoke to Jack who was riding a green Nomad
at the filling station while we rested our back sides. Jack lives in Ozark now. I believe he told us he had retired there from California because he liked the roads in that
part of Arkansas. Jack was planning to ride up to the Rally the next morning he told us. We left Ozark around 5:30 for the last 80 or so miles of our trip.
80 more miles, a couple of hours right?
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| WRONG !!! North of Ozark, hiway 23 would make a chicken snake proud, what with all the twisties and turns and dips and hills... WOW!! Hair pin turns with signs
suggesting 10 MPH, and nothing but tree tops on one side of the road and the side of a small mountain on the other. Seems like every left hand turn we made, we
met a log truck with it's driver's side fender flapping in the breeze... Now I can't fault the Vulcan Classic scooter, because it's been a good one so far, but the Vulcan
isn't geared for this kind of low speed riding. If I shifted gears once, I bet I shifted a thousand times, and that within each mile... Two adults and too much luggage
didn't do anything to make the bike handle any better either. The scenery was spectacular, what little I got to see of it. I was too busy keeping my eyes on the road
and watching for those run away log trucks... We finally found a level place in the road and stopped to put on some warmer clothes. By this time it was getting dark
and the steep drop offs didn't bother me so much, since I could not see them any more... ha... |
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Well, we finally made it into Eureka Springs around 9 p.m. The last twenty miles we were followed in by some fellow VROC'ers who caught up to us on the twisty roads.
I bet they thought I was a real snale... The VROC group was having a dinner at the Iron Horse, but neither of us felt like riding another mile by the time we got to
the hotel and unwound a bit.
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Thursday morning we got out and rode down to the Iron Horse Stables. This is a shot of the front of the Iron Horse Stables where the VROC Rally was being held.
Nice set up. They have a web page that list all the features of their place.
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Some of the VROC'ers Bikes in the parking lot of the Iron Horse.
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On Thursday we wondered around the Iron Horse and then went down to the Kawasaki site. They had their trucks set up and were letting everyone have demo
rides on the new Mean Streak and other new bikes. This is also where the bike show was held.
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On Friday night the Kawasaki folks put on a great feed for everyone at the Creasent Hotel. The Cresent is located on top of one of the hills there in Eureka Springs.
It's an old, very nice Hotel. Makes me wonder what stories it could tell from by gone times. I wish we would have had time to do more site seeing. Maybe one of these days
a stay in the Cresent would be interesting.
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Suzanne "MoonRise" in front of the Cresent Hotel. Ask her about the steep road going up to the parking lot...ha...
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Some of the fancy old stuff inside the Cresent Hotel.
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This shot was taken on the varanda of the Cresent.
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This shot was taken looking out over the observation deck of the Cresent. You can see the rain clouds heading South in the back ground.
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A shot of the dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Cresent. Lots of hungry VROC'ers
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After the dinner, all the awards for the bike show were given out. Then there were drawings for door prizes from Kawasaki, Cobra, Thunder Manufacturing and other
vendors. I couldn't believe my ears when they called my name to win a complete Cobra Exhaust System. That was the caliber of prizes they were giving away. What a
great show of support for VROC from the vendors.
All in all this was a great trip that will be long remembered and hard to beat. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.
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