Friday, July 10th – Russellville, AR to Siloam Springs, AR
Today provided us with some of the absolute best riding we’ve had thus far; fabulous dirt roads, spectacular weather, and CLEAN BIKES! We started out first thing this morning stopping at the CYCLONE TUNNEL WASH in Russellville, AR:
Everything was positively filthy from more than a week of severe duty on the road, and we were fairly certain that the next Hampton Inn we stopped at was going to tell us to just “keep on rollin’!” if we didn’t clean up our act…
Once we had performed our ablutions, we were on our way, winding through the Arkansas backroads. Yesterday’s rains had washed away the dust that had plagued us for days, and provided clean, smooth sailing.
The first two hours were glorious. Perfect road conditions, cool temperatures, and low humidity. But then…
We were confronted with our first road closure of the day. This required a 20 mile detour, but we took it in stride and got back on course, only to be met with a DEAD END sign on the next turn. This meant at least ANOTHER 20 mile detour – Now what???
Frustrated, and refusing to believe the sign, we elected to push forward, and see where the road took us. Well, it took us for a ride, that’s for sure!
The end result was that we made it though to the other side, but not without some VERY challenging terrain. Obviously, on this day, “Dead End” did not apply to us!
Our next stop along the route was at the Oark General Store – http://www.oarkgeneralstore.com – in Oark, AR. This little treasure is an oasis in the middle of nowhere, run by wonderful folks, providing fuel for both man and bike.
Once back on the road, we still had a couple of surprises ahead, as we encountered more road issues:
The one shown above was a pretty devastating wash-out, but enough of the inner lane remained to allow traffic to pass. We were grateful to avoid another detour.
Our helmets hung in Siloam Springs for the evening, we will bid farewell to Arkansas tomorrow, and begin our trek across Oklahoma in the morning. We’ve very much enjoyed our time in this beautiful State!
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Rob, Dan & Ryan's Motorcycle Adventure 
Boy! Talk about roughing it! You really are seeing our beautiful country!
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glad to hear the trip is going so well
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