I’ve been made an offer for the @omni twitter handle that I couldn’t refuse from someone in the UK who is starting a commercial enterprise and felt they could make use of the domain so I’ve sold it.

From now on you can get my personal tweets at @virtualomni and my professional tweets at @edttw .

Shoot me a message if you have any question, otherwise please follow me at my new twitter handle.

Eric

Location:West Peachtree St NW,Atlanta,United States

Best day of the trip so far!!

We left Hot Springs today and headed north along Arkansas Highway 7 for 90% of the day. Once in northern Arkansas we headed west on Arkansas 14 west, then picked up Missouri 76 and headed into Branson, MO where we are going to spend the last night of the trip… thats right. We are heading home a day early as both Jason and Kent/Eric have better weather forecasts for the long rides home on Thursday than on Friday. It’s so much nicer to not have 9 hours of riding in the rain

Significant events of the day included some great roads. Lots of twisties and switchbacks.

We had a couple nice photo opportunities including a scenic overlook in the Ouichta national forrest …

and a great stop at restaurant overlooking the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks just south of Harrison, AR.

Heading out from that stop, we got held up at some road construction for about 10 minutes or so. We were impatient because in our riding clothes it was hot in the sun when you weren’t moving. Kent got so impatient he actually set his bike on the kickstand to rest… at least he thought he did. Turns out the kickstand wasn’t down and the bike went over on its side. It was tough to pick up as we were on a downward sloping road and the bike kept wanting to go forward as we lifted it. Minimal damage thankfully. Only a bent turn signal mount which should be easily fixable.

In Branson, we found the remnants of a tornado that hit a couple months ago. The northern end of town is pretty much destroyed with many of the hotels, shows, and restaurants still closed and undergoing repairs.

Kent and I will split off from Jason tomorrow as we each head home. Jason up Interstate 35 and Kent and I going I 44 to I55 home. I’ll get to see the new puppies and have a few days to get my mind back in work mode.

Great trip. It’s great to have friends to share your adventures with!!

Location:E State Highway 76,Branson,United States

Dinner tonight is at the famed Billy Bobs Dairyland. Check it out on Yelp if you think I’m kidding.

Location:W 76 Country Blvd,Branson,United States

Day 5 was a local day trip starting in Hot Springs. It was a trip that was recommended by Road Runner Magazine. The trip started on Arkansas Rt. 7 south from Hot Springs down to Camden, AR. This was a nice easy drive, but started in too much traffic for my tastes. The rest of the 90 mile trip to Camden was nice, but not really great riding in my opinion. It was great for Illinois, sub par for Arkansas. We stopped for lunch at a local spot in Camden before turning back north along Arkansas 8 and 9 most of the way.

We were trying to get back to Hot Springs by 3 PM so that Kent could get new tires on his bike. He hadn’t realized how worn the were before the trip, and with the threat of rain on the way home Friday, he thought it was best to get them replaced.

Once back in Hot Springs we played some Mini Golf at the Pirate’s Cove and I would have won but for a 10 on one stinking Hole!!! Kent ended up edging out Jason by 1 stroke at the end, with me 4 strokes behind him.

The day ended at the Blue Monkey with some appetizers and beers while we watched the Bulls lose to the 76ers.

The original plan for tomorrow was a day trip to the west, but with the disappointing riding today, we decided to head north on Arkansas 7 up to Arkansas 14 and do some real riding. Not sure where we will end up, but i’m looking forward to it.

Location:Central Ave,Hot Springs,United States

Day 2 was a nice one for riding. It had rained all night Saturday night, but by Sunday morning it had all cleared up. Roads were a bit wet at the outset but quickly dried under the sun. We spent most of the day on Missouri 19 and Arkansas 9 heading south. We didn’t stop for lunch at all, but kept pressing towards Jason’s uncle’s house in Jacksonville, AR. We arrived there just a bit after 3 PM, significantly earlier than I had expected.

The riding was superb as I had remembered on those roads. Plenty of elevation changes and twisties to keep your mind focused. If you look away at the scenery for just a second, you lose your line and a brief second of panic sets in as you try to get back on track. If you lose focus for 2 seconds, you are in the ditch or the woods. Not good. Jason and I had ridden these roads before but it was Kent’s first time and he commented about the couple times he found himself drifting off the optimal path through the turns at speed. We kept the speed down to make sure everyone was comfortable, but it was still challenging riding.

There were a few animal encounters during the day. It seems it is turtle migration season in Missouri and Arkansas. We saw at least a dozen box turtles crossing the roads. It was very odd. Additionally, Jason almost took out a full sized Tom Turkey that zipped across the road literally 5 feet in front of him. Not a mile down the road from that some sort of ground squirrel or mole or something shot out into the road, avoided Jason’s tires, but was unable to avoid mine…..splat! We also saw a deer that, thankfully, decided it wasn’t time to cross the road.

After a dinner at Olive Garden with Jason’s extended family, we spent the night in Jacksonville with them.

Day 3 was an early start to try to avoid a storm that was moving across central Arkansas. We left before 8 AM and made it to Hot Springs, which we plan to use as our base of operations for a few days, before 10. We caught just a few sprinkles… nothing too bad.

We checked into the Country Inn and Suites early, unpacked, then went to grab some lunch, fix Jason’s lost shock bolt (discovered missing the day before), then to see the movie Safe with Jason Statham. It was OK.. I’d recommend waiting for it to come out on video. While we were in the theater a big storm came in, but ended before the movie so we rode back to the hotel after drying our seats off with paper towels from the theater bathrooms. We did some laundry, cleaned up the bikes, and are trying to plan for tomorrow. Forecasts vary for Tuesday so we are trying to come up with some contingencies. We really don’t want to lose another day of riding…

Location:Central Ave,Hot Springs,United States

Day 1 of the trip was pretty uneventful for Kent and I. We left Channahon for Iowa City to meet Jason, who was coming down from Minneapolis. The weather was a bit chilly but nothing even close to the worst we had seen.

About 45 minutes out from Iowa City I gave Jason a call on the cell through the Sena communications systems we all have on our helmets. Jason informed me that he had lost most of his clothes when one of his bags opened up somewhere on the highway and that he had to stop and a Wal-Mart to resupply… a crappy way to start the trip but at least it was only clothes and not his iPad or other items that would have been much harder and more costly to replace.

Day 2 started about 9:30 or so where we headed south, primarily down Missouri 19. A couple stops for gas and a few short rain showers broke up the day. At one point we stopped for almost an hour just north of Martinsburg, Mo to let a huge storm cell go by. Turns out it was a great Idea. This ended up being one of the big ones that tore through the St. Louis area with hail and tornadoes. We hung out and streamed an episode of the Big Bang Theory while we waited for the storm to go by.

That did put us a bit behind our schedule, so we never did make it into Arkansas but no big deal… We aren’t in any hurry. Instead we held up in Salem, MO and had some mexican food at Cozumel Resturant. Not killer, but not bad for a small town.

Today it’s off toward Little Rock / Hot Springs where the skies are clear and the weather is in the 80s.

Location:S Water St,Salem,United States

Tim and I had a great ride today. About 250 Miles starting in Spring Green, taking Wisconsin 60 West to Prairie Du Chien, across the river into Iowa then north on County Road X52 and Iowa 26 to La Crosse.

We had lunch in La Crosse at the Bodega Bar and Grill,

then east on Wisconsin 33 into Reedsburg, WI before turning south on WI 23 back into Spring Green. About 250 miles in total.

The only hangup was that Tim was leaking some coolant when we first started out. He had changed his coolant and didn’t get a lower hose clamp as tight as it should have been. Quick fix with a nutdriver and the rest of the day was cake…

Location:Shifflet Rd,Spring Green,United States

I’m out camping for the first time this year with my Brother-in-law. We are in Spring Green, WI and intend to take the motorcycles out and do some rides over the next couple of days. The campground, the Riverside Camping Resort, has a nice lodge and restaurant in it. While eating dinner, the sun was setting through the trees and I snapped a couple of pics on the iPhone.

It’s going to get near freezing tonight, but it will warm up in the morning. We plan to head along WI 60 along the Mississippi River, then up to LaCrosse, then back to Spring Green. In all it should be about 300 Miles. More updates tomorrow night…

Location:Shifflet Rd,Spring Green,United States