Yesterday I went for a nice ride with Kent.  We started out meeting in Romeoville, at the Gas City station at I55 and Webber road.  From there we headed out through pea-soup fog for about 30 miles until we got to Big Rock.  We stopped for breakfast at the Coutry Cafe resturant and I had a killer chorizo skillet.  After breakfast the fog cleared and we ended up doing about 270 miles through northern Illinois.  I got a bit of sun on my face but it was a gorgeouse day… Map Route

This is the second time I’ve written this update as it got lost last night when i tried to post it and the Internet went down.

Wednesday started with an early departure from the campground. About 8:30 or so. We headed back to Arkansas 7 again this time down to the southern end of the state. It’s not called scenic route 7 for nothing. While not as technical as some of the other roads we have ridden this week, it has a nice mix of elevation changes, sweeping turns, and hairpins.

Riding was uneventful but the towns we encountered were interesting. We stopped for lunch in Camden, Ar. What a depressed town. When we stopped and went into a local Mexican restaurant for lunch we actually went back outside to move our bikes where we could see them. It was pretty rough. On the upside, the food was great.

We rode until we reach El Dorado, Ar. The day was 90 degrees for the high so we hit a hotel to cool off in their pool. On a side note, I was glad I brought the perforated leathers for Wednesday and Thursday. When checking into the hotel we ran I to a woman who invited us to a local Harley Owners Group happy hour at a Cajun restaurant. The cajun food was good and it was a nice time. Back to the hotel and bed about 11. End of day.

Thursday started at 9 am departing from El Dorado via 7 to the border of Louisiana. We went through Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri to get the rest of the guys those states on their motorcycle checklists. Most surprising was how nice eastern Oklahoma was. Many lakes, hills, and forests lined the road. We also rode probably the nicest road on the planet. The Cherokee Turnpike was a tollroad we weren’t on for long, but the quality of the road surface combined with the low traffic made it a joy to ride.

We ended up in Joplin Missouri where IM writing this while eating breakfast and trying to plan a route around the rain up north. The goal for today is Des Moines, IA. That will put the Chicago gouts and Minneapolis guys about 30 miles from home via Interstate. An easy way to finish the trip.

More to come. P.S. None of the 4 of us on the trip were involved with the NY City bombing.

Tuesday was another picture perfect riding day in NW Arkansas. The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful…..

We started out with breakfast at the South Park diner ( and returned for dinner after we saw the home made pies) and plans to head up scenic Arkansas 7 and then loop around to the NW with our northern terminus at Harrison, Ar. We stopped in Harrison for lunch about 2 at the Rock House where we all partook of the house specialty burgers.

On the southbound return trip we hit the pig trail, a famous motorcycle road in these parts. There was a bit if construction, but overall the road conditions were above average. Lots of sweeping turns and still plenty of slower speed hairpin turns and switchbacks with fun elevation changes thrown in for good measure.

We ended the day with a short ride back to Clarksville via a gas station/convenience store to pick up some beer for the campground since it is in a dry town. We returned to the campground to a new neighbor , Jay, who tools around the campground on his little 90 cc motorized scooter thing from the 1880′s I think. Oh, I forgot to mention that he does this while in a whiplash collar!!! He and Brian hit it off right away.

A bit of dinner back at the South Park where Brian has really come to enjoy the…professionalism… of the wait staff.

Tomorrow it’s of to discover the longest path to El Dorado…

It’s 9:40 pm and we just got back from dinner Monday night. Found a good local Mexican spot called el parisan.

I was up at 5:45 this morning. I spent some time walking around the campground before the other guys woke up. It was a really nice spot along the White River. One Jason got up we spent some time fixing a seat issue he had. This included a trip to the hardware store in Mountain View for a file and some hardware. once that was done we broke camp and got some breakfast. Jeff’s daughter was getting her cast off so he spent some time on the phone then we hit the road.

Today the road started as a small county road 66 out of Mountain view. It was a bit more laid back than the riding yesterday but the views were great and the riding was still way above average. Off of 66 we caught Ar. 27 toward Russelville. This was another great road. All rural with very little traffic. A great mix of relaxed and challenging roads.

Day 2 started in Columbia, Mo. with a bit of a late start from the hotel, about 9:15. The first stop was Walmart. Yes, another issue. Before we left the hotel I checked my tire pressures like a good biker should (and I did before I left home) and when I checked the rear tire and pulled the gauge off, it was releasing air and I couldn’t get it to seal with multiple methods. I pumped up the tire with the 12v pump I bought just for the trip and held the air in the tire with only the valve cap. Luckily the walmart was only two miles away and their tire center was open. Billy-Bob and his cronies said they would help but after 10 minutes they still couldn’t get the valve out of the stem. I asked to use their valve wrench and had it out in about 10 seconds and the new one in in10 more. I’m thankful for their willingness to help but you’d think tire guy could pull a valve. Back on the road through Rolla and on to Arkansas 19.

OH MY!!! Arkansas state highway 19 is almost 100 miles of the twistiest, most changing elevation road you can imagine. Beautiful scenery on each stretch with many valley overlook areas. Check the flicker pics on the left of this page to see a sample. There were no cars in front of me the entire time so i got to really push the capabilities of the bike and ground off about half of the metal floorboard protection nubs I was going so hard and deep into the turns. At one point the curves straightened out and for about 10 miles it was straight roads with lots of ups and downs, some of the I’d estimate at between 200 and 300 feet vertical change. One of them was so steep that Brian got his front wheel off the ground most of the way down after cresting the top at considerable speed. At the bottom of the valleys my suspension was fully compressed due to the G forces.

We transferred to Arkansas 9 and rode that into Mountain View to camp for the night. Had some subway for dinner (it was the only thing open on Sunday) then came back to the campground to watch a movie on the iPad, then bed.

Jeff and Jason are just getting back from town now. They had to get a file to fix a seat part on Jason’s bike. Then it’s packing up camp and off to NW Arkansas for the rest of the week.

Day 1 started on time meeting Jeff in Morris, Il at 7 am. We arrived in Iowa City at precisely 10 AM to meet up with Jason and Brian. The came in closer to 10:45. We hung out there for a while to wait out a few storms in Mo. We left about 11:45 and ran strong until we got to Oskaloosa, IA.

My luggage rack weld cracked and fell off just outside of town. We tried to find a welding shop to fix it but they were all closed. In desperation I asked a local at a gas station if he Knew anyone who did welding. Clayton called around but anyone he knew who did welding wasn’t available. He finally revealed he had a wire welder at home but didn’t know how to use it. He invited us to his “house” 10 miles outside of town to fix it. After traversing a road that could have been fro Afghanistan from all the potholes initial we got there, borrowed a grinder from a neighbor ANC Jeff and I commenced the repair while Jason and Brian spent their time fighting off a coup,e of female admirers. I think the locals took enough pictures of us to make us part if the family.

After professing that we had no “weed” and were not police, we were back underway after about a 2 hr. delay.

We had about 125 miles of clear running before the rain started. We changed into rain gear just in time and ran about another 50 miles to spend the night in Colombia, Mo. The goal for today is the Fayetville, Ar. Area.

Want to know where I am on my Motorcycle Trip?  You can follow me on twitter @omni, on FourSquare Eric C.

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Jason’s GPS Location
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Hosted a tech day for a bunch of guys from the VTXOA board today. I changed my front tire(twice). And added an expanded 12volt power outlet block for accessories. Tim did some electrical work too, adding a remote button for his garage door opener and a buzzer to remind him to turn off his turn signal.

Kent was going to put on a new shield but it didn’t fit. Back it has to go! He did get his saddlebags mounted after several trips to the hardware store for bolts.

We did eventually have a dozen bike at the house at one time with two more guys stopping in later in the day for a total of 14. A good turnout by any estimation.

I recently bought a pair of Fieldsheer leather motorcycle pants off of eBay.  It was a great deal and the pants still had the tags on so all seemed good.  I paid, and the seller was great, providing shipping information and getting them to me in only 4 days.  I opened the box and the pants were just as described except…. they reeked of smoke.  Obviously they were stored in a smokers home for several years and the smell had permeated the pants.  I hit the with some lysol and left them hang in my garage for about 48 hours but it didn’t help at all.  I went online and found that this wasn’t that uncommon of a problem and several home remedies were suggested.

What I ended up doing was putting the pants into the dyer along with 4 tennis balls and 7 dryer sheets for an hour.  This helped a bit, but didn’t eliminate the smell completely.  When I ran they cycle I had it on no heat, just tumble.  I decided to pull out the 1st set of dryer sheets, put in 7 new ones and run it for an hour and a half on low heat thinking that maybe the heat would release both the smoke odor and the scent from the dryer sheets.  It worked!!! Smell busted….

Had a great motorcycle ride with an old friend today.  Just a smidge under 400 miles from central Illinois to Iowa, up to Savanna and Poopy’s for Lunch, then back home.  Bright shining sun with just a few clouds made riding a real pleasure.  Here’s to more like it in the future.