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We returned once again to Gastons Resort on the White River for our 9th annual Blazing Saddles Fall Foliage Tour. This was our second year to ride to this Ozark Mountain hideaway and once again we stayed in the River Villa, a ten room lodge with kitchen, fireplace and an open air grill all overlooking the White River. We sold the River Villa out last year and this year was no different and the overflow filled four rooms next door. Why this surprises me I don't know. The location is fantastic and the roads we ride to get there are some of the best we ride.
Thirteen motorcycles and our official Buick chase car gathered at the Iron Skillet in West Memphis at 7:30 on a crispy forty four degree morning with overcast skies that threatened rain. But it would take more than gloomy weather to dampen our spirits. We were wired for this ride as always and nothing short of an ice storm was gonna' hold us back. Wrapped in leather with electric vests powered up we rolled out of the Petro at eight AM sharp and headed west, bound for the Ozarks.
After a brief rest stop in Bald Knob and missing my turn twice we finally got straightened out and pointed in the right direction. Just west of Searcy we finally left the straight and narrow and picked up those never-ending curvy roads the Ozarks are known for.
We stopped in Mountain View for lunch and were summarily recruited as waiters and waitresses at the Woods Pharmacy Soda Fountain. They must have been short of help because after being seated upstairs we had to make our way back downstairs, give them our order and when it was ready they yelled our name up the stairwell and we had to hustle back downstairs, get our order then huff and puff back up the stairwell to our tables. I think this is the only meal I've ever eaten where I actually burned more calories than I consumed.
After lunch we made our way over to what some call the little Tail of the Dragon, Push Mountain Road. No where near the intensity of the Dragon of course but it was the highlight of our trip. With its long sweeping curves and silky smooth asphalt, Push Mountain Road AKA country road 341 is a road that we will soon ride again.
We arrived at Gaston's White River Resort around four PM and as usual we were checked in with lightning speed. Dinner was at 6:30 and with hundreds of antique bicycles and outboard motors hanging from the ceiling and its picture window view of the White River Gaston's Restaurant provided a unique if expensive dining experience. Back at the River Villa we huddled around the campfire and, primed with Arkansas Chardonnay, we talked into the night. Great friends and great fun.
Before leaving Memphis our motorcycle had developed a shimmy at speeds below thirty MPH and on the ride to Gaston's it seemed to be getting worse so on Sunday morning as we made ready to leae for home I got Charlie and Lou to look at it for me. Lou is our resident expert and it was his opinion that my rear tire was de-laminating or in layman's terms, coming apart at the seams. I took his advice, parked the motorcycle and Hildia and I hitched a ride home with Stan and Nina in the support car.
With the decision made, everybody loaded up and headed for home. Problem solved. Or at least we thought it was. But in less than five miles, Richard and Donna Hightower's motorcycle got sick and it too had to be abandoned and it was taken back to the lodge and parked alongside mine.
Now we would be forced to cram four people into the back seat of Stan's Buick. But, and this part is still hard to believe, on a hunch Richard called his brother and of all places on earth, he was right there at Gaston's fishing. What a stroke of luck. So the Hightower's caught a ride with him and Hildia and I rode home in comfort with Stan and Nina. On Monday, Richard, Danny Parker and I loaded up in two pickup trucks with two trailers and drove back to Gaston's and retrieved the ill-behaved motorcycles thus ending MTR'S 2009 riding season with a fizzle...
NOTE: Donna Hightower asked me to thank everyone who stuck around to help and finally escorted them back to Gaston’s. I explained that it wasn't necessary because MTR never, ever leaves anyone sittin' on the side of the road. But she insisted so on behalf of Richard and Donna Hightower, thanks! Where We Go One, We Go All.
Roll Call: Chat & Linda Lofton, Jake Abraham, Stan & Nina Viets, Bob Branch, Charlie & Darnel Gibson, Paul and Dian Talkington, Rick & Dana Totty, Lou & Carla Nathan, David Elston, Brenda Crawford, Buck & Donna Perminter, Terry & Mary Carol Scott, Danny & Lori Parker, Richard & Donna Hightower and Hildia Max & Yours Truly. |
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Photos
Courtesy of: B.J. Max |
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Tour Riders® 2009
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