Two Wheels, Two Weeks: PA to the RA Rally and the Ozarks

This trip started taking shape in my mind last year when I heard the RA rally was to be at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. I had been to the museum a couple of years ago and always wanted to return. The RA rally was the perfect reason to go back.

Since I have never ridden in several of the states in the south and since there are several roads there on my bucket list, I decided to kill several birds with one stone and make this a longer trip.

The general outline of the trip was to ride to Birmingham for the rally, head west and ride the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Talimena Scenic Byway and the Ozarks before returning home.



I made sure I had plenty of reading material packed for the trip and couldn?t wait to see how the story would unfold.



The bike was prepped and packed the night before I left. I thought the R1100S would be a good choice for the twisty roads ahead.



You sure have to carry more when camping.

Fellow forum member Bluehole and myself had planned to meet at the rally but were travelling there separately. My first day?s destination was Forked Run SP in Reedsville, OH on the Ohio River.

I never sleep well the night before a trip like this, so was up at 4:30 without an alarm. My daughter had left me a note, which I took with me for good luck.



It did not work very well when it came to warding off rain.

I left on my sweet ride at 5:15.

From home to Morgantown, WV was all interstate: PA TPK to Carlisle, I-81 to Hagerstown, I-70 and then I-68 to Morgantown.

As interstates go, I-68 is a nice ride. In western MD, you go through the Sideling Hill cut, which is pretty impressive.



There?s then a series of higher and higher ridges. When you get to the eastern continental divide, it becomes all downhill, or so I thought.







In Morgantown I exited the interstate and picked up Rt 7, which I followed to Ohio. The day was getting warmer and I was getting hungrier, so I found a county park for lunch.



I had lunch in one of the picnic pavilions and shed a couple layers.



The ride along Rt 7 was a really nice ride, with plenty of twisties, small towns and sights to see.



In New Martinsville I crossed the Ohio R and entered Ohio. Picking up Rt 7 in Ohio, I headed south along the river. This is clearly a working river and I enjoyed watching the coal barges.

Rain had been threatening for a while, and I had just passed a rest stop when I saw a bolt of lightening ahead. I circled back to the rest stop in case I needed shelter.



I have a weather radar app on my phone and could see storms to the south crossing Rt 7. After a bit, I headed south and rode through a couple of thunderstorms, but they were each pretty brief.

After about a 500 mile day, I got to the state park and set up camp under light sprinkles.





This was a nice state park, but seemed more set up for trailers than tents, as grassy level ground seemed at a premium. More rain eventually rolled in, and I spent more time in my tent than I cared to. As is my habit when camping, a little sippin? whiskey and off to bed.

Today I had planned to get to Levi Jackson Wilderness Road SP near London, KY. I was up with the sun, ate an oatmeal breakfast and packed up. It had rained overnight so I had to pack away a very wet tent. It was nice having the park to myself.



I followed Rt 124 south from the park along the river. What a great ride. I stopped to watch another coal barge pass.



There was a sign for river access, and wanting a closer look at the Ohio R, I detoured down a side road.



I hadn?t been there long, when a black lab came down the road and made it difficult for me to leave. The road was muddy in spots so I had to go slow and the lab would playfully, I think, nip at the tires and me when I tried to go. I ended up throwing a stick a short distance, which he retrieved. I then threw it a little further and then as far as I could and when he went to get it, I hightailed it out of there.

Back on solid pavement, I continued south through small river towns and even learned a little history along the way.





It?s pretty flat through here, but scenic.







I made it to the relatively large town of Pomeroy, where I stopped and watched the river traffic.





I picked up Rt 7 again and rode along the river to Gallipolis, a relatively large town with a square I walked around.





Rt 7 south of Gallipolis was nicer than the same road further north.



I crossed the Ohio R at Huntington, WV and picked up I-64 west into Kentucky.

Just before my exit at Rt 7 in Grayson was the KY Welcome Center, where I stopped for a lunch of peanut butter in a rolled up tortilla. Quick and simple?and somewhat tasty.



I got back on the interstate for the quick ride to Rt 7 and headed south towards West Liberty. I ended up not following the GPS and got turned around going through West Liberty. I eventually found my way, but was pretty irritated since I had lost time and it had started to rain. I don?t mind riding around in the rain if I?m getting to where I have to go, but don?t particularly enjoy just riding around in circles in the rain. My GPS seemed to have trouble in KY, of course it may have been the programmer.

I like road cuts through hills and KY had them.



I stopped for a rest at a church (as way of foreshadowing, churches appear a couple more times in this story) but was too early for the Wednesday night service and pushed on.



I passed through Annville on Rt 30.



I like how even the road signs in KY have flowers on them.



After getting lost one more time, I finally made it to the state park and set up.



There were storms all around with plenty of thunder, but no rain fell. After the threat of rain passed, I made dinner. Beef something or other with a tuna topper. Not my finest.



I walked around the park after dinner seeing what there was to see. It was a really nice park.







A little sippin? whiskey and off to bed I went.

Day 3 was to be a 350 mile ride on the interstates so I could get to Birmingham at a reasonable time. I was on the road by 7:30 and picked up I-75 south from London, KY and was in Tennessee pretty quickly.



Road construction in Knoxville made getting through there an ordeal, but I eventually got to Chattanooga and picked up I-59 to Birmingham. There were plenty of rally-bound riders at the rest stops.



Nearing Birmingham, I could see dark skies ahead and storms on my phone app, but took off down the highway. In no time I could see a heavy rain line coming up the highway so I stopped under an overpass and put on my jacket liner.



I rode through the first storm and into a second stronger one. I pulled under an overpass a second time since I couldn?t see very well and visibility was quite poor. I hadn?t come this far to run into the back of a truck.

After a short stop, I continued on and eventually the rain stopped and I finally arrived at the rally around 1.



I met Bluehole at registration in the museum. He had ridden his very nice /5 (Red) from Richmond.



We headed for the vendors area since I wanted to have a set of tires mounted at the rally. I still had some miles left on my tires, but wasn?t sure I had 3000 miles worth that I needed for after the rally. There wasn?t a tire vendor at the rally, but tire service was available through a local shop. I set up camp and after several phone calls around to get tires, I went and picked up a set of tires for mounting the next day.





The camping area was great with plenty of space and pavement to make getting to the tents easier. Last year?s rally camping was in a muddy field and it was an adventure riding street bikes around the camping grounds. This was much, much better.



More light showers came through but nothing too bad. Bluehole and I had dinner at a BBQ place that I thought was OK at best. Back to camp, a little whiskey and off to bed I went.

The first order of business on Friday was to get my tires mounted. A big thanks to Kenny at Moto Ace in Leeds for getting me in and out early.



I went back to the rally to look around some. I was happy to find the silver S parking area.







In the afternoon, Bluehole and I rode over to Tuscaloosa to see some of the University of Alabama campus and Bryant-Denny stadium.



We ate lunch in the restaurant in the stadium and then rode back to Barber. We went through a couple showers but nothing too bad. It rained some every day at Barber, but at least my tent was up and the rain wasn?t a problem.

Barber is an incredible place. I spent lots of time in the museum looking at all the bikes or watching the action on the track , visible from the museum.





The grounds around the racetrack are also quite unusual. There were good vantage points to watch riders on the track and there are unusual sculptures around that are quite surprising.





I and others also found time to eat more BBQ.



The last night of the rally was rain free and there was a nice sunset.



Keeping up my perfect record, I did not win any of the prize drawings at the closing ceremony. Saturday night was spent packing a little bit and then heading over to listen to the band. I turned in early but with the small rally grounds, lay in my tent listening to the music until I fell asleep.

I woke up early on Sunday morning ready to start the next phase of the trip. As I was about to get up, a light rain started to fall so I stayed in the tent a little longer. Nothing like packing up a wet camp.



I left the rally grounds about 6:30 headed to Tupelo and the Natchez Trace. My final destination for the day was Holmes County SP near Durant, MS. I headed northwest from Birmingham and soon arrived at the Mississippi line.



I pulled into the Welcome Center, which I thought was quite unusual.





They also serve free coffee, which was great since I had missed my morning coffee.

Tupelo was not too far away where I picked up the Natchez Trace and headed south.



I have to say I was a little disappointed with the Trace at first. The road reminded me of the Blue Ridge Parkway but without the right and left turns and ups and downs. I did like the fact that the speed limit was 50, much more reasonable than the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive. I cruised along at 55 and was the passee more than the passer.



As time went on, I really started to appreciate the road more and more and had a great ride. I stopped at all the pullouts and read the information about the history of the Trace and the area and really liked the lack of traffic, the easy pace of riding the road, the lack of intersections and the scenery.







I had only planned on doing 100 miles of the Trace today, so exited at mile post 160 near Kosciusko on Rt 12. Getting off the Trace made me appreciate it even more. I found the roads off the Trace to be somewhat straight, more crowded and not as scenic.

In Durant I headed south on Rt 51 to the state park arriving around 2 in the afternoon under sunny skies.



I have to say I thought the state park was a bit odd and seemed more like a county park. The park was small and pretty much deserted and there were a couple trailers in sites with no vehicle or people around and it seemed a little creepy to me. Part of the problem may have been that this was my 6th straight night in a tent, and frankly, I was getting a bit tired of it.

As I was preparing my dinner, rain moved in and I ended up eating my dinner in my tent for the second time this trip.





After my tent dinner, I moved my chair to the bathhouse where I wiled away the time until the rain stopped. I?d say this was the low point of the trip. This was also the 6th straight day with some rain, which did not help my mood. I turned in thinking of getting to Natchez the next day where a hotel and a restaurant meal was waiting for me.

I woke early, and with the general sloppiness from the rain, decided to skip breakfast and pack and get on the road as quick as I could.



The sooner I left, the sooner I could get to the hotel in Natchez and dry out, wash some of my clothes and reorganize my stuff.

I pulled out of camp at 6:30 and backtracked to the Trace, stopping in Kosciusko. Since I only had 160 miles of the Trace remaining, I wanted to take my time today and see some of the towns off the Trace.





Kosciusko was a neat little town with a square around the courthouse.





One of the locals came up to me as I was taking pictures and told me about the history of the town. I assumed Kosciusko was an Indian name but he told me the town was named for Tadeusz Kosciusko, a Polish military leader who fought with the Americans in the Revolutionary War. He directed me to the town park honoring Kosciusko and I went and took a look at it before I left town. The other claim to fame for the town is Oprah Winfrey was born there.

I got back on the Trace where I had left it the day before and headed south.

This short, representative video is of the first section I did that morning to give an idea of what the Trace is like.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/97770820" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/97770820">Natchez Trace Parkway</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11114127">Terence Hamill</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

I continued south under cloudy skies, stopping where I could.





North of Jackson, the Trace follows the Barnett Reservoir.



Canton, MS is not far off the Trace so I went to take a look. It?s the county seat so has a square surrounding the courthouse. There was blues music playing through speakers mounted on poles around the square. It was a nice touch.





After walking around a bit, I headed back to the Trace and headed south under clearing skies.

Clinton, MS, just south of Jackson, was the next town I stopped in. I first stopped in the visitor center for my free cup of coffee and asked the volunteers about places to eat lunch. They started to tell me about some chain-type restaurants but I asked where would they go if they were going to lunch. They recommended two places and said one was closed on Mondays so I headed to the other ? 303 on Jefferson St. I parked in the shade and headed over, very hungry by now.



The door wouldn?t open! Bummed, I sat on the bench out front and the proprietor came out to say they were closed on Monday?s. I guess motorcycle shops aren?t the only thing closed on Mondays. There was a bakery nearby that was also closed, so I headed out of town back to the Trace. I ended up eating the last of my snacks for lunch that day.

A little further south I exited again and headed to Raymond, another interesting town with a courthouse and some Civil War and music history.





It was getting pretty warm and walking around town was a little uncomfortable, so I headed back to the Trace so I could keep moving and cool off.

Wanting to cool off, you sometimes should be careful what you wish for.



I ran through some heavy rain as I headed south, but at least I was cool (and wet ) now.

I stopped at a section of the old Trace that has sunken from foot traffic and erosion. I?ve seen this picture before, but it was amazing to see it in person.



Nearing the end of the Trace, I stopped at Mount Locust, the restored only surviving inn remaining along the Trace.



You can get an idea of the amount of rain the area had received.



After stopping and walking to the top of Emerald Mound I arrived at the end of the Trace and headed into Natchez, arriving at my hotel around 5. I ran into another couple returning from Barber who were getting ready to head north on the Trace the next day. The cold beer they gave me tasted mighty sweet.

Maybe not for the faint of heart, but laundry was the first order of business after checking in.



I was within walking distance of downtown Natchez and got a recommendation for BBQ at The Pig Out Inn on Canal St.

On my way to dinner there was a nice sunset, which I stopped to watch.



I really enjoyed my dinner of brisket, cole slaw and black bean and corn salad. I topped it off with a big bowl of ice cream. As I was walking back to the hotel eating ice cream, I thought this sure beats camping!

My destination for today was Lake Catherine SP near Hot Springs, AR, which would be my last camping night for this trip. I originally planned to cross the Mississippi River at Natchez and head up the west side of the river in Louisiana and then cross over to see Vicksburg. After talking to the volunteers in Clinton, MS the day before, it sounded like I should spend more time in Vicksburg so I changed my plans.

After riding around Natchez in the morning, I took Rt 61 directly to Vicksburg. It?s not a very interesting road and fog slowed me down, but I got to Vicksburg pretty quickly and spent time riding around the old town.



I headed out to the National Military Park, and since it was early and they had not opened the register yet, I was admitted free of charge. I took the auto road around the park.



It reminded me a little of Gettysburg with the monuments, but here there?s more monuments and plaques and the troop movements are noted more. It?s always a bit somber to ride around a battlefield like this and think about what happened here and the number of people that lost their lives.

I picked up I-20 out of Vicksburg and was soon ?bienvenued? to Louisiana. I exited the interstate at Talulah and headed north on Rt 65. I liked the courthouse there.



Heading north, the land is flat and there?s lots of agriculture and odd things along the road.





I enjoyed the ride under sunny skies and soon entered Arkansas.



At Eudora ? the catfish capital of Arkansas if you believe the water tower there ? I picked up Rt 8, which I followed for most of the day.

I stopped in Hamburg for gas, and since I was hungry and wasn?t carrying any food, I looked for a place to eat lunch. As this was partly a bucket list trip and since I?d never eaten at a Sonic, I stopped. Not bad.



There aren?t many Sonics near me but I think every town I went through in the south had at least one.

Rt 7 had been a fun ride, but it really got fun heading out of Hamburg.



I hadn?t really ridden a twisty road since leaving Kentucky, and Arkansas got better and better and was the best riding of the trip. I continued generally northwest stopping along the way.





I arrived at the state park near Hot Springs around 3:30 and set up right on the lake.



By far, this was the nicest state park of the trip and I was enjoying camping again.

I rode into Hot Springs for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and headed back to camp to sit by the lake and sip my whiskey as the sun set. After 7 straight days of rain, this had been the first day without a drop of rain and I thought a celebration was in order.

I drifted off to sleep dreaming of the Talimena Scenic Byway.

Great report! Looks like you had a real nice trip. Thanks for posting it.

Only five more days to put together.

terham said:

Only five more days to put together.

Click to expand...

Thanks for taking us along on your trip.
Great pictures

Very nice Terence. Keep it coming. Please.

terham said:

I drifted off to sleep dreaming of the Talimena Scenic Byway.

Click to expand...

Great ride report

Hurry up your getting into my backyard - Hope you enjoyed Talimena!

Thanks for posting, I've ridden much of the same routes, brings back fond memories.

As is my habit, I awoke with the sun and got up so I could enjoy the sunrise. Unlike my last campsite, I was in no hurry to leave so made breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and sat by the lake to eat. It was another sunny morning (two in a row!) and I lingered a little...but not too long!

My plan for the day was to ride the Talimena into Oklahoma and then make my way back to Russellville, AR where I was meeting my friend Mark. Mark was riding in from his home in Oklahoma but was raised in northwest Arkansas and knows the Ozarks well and was to be my guide for the next couple of days.

I was on the road before 7 and headed into Hot Springs and then west to Glenwood where I picked up Rt 8 again. I passed through some small towns on my way west to Mena.





There were low clouds over the Ouachita Mtns as I arrived in Mena and picked up the Scenic Drive and headed higher.



The Talimena Scenic Drive is about 50 miles long and runs from Mena, AR to Talihina, OK and is basically a road to nowhere. There?s a parallel road just to the north that people probably travel if they aren?t tourists and are trying to get somewhere. As a result, the Talimena has little traffic, few side roads or intersections and follows the ridge line with plenty of pullouts and views. The perfect combination for a great motorcycle road.



The scenery of low wooded ridges separated by valleys reminded me a little of the Blue Ridge.



It was quite foggy until I got to Queen Wilhelmina SP.



The Lodge was unfortunately closed, so I missed the view from there.

I pushed on under clearing skies and got to the Oklahoma border ? the 5th state on this trip in which I had not ridden before.



I eventually arrived at the end of the road in OK and rode into Talihina to gas up. With a full tank of gas, I returned to the Talimena, took a short rest, and headed east on the road back towards Arkansas.



I would?ve liked to have ridden the road a couple more times.

This video of the Talimena is of the initial ascent and then the more sweeping road along the ridge line.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/97939298" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/97939298">Talimena Scenic Byway</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11114127">Terence Hamill</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

I rode back about half way on the Drive to Rt 59, headed up to Heavener, OK and then made my way back east to Waldron, AR where, I hate to admit, I stopped for a quick lunch at a McDonalds. While there another Arkansas native friend of mine was texting me some ideas for roads/routes. He mentioned Mt Magazine and when I saw it?s the highest point in Arkansas and was between me and Russellville, I changed my plans a little to include the ride up and over Mt Magazine.

The ride east from Waldron to Danville on Rt 80 was just outstanding. The road follows a valley with a ridgeline on either side and was mile after mile of great riding with no traffic. I got in such a rhythm I never even stopped to take any pictures.

In Danville, I headed back west to Havana and picked up AR 309 for the ride over Mt Magazine. It was a nice twisty road with a great view at the top and a strong breeze to cool things off.



Video of the Mt Magazine climb from the south.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/97944911" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/97944911">Mt Magazine Climb</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11114127">Terence Hamill</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

After a stop at the top I continued on to Paris, a nice little town with a courthouse. I like courthouses.





I picked up Rt 22 and rode east to Russellville via Dardanelle.



I got to the hotel around 4:30, Mark showed up around 6 and we enjoyed the fare at the Manager?s Reception at the Hampton Inn.



We went to a bar and grill (maybe it was a grille) next door where I had fried catfish and okra. When in Rome?

After a bit of catching up, it was lights out on another great day of riding.

The plan for today was to ride a loop heading north from Russellville, head over to Eureka Springs for lunch and then head back to Russellville with a stop for pie along the way. We were in no hurry and ate breakfast at the hotel before heading out around 8:30 to gas up. It was nice being able to leave the saddlebags and luggage behind and ride a nekkid bike.



We headed north on Rt 7 and cut over to Hagarville, where we picked up Rt 123 headed for Sand Gap. What a ride!

When the sign says ?one lane bridge?, they mean it.





This video is of part of the ride on Arkansas Rt 123.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/97972229" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/97972229">Ozarks on Arkansas Rt 123</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11114127">Terence Hamill</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

At Sand Gap, we paused for a break.





Rt 123 continued north to Mt Judea. The skies to the north were getting darker and there was lightening. We stopped to cover up phones and cameras.



A check of the radar app showed we were heading into a strong storm.



We rode a short ways, the rain got harder and we doubled back and found a church that had a covered porch where we pulled in as the rain came down pretty hard.



Not all motorcycle touring is action-packed. We stayed there for at least 90 minutes. At one point the minister at the church heard us and came out and we had a nice chat about spirituality and motorcycle riding.

We eventually pushed on in a light drizzle taking it easy on the wet roads.



We passed through Jasper on our way to Harrison and Eureka Springs for a late lunch due to the time we had lost.



Eureka Springs was an amazing place with the restored buildings and it?s setting on a hillside with lots of narrow twisting streets. There?s lots of artists and crafts people that work there. Lots of motorcycles too. I?d like to get back there some day.

After riding around town a bit, we headed back south on Rt 23 to Cass where we headed east on Rt 215 to Oark. The riding was really good but there was a large music festival along Rt 215 and there was more traffic than I?d seen in days. Once we got past the festival area, we had the road to ourselves again.



Our destination was the Oark Caf? and their pie. It was a great place to take a break and have apple pie a la mode.







It was probably 4:00 when we got there, so this was dinner for me. Not a bad dinner!

After looking around a bit we headed south on Rt 103. It was a bit twisty.



We eventually ended up in Clarksville and took I-40 for the short ride back to the hotel. We got there five minutes before the free beer ended.



A partly wet day, but great riding. There are plenty of roads we didn?t have time for, but maybe next time.