Day 1 & 2 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010

Day 1 September 18 Georgetown TX to Arkadelphia, AR 423 miles

Day 1 Route Georgetown TX to Arkadelphia, AR

Today is the first day of what I call our Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride. I rode from Georgetown to Garland, TX (about 182 miles) and met Landy & Gayle Estes for lunch. Patti Cox was meeting us there but a few days before I left , Don Cox, Patti’s brother had heart problems and was in the hospital. Landy, Gayle, Patti & Don were old friends from when I lived in Dallas. Gayle & Patti went for rides with me on my old KZ400 way back then. We missed Patti but under the circumstances we understood. Thankfully, Don is doing well after having a quad by-pass. We had a great visit and lunch at Primo’s by Lake Ray Hubbard. I wanted to get pictures of Landy and Gayle but didn’t think about it until they were pulling away.

I had planned on staying in Texarkana for the night but I since made such good time I rode on and stayed in Arkadelphia, AR. By the time I got to Arkansas the air temperature had reached 100 degrees. Before I left I bought a cooling vest and tried it out when the temperature started to rise. It worked amazingly well. I will need to get Janet one too. Arkadelphia is only 36 miles from Hot Springs and I could have made it there but decided to sleep in and take it easy the next day. I met 7 other bikers there at the motel. Every September they ride from Memphis, TN and Dallas, TX and meet in Arkansas and spend the week riding around the area. Sort of like our trip. We had a good visit and swapped stories.

Day 2 September 19 Arkadelphia AR to Hot Springs, AR  36 miles

Day 2 Route Arkadelphia AR to Hot Springs, AR

Lake Hamilton at Hot Springs.

The Hot spring in Hot Springs Arkansas

I got up had breakfast and leisurely got ready to head to Hot Springs. The ride to Hot Springs is a pretty one on Hwy 7. It was still cool and I love the smells as I wound my way to Hot Springs. I got to Hot Springs about 10:00. We had reservations at the Best Western across from the racetrack. I knew the room wouldn’t be ready so I rode on in to downtown, parked and played tourist until 11:30. It was starting to get hot so I decided to check and see if the room was ready. It was, so I checked-in, unloaded the bike and then had lunch. LC & LT showed up around 3:00. After visiting a while, we walked to a bar & grill just down the street for dinner. The other riders showed up several hours later. Like I said the group can’t ride as fast. When the group got there, several of the riders were in a bad mood. I guess the heat had got to them. We visited with several of the riders, many of them we knew from past years. We walked with Gary a friend from past rides down the street to where we had eaten earlier and visited with some of the other riders. Then LC, Lt & me walked down to the Sonic for ice cream. LC can’t pass up a chance to eat ice cream. While at Sonic we met a couple that was driving an 18-wheeler that was following  behind the “Trail of Tears” riders. They were with “Iron Horse Ministries”. The trailer contained a museum of cowboy stuff. I think someone said they were part of the “Cowboy” churches you see springing up all over.

Bath House in Hot Springs Arkansas

Another Bath House in Hot Springs Arkansas

We did get to see many of the same people who ride the “Trail of Tears” each year. One in particular was a Canadian guy named Gary. He is always a hoot. One year he rode with us all the way back to my house and spent a couple of days until hurricane Rita forced them to leave. We asked if he wanted to ride on with us on our ride but he had to get back home afterward.

Tomorrow we will ride 215 miles from Hot Springs, AR to Tahlequah, OK  on the last leg of the “Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride”. Come follow a long as we continue on our journey to enjoy the ride, places and scenery.

Below are the posts from each day of our ride. Come follow along as we ride to enjoy the fun and beautiful scenery…

Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride introduction
Day 3 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 4 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 5 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 6 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 7 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 8 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 9 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 10 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010

Ride safe and I hope we see you down the road somewhere…