Day 1 Ride Map
September 16 Georgetown to Texarkana (345 miles)
Today is the 1st day of our Trail of Tears and Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride. We are riding from Georgetown, Texas to Texarkana, Texas. Just a short ride of 345 miles. Texarkana sits on the border of Texas and Arkansas, hence the name… I’m sure it must make for some interesting city government and politics. I have often wondered how that could ever work…
We left on Saturday the 16th and rode to Texarkana and spent the night. There was a lot of nice scenery all along the way. There are lots of rolling pasture and farm land with pine woods in east Texas. We didn’t get an early start and most of this route was two lane roads through many small towns with stop signs and stop lights, it’s slower traveling so it took us a while to get to Texarkana. The weather was good but the temperature got up to at least 99 degrees according to a temperature sign in one town… That meant that the surface temperature of the road was at least 120 degrees or more and we were ridding in it. We got a bit dehydrated and should have stopped more often and drank more water. In our younger days we could have handled it better but… That was then and not now!
Day 2 Ride Map
September 17 Texarkana to Jessiville (149 miles)
On Sunday we rode to Jessieville, Arkansas (20 miles north of Hot Springs) to visit Janet’s brother Roy and his wife Debbie. The ride was a short 149 miles down scenic Highway 7. We arrived early and were able to attend church with Roy and Debbie. We spent the afternoon with them catching up on all the family news. We always enjoy visiting Roy and Debbie. We need to get back more often but life gets in the way. Around 3:00 we headed to Hot Springs to wait for the “Trail of Tears” motorcycle ride to arrive.
It looked like it could rain riding in, so we wanted to get checked into the motel before it rained. Once unloaded we checked the weather channel and found we could get thunder storms with large hail!!! I was afraid that my bike might get hit by hail so I moved it under a breeze way. We did get a heavy rain but no hail, thank goodness. We were afraid the Trail of Tears” riders would have a bad ride but they only hit a little heavy rain on the ride into Hot Springs.
It was getting late and we were getting hungry so we walked down the street to a Pizza place for a bite to eat. Afterward we walked back to the motel to wait for our friends. They usually ride ahead of the ‘Trail of Tears” riders when they reach the last gas stop. When we got to the motel we found they had just arrived. My old Air Force buddy Larry C. did not make the ride this year. He hurt his back and was recovering. He wanted to come but everyone convinced him it would be best to skip this one. Larry was missed… if for no other reason than his crazy sense of humor.
We got everyone unloaded and spent the rest of the evening talking about the ride, past and present and just having fun visiting.
Tomorrow we joined the other riders on the last leg of the Trail of Tears motorcycle ride to Okmulgee, OK. Tomorrows ride is just 267 miles through scenic mountain roads in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Come follow along as we ride Okmulgee and then we will ride on to the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.
You may want to check out the other days of our ride by clicking on the links below.
- “Trail of Tears” and Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride September 2006
- Day 3 Trail of Tears and Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride September 2006
- Day 4 Trail of Tears and Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride September 2006
- Day 5 Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride September 2006
- Day 6 & 7 – Trail of Tears and Palo Duro Canyon Motorcycle Ride September 2006
While you are here, you may like these post, too…
- Our First Motorcycle Ride to Big Bend
- Big Bend Ride 2007
- Big Bend/Carlsbad Cavern Ride 2009
- Riding Information on Big Bend Area of Texas
- Tips on Long Distance Touring
- Riding Fit… Riding Smart
- Getting the Wife to Ride
Come follow along as we explore more scenic vista’s in Texas…
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Ride safe and I hope we see you down the road somewhere…
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