1000 Mile Vacation Ride Report With 10 Year old!

[xr-nut]

Well, this year i decided to ride more: off road and on. One of my plans was to take both of my boys on a longer ride, out of town for a couple days. My oldest son, tyler 10 years old, and I left for arkansas on tuesday morning. We had made plans to go into iowa for a couple days but thunderstorms changed that the morning we left. In fact, we rode in intermittent rain for the first two hours of the trip! Here we are on the interstate north of KC waiting out a downpour!


Once back on the road we blasted thru KC after a stop at Shawnee Cycle Plaza looking for a tinted shield for his helmet. A last minute helmet change(dang kids and their growing heads!) had left him with only a clear shield. I had moved the intercom speakers/mic into the new lid so we could chat along the way. Thru KC we headed south to Ark with a stop in Joplin and a visist with my brother. While there we met up with a old friend my service days. Jeri is in the pink with her 13 year old, Shelby, beside her. Im beside her, and tyler is across from me. My brother and his wife(ryan & brittany) are the other two dinner guests! Nice seeing an old friend.



While in Joplin we saw the local hangout waterfalls. Pretty neat place: swimming, fishing and tubing all allowed! They are off of I-44 on Racine, then west.

[xr-nut]

On Wednesday morning we headed on towards Ark, having ridden about 300 miles on tuesday. We made it to The Pig Trail, also known as Ark 23 about 10:30.


After a beautiful ride down The Pig we reversed and rode back up to Turners Bend where some Pig souvenirs were bought! Heading from the bend we rode west along 215 to Oark for a late lunch and some gas.


After lunch we rode east from Oark, which btw turns to gravel and we hade to backtrack, and found this neat little swinging bridge that crosses the mulberry river, where he took a dip to cool off! On the backtrack up 215 we ran over a squirrel! I hate that commercial on tv where the little bastages hi-five each other after making a car run off the road, it makes me head right for them! This one stood up, looked at us then took off running down the road. Big mistake, i took him out with barely a thud under the tires! I meant to stop for a pic, but the backtracking kinda had me miffed!



The trip home was a long slog up thru Branson and Springfield then to Sedalia where we couldnt get a room because of a Stud Sheep show?! So over to Knob Noster, home of the B2 and where i was once stationed, a cool dip in the whiteman inn's pool. In the morning we headed back torwards home and got soaked, once again. A stop in warrensburg at a friends home and the use of his dryer, we waited out the rain. We made it home shortly after noon and both needed a nap! it was a fun trip for both of us, and we look forward to doing it again soon-maybe on to Iowa??!!!

[safiri]

Glad Tyler and you got out and enjoyed the time off. Very nice.

[Hayden]

Nice Lazyboy you got there. Makes my 1100S look not so comfy. Dontcha just love AR!! I mean really??? whats in Iowa??? Well besides lots of flooding


Hayden

[xr-nut]

The only thing i wish we coulda done diff is have less of a time retraint. Plus all the thunderstorms didnt help! Tyler loves baseball and the field of dreams is in iowa. There are a couple other attractions we were going to search out, but that will have to wait till next time.

The RT is definately a luxury liner. Ive owned a couple FLTR's, and while they make great road couches, the RT outperforms on every level. Fast, smooth, quiet and comfy. We had a 47mpg average with an average speed of 58mph. With the 7 gallon tank the ol' rear is ready for a break way before the RT is!