Travel Journal

Destination: Clayton Oklahoma

Start date of trip: 10/14/2005
Traveling companions: DR650
Goal of trip: twisty roads, scenic vistas, fall colors and off road trails

Day 1

Left home at 2 am with the DR650 in the back of the truck. The mission is to hit Springfield Missouri early, unload the bike, strap on all the luggage and head for Clayton via twisty paved roads.All went as planned and I was in Springfield at 7:30 am. Left my truck behind to pull the boat home in a couple of days. The Missouri back roads are fantastic

The Arkansas “pig Trail” was just as good.

Then it was the Talamena Scenic Drive. This is the highway between Mena Arkansas and Talihina Oklahoma. It runs along a ridge top with lots of fast curves and scenic roadside pullouts. I stopped at the pioneer cemetery to find one of the many geocaches along this road.

When I got to Talihina I stopped to buy a land use permit. The area I am going to meet the others at for the dual sport ride is 90000 acres of private land owned by timber companies. They were unable to keep people from riding there so a deal was struck with the state. The companies allow off road recreation and the state provides law enforcement. It is funded with land use permits. I was told the permit would cost $5.00. It turns out that is the fee for Oklahoma residents. Non resident permits are $25.00. It is good from January 1st to December 31st. I contemplated taking my chances without the permit because of the ridiculous difference between resident and nonresident fees. I decided to go ahead and buy it and that turned out to be one of the best investments I have made as you will see later.

I rode on into the campgrounds and saw several other dual sport bikes there and tents all set up.

I pulled up next to a bunch sitting at a picnic table. One of them held my bike as I fell off and another shoved a Bud Lite in my hand. It was sure good.
I got to try out a trials bike that was there. It was fun but ran out of gas soon after I got on it.

I set up my camp and then sat around the campfire listening to lies and drinking more beer. It had been a long day so I turned in early.

Day 2

I didn’t sleep very well. I guess I am not cut out for tent camping. I rode into town with a few others and had breakfast before the 9 am muster to divide into groups. There were three groups set up. One group was going on an easy ride on smooth jeep trails at a relaxed pace. There was a “moderate” group lead by a few Texans I met the night before. The last group was going to be lead by the ramrod of the event James Pratt. This ride was billed as moderate but would be more aggressive in speed and distance. We were all going to meet for lunch at Pickens Oklahoma. I chose the more conservative moderate group to follow the Texans. I took my distance from home and my sole transportation into consideration when making the choice. I also figured I could switch to the more aggressive group at lunch if this one wasn’t enough.
We rode some easy jeep trails and double track at a moderate speed. It was very very dusty. All groups were doing the wait for the rider behind you at intersections thing. Due to the dust and numerous stops by the leaders to regroup not a lot of distance was covered. They did take us up one interesting hill covered in loose rocks. There were nice scenic views on the way up and down it.

On the rocky hill one Texan on a KLR fell. He broke a mirror off, the housing it attaches to and bent up his highway pegs. On a rocky creek crossing the rider on the Dakar went down and bent back his shift lever.

By the time we were ready to go again we were running behind for our Pickens meeting. We were flying along gravel road to get there and as we come around a curve we have a couple of official vehicles blocking the road. The previous evening the Texas guys told me they didn’t have permits. They said they have never been checked. So the guys in uniform say “ ya all boys got yer land use purrmits?” I am not sweating it at all and whip out my permit. Poor Texas guys caused those rangers to have to do some writing.

5 tickets wrote. From what I understand the fine is $10 and the court cost is $150. I have questions about that but I guess I can’t fix it.
We rode on into Pickens and met the others.

After talking to a couple of Kansas guys I met the night before I decided to switch to the more aggressive group. We rode trails that were a little more difficult but I would still call them easy. A rider on a Dr650 got a flat front tire. The group all stopped while it got repaired. They were thankful for the 12 volt air compressor I had. After a few miles the same guy had another flat. The leading half of the group never returned as we repaired this tire. We were all unfamiliar with the area and some of the group was a little upset the leaders left us behind in this “nobody left behind” ride. This turned out to be the best part of the day for me. I had my GPS mounted and it showed 12 miles back to camp the way the crow flies and it was getting towards evening. I lead the group back and was able to fly along much faster than any other time of the day and was in clean air to boot. I would just stop at every fork in the trail to wait for the guy behind me and then charge on. It was a hoot. Back at the camp I heard a little grumbling about being left behind by the leaders and was thanked for leading them home. We lined up for a catered meal and the fire was restoked for more beer drinking and lie telling.

I got to thinking about how much dust I would eat the next day and about the southern Missouri roads and Chadwicd OHV park and how little I would sleep in that tent. A cheap motel room and early start sounded pretty good. I said my goodbyes to my new friends and broke camp. I drove about 30 miles to Wilberton and got a room. They had a new nice asphalt parking lot and gave me a board to place under my kickstand so it wouldn’t sink in. I was a good boy and placed the board under my kickstand.

Day 3

I awoke early, had breakfast and set out to see the sites and get to Chadwick in time to explore it. The roads were curvy and scenic.

Some roads were not so curvy

Those colors are changing.

I rode back to where I left the truck in Rogersville Missouri. I dumped off my luggage and headed for Chadwick OHV park.

Chadwick was rocky and fun. They have the trails marked on the map they give out when you buy a permit. The are easy , moderate and difficult. I rode easy trails to get deep in the park and then decided to get some of the black (difficult) trails out of the way. The black trails are not designed for a big dual sport bike. After a very good workout and a newly dented skid plate I made it back to easy (orange) and moderate (blue) trails for the rest of my tour. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the difficult trails, I had my hands full.

It is not easy to see because it was getting dark but here is a cave I found at Chadwick.

Because it was getting dark I headed back to Rogersville to get the truck and boat.. I loaded the bike hooked on to the boat and headed home. Got home at 1 am on Monday. 3 full days 700 miles on the truck 900 miles on the bike. It couldn’t have turned out better. I couldn’t have done it without the Corbin seat, IMS tank and GPS.