Sheridan AR, Kiwi Mike

Rain was in the report for today so we suited up before leaving the motel just in case. We didn’t get off to a early start as we were hoping the rain would peter out which it did.


2 minutes after leaving the motel Greg says I gota take a Harley (bathroom stop, No 2 style) and NOW. OK---- so we stop at a gas station and I hang out with the bikes. A short tubby long haired guy comes over and says is that a Scout, na mate it’s a 1945 Chief, you sure it’s not a Scout, yup I’m sure. Then the conversation went to “where you riding to”. “Washington DC, Rolling Thunder mate”. Then he said u guna be prepared to be arrested cause the secret service will be arresting you. Well I reckon if they are going to be checking into me it’s going to be a pretty boring read. Then he went into the Gov is going to be unleashing biological germs and it went way down hill from there. Come on Greg, make it a short Harley drop off ok. Man was I glad to head off down the road. Glad the bike fired up on the 1st kick. The Okie/Arkansas boarder breeds some strange ones alright.

The roads and scenery in Arkansas are great. I’ve ridden in some of the NW parts of Ark before but not as far as we have gone. Nice hills to go up over and down the other side, gentle to tight turns, greenery to boot. The rule is the more green it is out, the more rain the area gets. The pine trees here grow so tall and dead straight, wow quite a sight.

The ride through the Ouachita National Forest is quite majestic, nice riding and scenery indeed.

Today is the 1st day I’ve ridden with just a T shirt and jacket on for a while as the feeling is it can get REAL humid in these arts as summer rolls around.

We had a late lunch since we had a late breakfast and a cooked one at that. I think lunch was at about 2.30-3.00. We were cruising down the road in the boonies (out back) and then suddenly we saw smoke coming from a barbeque joint. That’s our calling card, Burl’s BBQ. This place has great food and a huge selection. We’d like to stay here for a week so as to sample everything they had in their display cases. We picked up some smoked sausage for later on snacks which we ended up eating at the motel room for dinner along with the Okie peanuts. A meal fit for a King.

Off down the road we go with a full belly of good barbeque enjoying the great roads of Ark.

We covered some more curvy roads until I saw a motorcycle shop in Hot Springs which I needed to borrow a tool to unstick my sticky throttle cable. The rain seemed to have jammed the cable up. I cruised up to the back door and asked the mechanic Jesse for a tool. Without missing a heat beat he went to his tool box and said here you go. He just trusted me with it and went straight back to work. He didn’t know me from a bar of soap.

I pulled the inner control cable out and smothered it with some grease and she’s good as new again. Once I was done I invited him out to check out the bike. He was pumped. He went and got his boss, owner of Java’s Motorcycle Repair, Mike Java. He said he’s read a lot about Kiwi and was pleased to meet us and check out the bikes. We left them our ride poker chips. Mike gave us his business card which he said it has his cell phone No on it. He said call any time of the day or night if you need anything. Way cool and we appreciated the genuine offer. It was a great shop and a great place to stop at. Thanks for the heads up of the gang bangers and stuff that goes on around Pine Bluff as that was to be our scheduled overnight stop. Thanks guys for your great hospitality.

These guys also hosted the Cannonball run as a stop and they had Steve Barbers pic on the wall, way cool as I rode with Steve in Az and Cali on the Cannonball.

We found a cute little motel almost on budget in the town of Sheridan Ark. It took us what seemed forever to get rolling to get here tonight but as usual its always fun. It would be nice to find a place to do a quickie clothes wash but that might still be a week away when we get to my mate Wally’s place in Charlotte NC. Hopefully Regan will allow us to use her washing machine. My pants have some serious ass time in the saddle hence the brown saddle stains.

I could do with some good seafood tomorrow but I think we r too far North in Miss to get any fresh stuff.