The Grand Finale

A final word from Marie-Anne

Our final day on the road - Port Huron to Toronto to Ottawa.

Ride today was sunny and 19⁰C, very comfortable. Border crossing at Port Huron /Sarnia was very quick with no line-up. But trucks going into the US were backed up at least 5 kms. 

We stopped for fuel in London where I used the restroom and was informed by a local police officer that the toilet wouldn’t flush. Let me check. He didn’t have the strength to push on the lever to activate. This man is in charge of keeping us safe? 

We knew we were on the way to Toronto with so many trucks on the highway. We are so glad to be home after a long safe ride without incidents - nothing that needed fixing or replacing. 

2 amigos were home and #1 rode off to God’s country - Lanark,ON. 

Many thanks to Fiona for doing the blog every day and Ivan for being our leader and enjoying the company of 2 women for 10 days and without complaint!

And a final few words from Fiona...

I coasted into the garage at 7:00 pm this evening, having travelled 626 km on this final day.

It has been a truly marvelous 10-days, and a great finale to an excellent motorcycling season.

Great company, great roads, great food, and great riding weather (after the first 2-days).

Here's the final route, 4,206 km all told from sunny Lanark.

Until the next time

Ride safe y'all, and thanks for taking the time to follow us on our great Arkansas Adventure.

Almost home

What time is it anyway?

Isn't it weird how a one-hour time change can throw your internal clock for a loop?

It doesn't help when your watch, i-Pad, and hotel alarm clock all show a different time, and the one thing that you know for sure will be right - the BlackBerry - has gone into hiding.

That's how this morning kicked off for us.

Fall is in the air

Much as we hate to admit it, Fall was definitely in the air today with a chilly damp mist hanging over us  for the entire 8 hrs and 616 km enroute from Indianapolis to Port Huron, Michigan.

Portions of the morning were borderline "pea soup" with limited visibility but, thankfully, fairly light traffic heading in our direction.

Mid-afternoon, after running the gauntlet for hours, the rain gear was finally pressed into service for the first time in over a week.

Would you like a knife with that?

Believe it or not this is just a tiny selection of the "weapons of self defence" you can buy - along with a hearty lunch - at the Iron Skillet truck stop on I 69 just south of the Indiana/Michigan state line.

They even had throwing stars that I'd only ever seen in a James Bond film!

Like a military operation

Over the course of the trip we've refined our hotelling skills to the point of perfection.

Marie-Anne checks us in, I snag a trolley, and Ivan "decompresses". We all load the bags...it's teamwork at its very best.

Within 10-minutes we're settled in, and Happy Hour is underway.

It's pretty funny to see the look on peoples faces when they witness how much gear we pull off the bikes. With the exception of one bungeed-on bag everything else fits into the hard bags or tank bags.

We are nothing if not organized and, most importantly, we have had absolutely everything needed (so far) to thoroughly enjoy our trip.

Canada here we come

The Blue Water bridge to Sarnia is just a slip and a slide from our Port Huron hotel and, if the Gods are with us, Ivan will find a way through the minefield of construction and on to home turf first thing in the morning.

A road sign on the way here said "Follow construction signs, not GPS". First time I've seen that one!

We hope you'll join us tomorrow for the final leg of our adventure...rain or shine it's "Toronto or bust"!

Hot diggity!

626 km of mainly "super slab" (Interstate) today, from Poplar Bluff, Missouri to Indianapolis, Indiana.

No nip in the air this morning, and by mid-afternoon we hit 24C. Who would have thunk it?

Tail end trip blues

I'm valiantly trying to think of something amusing to say about today's journey, but I'm drawing a blank.

So, in the absence of humour, let's kick-off with an interesting tid bit of trivia.

Bridge over the mighty Mississippi @ Cairo

Within 90-minutes of leaving Poplar Bluff we crossed this 250m span steel through arch bridge.

Opened in 1978, it carries 4-lanes of I 57 traffic over the Mississippi river, and there is absolutely nowhere to pull over for a photo!

However you can see what the 3 Beemer Amigos saw, courtesy of Bridgehunter.com, which catalogues historic and notable bridges of the US. Who knew?

More than a Kodak moment

After yesterday's back road success Marie-Anne and I happily followed Ivan when he left I 57 in favour of a B road just after crossing the mighty Mississippi.

The scenery was quite lovely, and a kodak moment quickly presented itself...

Unfortunately, while Marie-Anne was posing for this photo she'd promised Sister Lucy (a very good friend who has never seen her in full battle dress before), Ivan was off to the side pouring over his map looking for an alternate route as we'd been halted in our tracks by the ominous sign "Road Closed in 23 miles". 

No "Detour", no indication whether the closure was before or after the Interstate junction we were shooting for, no smarmy "Sorry for the inconvenience", simply "Closed"!

No fear. Your 3 Beemer Amigos are nothing if not intrepid, and an hour and several cart-paths later we were back on I 57 headed north to pick up I70 East. Traffic was light, probably because nobody else could find a ramp that was open.

Google does not know everything!

If you've ever used Google Maps (or anything similar) you'll know that they usually show you problem areas. Roadworks and the like. Well I'm here to tell you that they don't show all of them!

Possibly because it would cause distressed motorists to top themselves!

I think the Army Corp of Engineers must be doing all the Interstate work because first it was a left lane closure, then a right lane closure, left, right, left, right. Almost all the way to Indianapolis.

Peppa Pig joins the ride

Sometimes you just need a little comic relief! And a mini-bungee.

Lights on, nobody home

We Amigos are not morning people, nor do we believe in riding beyond the start of Happy Hour, so I haven't actually put my new Denali lights to the test, but I have to say - even on low beam - they look darned impressive from this angle.

Pool in Port Huron

Tomorrow night is expected to be our last on the road, so we've splashed out (no pun intended) on a hotel with an Indoor Pool and a Jacuzzi in Port Huron, Michigan.

Here's hoping for another good weather day. Every one is surely a bonus, and nothing would make me happier than finishing our trip with my brand spanking new heated gear still in its wrapper.

Keep keeping your fingers crossed for us.

A really great day was had by all

An unexpected delight

Today wasn't supposed to be anything special, just the first leg of a 4-day post rally trek home.

By the time we rolled in to Poplar Bluff, Missouri at 5:00 pm we had 490 unexpectedly spectacular kilometers under our belts. 

I'll leave you to check the map on our satellite link (see the right column) for all the details, but here are a few edited highlights.

Eureka Springs

West of Harrison, artsy, cute, lots of nice looking lodges, but busy, narrow streets, and really not the best place to take a fully loaded touring motorcycle. We left town "as if the posse was after us" on US 23 North.

The road less travelled

OK, listen up, if you have yet to travel US 86/160 from just east of Branson to Poplar Bluff Missouri, ADD THIS ROUTE TO YOUR BUCKET LIST RIGHT NOW!

If you enjoy tight twisties that give you a birds eye view of your own exhaust pipe the actual Ozarks are ideal, but I enjoyed 86/160 far more.

86 dances through the Mark Twain National Forest just to the North of the Missouri/Arkansas State line and delivers panoramic views of the Ozarks while swooping around generally wide turns. It also criss-crosses the very beautiful Bull Shoals Lake which you can read more about via the link on the right.

US 86 is an excellent warm up for US160.

Take a break at Beeler's

The food at Beeler's Country Cafe in Taneyville is well worth a brief detour north on US 76.

I don't know how Ivan finds these "hole-in-the-wall" eateries, but he certainly has a knack.

Residential properties in this area tend to be modest (to say the least).

The best of the best

Highway 160 east of Forsyth all the way to Doniphon (157 miles) could easily have been the inspiration for the fairground roller coaster.

A veritable cornucopia of 20, 30, 35, 45 mph bends, laced together with nery a straight stretch in between. On the few occaisions that the road straightened out it became a long run of tummy churning blind summits. Yee ha!

Serious fun from start to finish.

Pole position in Poplar Bluff

After such a spectacular day we figured we deserved to park in style at the Comfort Inn, in Poplar Bluff.

This is our second stay of this trip and it is most definately a T3BA approved accomodation.

Sorry we missed it

By the time we'd decompressed, and thoroughly congratulated Ivan on having skillfully avoided four of the biggest white tailed deer we've ever seen (everything's bigger in America), the 3BA's headed out for supper.

Unfortunately we missed this event, but judging by the state of the sign "a good time was had by all",

Next at bat

Indianapolis tomorrow. Weather from here to there looks good but we have one eye on The Weather Network incase the insanity on the east coast should somehow wend it's way in our direction.

Just like the chap trapped in my GPS, Ivan is regularly "recalculating" based on latest forecasts.

Alas, Interstates await.

Awesome time in the Ozarks

Tail of the Dragon of the Ozarks

If you dream of motor biking 10-mph switchbacks, you don't mind the odd herd of deer crossing your bow, and a variety of dogs sleeping (yes, really) right along the very edge of the road, Arkansas route 123 is just one of the State's beautifully paved roads that are ready and waiting for you.

Oh, and did I mention, the scenery is spectacular?

Aren't these views simply breathtaking?

Know your limit, ride within it

Much as we Beemer bums like to ride, it really is wise to be realistic about your limits. Not everyone is built for "super endurance" riding.

Sometimes you just need to get off the bike and take a break...

Fine food, not just deep fried

The 3 Beemer Amigos are delighted to recommend Colton's Steakhouse, a popular chain in this neck of the woods. 

Colton's food is good, their service is excellent, and so is their sense of humour:

In Harrison Jamie's Restaurant (on Hwy 62 just a "stone's throw" west of the Quality Inn) is a local gem that offers an extensive menu and good sized portions at extremely reasonable prices. 

Meanwhile back at the Rally

Things were beginning to wrap up by mid-Saturday afternoon.

Vendors were packing up their wares, and familiar faces were returning from 200-300 mile day rides.

Terry Church, Roy Eastwood, and I with Jean Copas

Fun, games, and the trip of a lifetime

As a warm up to the main draw, for a $7,000 Beach's Motorcycle Adventure tour to any of the company's European destinations, brave rally-goers took part in a number of zany contests.

Our very own Beemer Amigo, Marie-Anne, did her darndest to win the "Oldest RA Rally T-shirt" contest.

Unfortunately she, and this gentleman, tied for second place wearing the same year's shirt (1990 I think).

Unfortunately they were pipped at the post by the chap in the flat cap, who Ivan described (perhaps a tad uncharitably) as "an old geezer".

Incase you are wondering, the three guys on the left were awaiting judging of "The Weirdest Beard" contest (did you notice the bemused look of the younger generation in the backgound?

Said "younger generation" were the entrants in "The dirtiest GS" competition, which was no less weird in its own way as the riders sped towards the judges and promptly threw their bikes to the ground!

Look ma, no stand!

Ironically the winner of "The dirtiest GS" competition was Jeff Kurtz who had earlier given a seminar on how to live life on the road with just a GS and minimal equipment.

Jeff rode into the ring, spun his rear tire to create a trench, then promptly used the trench in lieu of a stand to hold his bike upright. The crowd of just under 1,000 rally goers loved it, and so did the judges.

Without further ado

Following the "thank you's" everyone held their breath as the winning ticket was drawn for the Beach vacation.

...and the winner was... a 24-yr old man who had earlier won "the youngest rider to attend the rally" award. What an awesome day he was having, eh?

A word about Armadillos

No visit to Arkansas would be complete without mention of the Armadillo.

Alas the only ones we saw were road kill.

But here's what they look like alive.

I asked Ivan how he thought they moved. "I don't think they gallop" he said, and up until I saw this next picture I would have agreed.

But aparently, we were both wrong. Armadillo's may not gallop every day, but ... they can when they want to.

Next up for the 3 Beemer Amigos

It's 11:00 pm Saturday night. 

We are pretty much packed and ready to hit the road first thing in the morning, heading WEST.

No, that isn't a typo. We simply have to check out Eureka Springs before heading home.

ETA TO

Thursday. if the weather cooperates...stay tuned.

Friday is "Rally Day"

RAnd on the fifth day...

After four days on the road your 3 Beemer Amigos were ready for a relaxing day of tire kicking, embelished story telling, and prize winning at the 43rd Annual BMW Riders Association "Thrills in the Hills Rally" in Harrison, Arkansas.

But first we had to run the gauntlet of the hotel car park.

Posers and polishers

I was the first of our group to surface this morning so I grabed a coffee and headed outside. 

Sun's up, check. Sky's blue, check. Bike's still there, check. 

It's all good.

Oh, and did I mention that the car park is full of guys feverishly waxing and polishing their trusty steeds? 

Here's Ron, from Dallas, Texas. This is his 2nd R1150GS. His first one had over 200,000 MILES on the clock when it died.

Butch, from Arkansas, told me all about his 1966 R50/2.

It is 100% original (not restored), painted in German Army grey, and will turn over 11,000 miles today.

If you can't beat them...join them

So, I headed back to home base, only to find Ivan hard at work detailing his bike too. Now I feel like a bad owner.

There's nothing else for it but to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

It's not all "thrills in the hills"!

Once the wee window on the side of the engine was clean, eagle eyed Ivan noticed there was no sign of oil showing. Even I know this is not a good thing.

Funnily enough, when I was packing my tool kit (even if you're mechanically clueless it's a good idea to have one), I'd debated leaving a weird little plastic do-hicky at home. Luckily I brought it, which is a good thing as it turns out to be the thing you need to remove the plug so you can top up the oil. 

Some days, eh?

Here's me performing my first mechanical act. Marie-Anne rather drolly suggested that I should have been watching what I was doing rather than playing to the camera...but she knows even less about topping up oil than I do. I think she's just envious because I'm so photogenic!

Off to the rally

It made a pleasant change to shed our full biking gear and step up the sartorial elegance.

Ivan looked particularly sharp in his brand spanking new BMW Motorrad jacket.

And, even in repose, my Aerostitch was quite the conversation piece. 

Meanwhile, parked in an area that could have doubled as the start line for Paris-Dakkar, we came across two very familiar bikes:

And then we came across their owners, Ross and Jean Copas. 

Even the intrepid Jacques Day took a break today:

Pushing the boat out

Rallying is really hard work, and it's important to eat regular, nutritious meals.

Somewhere under all of the good stuff there was a real banana, honestly!

And the winner is...

After all these years (no need to specify exactly how many) I finally "broke my duck" and won a prize.

It's official, I am no longer the world's most unlucky ticket holder.

Well, admitedly, it's not the Lotto, but apparently it could be worth about US$500 'cos EPM sells really good (read "really expensive") stuff.

After the success of my oil top up today maybe I should change my own shocks. 

I mean, seriously, how hard can it be?

Hill Thrills

Tomorrow your 3 Beemer Amigos will be back in the saddle for a trip to the Ozarks. 

Everyone who was out riding today came back raving about the roads, the scenary, and the perfect weather. 

Please let the sun shine on Saturday.

Film at 11.

The eagles have landed

Been there, done that, got the pin

Four days, 1,865 km riden from Toronto, and this pin is all we have to show for it so far!

Tomorrow we hope to supplement it with a T-shirt, and lots of time spent in educational seminars, but for now this is it!

We rolled into the "Thrills in the Hills" rally, in Harrison, Arkansas around 3:00 pm this afternoon, and - believe it or not - the first person we bumped into was Jacques Day. When Jacques told me he had left Toronto yesterday morning I thought he was kidding, but Marie-Anne assures me he wasn't. 

That's pretty impressive endurance riding by anyone's standards, but at 84-years young Jacques is surely one-of-a-kind?

Next we met up with Roy Eastwood and Ross Copas... it was beginning to feel like "old home week" for the BMW Club of Ontario!

Directory Assistance

The hardest part of todays 326 km trip was actually finding our way out of Poplar Bluff. Roads on the map are numbered, but signposts on the ground bore single letters. Like M, L, etc. 

I was half expecting to see W, T, F! I know I was certainly thinking it.

Just when we needed an assist, along came a probation officer on his way to a client visit, on his Yamaha Star, with straight pipes. As luck would have it he was heading our way and he insisted on leading us out of town, through about 5-miles of construction, and on to beautiful AK 135 S before he headed on his way.

That's our guide on Ivan's right, waiting for the flagman to waive us ahead.

Two heads are better than one

It really is great to get off the Interstate (otherwise known as "slabbing"it) and onto the backroads.

The benefits include twisty roads, wildlife sightings (we saw an Armadillo today!), and interesting meetings with local folks but road signage can be spotty.

Here Marie-Anne and Ivan are gamely trying to decide a) Where in the world are we? and b) How are we going to get out of here.

The key is to "Keep Calm and ride on". Sooner or later we always end up back on track.

We crossed the state line into Arkansas just before 10:00, to much waiving and hollering. 

For Josee

This picture is for my good friend Josee. She and I are locked in an ongoing competition to spot licence plates from every state and province. So far she's trouncing me, but that's all about to change! 

Tomorrow I'll be touring the rally site with camera in hand.

Here's one new plate for starters.

Another day, another hotel

Today's visit to the rally was short and sweet. Just long enough to register, pick-up our goodie bags and head for the Quality Inn, Harrison where Marie-Anne had (rather brilliantly) snagged a ground floor room, with by-the-door parking, and Jamie's excellent restaurant within easy walking distance.

Be still my beating heart...it doesn't get much better than this.

We even have neighbours with a Moto Guzzi Norge.

Rally rats

Tomorrow we head off to the rally. Marie-Anne and Ivan have attended previous RA rallies but not for the past few years. I'm a complete novice and eager to soak up whatever the event has to offer.

Join us tomorrow evening to hear how the day pans out.

Calling all armchair adventurers

Click on the link https://share.delorme.com/The3BeemerAmigos to follow our journey.

Switch to the Aerial view to see what we are seeing on our adventure through mid-America.

Sunshine on my shoulders

Time and distance

In Marie-Anne's defence she had just woken up this morning when I asked her, "It's 600 km to Poplar Bluff, are you up for that?"

To which she said, "But it won't seem so far because we get an extra hour today".

Is it just me, or are you struggling to detect the logic in that?

She was right about the time, we did "gain" an hour today. We are now on Central Time. I think it happened when we crossed over from Indiana to Missouri, but as Microsoft has just (less than helpfully) locked me out of my account, due to unusual activity, you'll have to check that for yourselves.

Blue sky is a game changer

It really is, everyone's spirits were raised when the clouds finally broke.

Ivan re-set our route to include the first "touristing" event of the trip. A side-ride to Cairo (Kay_row) to see the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Here's Ivan re-jigging the route:

He found us the most obscure viewing area at the end of a gravel road. Marie-Anne and I scrambled up a flight of weed strewn stairs to peer over a chest-high concrete wall and there it was the Ohio river with all sorts of barges and boats. It was brilliant! 

Amazingly, we'd only been there a couple of minutes when another Beemer came tootling up the road.

It was Lee from Lexington, Kentucky, also on his way to the RA BMW rally in Harrison (at this point we are roughly 250 miles from Harrison). 

Lee's father had worked his entire career as a mechanical engineer on the boats that move the river barges around so he'd stopped for a moment of nostalgia.

We had Lee take this quick snap of Marie-Anne and I before biding him fairwell with a cheerful "See you at the rally".

Today Cairo is pretty run down (Ivan tells us that coal used to be the big thing around here but the local coal contains high levels of Sulphur, and that's not popular anymore.

Cairo Customs

This grand building is the U.S. Department of Treasury's Cairo Customs House, it took 4-yrs to build and was completed in 1871.

Onward to Poplar Bluff

Leaving Cairo we crossed the majestic Mississippi and rode the final 100 miles in warm, dry, comfort.

Marie-Anne had been cursed with Towes Toes (i.e. Leaky boots) yesterday, so she'd fallen back on the biker's "Red Green" solution of bin bag liners today. You can laugh, but they work!

Standards must be maintained

At the end of the day, with bikes securely stashed under the canopy of another Comfort Inn we finally found time for a spot of civilized pre-dinner snacking, followed by another evening of Fahitas.

A valuable word about chips

No, not the kind you eat, the kind your bank has helpfully embedded in your Canadian Credit card.

The Americans are only just moving to this technology. When all 3 of us had our credit cards "Declined" after dinner Marie-Anne (world traveller, and seasoned shopper) had to give the staff a quick course in the "Slide and tap" technique for processing chip card transactions.

In less time than it takes to say "Declined, you're kidding, I don't believe it" she had them trained up and our bills paid. 

The amazed staff, who only moments earlier had been looking at us as if we were con artists, were singing her praises as we left.

Apparently the trick is to slide the card first, then tap the screen with it. Good to know if you are planning a trip to the US any time soon. 

To Harrison tomorrow

Google believes it's only 182 miles from Poplar Bluff to Harrison. But they don't know Ivan!

Check back tomorrow to hear what fiendish plans he had for us.

Rain, rain, go away...

Well we knew the forecast was gruesome, and so today was all about "grining and bearing it" in order to  reach our destination in Harrison on schedule, Thursday afternoon.

The rain held off until noon, but from then on drizzled, spat, poured, and teemed for the next six hours.

Most of the morning, up 'til a late lunch around 1:30, was spent either on US 62 or trying to find US 62. It's proclaimed to be one of America's "Scenic Byways", and there are brief sections of rolling hills, really well kept Amish/Mennonite farms, horse drawn buggies, and fields of grazing horses, BUT mostly it's ill signed dog legs through every town, vaste swaths of traffic signals (mostly on red), and the town of Berlin which looked like an Amish version of Canada's Wonderland. Unexpected to say the least!

Despite the rain Marie-Anne is still smiling when we stopped for lunch

That was before we slogged around Columbus in heavy rain and really poor visibility. 

Things looked up for a while, but just as we hit Cincinnati at 5:08 pm (great timing, eh?) round 2 of the storm closed in.

Today in brief

3 states

2 major cities 

3 gas stops

1 pee break (at lunch)

660 km travelled

Tonight's destination

North Vernon, which is in Indiana. Ivan had a bit of trouble finding the hotel I'd booked because I told him it was in Illinois. A minor detail, and not something a person should get snitty about. After all it was an honest mistake. He's obsessed by details!

Although I must say I do agree with him that there is a Toilet Roll Travesty going on in hotels across this great land. The darn things are being downsized to the point of uselessness. Regard, exhibit A:

Despite this concern we threw caution to the winds (no pun intended!) and enjoyed a delicious supper at the Mexican Cantina next door.

It's a wrap

Well, almost. Marie-Anne is busily drying all of today's wet togs. 

Ivan is scheming out tomorrow's route to Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

A better forecast

Things are looking up for tomorrow. Cloudy in the morning, sunny afternoon, circa 70F.

Here's hoping.