Who needs a GS? A little R Adventure......

[ChiTown]

I'm currently on a trip, and have been out for a week now. I finally ahve some internet access, though no phone service. What a great country we live in!
I started in Chicago and headed towards Arksansas, looking to fish, camp and ride on this open ended trip. Little did I know....





Leaving Chicago

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On a stop on the way down. What a nice new clean bike....

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I made it to Lake Charles, Arkansas and at about 1 AM it started to rain.
Hard.

It didn't stop raining for 2 days..... I mostly stayed dry.

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My first fresh fish dinner. I caught a few Crappie's, fishing at night in the rain with jig's.

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A nice warm, wet morning. I decided to stay another day and fish in the rain, instead of packing and moving.

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Here's were I moved to the next day, I foget the name, more info to follow once I get home.

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Success!
There was a BassMaster Pro fishing tournament going on right where I was camping and fishing.
I was in the right place at the right time!

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'

This is where the fun starts. I had a hair up my ass to explore some backroads, scouting for a backcountry camp/fish spot. The hell with my "roadster", I mean my R is a cousin to the GS right? Basically the same right?
I wasn't going to let a little dirt scare me, yet.. I wasn't loaded..

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The more miles I rode on the dirt/gravel the more I wanted, so I let Mr. Garmin take over... isn't this a beauty of a road?

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The first of many water crossings.

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I found a great camp-spot here, marking for later use.


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The water crossing's are starting to get serious. At this one, the water went up to my knee's, filling my boots. I can relate to Ewan....

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[ChiTown]

Hard to believe that this is actually on a map as a road. After a hour of this I was really condiplating the current route.

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After a day of this, I started to head back to camp.

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Lucky for me I had nice roads to ride back on, after the dirt adventure I was able to finally open her up and put the 1200R to proper use.

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Another tasty fish dinner. Hmmmmm fish...


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Loaded and ready to go the next morning.

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The next day I let Mr. Garmin take over. Um, yes I prefer minor roads thank you. Oh yes, please aviod those pesky major roads too..

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OK OK. It was bound to happen. Conti Attacks Z's and mud don't mix.
Here's the first time I've gone down, since my teen years though I haven't ridden much in mud since then..... hmmmmm go figure.

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Here's the second place I' went down at. OK I get it, it's not a dirt bike. But I'm just having too much fun, though picking it up sure sucks. At least there's no real damage.

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Another tasty dinner.

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I was ready to put some mile down, and figuered I'd ghet myself in more trouble if I kept riding the Arkansas fire roads, so I packed up and headed East. I went through Memphis, looking to have some BBQ.
Beale Street.

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My laptop battery is going to die so I will continue when poissible.....











:D

[ultracyclist]

Question: Where did you get the reflective motoman designs for your side cases?

[wezul]

Don't be gentle with it now, ride it like a rental! :ha
Are you having a good time? Man, you are logging some serious miles!
Cool on ya! :thumb

[GSJIHAD]

Fantastic report!!! Thanks!!

[Visian]

ditto, ditto, ditto... great pics.

i just sent a link on this to a friend who asked "can an R12R go off-road?"

he's from chicago, too...

ian

[dancogan]

Great report. Looks like some good fishing. Any trout in that stream? :thumb

[henzilla]

Great report and pictures... The R loks good on the dirt, not horizontal in it though!:laugh
HMMMMM fish!!! :doh

[2BikeMike]

More, more, we want more! Looks like a great trip dude.:thumb

[SNC1923]

ChiTown, you sure know how to party! Thanks for having us along--great shots.
:lurk

[carter]

Very Nice ! Charge battery...send more.

[tor1150r]

Good report Joe.
Looks and sounds like an excellent adventure. The R does quite well on the loose stuff doesn't it? And...some of your gear looks familiar too!!

Cheers and safe journeys!

[BradfordBenn]

Sweeeeet!

[ChiTown]

Today I went to change my oil, and met a group of fellow BMW riders from Canada. What a great group of guys! The Manypause beer and motorcycle club, they say. They didn't pause much riding today though, and not much beer tonight, just whiskey...
Whatever they say, they're way cool, are on the return trip startng from Ottawa to Presidio, to St. Carlos Mexico, through TN on their way home. We rode Deal's Gap today a few times and are in Pigon Forge TN. I opted to hang with this guys and extend my trip a little longer, tomorrow we are riding the fabulous Tennessee roads, without bags, then I'll head home. These guys are a trip! I'll ride with them anytime. Tons of fun today, Deal's Gap is crazy!
Passing many squids, and seeing 2 accidents I believe that if you ride the gap enough, you'll go down. Maybe not even your fault, blind corners are scary. Fun, oh yes, stay to the inside!
No more chicken strips for me, and some ground foot-pegs too
I'll jump to the current time of my trip with these pics, and come back to the rest once I get home.



After hearing about my fishing trip and seeing my fishing gear they gave me one of these, how cool!
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Great dealer, took good care of me, setting me up to do my oil change. Be sure to stop by when around Knoxville.
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We stopped and had a great BBQ pork samich to start the day.

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A hand pounded copper fairing none the less... sweet.
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Deals Gap resort
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The beloved tree of shame.
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Me in front of General Lee, on a run to a neaby town for booze.

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A pic of theirs.
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More to follow soon.

:clap

[RebeccaV]

Great report Mr ChiTown! Looks like you're having a good time on the road.

[BradfordBenn]

Nice riding and reporting.

[ROADSTER PILOT]

For Roadster Pilots everywhere, sir, I salute you.

[ChiTown]

We had a great 450 mile day, Looping around The Smokey Mountain NP, riding the Blue Ridge Parkway and Deal's Gap again. This time with no luggage. :clap Needless to say, both my foot pegs and the foot brake lever are ground down pretty good. Such beautiful roads here. Endless curves.
It was a perfect day of riding to finish up this trip, too bad it has to end.
I have a gig that just came up on Friday, so I'm slabbing it back to Chicago tomorrow, 620 miles. Back to reality. ****. :cry




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The internet connection here is crap, I'm hijacking off of some hotel down the street, so I'll try to pick up where I left off when I get home.

[SIBUD]

Question: Where did you get the reflective motoman designs for your side cases?

Here (http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade/productview/2178/525/)

[riderR1150GSAdv]

Great report! :thumb

[BubbaZanetti]

nice,

R bikes are all the same off-road, the GS guys just THINK they're doing better even though all they've really got is a higher center of gravity. i like taking my S into the woods every now and again.

cool report!

[OfficerImpersonator]

Great trip report - I'd much rather look at pretty pictures than read text that attempts to describe the scenery in the pretty pictures. I say cut out the middle man and just post pretty pictures with short and sweet captions.

I'm motivated for a road trip now!

[ChiTown]

I made it home, slabbing it in 8.5 hours.

This trip has been great, a whole new world has been opened up for me. All I can think about now is where to go next. I have a feeling I'll be back to Arkansas, since I have some great backwoods camp spots marked, and the fishing is great. I just need to get a bike friendly fly-fishing setup going to I can fish these streams for trout.
I also made some good new friends that I'm sure I'll ride with again, hopefully soon. It's really is cool how a ADV sticker can bring people together...


Here's a link to a slideshow and more pics. Just for dvandkq!
I'll add in some comments after I get some rest...



http://web.mac.com/joefinn/iWeb/R1200R%20Arkansas%20trip/Slide%20Show.html

[username]

i give this report five stars. thanks for sharing.

[ChiTown]

I though I'd share some info on the fishing rods, in case anyone felt like adding it to their pack.




Here's the fly rod I just bought, I got it and the reel for this price as a package deal, with line.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=60185&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Here's the bait casting rod I use, with some inexpensive reel with 10 lb. line. Mine's a 3 peice and came with a case, the one in all the pics.
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=51803&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Here's the ulta-light, and I have to say that this is my favorite. I caught more fish on this one, and it has great value with the low cost. Mine's a light action one, unlike the one listed here. I use a Shimano reel on it with 4 lb line.

http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/products/kits/ex-kits.shtml

I have a Bass Pro Power Plus colapsable spinner rod with 8 lb. line on it, it's like my Medium rod, I can't find a link for it though.



I use my nalgene bottle to transport minnows, then put them in my Helen2Wheels mesh bag and keep them in the lake.
A leatherman and filet knife completes the necessities

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[BeerTeam]

I though I'd share some info on the fishing rods, in case anyone felt like adding it to their pack.

I have a Bass Pro Power Plus colapsable spinner rod with 8 lb. line on it, it's like my Medium rod.

I use my nalgene bottle to transport minnows, then put them in my Helen2Wheels mesh bag and keep them in the lake.
A leatherman and filet knife completes the necessities


Nice riding and fishing