Advice on taking the trans-America trail

[reidguyton]

I am fascinated by the thought of riding the TAT, and want to try the Arkansas portion first as a test. I need some advice on the proper bike, gear needed, time,etc. Anyone familiar with this?

[GSTom]

The Adventure Rider website has many ride reports of trips on the TAT. You could read them and see what worked and what didn't, and also get an idea of how far you can get in a day. The ride reports are readily searchable by topic, so a forum search for TAT, etc. would yield a great deal of information.

I, too, have been thinking of crossing Arkansas on the TAT on my R100GS. From reading the ride reports, a smaller enduro might be a better choice for parts of the trail, but I think the airhead GS would be fine. An oilhead GS probably is too much bike for the rugged parts, though an experienced off roader could probably do it.

Having said that, I think that there are alternate routes you could easily devise to skirt around the gnarly stuff, and still enjoy some wonderful Arkansas backroads.