Motorcycle Diaries: Day 3 - A long way back home !

So this this last of the series from the our first motorcycle ride in US back in 2010.

Read Day 1 - Arkansas : A new Country , A new Beginning !
Read Day 2 - Texas-Arkansas : Day 2 - Being Stupid !

Day 3 - A long way back home

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Arkansas has some beautiful scenic highways with some amazing roads. I wanted to ride Pig Trail and Highway 7 Scenic Drive. This time I decided not to trust completely on GPS. So took the map and studied the route like good old school. The main confusion I had is, here is US all routes are marked based on North South East West. Back in Indian directions are always by saying take left or right at any point. It took some time to get adjusted. But the highways are very well marked with sign boards, it was just that I was not used to it.

By 3rd day we were quick to pack the tents and sleeping bags. If you don’t do it correctly, we might end up spending lot of time if there is air inside while folding it. Now we both can setup a tent in 3-5 mins. From mount magazine we started by 8 AM.

We did the Pig Trail first then joined the Highway 7. You won’t believe Pig Trail was just like the ride through the forest back in my home town with some better twisty roads.

By third day I was fully confident on motorcycle and was no more nervous to lean the motorcycle on 60 mph. To be frank it would have been more fun without a pillion(passenger). I had 2 risk in my mind my dear pillion and the $’s I would have to spend in case of even a small fall. But today I decided to keep that thought way and enjoy to the fullest.

Deeps(@deeps-kivi) is nervous on twisty roads but she stayed cool and didn’t complain even once. The motorcycle is Dream on the curves with those wide tires it was very easy to get in and get out of the curves as close to the road safely. There were lots of motorcyclers on these routes. In fact these routes are for motorcyclers. But during one of our brakes I could hear two motorcycles revving and approaching. It was a BMW and Duke they just zipped passed through the corners. Man I really got Goosebumps. They were fast, close, and brilliant on corners.

It just reminded of me and Vinal (riding buddy) riding back home. These guys where with full riding gears. Harley riders you can see mostly people riding just with a boots, jean and sun glass (no shirts). There are all kind of riders mostly in a group.

I had to return the motorcycle to the rental service by 7pm, which was possible but aggressive. But the same time I wanted to cover pig trail and highway 7 which is very scenic road to ride. I could have returned back directly from Mt magazine. But did not do that.

Some of the curves in these route were long and never ending - those were the first time for me. Today half day we riding in Arkansas itself. One good feeling while meeting other riders on road is they greet/wave at you

By 3 we were out of scenic roads and we were on to proper highways. I had to stop to set the GPS route to back home. I stopped on highway, within a few mins a cop showed up beside us. He asked if we had any issues with motorcycle. I said no, we are just setting the route and he left. That was cool - no other troubles. By now I knew there is no way making back home by 7pm, because I had still 300 miles to cover in 4 half hours.

If the speed limit is 70mph every one rides in 75-80. On highways the biggest problem is passing those big trucks. They do constant 70 and to cross them you got to touch 80. Since I avoided toll ways all the roads where two lanes in one direction. Doing 80 with Deeps behind holding the tent was quite difficult. All Kudos to her - I dont know how she managed to hold the tent and sleeping bag throughout the trip.

Motorcycle is very much capable of doing high speeds but anything beyond 70 needs good control - the crosswinds was too much more you speed more difficult it gets. Motorcycle was wobbling at times because of heavy cross winds. At times my head was moving too because of wind. FZ is considered a small motorcycle here generally - may be a bigger motorcycle with better dynamics will do well on US highway’s.
On FZ6 with pillion on highways with crosswind was not that easy to cruise on 70.

Our longest stretch was 180 miles without break - sore butt. In between we wasted an hour by taking a wrong exit by mistake and doing the circle two times to get back on highway.
We reached back home by 10 .

All in all a great first time experience for us. Like I said this was back in 2010. Fast forward I bought a motorcycle now