OSP's Mobile Snake Pit

OneSickPsycho · 05-31-2008, 11:22 AM

In the morning we make the decision to hit the continental breakfast, get gas, and hit the road. It's another 500 mile day and we've done so much fucking around each day, leaving late, getting in later, and generally forfeiting our agenda that we need to make good time for once.

Drewpy makes the executive decision that we are going to take some of the roads Ned in Colorado Springs suggested when we cross the border into AR. Sounds ok to me because despite adding 100 miles onto our day, the thought of riding highway for so long about made me insane.

So just inside the AR border we turn off onto 540N and off the highway onto rt 71. We pass a number of regular gas stations, and I think to myself... it might not be a bad idea to get gas... nah, fuck it.

We continue up the road and the topography gets more and more mountainous... and the road gets more and more curvy...ous.

In the distance there's an ominous look of dark, dark, sky... rain. We continue on and the road starts getting wet... then it rains... for like 11 seconds... and dry again. I am pretty happy we didn't dick around getting our rain suits on... Honestly though, it was so fucking hot for the previous couple days that the rain would have been money.

We zig, we zag, and then we figured out that we needed gas. Ok... so here we are... BFE Arkansas, with the nearest REAL filling station probably 50 miles away... and Drewpy's gas light is on. He's got like 20 miles left... if we're lucky.

We end up finding a gas station... straight out of Hazard County circa 1955. The place was falling apart, had one pump that looked like ass, and some fat redneck guy with stains all over his wife beater hanging around... It doesn't look like the kind of place I want to fill up at. DP goes inside and finds out that there's another gas station just down the road... pretty common theme as it turns out.

That gas station is closed.

It's like 2pm on a Wednesday (I think) and you're closed? Great. Keep going.

The next place, looks equally disturbing as the other two... and has no gas. They do however, have a general store (seriously) and a little diner. It was interesting. The place was owned by some arab guy and in the one corner there was an anti-terrorism shrine with crazy shit like, "kill Saddam" and "Ahmadinejad must die"... meanwhile, the rest of the place looked like a Cracker Barrell threw up all inside it. The food was pretty good (and cheap as balls), and the waitress chick was some older lady with tattoos of spiders and shit all up her arms... Interesting place. Not exactly what I expected out of Crosses, AR.

They tell us that there's another station down the road a ways so we carry on... Taking a second to snap some pictures at the place in the road where it had washed out just a week or so before... then... a few miles down the road... yep, another shitball gas station... that has NO gas.

Ok now, things are getting pretty desperate. Now MY gas light is on, so I know Drewpy is nearing the end of the road. Of course, that doesn't stop Drewpy from draggin' a knee through the next set of twisties with all of his gear on his bike... fucker was REALLY reachin' for it too. (nice form jerk!)

FINALLY we find a place. Another crappy, scary place... but damnit, this place has gas! WOO HOO! Well, let's not get too excited now... Neither one of us had cash... and of course, this place doesn't accept plastic. MOTHERFUCKER!

It's getting ridiculous now. We obviously can't go far, if anywhere... We find out that there's ANOTHER gas station like a mile away... so we head there.

CLOSED, NO GAS... back to the last place.

Desperate times... like diggin' in the couch for change, Drewpy ransacks his shit to scrap together $15.90... $11.90 of which is straight change (including 30 pennies). Success! We now have gas!

The goal for the next portion of the ride was simply to find another gas station to completely fill up. We really had no idea how long it would be until we found real civilization again, so we wanted to make sure we had enough fuel to make it... where ever the fuck we were going.

We find another, pretty crappy gas station another 20 miles or so down the road... this one accepts credit cards. Excellent.

Not very much further down the road we find actual civilization, with a real gas station. We fill up, get some eats (cajun meat pie... well, it sounded like a good idea at the time!), I drop my bike... yeah, top heavy with all my gear, bike I'm not used to, low speed turning.... 'I got it! I got it! I got it! I don't got it.' Frame sliders did their job and solid pegs on the rearsets helped avoid the can I think. No damage at all. I got lucky.

Oh... and while we were eating our meat pies... Some kid... probably 16, 17... Pulls up in the cleanest late 70's Z28 I've ever seen. Black, Craiger SS rims, glass packs... I got a stiffy. License '1 BAD Z'. I don't get jealous of other people's shit very often, but for a moment... I totally was.

Next pit stop was a little rest area, pretty much in the middle of nowhere... Well, the Ozark National Forest. Good scenery.

Eventually we made it back to the highway, through Little Rock. We got lucky earlier in the day with rain, but it looked like our luck was running out... To the south there was dark clouds and lightning. To the east there were dark clouds. As we progressed the dark clouds in the east and in the south came together and we were heading straight for it. Damnit.

As luck would have it, it started pouring. About 3 miles later... it stopped. It really only rained enough so that the water soaked through the perforations in my leathers around the arms and just barely got my arms moist. We are some lucky bastages.

Push on into Memphis... Meet up with Nighthawk and Gramps at the Red Roof Inn, get a room on the 2nd floor (this shit was wearing thin on me), Drewpy takes a shower, and I use the private time to take care of this ginormous zit that was brewing on my inner thigh.

It hurt like a bitch, shot across the room, and stunk like a mother... and I completely bloodied the bedspread and a clean sock. It was pretty sweet.

After all that fun was done, we rode squidly to Krystals for a late night bite... then back to the hotel to crash out like champions.

05-31-2008, 11:22 AM	#11
OneSickPsycho Ride Like an Asshole Join Date: Feb 2008 Moto: nothing... Posts: 11,254	Cross Country Trip - Day 7 - Fear and Loathing in Arkansas In the morning we make the decision to hit the continental breakfast, get gas, and hit the road. It's another 500 mile day and we've done so much fucking around each day, leaving late, getting in later, and generally forfeiting our agenda that we need to make good time for once. Drewpy makes the executive decision that we are going to take some of the roads Ned in Colorado Springs suggested when we cross the border into AR. Sounds ok to me because despite adding 100 miles onto our day, the thought of riding highway for so long about made me insane. So just inside the AR border we turn off onto 540N and off the highway onto rt 71. We pass a number of regular gas stations, and I think to myself... it might not be a bad idea to get gas... nah, fuck it. We continue up the road and the topography gets more and more mountainous... and the road gets more and more curvy...ous. In the distance there's an ominous look of dark, dark, sky... rain. We continue on and the road starts getting wet... then it rains... for like 11 seconds... and dry again. I am pretty happy we didn't dick around getting our rain suits on... Honestly though, it was so fucking hot for the previous couple days that the rain would have been money. We zig, we zag, and then we figured out that we needed gas. Ok... so here we are... BFE Arkansas, with the nearest REAL filling station probably 50 miles away... and Drewpy's gas light is on. He's got like 20 miles left... if we're lucky. We end up finding a gas station... straight out of Hazard County circa 1955. The place was falling apart, had one pump that looked like ass, and some fat redneck guy with stains all over his wife beater hanging around... It doesn't look like the kind of place I want to fill up at. DP goes inside and finds out that there's another gas station just down the road... pretty common theme as it turns out. That gas station is closed. It's like 2pm on a Wednesday (I think) and you're closed? Great. Keep going. The next place, looks equally disturbing as the other two... and has no gas. They do however, have a general store (seriously) and a little diner. It was interesting. The place was owned by some arab guy and in the one corner there was an anti-terrorism shrine with crazy shit like, "kill Saddam" and "Ahmadinejad must die"... meanwhile, the rest of the place looked like a Cracker Barrell threw up all inside it. The food was pretty good (and cheap as balls), and the waitress chick was some older lady with tattoos of spiders and shit all up her arms... Interesting place. Not exactly what I expected out of Crosses, AR. They tell us that there's another station down the road a ways so we carry on... Taking a second to snap some pictures at the place in the road where it had washed out just a week or so before... then... a few miles down the road... yep, another shitball gas station... that has NO gas. Ok now, things are getting pretty desperate. Now MY gas light is on, so I know Drewpy is nearing the end of the road. Of course, that doesn't stop Drewpy from draggin' a knee through the next set of twisties with all of his gear on his bike... fucker was REALLY reachin' for it too. (nice form jerk!) FINALLY we find a place. Another crappy, scary place... but damnit, this place has gas! WOO HOO! Well, let's not get too excited now... Neither one of us had cash... and of course, this place doesn't accept plastic. MOTHERFUCKER! It's getting ridiculous now. We obviously can't go far, if anywhere... We find out that there's ANOTHER gas station like a mile away... so we head there. CLOSED, NO GAS... back to the last place. Desperate times... like diggin' in the couch for change, Drewpy ransacks his shit to scrap together $15.90... $11.90 of which is straight change (including 30 pennies). Success! We now have gas! The goal for the next portion of the ride was simply to find another gas station to completely fill up. We really had no idea how long it would be until we found real civilization again, so we wanted to make sure we had enough fuel to make it... where ever the fuck we were going. We find another, pretty crappy gas station another 20 miles or so down the road... this one accepts credit cards. Excellent. Not very much further down the road we find actual civilization, with a real gas station. We fill up, get some eats (cajun meat pie... well, it sounded like a good idea at the time!), I drop my bike... yeah, top heavy with all my gear, bike I'm not used to, low speed turning.... 'I got it! I got it! I got it! I don't got it.' Frame sliders did their job and solid pegs on the rearsets helped avoid the can I think. No damage at all. I got lucky. Oh... and while we were eating our meat pies... Some kid... probably 16, 17... Pulls up in the cleanest late 70's Z28 I've ever seen. Black, Craiger SS rims, glass packs... I got a stiffy. License '1 BAD Z'. I don't get jealous of other people's shit very often, but for a moment... I totally was. Next pit stop was a little rest area, pretty much in the middle of nowhere... Well, the Ozark National Forest. Good scenery. Eventually we made it back to the highway, through Little Rock. We got lucky earlier in the day with rain, but it looked like our luck was running out... To the south there was dark clouds and lightning. To the east there were dark clouds. As we progressed the dark clouds in the east and in the south came together and we were heading straight for it. Damnit. As luck would have it, it started pouring. About 3 miles later... it stopped. It really only rained enough so that the water soaked through the perforations in my leathers around the arms and just barely got my arms moist. We are some lucky bastages. Push on into Memphis... Meet up with Nighthawk and Gramps at the Red Roof Inn, get a room on the 2nd floor (this shit was wearing thin on me), Drewpy takes a shower, and I use the private time to take care of this ginormous zit that was brewing on my inner thigh. It hurt like a bitch, shot across the room, and stunk like a mother... and I completely bloodied the bedspread and a clean sock. It was pretty sweet. After all that fun was done, we rode squidly to Krystals for a late night bite... then back to the hotel to crash out like champions. Last edited by OneSickPsycho; 06-04-2008 at 10:52 PM..