What a surprise this weekend was... Mid August, headed home from Yellowstone and Tetons after the BMW MOA rally...
Mid morning, only 50 miles into the day, we pulled into Franklin, NE, and I pulled over to turn on the windshield-mounted GoPro... then the truck hesitated... Depressed the pedal and nothing... truck would move at idle speed but nothing more... pumping the pedal brought lots of smoke but no power.
Long story short... local mechanic suggested two Chevy dealers and then realized the bike on the Toy Hauler deck was a BMW . "There's a BMW rally here this weekend!" Hence we joined the 33rd BMW NightRiders Huskers rally for the next 6 days.
The mechanic towed the camper out to the fairgrounds. AAA towed the truck to a dealer. We enjoyed 115 new friends and great food for the next 6 days... at the rally price of $35 each... including food and camping!! Thanks to all the staff at the rally and to Richard and John for getting us connected.
Will consider this rally as a destination net year... they have hundreds of miles of gravel and "not maintained" roads to play with.
Here's what's on my agenda for the next couple months... subject to getting the bug to find a new road...
BMW Trail of Tears Rally - Jonesboro, IL 9/18, 19, 20
BMW Trophy Challenge - MidWest - Bixby KY 9/25, 26, 27
BMW Rider Association Rally, Harrison, AR. 10/01, 02, 03
(Speaking at Noon on Friday)
Vacationing in AR 10/4 - 10/whatever...
BMW GS Giant Nashville RibFest, Centerville, TN 10/15, 16, 17, 18
Bryan Reynolds posted a request to partner up on a weekend in the Shawnee National Forrest using the ADV Rider Forum tracks from last fall's Loose Nut Rally. This turned into quite a ride!
I don't have all the maps with me, but here are a couple items to enjoy... First is the loop from Ferne Clyffe State Park, clockwise to the east through Ozark, IL and toward Mitchellsville. This video is from the north end (due to water and trees across the road/creek-bed). The road name is Tom Dick Hill Rd. I'm sure there's a story there...)
It's sorta long, but it's a fraction of what all was there. The shale steps were a treat. At the bottom (north) end of the road we pulled up to recover and then hiked the next 1/4 mile... High-lift trucks have carved the creekbed and crossings into canyons... (pictures to be added).
Be sure to refuel at the Mitchellsville gas stop. Great staff with big smiles and hot food.
On Sunday we headed west from our camp at Crab Orchard Lake National Wildlife Refuge Campground to intercept the northwest loop of the ADV tracks. We picked up the trail near Gorham which included lovely one-lane paved farm roads, tons of gravel, and a little loop called Happy Hollow Road. Using the newly found website AllTrails.com I mapped it for you.
Starting in a rural residential wind into the bluffs, the road quickly turns to gravel, dirt and finally a jeep trail with not enough traffic to keep it clear. Where you see the icon for 'Waterfall' is a waterfall... (!?) 150' above that we were looking over the edge from the top of the bluff. In the video listen for the BEEP... my rear wheel caught the end of a log and got knocked to the right... pointing me at the drop... Good thing we were taking our time.
First off... let's thank Big Dog ,of the forum and is the GS guy of the Southern Illinois BMW riders, for collecting all the tracks. We probably did less than 20% of that was intended for the weekend... We did 174 miles Saturday and 149 miles Sunday... and there are hundreds of miles of forest roads and levees that we passed and land-marked.
If you travel to Southern IL and would like to explore more of this... hit me up! I'm in Carterville, one mile from lake-front campsites and right in the middle of all this.
Have you been looking for maps of the lesser roads?
While looking for roads that friend Bryan Reynolds and I rode last weekend, I ran across AllTrails.com The site is intended for hiking and bicycle trails, but has great detail of the roads getting to those trailheads. Here's the link that will take you to the trail pictured above: Trail of Tears You may have to sign into the account to access it, but it's free. Once there, look at the text icon at the top of the map. It probably says 'All Trails'. Change that to 'Terrain' to get a better view of the roads. Looks like it has stuff that definitely isn't on the state maps. There are many options on the website. I haven't done much with it, but will post more after I have experimented. Let me know what apps you are using and how they are working for you. Happy Trails! Jeff
