Day 14 and Day 15 - Wagoner, OK to Pocahontas, AR to Wagoner, OK

So (day before the day before yesterday) after some fretting about the quality of roads in Missouri, we finally hit some more wavy roads passed the suburbs of St. Louis. There was a truck after a while that was going rediculously slow (with some 15 cars trailing behind) - the road lines were being dumb but I waited to pass, but getting impatient and seeing this tasty wide stretch of pavement on the side of the road, I passed on the right side. Danny told me later he had decided I had lost my mind - but followed me the first time I did it - then a van honked at me - I hesitated like usual and pulled back in line. Then I did again - ah the pavement was running out! gravel was approaching! I pulled through a patch of gravel back in line again. Danny caught up with me eventually and we passed the truck together through a double yellow line - ahh open road.

Our goal was to make it to Arkansas before nightfall, and so we stopped at Doniphan, glad to find a Days Inn, as places to stay on Hwy 21 are sparse. I swam in the pool and dragged Danny to McDonalds for ice cream - ah my childhood dreams fulfilled.

Welcome to Arkansas.

Bright and earlyish we got up to set out from Doniphan. I was excited to see more good roads! We hit the border and got dropped into Pocahontas - we couldn't find the route we were looking for - 62 - but we did find hwy 90, which proved to be a really neat road - one i could let pretty loose on - of course whenever I do that I have to slow down on the straight stretches to wait for Danny - I don't mind it though, he's really fun to ride with. Then heading downhill, I heard a strange noise almost like my bike had popped into gear... and I thought - hey that sounded like how it did when my bike broke down in february.... oh shit - I checked my clutch - god sometimes I hate it when I'm right - so now my bike is broke down by a market in between Pocahontas and Imboden. Danny and I doubled up on his bike (I hate riding bitch) and rode the three hundred miles to Wagoner yesterday. I got stung by a bee - again.

Danny is the best ex-boyfriend ever.

The roads in Arkansas are every bit as wonderful as they looked on the map! I mean it was so great to see them, but I won't be able ride them on this trip on my own bike. The scenery is gorgeous, and as everywhere else, the people are nice. I had always been hesitant to visit Arkansas, by myself at least, having heard numerous stories from when my parents lived here. But breaking down made me face my fears about Arkansas, and reallize they were completely unfounded. I just wish I could go canoeing on the big lakes and small creeks.

After driving the three hundred miles back to the bike - in hundred degree weather - we stopped for a sandwich and drove it again straight to Danny's house. We plugged in my mom's mp3 player into the truck stereo, as long as the batteries would hold out. Overall we enjoy travelling together, but it would be way better if we only had to see the roads of Arkansas once and not three times :)

101 degrees...

It occured to me that when I met up with Danny, that people would perhaps stop being so bewildered or perhaps friendly. After all, girls don't learn how to ride motorcycles without the encouragement of their boyfriends, or plan cross country trips by themselves... obviously I'm just along for the ride. Then it occured to me as we were loading up my bike into the truck that people were going to think I was towing it home because I crashed it. I told this to Danny and he said "If it makes you feel any better, they'll probably think I crashed it." But after riding bitch - which is not only uncomfortable and slightly nerve racking but also a loss of status in the moto community - that really didn't make me feel any better at all.

Ah well - the bike is here in Wagoner, I've got a few days before any bike shops open up, so I've got time to try to open up the bike and see what parts I need to order.