Sooner State Valkyrie Riders

Its 7am on Tuesday and I’m just getting off work. You see, I work this crazy 12 hour shift…days and nights. As usual I’m just getting off work on the day I want to leave for a trip. Luckily I had the bike packed up the day before so all I had to do was get a quick 4 hour nap and I’d be off. I sure didn’t want to be half asleep as I was riding but 2 hours worth is all I could stand. I was ready to ride! Where are we headed in this journey? The Alabama State Rally at Cheaha State Park.

By 12 noon, everything was in order and I was off on the first leg of my journey. Day 1 would be to ride to Hot Springs, Arkansas to meet Curleywolf. Heavy winds and the lack of sleep made for a long 409 mile ride to Arkansas. I arrived just before 7pm at the campsite where Curleywolf had his camper parked. Curleywolf lives a few hours south of Hot Springs but since there would be an Arkansas Rally the following weekend he brought the camper up ahead of time to save on lodging. We spent the evening visiting, feasting on some dagwood size sandwiches and watching the DVD ‘Ride Like a Pro’. I highly recommend that video by the way….

The next leg of the journey would be to ride north to Harrison, Arkansas and wait for the Kansas crew to arrive from Wichita. After a fantastic breakfast at the Pancake Shop, we took a short tour of Hot Springs before heading north. Our route for the day would be to follow Hwy 7 all the way to Harrison. Hwy 7 is a scenic route that runs north to south through Arkansas. If you plan on riding in Arkansas this is a highly recommended route! Lots of curves and great scenery all along the route. Not to mention the roadway is in excellent condition. As we made our way north we decided to take a short side trip up Mt. Nebo. Its just a few miles off of our route and well worth the hour we spent doing it. As the day wore on, we decided to forgo lunch for a milk shake since we had such a late breakfast. We found a Sonic, had our milk shake and snaked our way on up to the Super 8 motel in Harrison for the night. We had a great dinner with a friend of Curleywolf’s and soon after Raymond, Rhonda and Dana arrived from Wichita. The crew was finally assembled and it was time for the real journey to begin…..

The plan for day 3 was to ride as far towards Cheaha, Alabama as we could. Some last minute changes to the route were made as we got a call from JV from eastern Arkansas. He suggested we take Hwy 14 southeast towards Memphis, and if we would give him a time, he would meet us in Mtn View, Arkansas and take us on a few scenic ’shortcuts’. This sounded like an excellent idea to us, so we met JV in Mtn View and had a awesome ride down to his home in Newport where he had a BBQ lunch waiting for us when we arrived! After lunch we followed Hwy 14 to Hwy 63, then Hwy 55 south to Memphis. We snaked our way around the south side of Memphis and caught Hwy 72 headed into Mississippi. After looking at the map we decided Cullman, Alabama would be the logical place to stop for the night. We arrived in Cullman around 7pm and secured a room at the Super 8. As the rest of us were discussing our dinner options Dana had called Winghot, who lives in Cullman. Winghot owns The Downtown Grill in Cullman and he informed Dana that he was expecting us and to come on down for some hotwings! The rest of the evening was spent hanging out at the Downtown Grill, and watching the Kansas crew eat Winghots famous Fire Wings. Have you ever seen a grown man cry? I can officially say I have now! Those wings were HOT. Raymond, Rhonda and Dana all ate their 10 wings and got a shirt to prove it!

The next morning we woke to light rain and thunderstorms. Since the plan for the day would be to meet at the Downtown grill for lunch before departing for Cheaha we layed around and took in a late breakfast. By lunchtime the rain had stopped and we met the group from Indiana at the Grill. After everyone had their fill of hotwings, Winghot led the group via some back roads down to Talladega Speedway for a photo-op before heading up Cheaha Mountain. The last stop before heading up the mountain was to top off the fuel tanks. As everyone fueled up, Winghot suggested that anyone that wanted to ‘play’ in the curves should get towards the front of the group. When we departed I was right behind winghot and his car tire wearing supervalk. As we started up the mountain, the road was wet, covered with pine needles and generally not in good condition. That description is putting it lightly. Well, winghot takes off like a wildman…and not to be outdone by a care tire wearing supervalk, I take off like a wildman too. A couple of hundred curves later we arrived at the Cheaha Lodge in one piece. About 10 minutes later, the next rider arrives and I quote: “You guys are @#$% crazy". Winghots response: “We didn’t ride fast, just steady". That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. The rest of evening presented a thunderstorm or two, a bit of hail and a whole lot of fun. We had an awesome evening visiting and getting to know all the riders that made the journey to Cheaha.

Saturday morning we all gathered for the group ride. Redvalk led us on a fantastic 200 mile tour around the area with a lunch stop at a lakeside restaurant. I’m not sure where we were at any given time, but the roads were great and the company was fantastic. You see, ever since my little chase up the mountain the day before, west was officially east and east was officially west. That’s just how twisty that road really was. Its really odd to see the sun come up in the west, but damned if it didn’t…at least to me it did. When we arrived back up on the mountain Winghot was already preparing dinner. We all assembled at the pavilion and had a feast of feasts. The chicken cooked in a Cajun microwave was fantastic! The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, but it involved 40 degree weather, raffle prizes, cold beer, loud music, dancing and way more fun that should be allowed. Tim and the Rally staff really know how to put on a great event. If you get the chance to attend the Cheaha event I highly recommend it!

On the next leg of our journey we had planned to ride the Cherohala Skyway and Deals Gap. Winghot had emailed Britman in Georgia and asked for a good route. Britman responded that he and his friend Jim would be happy to give us a guided tour. Jim was at the rally, so we departed following his lead on Sunday morning to meet up with Britman and head to the Cherohala Skyway. Jim and Britman had mapped out a fantastic route that involved no main hiways. Back roads only. The next 200 miles of riding involved what can only be described as a can full of worms. Curve after curve of some of the most fantastic riding I have ever done. The scenery was fantastic but to be honest I was rather focused on trying to keep up with Jim on his ST1300 as we blasted through the curves. I never did know where we were, but was told later that we were in 4 different states throughout the ride. It was awesome is all I can say! Around 5pm that evening, Jim and Britman dropped us off at the start of the Cherohala Skyway and departed for their respective homes. We topped off the tanks and prepared to head over the Skyway. At this point I didn’t think the day couldn’t get any better but it certainly did. The Cherohala Skyway crosses through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests and winds up and over 5,400 foot mountains for 21 miles across the backcountry of Tennessee and 15 miles in North Carolina. As we reached the higher elevations, snow and ice started appearing but the roadway remained clear. It was a beautiful ride up and over, and one I won’t soon forget. When we descended down into North Carolina we secured a room in Robbinsville for the night. Next stop…Deal’s Gap!

Monday morning we loaded up, had some breakfast and headed for Deal’s Gap. The Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap, with 318 curves in 11 miles, is America’s number one motorcycle and sports car road. Our first stop was the resort store to buy a few t-shirt before attacking the Gap. Winghot led and I followed on the first pass through. I love riding the curves but this was like nothing I had ever ridden. Before we were done we had all made three passes through the gap with a few photo ops along the way. Since it was a Monday we had very little traffic to deal with which made it even more enjoyable. Riding Deal’s Gap was one of the many highlights of the trip for me. We just don’t have curves like that in Oklahoma! We spent the good part of the morning riding the Gap, but it was now time for us to head in the general direction of home. US129 took us north and we made our way up to I-40 to head west. The rest of the day was spent blazing down the superslab trying to get as far as we could before the weather shut us down for the night. Heavy clouds and thunderstorms loomed in the distance all day as we finally decided to stop for the night just east of Memphis. The rain set in soon after we settled in for the evening.

The Kansas crew had to be home on Tuesday evening, so they left early in a light rain. Curleywolf and I didn’t have any deadlines to meet so we had a late breakfast and waited for the rain to pass before heading off for the day. It was a short 200 mile ride back to Hot Springs and the weather was clear and the temps were great for riding. We arrived mid-afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing at Curleywolf’s lakeside campsite.

Wednesday was my day to head for home. My plan was to take some back roads to Mena, Arkansas then head over the Talemina Drive on my way home. Curleywolf picked a southern route around Lake Degray and took me on a scenic tour of the area before I headed on to Mena. I made it to Talihina, Ok around lunchtime and stopped for a bite to eat. I needed to make a stop at Robbers Cave to iron out some details for our ride-in, so I opted to take Hwy 82 north(just west of Talihina) up to Red Oak and then into Wilburton. Hwy 82 turned out to be a nice scenic road with lots of curves. After getting things lined out at Robbers Cave, I took Hwy 2 north to catch Hwy 31 into Krebs. This turned out to be a nice route for our dinner ride at the ride-in! From there I took Hwy 270 up to Hwy 9, then Hwy 177 up to I-40. I made a quick stop in Holdenville to see Dwight while I was there as well. I finally arrive home around 8pm with 502 miles for the day.

My odometer reading for the trip was 2844 miles. There is nothing that compares to touring this great country of ours from the saddle of a motorcycle! But beyond that is the great people you meet along the way. The VRCC and motorcycle comunity in general are some of the greatest folks I have ever met. The generosity of folks on this trip was just amazing. John(JV) took time away from his business to give us a guided tour in Arkansas and feed us lunch. Wayne(Winghot) fed us dinner at his resturant, served as our tourguide, arranged for the amazing ride detailed above, and provided the meal for the event we attended. Britman and Jim spent their entire Sunday leading us on the most amazing ride I’ve ever taken. With the exception of JV, these are all folks I had never met before. It was an amazing adventure, and one I’ll never forget.

The photo album for my trip can be found here: Cheaha Alabama Trip

Feel free to leave comments or questions below. Ride safe!