ARKansas - June 2015

[emptysea]

"The sky is changin'
I can hear the singin'
Clouds will soon be alright
Bringin' on the daylight
Let it rain
Let it rain
Let it rain
And bring on the sunshine" - From The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' song "Noah"

Glen and Laura planned this year's trip. It was their turn. Petoskey Mike had planned the Lake Michigan "Circle Tour" in 2013 (to which we could not attend) and Yours Truly had the duty for our 2014 "Hills, Stills, and Thrills" tour to The Great Smoky Mountains (faithfully reported upon in a terribly long thread elsewhere on this forum).

At the IMS Chicago in February 2014, Glen had stopped at the Ride Arkansas booth. I am sure that the cute girl behind the table had nothing to do with this, but it was lucky that he did. The brochures were compelling and those, coupled with a couple of magazine articles and, I think, some testimonials from from friends convinced him that this was the place to go. Either that or Laura said "This is the place we are going." It would be pure speculation on this contributor's part as to how the decision was made, but it was an excellent decision regardless and, were it not for some inclement weather named Bill, it would have been a perfectly executed tour of northwest Arkansas.

Our 7 castaways (Glen, Laura, Bump-Start Mike with Judy, Petoskey Mike, Cheryl, and Matt) set sail from their port on their fateful trip on Saturday, June 13, 2015. Unbeknownst to them, in mid-afternoon on Saturday, June 12th, the National Hurricane Center at Florida International University noted the potential for a Tropical Cyclone in the Gulf of Mexico due south of Texas. Tropical Storm Bill was christened at approximately 10:00pm on Monday, June 15, 2015. We were watching the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup on the big screen TV inside The Rockin' Pig Saloon in Eureka Springs, AR; eating ribs and other smoked delights and savoring frothy and cold adult beverages, vaguely knowing, but not caring, about the weather that we were headed toward.

Sir William began punching his way from Tropical Storm to Tropical Depression across the Gulf of Mexico, into southern Texas (16June), then Oklahoma and Arkansas (17June), Missouri and Illinois (18June), Indiana (19June) and Ohio (20June) before he had expelled all of his moisture and faded away over West Virginia. Our planned route was to take us into Arkansas (15June - 17June), then back to Missouri (18June), then into Illinois (19June) and back home on the weekend. If you are inclined, plot the storm dates and our stop dates on a map and you will quickly understand that our plans had to change. We hadn't quite reached that conclusion yet, however.

(End of Installment #1)