AK1 Day 1

Mike Stanley (MS) Day 1 – 4 Jun 12, Monday

·         North Little Rock, Arkansas to Sedalia, Missouri

·         Mileage – 348

·         WX – rain from Conway, AR to North of Buffalo River, fair wx remaining portion

·         States – Arkansas & Missouri

·         Side trip to Zinc, AR for HOG ABC pic

·         HWY 65

·         Note 1: I left a day earlier than Jim so I could meet him along I-70. Rain was forecasted in Arkansas along my route so I got to try out my rain gear at the very start. No problems were encountered.

·         Note 2: HOG ABC – During this trip both Jim and I were planning on taking pictures of key locations to participate in a program that the Harley-Davidson Owners Group (HOG) sponsors. Each year they have a contest to see who can get the most pictures of their HD in front of state, county, city signs and also National Parks, Harley Davidson sites, etc. The rules state that you have to have part of your HD motorcycle in the picture along with the cover of the 2012 HOG Tour Guide to prove it was take in 2012. For cities and counties you just get one for each letter of the alphabet; A, B, C, etc. Each state counts plus Canadian states; Alberta, Manitoba, etc. As a result we took a number of side trips just to get a new state sign or other qualifying item if it wasn’t excessively out of our way. I obtained 13 states and 4 Canadian states plus numerous National Park/Monuments, HD sites, etc.  for my HOG ABC submittal.

·         Note 3: One of the HOG ABC cities I was missing was for the letter “Z”. My route north to Sedalia went close to a small community named Zinc, Arkansas. Since there aren’t that many towns starting with “Z”, I made a side trip to capture this one. As I diverted off Hwy 65 onto the back roads towards Zinc, I finally ended up on a gravel road. I stopped to think this over. Just how many towns do you know of that do not have at least one paved road to it? Since I needed the “Z” I continued and finally came to an accumulation of a few houses on a gravel road with only a single building with the city name. I now have a HOG picture of the Zinc Volunteer Fire Department building in my HOG ABC portfolio.