17th DOGWOOD TRAIL RALLY

T-21 Rally, Mena, AR

Three Louisiana members ended up attending a wet and foggy T-21 rally in West Central Arkansas, hosted by Bill and Becky Wing, AR State Directors. In March various combinations of members began making plans for an April road trip to either Deals Gap or the North Georgia Classic but eventually it was myself, Kevin Yeats of Hahnville and Matt Moore of Bossier City trying to stay dry at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge. Kevin and I departed Friday morning meeting in Woodville, MS. We connected with US 84 via US 61 at Natchez and crossed the Mississippi, continuing west on 84 to Jonesville. There we left the main highways and hit the twisty back roads of central Louisiana, which would prove to be our only good riding of the trip. We stopped for gas & a nice lunch in Campti and then rejoined US 84 and then I-49 at Grand Bayou to expedite our passage through Shreveport which has an excellent bypass loop system. We were in Texas on I-20 without any delay. At that point my Garmin went wack trying to route me back through Shreveport and causing me to miss my intended exit at Greenwood, TX; so we ended up skirting Marshall, TX instead. Just north of Smithville on US 59 we hit our first rain. It was moderate and short lived and we quickly dried out. But a hour or so later we hit some serious rain that lasted for hours eventually soaking through our "waterproof" gloves and boots. We checked into the lodge at Queen Wilhelmina State Park and proceeded to try to dry out our wet gear. Kevin and I both had problems with the linings of our Joe Rocket gloves pulling out, balling up and refusing to go back into the fingers. Thankyou Steve K for the toothbrush tip! Although the rain finally let up we were busy drying out our gear and not wanting to put wet stuff back on we skipped the Weiner roast at the bottom of the mountain and ate supper at the lodge. Eventually the weinie group returned and we had a great time chatting with old friends and meeting several new faces. The lodge has a real nice lobby area for socializing and there is not a friendlier group than MSTA. The rally packets contained route maps and lots of time was spent studying them and planning the next day's ride and strategizing how to avoid the rain. For Kevin and me the strategy would fail.

We awoke Saturday to find the mountain shrouded in dense fog. Visibility was about 60 feet. We could not see our bikes, parked about 80 feet away, looking out the window of our room. We had a nice buffet breakfast and waited a while but the fog did not get any better. Riders who had come up from the campground assured us the fog abated at the base so Kevin and I saddled up and proceeded down the mountain planning to attack our chosen route. Kevin led the way but I lost sight of his tail light before we were out of the parking lot. The road down the mountain is steep and twisty and to run off road likely meant a plunge to potential destruction! My shield was nearly opaque with fog and up it went. I could not see the road more than 30 feet ahead and slowed to a crawl, frankly terrified. Two unknown riders caught and passed me and I did my best to keep the second one in sight. Hopefully they knew the road and would not lead me into oblivion! After a few miles (seeming like 30) they towed me past a ghostly apparition of a rider on an ST1300 parked at one of the scenic pullouts. It looked like Kevin. I expected to see headlights pull into view in my mirrors but didn't. I concentrated on the tailights in front of me and managed to keep them in sight for several miles but eventually lost them. Fortunately within another few miles I rounded a bend and saw the light. I pulled into the first scenic pullout I came to and parked. Kevin eventaully joined me and we dried out visors and continued. We covered a few miles on roads that were only damp but the rain soon started falling again. Our chosen route seemed to be taking us into worsening weather. We stoppped and decided on an alternative direction toward what looked like clearing skies but the dark clouds seemed to anticipate our evasive manouever and the rain was soon falling harder and we were getting damp. Kevin suggested we head into Mena and have some lunch. Halfway there the rainfall became a deluge! I was wet and miserable. I was almost out of gas by now and had no choice but to continue to town. We took shelter at a gas station and ate a gas station lunch. Gradually the rain slowed and we headed back to the lodge to dry our gear all over again! There was a note on my door from Matt, he had arrived while we were out and was also quite damp and drying out his gear. We spent the rest of the day socializing in the lobby and plotting a ride up into north Arkansas on Sunday hoping to salvage the weekend.

The banquet proved to be delicious and the food plentiful. After the meal we had more good times socializing and as we went to bed we had high hopes of getting in some good dry riding. To our delight, the sky was clear and bright when day broke, alas, our joy was short lived. A quick look at the radar showed the outlook was even worse than the previous two days with multiple large patches of thunderstorms hovering within striking distance of our planed route. The only dry option looked to be back home in Louisiana.Kevin and I, fed up with the rain, decided to head for home. Matt decided to go back to bed, since he was only 4 hours from home. And by the time we ate a light breakfast the fog was back! GRRRR!

The route home was essentially the reverse of our route out and was uneventful, and dry. Happily, most of the route was on good roads and in fact includes some of the best motorcyle roads that Louisiana has to offer.

The T-XX rally is one of our HSTA/MSTA traditions and a great one for Louisiana members with its close proximity. The Queen Wilhelmina Lodge is a really nice place to stay and there are many great roads in the vicinity. Bill and Becky do a great job putting the event on. I highly recommend this rally, as long as the weather is good!