Sunday July 12
Drove through Ozarks, and jumped on the TAT. The TAT portion was so worth it. It took me up into some mountains on mostly a dirt hill club with great views in a few spots through the trees, but I didn’t want to stop for pics. I got to a gate that said it was closed but I could fit my bike past, so I went on. I came up on a part that the trail had mostly disappeared and rode post it on a one foot wide section of dirt,the rest was washed down the mountain. It was about 95° and when I stopped for a quick pause, bugs appeared from nowhere in swarms, so no rest for me. I finally got to another gate closing it off from the other direction and bearly squeezed past it. I stalled in a precarious position where if I fell or slid, I would have been stuck. I started it back up and gunned it. The smell of clutch filled the air but I was through! Just a few feet later at a crossroad and not sure which way to go, I stopped and started swaying to the low side. I dropped the bike. I just did about 8 miles of hardcore, off road mountain pass trail riding without incident, and I dropped it at the end. I was sweating profusely and couldn’t pick the bike up, but I did record video of it, and removed the bags some of the bags. Then I lifted it up easily. I must have 100 lbs of crap on there! Rode a dirt and gravel road back down the mountain only to find the road I needed to be on, closed. I thought I would try to go through and on the closed route, saw a downed tree that I fit past and thought “that was it?”, drove 2 miles and saw a scene from a disaster movie. The

Is this why they closed the road?

road on the mountain was gone with huge trees that looked like a land slide covering it but there was no dirt or debris. There were some people on the other side of it looking back at me too. Guess

The real cause for closure

I can’t pass, turned back and the detour took hours to get not much farther. The roads in the Ozarks were awesome, twisty and fast, up and down. I highly suggest riding out there if you can, even if just on the roads. I finally got into Oklahoma and was surprised by how nice the terrain and scenery were. Stayed at a motel in Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dyas travel = 284 miles