Bringing this thread back from the depths of page 3...
Had a fun little run on the Trans America Trail through half of Arkansas this past weekend. My buddy in Nashville called me the middle of last week and said he was playing a casino gig in Roland, OK Saturday, which just happened to be a few miles from where the AR section of the TAT starts. He was planning on running it from the OK/AR border through MS back to TN and asked if I wanted to join him. He had just run the section from Corinth back to I-65 the weekend before and was ready to do more. I checked my calendar and didn't have anything pressing until Tuesday, so I was in. Not but a few hours later I get a text from @slacker24-7 that he's camping at my favorite spot on the Buffalo River riding with some Jeep guys. So I ask him if he wants to join us on the run, and wives be damned, he goes from one 5 day camping trip to riding with us.
So, my buddy Alex and I have been friends since high school and were roommates a couple of years in Oxford. He drove a '73 Bronco back then, a later a first-gen Discovery, so we did a bunch of stupid off road stuff back when I had my first 62. He more recently sold an all-original, uncut '76 Bronco, bought a Land Rover Santana 88 which he's about to sell, and just bought a 2017 Dodge Ram Rebel. It's still completely stock, but he was ready to stretch it's legs.
We also got our other high school/college buddy Ed to drive over from Memphis to meet us and make it a true reunion. I picked him up in Little Rock Sat. and we drove to Roland to watch the concert and crash at the Cherokee casino before hitting the trail earlyish Sunday. Alex has been a professional bass player/musical director for a bunch of country acts over the years and is currently in Mark Wills band (if you listened to country radio in the 90's/2000's you know who he is).
Sunday we meet up with Dave at the border and hit the trail. The first few miles is just a patchwork of gravel farm roads, but still pretty country. As we get closer to the Ozark Nat. Forest we start to hit some proper dirt and I get to see some cool areas I haven't explored before. The TAT was mapped out by a motorcycle guy as a coast to coast route that uses as little pavement as possible. Lots of motorcycle guys and mountain bikers use the route, but it's good for trucks, too. Nothing really challenging, but a great off pavement ride through beautiful country.
We had the added benefit of crazy-nice weather. It never got above 75 and we only had a few small showers the first day. We camped at a spot that Dave knew not far from the Mulberry River on Sunday night and got to enjoy steaks and a proper campfire in August. Monday we made it into more familiar territory for me as we cruised into Oark and headed east through the forest. The afternoon brought some more substantial rain, but by that time, we were getting out of the national forest and back onto more gravel farm and country roads. When we hit Hwy 65 around 5:00, we all split ways and headed home, except for Alex who stayed on the TAT for 2 more days. He finished AR, did the MS section, and back through TN. The 2 days we were all on the trail, we did over 250 miles, almost all on dirt. Alex probably tripled that.
My overall impression of the TAT is that it's a great idea...depending on where you are. Crisscrossing gravel roads gets a little old, so I'm guessing some sections would get pretty monotonous. I really want to do the western part from Colorado on through Oregon, and I'm curious about the route through east TN/western N.C.
Anyway, it was a fun couple of days, and I guess I'm hooked on the ozarks since this is my 4th trip there so far this year. Glad @slacker24-7 got to come join us and show us some fun spots we'd have missed along the way.
If you took the time to read all that you deserve some pics...