Woke up to a cloudy day and it looked like rain. I quickly checked the radar on the web and no sign of rain anywhere. Good thing! I am ready for a ride. We have been trying to get a ride together for some time now and it looks like we will make it today. I am going to meet Blake and his wife Lynn, and Rob at the London store at 7:30 for our leaving point for the trip. We plan on going down 64 through Ozark and taking our first rest stop at Alma at McDonalds before going North on Hwy 71. At Hwy. 170 we will follow to Hwy 265 to the town of Strikler. At Strikler, we hope to get a view of SEFOR (Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor). From there to Fayetteville for lunch and the group will decide the roads back.
Meet up with everyone at 7:30 and we all gased up and talked a bit before taking off. I shure hope I can find SEFOR, because I have never been there and hope to get a view of this old reactor. We left a little before 8:00 and when we got to Clarksville it started raining. We stopped and put on our rain gear for the wet ride. "I thought it was going to be clear!" Lynn said. I did too! Oh well, we will truck on down the road. About a mile down the road it stopped raining! It figures! The temp was 69 degrees, so the rain gear felt OK in the cool air.
At Ozark we ran into some "chip -n- seal" gravel on the road and that sucked big time. This stuff is dangerous for motorcycle riders! It was on the best part of Hwy. 64 and we had to go slow. After about 10 miles of the stuff it was back to regular pavement. WooHoo! I was glad of that! We arrived at our first rest stop at Alma. Time for some breakfast at McDonalds, "I'm Loving It!" as they say there. After a little breakfast it was time for the ride up Hwy. 71 to find SECOR. Hwy. 71 used to be the only way up to Fayetteville. Now with I-540 open, most of the traffic goes up the interstate. Now the good news is that there is not much traffic on 71 and it is great for motorcycles.
We found Hwy 170 and took off there through the rual countryside. Some nice views and the road was old, but in good shape. No sholders, so you have to be a little carefull on the rode. After several miles down the road we pulled over and I wanted to see if Blake's GPS knew where we were. Nope, not on the map. But we decide to keep going till we found 265. We found 265 and a mile or so down the road was what we was looking for, SEFOR.
Sign at the gate to SEFOR.
SEFOR stands for Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor and it was built in the 60's to do some testing. It was built by the DOE and funded by several countries as well as the US. It was built to run a test to see if the reactor would shut it's self down, or melt the core into the ground. In theory it was suposed to shut it's self down, but it had never been tried and the DOE as well as others had an intrest in the outcome of this reactor. The reactor did what it was suposed to and there was no China Syndrome!
SEFOR in the background.
The bikes at the gate to SEFOR.
A view of SEFOR from the old information center.
After taking a few snap shots of the place, it was off to Fayetteville. Scooter girl was in the lead and wanted to go to the Honda shop to do a little looking around. Hwy 265 was a great ride and the curves are great. You should ride this road it it nice. We arrived at the Honda shop and Rob decided it was time for a new front tire. They had time to do it and he saved some money! What a deal! Rob rode Lynn's scooter and Blake and Lynn rode 2 up and we went to Applebee's for lunch. A great lunch and I was really full. They have great food there. Back to the Honda Shop to pick up the bike and off back on our journey.
Lynn picked out a route that would take us down through some great roads and end up at Fallsville, where we would take Hwy. 21 back to Clarksville. It was a great ride with lots of curves and hills. I was having some trouble with my front tire not wanting to grip, so I fell a little behind the rest of the group. They slowed down for me and I thought that was great. I hate going on group rides and everyone leaves ya. Not all riders ride at the same level. I am a little cautious and take the curves a little slow. Hey, that's OK! I am OK with it. I am out for the ride.
Group at rest stop. Me, Rob, Blake, Lynn "scooter girl".
it was a fun trip and hope to do the ride again. I hope to contact the UofA and see if we can get a little closer for a pic.
-mark
