Joe:
Sorry to hear of your friend's passing. It can be tough.
I did Harley's from about Nov of 2007 to sometime in 2011-12. Wife would ride along with me. Favorite was the hot rod Deuce I had. Alas, she could ride but about 150-200 miles behind me on that thing, and that was with a high-dollar "Sundowner" seat installed. I used to do road trips on the Deuce and enjoyed them a bunch. Here's a pic of it out in AZ I snapped:
However, I began to feel guilty having all the fun, so I asked if she'd like for me to trade in the Deuce and get an Ultra that had a much more comfortable passenger arrangement. She jumped at it. She made many a weekend trips behind me on the Ultra, and a big road trip to Colorado and back in the spring of 2011. She got the full spectrum on that ride! Hottest temps she rode through was over 100 degrees, coldest was the morning we left Silverton: 19 degrees! However, she was a trooper. Here's a pic of her and the Ultra after leaving Silverton (we're in Ridgway here) after it warmed up to near 50 degrees.
However, my life long love affair with the dirt bikes (and her like of it, too) won out. We began to trailer our street legal dirt bikes to Colorado and ride them instead making the trip on the Harley. SO, I sold the Ultra. She loves riding out in the mountains on her bikes. Here she is at a lunch stop this past November. That's her '73 Yamaha AT3 125 she purchased so she'd have a vintage tiddler (small bore) bike to ride with me when I ride one of my vintage tiddlers. (That's my '72 DKW GS125 on the right.)
HOWEVER, I digress. Back to the topic at hand...
Foot Sore & Weary:
Only ran about 2 miles in Arkansas, nowhere near the Ozarks. However, it was an interesting railroad in its own right. Nothing operable remains of the FS&W except a short stretch of industry track on the Fort Smith RR in Fort Smith.
Tom:
Thanks for your kind words. I'm glad you find an interest in what I'm concocting. I shall endeavor to keep this thread updated more often than I did in the recent past.
The MV was a neat little line. Really did run from nowhere (Excelsior, AR) to almost somewhere. It took a huge hit with the fading of the coal industry, for I think a lot of its income came from the Coal Belt of western AR/eastern OK.
Speaking of lines that were abandoned in my region, the empty roadbed that pains me the most is the loss of the Rock Island through eastern OK/western AR. I really miss that line.
All fer now!
Andre
