Stage 13: Arkadelphia, Arkansas to Nacogdoches, Texas.

Today was a bit of a blur with no real photos taken by Nikki or I, so I’ve stolen a few from other friends postings. This morning started off pretty chilly, and at a few points was downright cold. Mayor Byrd arranged for the Arkadelphia Police Department to provide an escort through the majority of the roads in town which was greatly appreciated. Once outside of the city limits we were again back into some beautiful two lane backroads for almost the entire trek out of Arkansas and into Texas.

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Lunch and hospitality was graciously provided by Texarkana Harley-Davidson, and we appreciate all of the people who showed up to support and visit with us. Following lunch we quickly shed our long sleeved sweaters and dove right into the heat of East Texas. All afternoon the ‘28 ran like a well oiled machine which, according to our clothes and just about everything else on the bike, it is. The afternoon held more great two lane roads, many of which I had never traveled on in the many years of living in this area.

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About 60 miles from the finish line in downtown Nacogdoches, the fuel tank on the ‘25 Indian Chief Shane is piloting began to leak from a split in the bottom side of the tank. As we got closer to the destination the small drips began to turn into outright pours. Shane attempted to use a bar of soap to temporarily plug the leak but was unsuccessful, so that effort turned into stuffing rags under the tank in order to make the last 20 miles in true Molotov cocktail fashion. With the time running out to make our check in time, I opened up the throttle on the ‘28 to let it eat up the pavement. We just barely made our time and are still maintaining a perfect score. Hopefully Shane is able to get some assistance in temporarily repairing the Indian’s fuel tank to last the next couple of days.

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Attached in photos are some other riders who didn’t have as much luck today; Rider 63 Eric Bahl’s 1915 Harley Davidson became a one wheeler today when the front fork failed. Luckily he was only pushing the bike onto the sweep truck trailer when the whole fork divorced itself from the frame. Six time veteran Cannonballer Shinya Kimura is dealing with some casting failures in the aluminum crank cases of his 1915 Hedstrom Indian which has competed in all Motorcycle Cannonball events from 2010 onward. Hopefully he is able to come up with another fix to continue onwards. Finally in the photos is the 1921 Harley Davidson being piloted by Rider 79 Jody Perewitz. From the appearance of things, both frame tabs for the engine mounts as well as one of the top motor mounts broke today. If there is one constant of the event, it’s that the Motorcycle Cannonball eats antique motorcycles and spits them right back out.

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Tonight was another night of regular maintenance on the ‘28, and everything seems to be holding together. Also got the chance to hang out with my best friend David Graham tonight as he met us following today’s finish. Tomorrow we trek further south to Victoria, Texas with another 280 mile course. The hot streak will undoubtedly continue as we make our way to the Mexican border.