IIRA Reunion / Steve Smith Memorial Ride

2020 .. what a mess, huh? The IIRA Reunion was scheduled for last month in Lebanon, MO but due to all the Wuhan Virus crap .... got pushed out six weeks. Donnie Donihue had put together a memorial ride for Longrider and a few dozen of us were rolling in for it so the IIRA moved the location of the reunion to Russellville to coincide. Works for me.

As the date gets closer, I've got the itch to just jump on the bike and head out. Brother Dick is on a relaxed schedule as he enjoys retirement, so he came down to Arkansas few days prior to hang out in Hot Springs with Donnie. Others from MN are rolling into Russellville. Frankie has rolled up from here in Greenville well in advance to Hot Springs. And here I sat .. waiting. To make things worse, the weather is screwing with us mid week. So the question becomes... ride or trailer? I've been planning ... looking forward .. to the ride, but mother nature has me rethinking it. Original plan was to ride, Holly flies in from MN, Lucy picks her up and they meet me in Russellville on Thursday.. but.. what to do. Trailer and drive up with the girls or .. 0400 hours on Wed, have a five hour window to stay mostly dry . Looks like I'm riding!

Lets ride!

Someway, somehow .. .I stay dry. As I hit the Oklahoma border its starting to sprinkle, but never hard enough for me to don the rain gear. I'm taking a 2 lane country road path to AR, so I'm pushing my luck a lil with the weather. As I got within 30 miles of my destination, same thing. But by noon, I'm parked, checking in and... dry! Pull into the Marriott and a few are on hand. Rain is coming, bikes are covered so inside I go to find my brothers .. .and ... cold one or two

Marriott Courtyard

The Reunion has officially been going on for a few days. Folks have been riding the area with some awesome weather to boot. But for now, I'm here to do some visiting and catch up with old friends and they continue to roll in this day and the next. Hell, I'm not really here for the 'reunion' since I'd made plans months before to roll in for the weekend specifically for the Steve Smith Memorial ride on Saturday. Everything else is just icing on the cake for me. Turns out as the whole event got closer and closer, folks continued to cancel for personal reasons. When the smoke would clear after the entire week, the vast majority of us here, were here for the Saturday ride. Still, for me .. it's about friends and family. Stump has positioned his smoker/grill in the back area. This is the same hotel we used last year when Steve passed, so I'm already familiar with the great outdoor area in the back. Donnie has a cooler filled to the brim with cold ones. Brother Dick is all smiles as we catch up. Davis's roll in from Fayetteville. Rob Gregory is on hand. Steve Smith's family is in the house. Day one is here!

Thursday is upon us. Few have been here all week. For me, it's my first day or riding. But Lucy and Holly are rolling in from Texas this morning so a few of us grab some breakfast and hold on until they get there. A large group of about 20 bikes has headed up to Jasper on Hwy 7. Soon as the girls get there, we load up and head up as well, about 90 minutes behinds the rest. Surprisingly, they have just

ordered lunch as we find some chairs at the restaurant. Wish I'd gotten that pic of the bikes out front; beautiful sight. Hour or so later, we'd all be heading south back down Hwy 21, paralleling Hwy 7. These roads are some of the best in the country and they aren't disappointing today. Hour later , we're back at the hotel, bikes everywhere, and taking over the entire outside area in the back again. Stump soon has that smoker fired up, coolers come up and ... lets do it again!

Took over the front of the Hotel

Friday is here and a large group are headed out to ride. Another smaller group would head out an hour or so later. Myself and a few hours, walked out in shorts and flip flops, headed to breakfast! We'd been watching the weather report, had a few blood marys and decided in our infinite wisdom, to go back to Cracker Barrel for a good breakfast a 2nd day in a row, and ... just hang out. We had a great time catching up, relaxing out back .... but stayed dry until early afternoon. As we came in from outdoors due to a shower, bikes began to roll in. Their luck hadn't been so good a few times during the day! Suddenly, our decision to hang back didn't seem so bad! Few had gotten soaked! Made for some great stories in the evening when folks dried off, and we all eventually made it outside for more grub off the smoker and time together out back.

Saturday is here and it's the 'big day' so to speak. The reason we are all in Russelville. Late morning we line up and head out to Plainview with 30+ bikes to pay our respects to Longrider. From there, we go a few miles down the road to Pam's for a Bloody Mary (Longriders' fav) toast for Steve, some more visiting .. then.... a nice ride up to Mount Magazine, the tallest mountain in all of Arkansas. I've always enjoyed this ride, having done it many times over the last 11 years. Nice sweeping turns, sharp turns, switchbacks all the way up. Then after a nice meal at the Lodge at the top (we took over the whole thing!), we head back down the mountain on the North side, to more of the great riding, all the way back to Russelville. The day was a success with great riding, fellowship and memories of Longrider. Hell, the whole week was. Have to admit, this night was a lil' more calm that previous ones. Many of us had kicked up hard night after night. Soon.... it's Sunday.

Time to roll! Load up the Porsche for the girls, straddle up on the bikes and we're headed home! Davis's had departed last night, Holly and Lucy and in the Porsche, Brother Dick, Boots and myself are on the bikes headed home the 'long way' via 2 lanes and curves. Mother Nature is looking down favorably on us today with cooler temps (80s) and nothing but sunshine. About 5.5 hours later ....we're home. Another IIRA annual week in the books. Soon, the planning for 2021 starts. I've got an inkling, Sturgis SD will be the destination. It's come up several times in the past. Lets see how this plays out.....

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