Steel Horse Rally 2022

 Just wrote about this here on my personal blog >> SHR '22   This my CVMA 'version' of it.

My third time here, second time for the CVMA.  Ft Smith has a local Chapter (7-3) that I've run into a few times.  Last year I saw they were having a dinner Downton that Thursday night so headed over there. While there, pretty much the majority of 7-3 was there, also a lot of folks in from Mississippi (44-2) and a quite a few from Texas (23-11 and 23-11A).  To my surprise, due to all the folks rolling in, they made it a sanctioned event ... score!  Well, due to this I pushed to 23-11 to try and get a lot of folks to roll in this year.  As it'd turn out, less than a dozen of us would make it there.  I don't know if it not being sanctioned had anything to do with that, but for those of us that did ride up there together from 23-11, it was a blast.

I wanted to ride the area on the day the Rally started so myself, Chief, Rocky and Boudreaux mounted up and rode that Thursday.  Chief's wife Kathy would ride up on his trike, while Snoopy, Lucy and Nance' would cage it up together.  We got lucky and stayed dry pretty much the entire ride, with crazy weather threatening all who rode to the Rally.  MS 44-2 would roll in with a contingent and as luck would have it, we were all at the same hotel; Wyndham.  Oklahoma was having their State Meeting in OK City that Saturday so a few of us had discussed heading up there, but we'll be there for Regionals in the fall (Norman) so most of us decided not to head that way. As it turns out, 44-2 was going to head to Little Rock for 7-5's Sanctioned Poker Run, so we opted in for an early Saturday morning ride.  Come 0630 we jump on the bikes to feel up with gas and we've got nine bikes rolling west on I-40 at a high rate of speed to make up some time.   Moving along at 88mph avg speed, we are soon south of Little Rock and swiping in, and dropping funds for their event.  Under normal circumstances, we'd have spent the whole day there with the two chapters (two diff' events in the area) but we've got hotel rooms and spouses back in Ft Smith, so after a few beers we do quick turn n burn, back west.  Few hours later, we've got the bikes parked at the hotel, me personally I'm shedding my leather and jeans for shorts and a Skully tee,  and crossing the street in search of our ladies pounding cold ones on a balcony over looking main street.  The Steel Horse Rally is only a 2 dayer, so we're headed back on Sunday, about 240 miles to our starting point. 

The weather was a lil ugly on Thursday, but this weekend was beautiful.  The ride home, 70s and 80s, and hitting low 90s when we get into Texas without a single cloud in the sky. Next year, Steel Horse is on my calendar, but I think I'll lock in for the 3rd annual APR ride with 7-1. And if 7-5 is doing another Poker Run that weekend, maybe both?