Eureka!

As a graduation gift, I took my wife to Eureka Springs, AR. We took the scoot. The road to Eureka is infamous for it's hills and curves and is a popular biker destination.


I detached the trunk on the BV and ratchet strapped the dog carrier down. The strap being rated at 1500 pounds, I thought we were playing it safe using it to secure a ten pound dog. I bungee cabled our overnight bag to the top of the pet taxi.

About five miles into the trip and at 55 mph, we see the whole shooting match go rolling off the back. I quickly decelerated and had the wife get off the bike. I spun the 250 around and ran it up on the carrier. We pulled everything off to the shoulder and opened the pet door. The dog came out wagging his tail as if nothing had happened!

So, what did happen? After I checked the dog's eyes/ears/nose/mouth for blood and his body for tender spots and found him okay, I found the brand new ratchet strap broken in two. I was having trouble swallowing a simple break in this situation. A couple days later, I realized I had threaded the strap inside the carrier for more stability. The dog may have been digging at it and a small nick under pressure may have caused the failure.

Now we were roadside without a strap to put everything back on the bike. Fortunately we had put the dog in his harness for shorter rides once we were in Eureka. The harness clips to a jacket strap and the dog gets zipped up into my wife's coat.

So, we stowed the pet carrier behind a tree just outside Pea Ridge National Park and came back for it a few days later. While we were hiding the box, a car comes creeping up what could very well be his own driveway and rolls down his window to talk to us. He introduces his lap dog - Moxy, a King Charles Cavalier. The dogs meet and he drives on, unaware or without care to what we were doing.

The rest of the trip was a blast. We stayed in a jacuzzi suite, ate authentic italian, and visited all our favorite hot spots. Eureka is a town known for it's eccentricity and we caught some of it in the midtown park that featured live music and chinese acrobats.

The curvy, hilly roads make for great riding and the downtown area is perfect for scooting, but unlike most areas that offer preferred parking for bikes, Eureka charges everyone for parking. In fact, we paid more for parking than we did in fuel!

The health food store clerk gave us a tip for the ride home that led us over Beaver Dam, seen in the picture above. All in all, a great trip and we can't wait to take the next one!

My wife took the dog to the vet and he's okay.