Bikers overflow campgrounds

Hotels not the only spots to accommodate motorcycle enthusiasts

By Adam Wallworth

Posted: September 27, 2009 at 10:02 a.m.

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LOWELL — They trickled in over four days, but most of the Bikes, Blues & BBQ revelers will be gone before noon today.

"They will evacuate," Jerry Patton, said of the campers that fill his South Gate RV Park, in south Fayetteville.

Patton said people didn't stop filing into the park even after the 50 hook-ups were taken. At least 10 more recreational vehicles were parked at the campground, even though they couldn't be hooked up to utilities, he said.

The crowd at the park increased by about 10 percentover last year, Patton said, a trend which has continued for the past four years. He said he doesn't have a tentcamping permit, so he's had to turn down about 500 calls by tent campers.

Choices in sleeping spots are as varied as the bikes that have been parked along the roads, in the lots and on fields throughout the city, which has been home to the motorcycle rally for 10 years. As the rally's appeal has increased and the hotels and motels fill up, more places have become needed for bikers to lay their heads.

The Washington County Fairgrounds has been such a place for the past three years.The grounds were covered with 179 RVs and another 135 tents, according to the count kept by volunteers for the Washington County Fair Board of Directors.

Natalie Bartholomew, a volunteer who also coordinates the fair's beauty pageant, said there seemed to be more campers than last year.

Bartholomew sat at the front gate with other volunteers, who were checking in a few late arrivals, selling ice and giving directions. An old blue toolbox served as a cash drawer, and wristbands identified paying customers, most who had left the camp for the day.

Barns that housed livestock over three weeks ago at the county fair, were filled with tents and motorcycles. RVs of all sizes were spread throughout the grounds.

Brandon McClanahan and a group of friends from Lebanon, Mo., were among the few campers still at the grounds Saturday afternoon.

Sitting around a picnic table, the group relaxed before another night on Dickson Street. He said the group, which has been friends since high school, uses the event as an excuse to get together.

"It's all about the camping," McClanahan said.

Tiffany Woody said the group is also less likely to get kicked out of the campground than a hotel, which drew a general agreement.

Woody said they did have one take-home lesson, which was to remember a towel when going to the shower, after one of the friends failed to do so the night before.

Just as some of the rallygoers drove their sleeping quarters and towed their bikes, some did the opposite.

At under seven hours, the 430-mile ride between Teague, Texas, and Fayetteville may as well be a trip to the grocery store for Mike Schwartz, who's made several runs to Alaska on his Honda Goldwing, towing a pop-up camper.

"This is the Cadillac of motorcycles," Schwartz said, of his Goldwing.

Fitted with a global positioning system device, integrated cell phone and satellite radio, Schwartz' bike is set up for the long haul. The bike also is one of the few that has a factory trailerhitch option, he said.

Schwartz isn't affiliated with any clubs, but does ride with the Iron Butt Association, which he said is a group of riders that take different kinds of long trips. He's ridden through 48 states in less than nine days and coast to coast in under 50 hours.

Schwartz and a group of seven friends camped at the Cow Patty Campground in West Fork.

Owner Patty Ashworth estimated about 800 people in the campground, and many of them came in Friday night.

Schwartz' said he rode in Wednesday and will ride out this morning. He said he plans to go home to his wife, who'll ride around home with him, but won't go on big trips.

"After 30 days of me being there, she wants to know when I'm leaving again," he said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 21, 24 on 09/27/2009

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