The alarm on my watch woke me somewhere around 6 AM. I wasn't in any particular hurry to hit the road this morning, being that I didn't have any firm plans for a riding route or any time schedule I had to follow. I had slept reasonably well during the night, being woken up occasionally by traffic on the nearby highway or the sheer discomfort of an air mattress.
As mentioned previously in recounting of this odyssey, I was in training for a half-marathon. I had adjusted my training schedule so that I didn't have to run any unusually long distances while I was in Arkansas, but I did have to run a couple of times. This particular morning I was scheduled to run 5.6 miles.
After getting dressed for my workout and a stretching session, I embarked on my run. The first thing I noted when I hit the highway was that I had to hit the highway; there were no other available roads or sidewalks on which to run. I headed towards town which at least meant the speed of the traffic with which I was sharing the pavement would be going slower rather than if I were to head out further from town.
I used proper pedestrian procedures and ran on the left side, facing traffic. I suppose this is so if I do get hit by a car and miraculously survive, I might be able to identify the driver. This is assuming that I don't have brain damage.
As a "bonus" to no having sidewalks, there are also no shoulders on the roads in Arkansas. This meant that I was sharing the already narrow lanes with vehicles whose drivers for all appearances have never seen somebody out for a run. As cars went by they didn't budge an inch, passing uncomfortably close to me. I will give them this: everyone seemed friendly. They usually smiled and waved when their mirrors grazed the hairs on my arm as they went by.
The terrain in this portion of Arkansas was much hillier than that to which I was used back in Sioux Falls. There weren't any long hills, but I was either going up or down the whole time. It made for a slightly more tiring run than that to which I was normally used. Thankfully the heat and humidity weren't yet overbearing.
About 1/4 into my run, a car slowly went by. As it passed, suddenly a dog stuck its head out of the passenger side window and started barking. This wouldn't normally be noteworthy, except for the fact that this little dog had the loudest bark I have ever heard. It was loud enough to startle me even though I saw the dog a moment before it went nuts. I can't imagine how loud it was from inside the car. After I reached the halfway point of my run and turned around to head back, here came the car again. The dog was just as loud as the first time.
Back at the campground I stretched out again, then went and showered off. For some reason I never feel extremely clean after showering at campgrounds. Regardless, I definitely felt cleaner than I was prior to showering off.
I packed the bike for the day, which didn't take long as I was returning to my campsite that evening. I left my tent and bags behind with the hope that they would still be there when I returned. To date I've never had a problem with people stealing my camping gear so it didn't weigh heavily on my mind.
I decided to grab some breakfast before I hit the road. I had several options available to me, but I decided to return to the same place where I had breakfast three years before: Pancakes Family Restaurant. They have a breakfast buffet that, while not overly remarkable, is reasonably priced and allowed me to get good and full for the day's ride. As I ate I read my book and drank a pot of coffee.
Once it was time to hit the road, I decided to take some interesting looking roads over to Mountain View, AR where there is an Ozark Folk Center. I figured I would look around the folk center for a while and then return home in the afternoon via a different route. I had been to Mountain View on a family vacation in the summer of 1984 and was interested in seeing what had changed in the last 27 years.
The day was sunny and beautiful. I headed east on highway 62 for a spell enjoying the sites and the freedom of a Sunday morning with no schedule and no firm need to be anywhere by a specific time. I would stop and snap pictures as I was able but as I have previously mentioned, with no shoulders the roads in Arkansas aren't conducive to pulling over and getting a snapshot. At least not without risking life and limb.
Highway 62 got bigger and busier as I headed east of Alpena. A few miles further on I came to the intersection of highway 65 where I turned and headed north. This was a busy four-lane divided highway and wasn't what I had in mind for a leisurely ride, so a few miles up the road I turned east on Tower Road which took me into Omaha, AR. This Omaha was a much, much smaller Omaha than the one I was used to visiting in Nebraska.
Tower Road ended in Omaha where it intersected at highway 14. At this point I followed 14 for quite a while. Much to my pleasure I discovered highway 14 is a hidden gem of a road. There was very little traffic. The road was twisty, hilly and scenic. This was the kind of road that bikers long to find on a leisurely Sunday. I only wish it wasn't 750 miles from my house so I could ride it more often.
Eventually I found my way back down to highway 62 and continued east into Mountain Home (not to be confused with Mountain View where the folk center was located.) I was due for a gas stop, so I found a station and filled up. I took the opportunity to use the restroom and slather myself with sunscreen. Looking at a few spots on my skin I realized I should have pulled over sooner in the morning to apply a layer. Oops.
I grabbed a root beer to go, and headed back out this time going south on highway 201 until I came to highway 341: the Arkansas Dragon. I had ridden this road on my last trip to Arkansas, albeit from the other direction. It was a great road and I decided I wanted to ride it again, but to mix it up I'd start on the north end and head south.
As I turned onto the Dragon, I immediately found myself behind a red Dodge pickup. This wouldn't normally be a cause for concern except that this pickup was tooling along at about 30 mph and most of the Dragon has a solid double center line (no passing). I thought about ignoring the no-passing zone law and going around the truck, but didn't feel good about doing that. When I ride I try to do so realizing that whether I like it or not, I am an ambassador for the motorcycle community. This doesn't mean I'm some sort of angel or that I never screw-up, but blatantly ignoring laws doesn't do much to help our image. The proper thing to do was to reluctantly slow down and wait for an opportunity to safely and legally pass.
As I waited for said opportunity I got to witness one of the cooler things I've seen: seemingly out of nowhere a giant eagle swooped down and smashed onto the roof of the red Dodge and then took off. I heard the impact over the noise of my engine and the wind, so I know it must have hit pretty hard. The only thing I can guess is that the eagle was coming in to snag some prey when the truck drove in front of its path. The eagle didn't seem to be hurt and the truck didn't stop so I guess neither of them suffered too much damage.
Shortly after the eagle strike the truck turned and I found myself with nothing in front of me but about 14 miles of mountain twisties. The road surface of the Dragon is in good shape and the lack of traffic means you can burn around the corners at a pretty good clip. After the Dodge, I only saw one other car and it was coming from the opposite direction. Another must-ride road if you're in the area.
Curiously enough, the Dodge wasn't the only vehicle to have interactions with animals that morning. As I was on the Dragon I had a bird strike my windshield which resulted in a shower of feathers and one very dead bird. A few miles further down the road I came around a corner and nearly ran over a large turtle in the middle of my lane. Luckily there wasn't any car approaching so I was able to stay tucked and swerve into the oncoming lane to avoid it. Had I hit that turtle I'm sure I would have had a new wrinkle in the story to share.
At the end of the Dragon I was back on highway 14 heading east and then I took highway 82 south into Mountain View. On this stretch I was starting to become pretty weary. My butt hurt, my legs hurt, my arms hurt and the heat was adding to my discomfort. I was looking forward to getting into town and taking a break for a while. I'd come about 200 miles since I left earlier that day.
I rode through town trying to see if any sights triggered my memories from my previous visit nearly three decades before. I didn't see too many things that looked familiar, other than there were a lot fewer trees than in my memory.
On the east side of town I came across the motel where we stayed for two nights way back when. I rode through the parking lot and stopped to take a picture of the sign, which probably doesn't mean anything to anyone but me. The pool in the center of the lot was still there and I can recall my brother and me going swimming a few times during our stay. My most vivid memory of our stay in this motel was sitting on the bed watching TV when I decided to lean back against the wall. Unfortunately, the wall was about 2 feet from the bed which caused me to somersault backwards into the space. My father was nearby and saw me starting to go over. He leaped across the bed in an attempt to stop my plummet, but was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, my brother thought both of these actions were hilarious.
I continued riding back through town and headed to the north side where the Ozark Folk Center was located. On my way there I passed a shop where you could buy hand-made dulcimers. Unfortunately it was closed. I would have liked to have looked around in that shop.
Another mile or so down the road I got to the folk center. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed it was nearly vacant of vehicles which wasn't a good sign. I parked up near the "general store" where one would buy tickets to go into the folk center if there was anyone inside the building selling tickets. A sign on the side of the building listed the hours of operation and sure enough, it was closed on Sunday.
My body was really starting to complain and the heat was making me uncomfortable. I decided I needed to sit and rest for a spell even if there wasn't anything there to see. I found a bench on the porch in the shade and polished off the last few sips of my root beer which by now was very warm. I relaxed for maybe 10 minutes or so, but the heat wasn't making it very comfortable.
As I sat and looked out across the parking lot, there was some sort of attraction that was open for business and had a few cars parked nearby. I lumbered across the pavement and discovered there was a ropes course that you could pay to use. For the uninitiated, ropes courses are like obstacle course in the air. Ropes are strung from tree to tree and people much more daring than I go out and hang on these ropes in order to traverse their way through the course. I don't do heights, so I just sat and watched others. I also took some video as I figured my son would be intrigued.
I decided to head back into town and find somewhere air conditioned where I could get a drink and sit for a while longer. I made a final tour of the folk center, which included one of the steepest hills I've ever ridden my bike on; thankfully it was only about 50 feet long.
Back in town I looked for somewhere to stop and grab a snack. There wasn't a whole lot that looked appealing to me (mainly due to the heat-induced malaise) so I finally settled on a McDonalds. A strawberry shake sounded pretty tasty at this point.
I went in, and before I ordered I decided I needed to use the restroom. Normally restroom breaks are mostly un-notable. This one however was very memorable due to this old guy standing at a urinal, which also is not something of which I normally take notice. What caught my eye was the bright orange color of his urine. I don't normally make it a point to stare at other people when they're relieving themselves, but this caught my eye like a hunter's safety vest in the woods. Seriously, it looked like the guy was peeing Tang. I made a mental note to say a prayer for the man because you can't have anything that color coming out of you and be healthy.
After taking care of my business, which thankfully didn't look like Tang, I made my way to the counter and placed an order for a strawberry shake. Once again the fast-food shake machine curse struck. I already ranted about shake machines last year on my trip to Wisconsin so I will spare you the repeat. Let's just say given my mood at the time I was really disappointed. Quickly searching the menu for a replacement beverage, I settled on one of the fruit smoothies advertised on the menu board.
I sat for a while in the cool comfort and drank my smoothie. The smoothie itself was rather bland. It certainly wasn't as satisfying as a strawberry shake would have been. I refilled my water bottle at the drink machine and ignored the numerous warning signs posted that only McDonalds drink containers are allowed. I decided that since I traded the shake I wanted for a sub-par smoothie, the least they could do was allow me to fill up my water.
A quick stop back in the restroom to re-apply sunscreen and I was back on the road. I decided to take a different route back to Eureka Springs rather than just re-tracing my steps. I headed west out of Mountain View towards Marshall. I found myself behind an extremely slow moving pickup truck for about 10 miles. This guy was doing about 30 in a 55, however the curves in the road made it impossible for me to pass.
At long last the pickup pulled into a driveway and I could resume normal speed. This was a relief for two reasons. First, this is Arkansas and it's a lot more fun to ride the twisties when you're going fast enough to need to lean the bike. The second reason was I had nearly 200 miles to travel back to Eureka Springs, and my body was already quite weary. I was still enjoying riding, but I was wishing I could do it with a lot less pain. I guess maybe I'm just getting old.
As I rode along and took in the scenery, I hit what may have been the juiciest bug encountered in my 17 or so years of motorcycling. I have no idea what kind of bug it was as I had very little time to analyze it before the creature became a smear across the front of my bike. Whatever it was it had enough innards to fill a small water balloon.
The hundred mile stretch between Mountain View and Jaspar was nice, but not as scenic as the roads from Omaha to Mountain View earlier in the day. Rather than tree-riddled twisty mountains it was mostly gentle curves across rolling hills. Don't get me wrong it's not that it wasn't good riding (especially when compared to South Dakota) it was just a little duller than what I had experienced earlier in the day.
When I reached Jaspar around 4 PM, I didn't need gas but I did need a stop. I pulled in to a gas station on the edge of town and spent a few minutes stretching and using the restroom. I purchased a root beer and a snack. With the huge breakfast I had that morning at Pancakes, I hadn't felt a need to have an official lunch. Now in the late afternoon I was getting hungry. Rather than trying to fill up at a convenience store I decided to just munch a little and save my hunger for a big supper back in Eureka Springs.
As I stood outside enjoying my snack there were two other bikers talking. As often happens when bikers are around each other, somebody asks "where you from?" or "where you headed?" or some other similar pleasantry. Within minutes we were comparing notes and swapping stories. They were from the area a little south of Jaspar and were returning from the Sturgis rally in South Dakota.
We compared notes for a few minutes when suddenly I was attacked by a bee with an attitude. This thing would not leave me alone. At first I thought it was my root beer, so I went over and put my bottle on my bike. When I returned the bee followed me. After a minute of me and the other bikers trying to shoo it away, I conceded defeat and got on my bike to leave. I think the bee chased me down the highway before I finally lost it.
Heading west out of Jaspar the roads got a lot more interesting. The area became more mountainous and tree-lined, similar to what I had ridden through earlier that morning. I was feeling a little fresher from my short break, so for a while I was quite content riding the curves and enjoying the day even though I was getting pretty hungry.
One thing Arkansas does very well is highway maintenance. Every road I was on was in great shape. Perhaps it's made easier by the lack of any real winter. In South Dakota, three months of sub-zero temps book-ended on either side with three months of daily freeze-thaw cycles will make a brand new road a pot holed mess within a year.
Another thing Arkansas does well is marking the curves and the recommended speed which allows you to compare how sharp the upcoming curve might be. This is a common thing to see in most states, however in Arkansas it is done with amazing consistency. Some states will mark some curves and not others. At other times the recommended speed will be a random number that has no real relation to the curve. Not in Arkansas. I found that by watching the signs I could easily maintain the recommended speed plus 10 mph. At 15 mph over I was starting to lean fairly aggressively. At 20 mph over I was scraping my floorboards and it was time to back off. Lots of fun.
As it was approaching early evening I became more and more wary of the presence of deer. They were starting to become active which meant that I had to keep my eyes peeled. I did see a few on the rest of my ride that evening.
At one point I stopped to snap a picture when I heard a noise. About 200 yards behind was a small shack and streaking towards me was a pit bull in full-on attack. I wasted no time stashing my camera and raising up my kick stand. I was just starting to take off when the dog got to my leg. Thankfully I had enough speed that the dog couldn't latch on to me. I continued to accelerate and after another 100 yards or so the dog gave up chase. Fido must have thought I was a Revenuer.
Eventually I reached Huntsville and started to head north towards Eureka Springs. I was really starving hungry at this point and wanted nothing more than to get off the bike and have a huge meal, preferably in some air conditioning. Finally at around 6 PM I pulled into town, weary and achy. I started looking for a good place to eat. For some reason I was craving a steak so when I finally came across the Rowdy Beaver bar and grill I decided to stop.
I went in and was seated. The waitress took my order and then I went to the restroom and washed up. The place wasn't very busy which I liked. They had the music on full blast which I didn't. I snarfed up a huge salad and a bowl of soup from the salad bar. My steak and potato came and I snarfed them down too. I'd rate the steak about a five on a ten scale. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything to write home about either. So instead of writing home I guess I'm writing on the internet about it.
After supper I decided that as long as I was on the west side of Eureka Springs, I should investigate a tower I saw on the way into town the previous night. I rode about a mile further down and found it. It was an old fire lookout tower that had been converted into a tourist attraction. For a dollar I could climb the tower and take in the view. As I've mentioned several times before, I don't like heights. At all. I decided they would have to pay me a hundred dollars to climb the thing, and even then I probably wouldn't do it. I settled for snapping some pictures of the tower itself.
I then decided to explore the downtown area of Eureka Springs. This lay just north of the main highway and is nestled down in a valley. As I slowly rode down the hill I stopped suddenly. There was a deer standing less than 10 feet from where I stood. Obviously this animal was very used to people as it pretty much ignored me.
I fumbled for my camera, but it scampered off before I could get a good picture. I then continued down the street exploring. There were some hotels and restaurants along with some residential housing.
I rode until it looked like I was heading out of town, then I turned around and rode the other direction back through the area. As I reached the south side of downtown the deer was back. I slowed to try and get a picture, but there were cars behind me who didn't seem too pleased with how slow I'd been riding through downtown. I bagged the idea of taking a snapshot and kept on riding.
I headed back to my camp site on the east end of town, stopping to fill up the gas tank so I wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning. I was happy to find my tent and all belongings still there (not that I'd expected any different.)
For some reason the pool was locked. I'd brought my swim suit just in case. A swim would have felt nice but I wasn't looking forward to it so much that it was a great disappointment to not be able to go. There was a little bit of daylight left so I grabbed my books and a flashlight and found a chair swing. I relaxed and read until the light got too dim to read without my flashlight.
I spent a few minutes calling home and checking in with my wife and son until my phone battery started beeping. That was weird. I had just charged it the night before I left town. Usually I get around two weeks out of a charge. This time around I only got two days. I hadn't anticipated needing any electricity on my trip, so my tent site didn't have an electrical hookup. I was going to have to figure out a way to charge my phone, as I didn't want to go two more days without it. I added that chore to my list of things to do the next day.
I read for a few more minutes, moving from the chair swing to an Adirondack chair up by the office where there was a light. Finally I decided to call it a night and went back to my tent. Thankfully the mattress hadn't lost any air during the day, so I didn't have to blow it up via lung power a second time.
The cicadas were audible, but not nearly as loud as the previous night. I drifted off to sleep and slept OK. I woke up a few times during the night but was able to go back to sleep without too much trouble.
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This page last updated on 06/28/2018