991 miles in 36 hours.

Deciding to go to Arkansas alone on my motorcycle is tough. I worry a little about how I will deal with mishaps or mechanical problems without my crew there to “save my life” as Neal so elegantly puts it. But I do it from time to time because I know that bumps in the road are part of the journey - better cherished if not avoided. I don’t know how much I “cherished” hitting that deer a year and a half ago, but such is life.

I left Kansas City early Saturday morning at around 6:30am. I was in Eureka Springs by 11am. I made great time, and from there I knew it was ALL TWISTIES for the rest of the day. I made my way down hwy-23 and took hwy-16 east. I hit some “side road attractions” along the way, including doing a pass up and down hwy-123. I stopped a guy on a Ducati for a “bear report” before making my run on hwy-123. No cops, but by that point the sky had become overcast and I knew there would be deer out. Sure enough, I saw 2 or 3 deer in the middle of the day. Same thing for hwy-16 as I was heading over to Marshall. But that forced me to stay off the gas in the straights and to be aggressively scanning for wildlife.

I made it to Mountain View by 5pm, which was my goal. I didn’t want to be riding at dusk. I checked into the Dogwood Motel, took a shower, and then headed out to Jack’s Resort for dinner. It was 6:30pm by then and still overcast and nearing dusk. But even with the deck stacked against me, I couldn’t help but hit hwy-9 since I was right there at the turn off. My cards showed 20, but... “Hit me again, dealer.” A nice fun pass up and down Nine before my dinner of pinto beans and hush puppies at Jack's.


I headed back into town after dinner and enjoyed some nice folk music down in the town square. Beautiful weather and it being a Saturday night meant there was a pretty good turnout for the music. I absolutely love the music scene there. The town gets good money for the festivals it holds and the Folk Center pumps a lot of that back into folk music classes for the kids in the community. It's great to see kids no bigger than a guitar playing the fiddle and playing it well. One highlight of the evening was getting to hear a rendition of Dolly Parton's "Mule Skinner Blues", a song I have liked for years.


Sunday was more of the same. I had breakfast in town and was on the road by 8:30am. I hit hwy-9 one more time on my way out of town. Then hwy-14 to Yellville (hitting Push Mountain Road along the way) and on to the ferry boat. I backtracked and enjoyed hwy-160 in Missouri because Neal and I had discovered in May how nice that road is. Then I hit hwy-125 three times before I called it quits. Hwy-125 is the last great road, so I had to make it last. Easily one of THE best roads in the area and hands-down the best road I have found in Missouri.

The last 160 or so miles is just pure slab. I called it the dentist's chair. You climb up in the chair and go to your happy place. You make small talk with a guy who has his fist in your mouth and you just try to get through it so you can go to work later and not break down crying. It's unpleasant but has to get done. I hate slab.

NOTEABLE: 991 miles in 36 hours. I referenced my map exactly ZERO times. That's how well I know those roads down there. Zero contact with law enforcement. It kicked all kinds of ass. I hit ALL the best roads: hwy9, hwy123, hwy341, hwy125 and a lot of other good ones in between. I had a little bit of a "body hangover" Monday morning, but this bender was worth it.