06/20/07 - The Ozark Mountains
For many years I have read about the beautiful Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas, specifically around the Eureka Springs area. On this day I finally got to live that dream, We met at the Shell Station in Trussville with a group of about 10 or 12 bikes at 6:30AM. The only snafu that morning was that the station itself was closed for some reason but we were still able to purchase gas with debit cards. We began our trip through Birmingham and though we hit a few traffic tie ups we were soon on 78 and headed northwest. The trip up was more or less uneventful. It was warm at times but for the most part it didn’t get too hot as long as we were moving. Our destination was Ironhorse Stables near Eureka Springs. We got delayed eating lunch so it was about an hour later than we expected getting to the Eureka Springs area. We arrived as the sun was setting and over the back side of this mountain was a beautiful orange sky that was so brilliant it was hard to believe, yet we couldn’t see much, later, we peaked that mountain just as the sun was half set over a distant peak, It was one of those moments you know you’ll remember the rest of your life. You could hear the Mormon tabernacle choir humming in the background. It was truly special. The next thirty minutes gave us 30 different views and colors of the same sunset. It was just getting dark when we rolled in.
Ironhorse is an old roadside hotel built in the 50’s. The proprietor bought it and refurbished it and dressed it up like an old western town. The rooms were very small but clean and relatively cheap. On site was a combo diner/pool hall/bar with a covered back porch where most people hung out. The staff consisted mostly of young attractive girls. They tended to hang out there a lot so I was never sure when they were working and not, A girl might wait a table, bring someone a beer, then minutes later be spotted in the pool hall playing pool, then later be just sitting around the fire ring. It did seem to be a fun place for them to work, but I assume their money came mainly from tips. They provided reasonable service but the cook who looked like a hoodlum was far from quick. But the food was good and reasonably priced. The owner and his wife welcomed everyone like family so it was a great place to stay. My only complaint about the room was the air conditioner sounded like a diesel engine and the shower was so small I submariner would have felt cramped. Apparently people were smaller and shorter in the 50’s as the shower head hit me square in the chest.
On day two Stan and Joy our ride coordinators had mapped out a beautiful day long ride through the Ozark mountains. The Ozarks in comparison to the Smokies aren’t as high, but the whole area is raised up, so the valley floor is well over a thousand feet above sea level and the peaks were in the range of 2200 or so feet. And they spanned hundreds and hundreds of square miles. Much of the North Western section of Arkansas is covered with them, the temps were perfect, ranging from 85 in the valley to 75 on the peaks. Everything was green as the rain Alabama hasn’t seen in months is falling daily in Arkansas yet the humidity was very low, Someone explain to me how its humid in Alabama even though it’s a drought and its dry in Arkansas with rain all the time. We saw many wonderful sights but Arkansas is more or less empty, we would ride sometimes 30 or 45 minutes and not see vehicle come in the opposite directions. At one point we came to a little town, it had a square with a few stores, it looked like it hadn’t changed much in 100 years. There was a small diner in one corner and we all went in there to eat lunch, there was one young girl running the place and a cook, she called her mother to help out when we came in, It didn’t look promising but it turned out great, the food was good and it was all ready very quickly. At the point of arrival we had two bikes running very low on gas, one local told us the next gas stop was over 20 miles, which was too far, but another old codger responded “Bull Shit, there’s one 7 miles from here” The old codger was right, it was right where he said it would be. We continued on till the evening as the sun set again on our second day and had another night of music and fire side enjoyment at Ironhorse.
On the third day the owner of Ironhorse took us on a short tour of the Eureka Springs Area. We finished up around 11AM at which point we split into two groups, one group went to tour some other local attraction and shop in Eureka while my group decided to make a run for the Kansas border which was just 90 short miles away. We headed northward through Missouri and when we came to the Kansas border decided to go to the nearest town for lunch. Kansas was pretty much as advertised, flat, looks like it does in the Wizard of Oz movie. The town was a dusty old town with an occasional boarded up building, We stopped at a small steak house, in there we found yet another young girl and a cook, they impressed us even more, They started me with a salad and before I finished I had my steak, loaded baked potato, corn, and free ice cream ready, and all for $7.50, and it was all excellent. We left the el-cheap-o-steak-o and went down the street a ways and took our picture by the sign entering Oklahoma, then headed back, we stopped in the town nearest the Arkansas border at a gas station, the gas station turned out to be a ruse, when you walked in it was the biggest liquor store I have ever seen. When my roomie David Gray walked in he was almost overcome with emotion, You have to know David Gray, he’s an old Viet Nam Veteran with more alcohol in his blood than white blood cells. After composing himself he soon emerged with a gallon size bottle of Hose Cuervo and an enormous grin. This place was a model of efficiency, they had 6 registers going and instead of bag boys, they had hand truck boys who would cart your cases to your car. After filling up with gas it began to rain so we put on rain suits and began what would become a 40 mile trek through pouring rain, some of the hills near Eureka were just downright scary when wet, and very much resembled paved versions of mountain roads through Bolivia. I was leading at this time and at one point a tractor trailer came too quickly around a curve, he jammed his breaks when he saw how sharp the curve was and partially jack knife’d the trailer, luckily it didn’t go all the way across or some of my party would have been screwed for sure. We got back to Ironhorse around dark again and soon began our nightly ritual of music and fire side activities.
On our fourth day we left Ironhorse and began a trek South through Arkansas. Most of this day we were on a famous motorcycle road highway 7 which runs through the state. There were many scenic vistas but south of Hot Springs it gets pretty uneventful. But not to be bored my bike decided to throw me a curve ball. I have a pair of custom risers which are the pieces that hold your handlebar to the front of the bike and allow you to steer, One of the four bolts holding this in place had sheered off earlier in the trip, I had hoped the three remaining would make it all the way home but after a weekend of heavy riding, a tiny little bump going over a bridge was the straw that broke it, I heard a ping noise and out popped the upper half of one the remaining bolts. The bars came loose at that point, but they were still on there enough to allow me to steer the bike to the roads edge. We checked the GPS to see the nearest shop and it was over 50 miles in the opposite direction we were headed. At this point I was wondering how I was going to get out of this as we were in the middle of a hundred miles of forest. Luckily one of my riding buddies had some duck tape and we proceeded to duck tape my handle bars to the frame. This actually worked amazingly well and got me all the way to Ruston Louisiana where we had reservations at the Comfort Inn. That night we all relaxed around the pool, Actually around the pool was a bad idea, it was better to be in the pool because they have mosquito’s the size of houseflies in Louisiana and they will drain you of blood if your not careful.
The next morning my duck tape job had begun to unravel so we remounted the handlebars using a number of large pipe clamps and a whole lot MORE duck tape. It looked pretty stupid but after 300+ miles of I-20 travel I rolled back into my driveway about 8:20 that evening. All totaled the trip was 1921 miles, less than a hundred short of my record of 2000 miles set 4 or 5 years back. The trip also included my most western penetration on a motorcycle just beating my trip to the Oklahoma border 6 or 7 years back. The Ozark mountains were different from the smokies but have a unique beauty that was well worth the trip. I could go back tomorrow and I’m quite certain I would find many more things to see. I will never forget this trip.
Ironhorse is an old roadside hotel built in the 50’s. The proprietor bought it and refurbished it and dressed it up like an old western town. The rooms were very small but clean and relatively cheap. On site was a combo diner/pool hall/bar with a covered back porch where most people hung out. The staff consisted mostly of young attractive girls. They tended to hang out there a lot so I was never sure when they were working and not, A girl might wait a table, bring someone a beer, then minutes later be spotted in the pool hall playing pool, then later be just sitting around the fire ring. It did seem to be a fun place for them to work, but I assume their money came mainly from tips. They provided reasonable service but the cook who looked like a hoodlum was far from quick. But the food was good and reasonably priced. The owner and his wife welcomed everyone like family so it was a great place to stay. My only complaint about the room was the air conditioner sounded like a diesel engine and the shower was so small I submariner would have felt cramped. Apparently people were smaller and shorter in the 50’s as the shower head hit me square in the chest.
On day two Stan and Joy our ride coordinators had mapped out a beautiful day long ride through the Ozark mountains. The Ozarks in comparison to the Smokies aren’t as high, but the whole area is raised up, so the valley floor is well over a thousand feet above sea level and the peaks were in the range of 2200 or so feet. And they spanned hundreds and hundreds of square miles. Much of the North Western section of Arkansas is covered with them, the temps were perfect, ranging from 85 in the valley to 75 on the peaks. Everything was green as the rain Alabama hasn’t seen in months is falling daily in Arkansas yet the humidity was very low, Someone explain to me how its humid in Alabama even though it’s a drought and its dry in Arkansas with rain all the time. We saw many wonderful sights but Arkansas is more or less empty, we would ride sometimes 30 or 45 minutes and not see vehicle come in the opposite directions. At one point we came to a little town, it had a square with a few stores, it looked like it hadn’t changed much in 100 years. There was a small diner in one corner and we all went in there to eat lunch, there was one young girl running the place and a cook, she called her mother to help out when we came in, It didn’t look promising but it turned out great, the food was good and it was all ready very quickly. At the point of arrival we had two bikes running very low on gas, one local told us the next gas stop was over 20 miles, which was too far, but another old codger responded “Bull Shit, there’s one 7 miles from here” The old codger was right, it was right where he said it would be. We continued on till the evening as the sun set again on our second day and had another night of music and fire side enjoyment at Ironhorse.
On the third day the owner of Ironhorse took us on a short tour of the Eureka Springs Area. We finished up around 11AM at which point we split into two groups, one group went to tour some other local attraction and shop in Eureka while my group decided to make a run for the Kansas border which was just 90 short miles away. We headed northward through Missouri and when we came to the Kansas border decided to go to the nearest town for lunch. Kansas was pretty much as advertised, flat, looks like it does in the Wizard of Oz movie. The town was a dusty old town with an occasional boarded up building, We stopped at a small steak house, in there we found yet another young girl and a cook, they impressed us even more, They started me with a salad and before I finished I had my steak, loaded baked potato, corn, and free ice cream ready, and all for $7.50, and it was all excellent. We left the el-cheap-o-steak-o and went down the street a ways and took our picture by the sign entering Oklahoma, then headed back, we stopped in the town nearest the Arkansas border at a gas station, the gas station turned out to be a ruse, when you walked in it was the biggest liquor store I have ever seen. When my roomie David Gray walked in he was almost overcome with emotion, You have to know David Gray, he’s an old Viet Nam Veteran with more alcohol in his blood than white blood cells. After composing himself he soon emerged with a gallon size bottle of Hose Cuervo and an enormous grin. This place was a model of efficiency, they had 6 registers going and instead of bag boys, they had hand truck boys who would cart your cases to your car. After filling up with gas it began to rain so we put on rain suits and began what would become a 40 mile trek through pouring rain, some of the hills near Eureka were just downright scary when wet, and very much resembled paved versions of mountain roads through Bolivia. I was leading at this time and at one point a tractor trailer came too quickly around a curve, he jammed his breaks when he saw how sharp the curve was and partially jack knife’d the trailer, luckily it didn’t go all the way across or some of my party would have been screwed for sure. We got back to Ironhorse around dark again and soon began our nightly ritual of music and fire side activities.
On our fourth day we left Ironhorse and began a trek South through Arkansas. Most of this day we were on a famous motorcycle road highway 7 which runs through the state. There were many scenic vistas but south of Hot Springs it gets pretty uneventful. But not to be bored my bike decided to throw me a curve ball. I have a pair of custom risers which are the pieces that hold your handlebar to the front of the bike and allow you to steer, One of the four bolts holding this in place had sheered off earlier in the trip, I had hoped the three remaining would make it all the way home but after a weekend of heavy riding, a tiny little bump going over a bridge was the straw that broke it, I heard a ping noise and out popped the upper half of one the remaining bolts. The bars came loose at that point, but they were still on there enough to allow me to steer the bike to the roads edge. We checked the GPS to see the nearest shop and it was over 50 miles in the opposite direction we were headed. At this point I was wondering how I was going to get out of this as we were in the middle of a hundred miles of forest. Luckily one of my riding buddies had some duck tape and we proceeded to duck tape my handle bars to the frame. This actually worked amazingly well and got me all the way to Ruston Louisiana where we had reservations at the Comfort Inn. That night we all relaxed around the pool, Actually around the pool was a bad idea, it was better to be in the pool because they have mosquito’s the size of houseflies in Louisiana and they will drain you of blood if your not careful.
The next morning my duck tape job had begun to unravel so we remounted the handlebars using a number of large pipe clamps and a whole lot MORE duck tape. It looked pretty stupid but after 300+ miles of I-20 travel I rolled back into my driveway about 8:20 that evening. All totaled the trip was 1921 miles, less than a hundred short of my record of 2000 miles set 4 or 5 years back. The trip also included my most western penetration on a motorcycle just beating my trip to the Oklahoma border 6 or 7 years back. The Ozark mountains were different from the smokies but have a unique beauty that was well worth the trip. I could go back tomorrow and I’m quite certain I would find many more things to see. I will never forget this trip.
posted by slammer @ 11:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home