I hope you find some of this of interest.
Also - contributions to my Harley Accessory Fund are greatly appreciated.... :-)
Friday, May 29, 2009
Introduction
I live in Fayetteville, AR, home of Bikes, Blues, and BBQ and in the heart of Nortwest Arkansas. I take fairly frequent day trips on my '07 1200XLC, and thought I'd share a few on this blog. Maybe some will come in handy for folks visiting the area on their bikes (or in tow).
I hope you find some of this of interest.
Also - contributions to my Harley Accessory Fund are greatly appreciated.... :-)
I hope you find some of this of interest.
Also - contributions to my Harley Accessory Fund are greatly appreciated.... :-)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Highway 282 and Mount Magazine
240 miles; about 6.5 hours
This ride starts on old US Highway 71 south from Fayetteville. While it used to be the source of "Pray for me. I drive Highway 71" bumper stickers, it's now a scenic byway since I-540 was opened between Fort Smith and Bella Vista. State highway 282 at Mountainburg bypasses a section of mountain twisties, but takes you through a river bottom area below one of the longer I-540 bridges. The river bottom has part of an old, still functioning raid road with a couple of trestles in the valley. One of which you drive through along with a low water bridge across the river. The trestle and roadway are constructed such that each lane of the road passes through one of the arches of the trestle. The other trestle can be seen cross the river as you head south and up the hill. Nice view.
After continuing south and then east, one reaches AR-309 at Havana, AR and heads up the south side of Mount Magazine. There are some nice twisties on the way up to the top. Right after reaching the top, there is a scenic overlook that's well worth the stop. The side trip to poke around the Mount Magazine park is worth the time as well.
Heading north through Paris and Ozark puts one on AR-23, or "Pigtrail". A pretty scenic favorite bike ride in the area.
This ride starts on old US Highway 71 south from Fayetteville. While it used to be the source of "Pray for me. I drive Highway 71" bumper stickers, it's now a scenic byway since I-540 was opened between Fort Smith and Bella Vista. State highway 282 at Mountainburg bypasses a section of mountain twisties, but takes you through a river bottom area below one of the longer I-540 bridges. The river bottom has part of an old, still functioning raid road with a couple of trestles in the valley. One of which you drive through along with a low water bridge across the river. The trestle and roadway are constructed such that each lane of the road passes through one of the arches of the trestle. The other trestle can be seen cross the river as you head south and up the hill. Nice view.
After continuing south and then east, one reaches AR-309 at Havana, AR and heads up the south side of Mount Magazine. There are some nice twisties on the way up to the top. Right after reaching the top, there is a scenic overlook that's well worth the stop. The side trip to poke around the Mount Magazine park is worth the time as well.
Heading north through Paris and Ozark puts one on AR-23, or "Pigtrail". A pretty scenic favorite bike ride in the area.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Missouri's MO-90 Loop
(176 mi; 4 hours 17 mins)
Although I didn't stop, Siloam Springs was having their annual Dogwood Festival at the time... maybe next year. This was a surprisingly good ride. I've been to Noel, MO before and expected the views along the Elk River and the bluffs that overhang the highway, but the ride East along MO-90 was not only fun with twisties, but was fairly scenic. The ride from Gateway, AR to Eureka Springs, AR is also a one of the tourist favorites in the area (unless you don't like curves on mountains). Eureka is a very popular biker spot and very biker friendly.
I've incorporated a new way of referencing maps. It does require JavaScript to be enabled in the browser to view it because it's not just a static map. If the entire route doesn't show up in the viewing window, just use your mouse pointer to grab the map and move it around like you would in Google Maps. Some of the maps also have comment tags where I've added some comments at specific points along the route. These maps are from a cool motorcycle route oriented Google "mashup" called MotoWhere?
Although I didn't stop, Siloam Springs was having their annual Dogwood Festival at the time... maybe next year. This was a surprisingly good ride. I've been to Noel, MO before and expected the views along the Elk River and the bluffs that overhang the highway, but the ride East along MO-90 was not only fun with twisties, but was fairly scenic. The ride from Gateway, AR to Eureka Springs, AR is also a one of the tourist favorites in the area (unless you don't like curves on mountains). Eureka is a very popular biker spot and very biker friendly.
I've incorporated a new way of referencing maps. It does require JavaScript to be enabled in the browser to view it because it's not just a static map. If the entire route doesn't show up in the viewing window, just use your mouse pointer to grab the map and move it around like you would in Google Maps. Some of the maps also have comment tags where I've added some comments at specific points along the route. These maps are from a cool motorcycle route oriented Google "mashup" called MotoWhere?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Talimena Scenic Byway & Heavener Runes
(301 mi; about 7 hours and 12 mins)
This ride was inspired by a book on Ozark Scenic Drives my son and daughter-in-law got me. Since this is actually in the Ouachita Mountains, I'm not sure how it made it into a book on Ozark drives, but it made for a very nice all-day ride. I luckily made a wrong turn (a fairly frequent way I alter my planned routes) and ended up driving along the northern base of the mountains the Byway traverses. The part of that drive I was on before turning around was worth the few miles of going the wrong way. I had a number of good looks at the mountains from the bottom. Once I got on the right road, there were a number of scenic overlooks. From some, you could see other twisty roads on the southern approach to the Byway, some looked back at the mountain ranges to the west, and a couple let you see where you were headed. One in particular showed a thread of the road running right on the crest of the mountain. As I reached the top, I started noticing that the trees sure seemed short, some of the trees at top looked to be 15' tall at most. A sign at one of the overlooks indicated they were as old as 200 years. The same white oak trees at the bottom of the mountain were said to grow up to 115' tall. There apparently is so much wind and ice in the winter that nature keeps trimming these trees back. I don't think I'll plan a winter drive up there....
At the top of the drive is Queen Wilhelmina State Park. The park has a lodge and a restaurant. It appears to be a popular place for a biker lunch break. About half of the vehicles in the parking lot were motorcycles the day I was there.
I went back through Heavener on my way home, had some time for a side trip, so I popped over to the Heavener Runestone State Park. Wikipedia documents some more details on the Runestones themselves.
With the distance and all of my stops along the way, the only way I made this trip within a time similar to Google's time estimate was due to the higher speed limits in Oklahoma. A pretty stiff wind at my back on the drive back didn't hurt :-)
Map
This ride was inspired by a book on Ozark Scenic Drives my son and daughter-in-law got me. Since this is actually in the Ouachita Mountains, I'm not sure how it made it into a book on Ozark drives, but it made for a very nice all-day ride. I luckily made a wrong turn (a fairly frequent way I alter my planned routes) and ended up driving along the northern base of the mountains the Byway traverses. The part of that drive I was on before turning around was worth the few miles of going the wrong way. I had a number of good looks at the mountains from the bottom. Once I got on the right road, there were a number of scenic overlooks. From some, you could see other twisty roads on the southern approach to the Byway, some looked back at the mountain ranges to the west, and a couple let you see where you were headed. One in particular showed a thread of the road running right on the crest of the mountain. As I reached the top, I started noticing that the trees sure seemed short, some of the trees at top looked to be 15' tall at most. A sign at one of the overlooks indicated they were as old as 200 years. The same white oak trees at the bottom of the mountain were said to grow up to 115' tall. There apparently is so much wind and ice in the winter that nature keeps trimming these trees back. I don't think I'll plan a winter drive up there....
At the top of the drive is Queen Wilhelmina State Park. The park has a lodge and a restaurant. It appears to be a popular place for a biker lunch break. About half of the vehicles in the parking lot were motorcycles the day I was there.
I went back through Heavener on my way home, had some time for a side trip, so I popped over to the Heavener Runestone State Park. Wikipedia documents some more details on the Runestones themselves.
With the distance and all of my stops along the way, the only way I made this trip within a time similar to Google's time estimate was due to the higher speed limits in Oklahoma. A pretty stiff wind at my back on the drive back didn't hurt :-)
Map
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Roaring River, Tablerock Lake, War Eagle River
(254 mi; about 7 hours 7 min)
As with the other mileages and times I indicate, they're the estimates from Google Maps. I've found them to be pretty close to what I experience as long as I add extra time for gas stops and meals.
My main intent for this ride was to try to evaluate the stock seat on my Sportster. A lot of people complain about this seat. I've seen some references to it being a "50 mile seat". This ride took me right at 8 hours with only minimal stops for gas (twice) and lunch. After about 5.5 hours, I did need a bit of a butt break, so at the next gas stop, also took the time to stand up and drink a soda. I'm not sure if it would have been much different with one of the popular replacement seats, but I was pretty pleased with the stock seat.
There are so many good day rides in this area of the country. This one touches in parts of Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest, Tablerock Lake, and the Ozarks. As I was approaching the downhill stretch to Roaring River park, something in the woods caught my eye. I turned around and road a little ways down a faint dirt roadway to get a better look. Someone had built sort of a temporary shelter. I'd rather sleep on the ground under a tarp, but it was kind of interesting. Actually, at my age, I'd rather sleep in a real bed these days...
MAP
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Fayetteville, Jasper, Haggerville loop
Ponca, Jasper, Pelsor (222 mi; 6 hours 12 mins)
Google Maps was pretty close on this one. My actual mileage turned out to be 223 miles, and I was right at 6 hours, even with one gas stop and a 30 minute lunch at Ozone's Burger Barn, "Home of the Three Napkin Burger".
Rides like this one make it easy to see why Harley's Tourbook has so many scenic roads marked in NorthWest Arkansas. It takes you through part of the Buffalo River National Park and in and out of parts of the Ozark National Forest. The ride from Ponca to Jasper on Highway 74 starts off and ends with some really sharp twisties, and Highway 7 is known for it's scenic overlooks and The Hub, but some of the other highways in the area seem to be overlooked (no pun intended). Highway 123 between Pelsor (Sand Gap) and Haggerville is one. It has more 15-25 MPH curves than the more biker popular stretches of Highway 74 and 7. It just doesn't have the roadway along high ridges that inspire the Goofy scream should one run off the road (even though there is one place where going around a 25MPH curve, you can look to down and see another upcoming 25MPH curve further down the hill).
MAP
Google Maps was pretty close on this one. My actual mileage turned out to be 223 miles, and I was right at 6 hours, even with one gas stop and a 30 minute lunch at Ozone's Burger Barn, "Home of the Three Napkin Burger".
Rides like this one make it easy to see why Harley's Tourbook has so many scenic roads marked in NorthWest Arkansas. It takes you through part of the Buffalo River National Park and in and out of parts of the Ozark National Forest. The ride from Ponca to Jasper on Highway 74 starts off and ends with some really sharp twisties, and Highway 7 is known for it's scenic overlooks and The Hub, but some of the other highways in the area seem to be overlooked (no pun intended). Highway 123 between Pelsor (Sand Gap) and Haggerville is one. It has more 15-25 MPH curves than the more biker popular stretches of Highway 74 and 7. It just doesn't have the roadway along high ridges that inspire the Goofy scream should one run off the road (even though there is one place where going around a 25MPH curve, you can look to down and see another upcoming 25MPH curve further down the hill).
MAP
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Scenic Highway US 72 to Wiederkehr Village (and back)
This one makes for a pretty easy day trip. As with my others, things start in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Google Maps links include a bunch of smaller towns simply to keep the map off the Interstates that are close by. It begins with going to Alma via Highway 71. As I've mentioned in other entries, 71 used to be the only reasonable way for trucks to get into Northwest Arkansas. It used to be a pretty dangerous highway. Now, with I-540, this stretch of it has been designated a scenic highway. From Alma, instead of getting on I-40, this route takes US 64 all the way to the turn off for Wiederkehr Village, a family owned vineyard, winery, and restaurant. The timing of this ride works out fairly well for lunch either at Wiederkehr, or at the bottom of the mountain in Altus (which you would have driven through on US-64). There's a nice overlook at the top of the mountain by the St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Altus has a small pub called "Kelts" that I prefer over the more tourist oriented Village restaurant. If you're just in the mood for a cool drink drink, you might want to try out a small bar right on US-64. It's kind of hard to pass up a drink at The Dead Pecker Inn....
The drive back to Fayetteville in this route goes back to Ozark and then on the scenic "PigTrail", AR-23.
Map
Altus has a small pub called "Kelts" that I prefer over the more tourist oriented Village restaurant. If you're just in the mood for a cool drink drink, you might want to try out a small bar right on US-64. It's kind of hard to pass up a drink at The Dead Pecker Inn....
The drive back to Fayetteville in this route goes back to Ozark and then on the scenic "PigTrail", AR-23.
Map
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