Mayflower to Conway

I made a visit to the VA on Tuesday. I'd taken Hwy 9 and 10 to get there which made for a more enjoyable ride than going I-40. Finishing up at the VA I decided to take a different route home.
From I-430 I took the Hwy 100 exit to Maumelle, I made a left on Hwy 365 North somewhere along the way. At the Pulaski/Faulkner County line I noticed a memorial beside the road, they even had a picnic table there.
I had never taken any pictures of a War of 1812 heroe memorial so I took two.

This one so you can read it better. I thought it was interesting, of course I'm just a history type of guy. Heres a link http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2872 .
When I arrived at Mayflower I made a left turn on Hwy 89. If you look at a road map you may notice that it doesn't say that 89 is paved all the way to Conway. It is all paved except for about four miles according to a local I talked to. I went to the end of the pavement and the gravel was deep, this was the only time that I have ever turned around when getting to dirt or gravel. It would have worn me out in the heat of the day and besides, I got a new front tire on.

The next four pictures are of a rock formation I found along the county maintained portion of the road.
I had to drive on about a quarter mile of gravel on Easterwood Point Road to get to the rock, but this gravel was well packed. I'm thinking this rock is called Easterwood Point...just guessing.
This picture does a better job of showing how large it is.
This is a private road in the area. The pic below is just to the right in this picture.
I thought this was nice looking for a swampy area.

When I reached the gravel and turned around, I thought I would need to go all the way back to Mayflower. Along the way back I noticed a road to the North called Rocky Gap Road going in the general direction of Conway. I followed it to "Old Military" Road then made a left on "Donnell Ridge" Road then a right onto "McNutt" Road which turns into "Hogue Ln". Hogue Ln is the road that cuts through the mountain at Conway. Hogue Ln is on the West edge of Conway which was a good thing. I stopped at Plummerville and rehydrated then took I-40 towards home.

It was cool

I stood on the front porch and the sky was overcast and the air was cool, I had mowed the lawn the previous evening. So what was there to do but go for a morning ride.

This is the Pottsville I-40 intersection and new Hwy 247 truck route. I still haven't quite figured out how they're going to do the crossroads, thats hwy 64 just beyond the I-40 bridge. Looks to me like they'll need to raise 64 a little and put in some traffic lights. It doesn't look like the new road is going over 64.

I ended up at Dardanelle Rock. Morning riding is exhilarating, wakes one up, gets the cobwebs out.

Northwest Arkansas and Missouri

This trip into Arkansas's Northwest didn't take much planning. It was more a spur of the moment thing. I headed North on Hwy 7 into familiar territory and then the trip took a change for the better. I took the turnoff to Deer and made a right to Alum Cove Natural Bridge. This is designated as Hwy 327 now. The last time I was on it, it was just a county road and half of it was dirt. It goes to Parthenon, Ar. and now it's paved all the way and is a beautiful, winding, mountainous road. It should end up being well liked by sightseers and bikers when it gets a little more well known.

This is the mailbox of an old house between Alum Cove and Parthenon, it looked neat so I stopped and tooks some pics.

Above is the same mailbox, only about 7 years earlier when the road was still gravel. It was rough riding on that stock Honda seat.
Probably had a nice front yard years ago.

This is how it looked 7 years ago.

The roof is on its last shingle. See the central fireplace that was probably a feeble attempt to heat the entire house in Winter.
So I'm assuming by the degradation of the place over 7 years, the house had probably not been abandoned long when these older pics were taken.

Nice design on the sofa, I wonder how many abandoned dogs have slept on it.

The fireplace inside. This is as far as I went, the floor had already gave way in much of the house so I didn't take the chance.
Another archive pic, this is Parthenon, Ar. There is actually a little more to it and as usual, I wish I'd stopped and taken a few more pictures.

One last archive picture, this is after leaving Parthenon and entering the valley.

I would suppose this is the Little Buffalo River valley since that is what cuts the bluffs thru here.

Nice cattle land, the river is in the distance.

These are some white bluffs.

Just to the East of the white bluffs are some rusty ones.

This strange local asked me if I could play a Banjo and tried to grab me, I left in a hurry.

After taking a right onto Hwy 74 then a right on 7, I arrived at Jasper. This is the Newton County Jail.

Newton County Courthouse in jasper. The Court House, Jail and other buildings in Jasper are built with the same color of grey stone. I can't think of another town that uses this color of stone. There are alot of towns in which brown sandstone is used. I suppose Jasper has a quarry nearby that has this stone.

After having a World famous Ozark Cafe Burger, I sat outside for awhile. Lots of bikers were on the road. This group was from Oklahoma City. They had travelled down the Pigtrail (Hwy 23) and then came up Hwy 7. I believe they said they were headed to Branson.

I like this shade of blue. Shotguns look good.

After leaving Jasper I headed on up Hwy 7. Coming to old Dogpatch USA, I thought I would go up and see if the Hub was in business or not. It was not, looks like the only thing going is the motel. The picture above is another business that was once on the famous slab of pavement.

After passing thru Harrison, I continued North on Hwy 65. Crossing into Missouri, I took Hwy 86 to the West. I'd heard alot about this road. I heard it was curvy and kind of roller coaster like in spots. It was definitely all that and more. A very scenic road, that also has attractions. Above is the bridge across Lake Tallycomo.

I stopped on the bridge and took this picture. The lake was crowded.

One other thing I found out....I wanted to go down and look at the Big Cedar Lodge. There was a sign on the way which read - Motorcycles - do not even think about taking this road. It didn't sound very biker friendly.

I took the turnoff to Eureka Springs and it was a busy place, I didn't stay. I just continued on down Hwy 23.

After taking Hwy 12 South I came to the Hobbs State Park information center. I went in for a few minutes then hit the road again, it was almost 5pm and the War Eagle store closes at that time. Too late, the store was closed as well as the bridge for repairs (bridge is supposed to reopen by Sept. 30).

If you double click the above pic, you'll see a deer running across the field, between the nearest tree and the one to its right.

These people were not very safety conscious. I would never break a safety rule :). Actually this time I really didn't. Night was getting closer, needed to get back on the road.

This Goose was nesting just above the water wheel on the mill.

Next few pictures are of an old store at War Eagle.

After getting back on Hwy 12 for a ways, I took Hwy 45 South and eventually 23 South to Huntsville. Stopping at the Acapulco Mexican Resuarant. I had the Acapulco, two plates, a hot one and a cold one. The hot had a cheese and a chicken Enchilada and a beef tamale with refried beans and rice. The cold one had two tacos and a tostada. More than one normal person can eat and all for $7.99. Great Mexican restuarant.

Traveling South on 23, I took Hwy 74 East towards Kingston and found this old house. This is as close as I could legally get so I just did what I could. It would be great to look around this place, do a little shoveling for old bottles and some metal detecting. I rolled into Kingston and rolled out. I like the town and usually stay awhile but didn't hang around, the day was getting long.

When I arrived at the intersection where Boxley Valley begins. Ponca is left and Clarksville right. There were cars pulled over to the side of the road looking at Elk. In the above pic are two bulls, small one on the left while the one to the right had huge antlers.

I made a left towards Ponca and saw a couple more.

Buffalo River looking downstream, water was at 3.5 ft.

Upstream.

After looking at the river, I went back toward Clarksville thru Boxley Valley. Here are two more bull Elk munching on some grass.

At first I thought the cow Elk on the left had a calf, but thats a deer. I didn't see any calves. Probably saw about ten Elk total.

There just aren't many places on Earth prettier than Boxley Valley. There is something about the valley, it has an air of serenity. If I could retire here I'd be a happy man. I actually have more pictures of the valley, they're in my archives. I like all the old houses along the road.

The trip home down 21 was uneventful, arrived at the house around 9 pm. The end to a perfect 12 hour day in the beautiful Ozark Mountains.