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Published: July 24th 2016
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We got a relatively early start from the Chase Hotel, which is on the west side of St. Louis. In order to get out of the big city, we took I-55 for about 35 miles to the town of Festus, MO where we got on US 67 southbound. 67 is a four lane road and the further south we rode the less traffic there was. It became a very enjoyable road winding through the southern Missouri Ozarks. We rode 67 into Arkansas and then took US 62 west to the town of Pocahontas, where we took a lengthy break to cool down and rehydrate for the next leg of the trip.
Since Heber Springs is in a dry county, we stopped at a Walmart in Poplar Bluff to pick up some beer and liquor for the stay.
From Pocahontas, we then rode two laners all the way to Heber Springs. The roads and riding were really sweet. I guess the temperature got up to about 100 degrees, but moving along at highway speeds on the motorcycles made it very bearable.
We made a photo/map stop at
a little town called Smithville and it had several old abandoned buildings giving it the look of a ghost town.
About 50 miles from Heber Springs, near the town of Batesville, our luck with the weather took a turn for the worse. We could see dark clouds all around us and then it hit us like a ton of bricks. I stopped to put my rain pants on, but by the time I got them on, my butt was already soaked. After 5 minutes of riding in a downpour, it came down even harder. It dropped my visibility to a point that I could only go about 25 mph. There were no overpasses or hiding places, so I just pulled off the road in a driveway until it slowed down. We then rode the 10 miles or so to a gas station in Batesville. In all my riding, this was the worst thunderstorm I've ever ridden in. When we got to the gas station, we checked the weather radar and saw storms coming into our route from the north, so we hung around the gas station for about 45 minutes until they passed. We made it to
the cabin with only light sprinkles at times.
Jim and Don had arrived from Fayetteville a few hours before us and went shopping for groceries for our dinner. The cabin is spectacular, high on a bluff above the Little Red River. The fishing in the river is world class trout fishing and the town of Heber Springs is on a large beautiful lake called Greer's Ferry Lake. The cabin is available for rent. Check it out here:
https://www.vrbo.com/88715 The only drawback is that the driveway is kind of treacherous on a motorcycle because it is extremely steep. It's really tough to park a motorcycle in the drive without the assistance of two other people as you can see in one of the pictures.
Once we got the motorcycles corralled and got everything into the cabin, it was time to have a birthday toast to Jim with some excellent single malt whisky out on the deck overlooking the valley. A couple drinks led to some very entertaining conversation. Jim then cooked up some burgers on the grill and we enjoyed a great meal.
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HeatherLauren
Heather Lauren
Cool pictures! The view from the cabin looks amazing!