Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Day 2 - June 11, 2025

 My fully loaded hog: ready and in the scramble position.


When guys get old, they often transition to trikes:


Magellan has a spiffy new trike. I'm a purest.

The Ozark Mountains are largely found in Arkansas and Missouri:

OZARKS




Our travels have tracked this footprint. We started yesterday in Memphis, in the very southwest corner of Tennessee, and spent last night in the flatlands. 

As we rode north this morning, the flatlands gave way to gently rolling hills. We stopped for our morning respite in Mountain View, Arkansas - which bills itself as the "Folk Music" capital of the world. I am not really sure how "folk music" differs from "Bluegrass," and didn't stick around to find out. 


In Mountain View, we broke ranks. The others - all retired - went on a tour of the Ozark foothills. Francois, still being employed, went to a cheezy "motel" (the only one in town) to participate in a mediation. I needed quiet, and an internet connection. You know what I mean by a cheezy motel: run down building, steel doors facing the exterior, furniture from the '50s. It was all that.

When I was done, I re-connected with my colleagues at what was to be our place for the night - an Air B&B in West Plains, Missouri.

Unfortunately, the Air B&B driveway was at a 45 degree angle - not conducive to motorcycles. And the "four" beds were actually one bed, a trundle and bunk beds. I have it on good authority that Magellan and Buttercup were about to arm wrestle for the bed, when common sense took hold and they dumped the Air B&B.

Whew. As the last person to show up, I don't think I would have done well in the bed selection process. 

Tomorrow, we separate again. I have another mediation and will stay in our hotel and will meet up with the Boys later at some other location. Over dinner, Buttercup was angling to drive to Branson. I don't know if its true, but word has it that Buttercup believes Wayne Newton is performing there, and he is dying to catch the show:


Regardless, we are on the road again tomorrow where we hope to see more of the Ozarks. 

I drove 191 miles today, for a trip total of 307 miles.








Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 12, 2025 at 9:09 AM

    Awesome

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM

    As your resident musicologist, I’m here to tell you that bluegrass is a type of folk music that originated in Appalachia and claims roots in Anglo-Celtic and Black traditional songs, Blues, and rural traditional music! “Folk” music as a genre is a broad term that also includes contemporary folk and other traditional music from around the world. Folk music is generally passed down through oral traditions rather than by transcription and publication. Did you see any live music yet in your trip?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Day 6 - June 15, 2025 - Epilogue

Image
  All good things must come to an end, and on this trip our journey ended prematurely due to rain. The heavy rain and thunderstorms do not mesh with heavy motorcycles on mountain roads. And besides, there is much less to see. Accordingly, we called an audible, and ended the trip early. The Heritage was delivered to a trailer, and carted away.  With the trip being over, I have some time to reflect on our six days in the Ozarks. The Ozarks have wonderful scenery, but there are scenic roadways but little else (except for the ferry). There are few attractions, and few turnouts which allow us to take photos. This is different from most of our rides. On Route 66 for example, there were many, many things to see along the way. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, there were vistas around every corner.  I was impressed by the smells/aromas. Heading up to Missouri, there was the smell of burning wood. And even the sweat smell of burning corn husks. There were pine forests, with the light sme...
Read more

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Day 1 - June 10, 2025

Image
  It is time for a reunion. Magellan, Buttercup and Francois are riding to the Ozark Mountains. It is also a reunion between Francois and his venerated Harley Heritage Softail Classic!  And we have a new traveling companion in Doug. He just may be the best "Road Captain" we've ever had.  The Memphis airport has self-service beer. How about that: With that, it is off to the Ozark Mountains.  We drove 116 miles today, through fields which looked a lot like Illinois. We are in the flatlands, where they grow rice. We stopped for the night in Searcy, Arkansas - where regular gas is as low as $2.57 per gallon. The B&B is roomy and quaint: We stopped for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant - which was pretty good: all for $14.00. I didn't have a margarita, as we are in a dry county. Before turning-in, we toured Harding University. I had never heard of it, but it is not a small school having 4,608 students in total, composed of 3,497 undergraduates and 1,111 graduate st...
Read more