Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Day 5 - June 14, 2025

 This was clearly the best day of the trip, although the morning started a bit rocky. 

Magellan brings a portable hair dryer to de-water his boots after riding in the rain. Following on his wisdom, I wanted to bring a portable hair dryer as I don't like wet feet either. And Sugar Magnolia graciously lent me hers. 

The water infiltrating my brand new, waterproof, Gore-Tex boots was so severe, that I used the portable hair dryer on them. 


What I didn't realize is how hot that little sucker gets, until I saw that the hair dryer had melted into my boot. Oops. I guess I'll be purchasing Sugar Magnolia a new one. Maybe I can find one that is used? Or, maybe she won't notice!!!

Second, we're at breakfast enjoying ourselves and having a brief chat about the near disaster yesterday. An old woman walks up to us and declares: "Y'all be careful out there. A motorcyclist was killed last night by a car which didn't see him. Be safe." And then she turned and walked away. Ouch! Not the way to begin the day on either count.

But things became immediately better. Our hotel is on Route 66:


And down the street were Route 66 murals:










This is the archway referenced in the Route 66 tour books:


The goombahs:








The ride was wonderful this morning. There was some cloud cover, and it was cool. The scenery was spectacular. 

On our way south to Arkansas, we came to a biker bar. And it was time for us to eat.

The biker bar was loaded with Harleys and Harley folks. I didn't take a picture, as I saw the movie Wild Hogs, and didn't want to re-create that. The people looked mean, and the women looked meaner. But Magellan did take a surreptitious snap:


He is much braver than me.


The inside of the bar sans bikers:





A half mile south was Arkansas, and a ferry - yes, a ferry!

The Peel ferry is the last public, operating ferry in Arkansas. It operates on Bull Shoals Lake. And it's free!

The ferry was created when the White River was dammed to create Bull Shoals Lake. To compensate for the road loss, Arkansas began the ferry to transport people and vehicles. It runs every 40 minutes.













The ferry was incredibly cool.

Continuing south, we rode the spine of the mountains, with fantastic views:






Ironbutt psyching himself up for the group photo:



Good looking group:


After all of this fun and adventure, we arrived at our "cheezy" hotel.



We rode 266 miles today to Russellville, Arkansas, for a trip total of 915 miles. One more full day of riding!



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