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

 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 smell of pine in the air on the northern apogee of our trip. 

And I continued to frustrate buttercup's efforts at Southern language instruction. He told me that I am saying "Memphis" wrong. You don't pronounce it "Mem - Fiss" like it is spelled. That is what yankees do. You pronounce it "Memph - Iss." This was an important issue to buttercup, and if I could ever pronouce Memphis like a local, then there might be hope for me. 

Buttercup also took great delight in telling people I'm from Chicago, albeit in a roundabout way. He would begin the southern chitchat with people in the Ozarks, and ask them where they are from - as a pretext for them to ask him where he is from. Buttercup would develop a broad smile and purse his lips as he had "hooked" the poor unsuspecting local. He would tell them he is from Mississippi, another is from North Carolina, the third person was from Tennessee and the last is from "She-Ka-Goe" whereupon he would ask them to guess which one of us is from Chicago, and he would break into a deep belly laugh that went all the way down to his toes. He was incredibly happy with himself, and I was delighted to make his day. He tells me that Babbel and the other online language services are including "Southern" in their new instruction availability. That waits to be seen. 

He said to me at one point: "You can't understand us when we talk, can you?" I'll show him. I am going to practice in advance of our next bike trip. 

We rode 213 miles today, for a trip total of 1,128 miles.