Fall Foliage Ride 2009; Day 1; Friday, 10/16/09

This was a couples ride south into Arkansas to see the fall foliage (hence the name). Four couples made the ride; Gary & Judy, Rod & Maureen, Bill & Shannon, and Carl & Marge. Bill and Charlie went as singles because their wives could not make it. They both knew it would not be as enjoyable without their trophy brides but they decided to go anyway. The plan was to meet at 1:00 pm at Gail’s Harley Davidson in Grandview, MO. Carl and Marge were late. I think it was Carl’s fault.

We departed Gail’s at about 1:20 pm. We rode east on Hwy 150 to 291 south to 58 east to 131 south to 2 east to Windsor, MO, where we stopped for a break. Some folks decided to put on more clothes due to the chilly temperature.

In Windsor we caught Hwy 52 east to Holden, MO where we got on Hwy 65 south. Just south of Warsaw, MO we crossed a river (or a narrow section of Lake of the Ozarks, I’m not sure which) and there was some very colorful foliage along the water. There was no scenic pull-out and we were making tracks so no photos were taken.

We turned east and south on Hwy 7 which we rode to just south of Camdenton, MO where we turned south on Hwy 5. Hwy 5 took us into Lebanon, MO where we stopped for fuel between 5:00 and 5:30 pm.

From Lebanon we continued riding south on Hwy 5 into Arkansas. We rode non-stop to Mountain Home, AR where we arrived at 8:00 pm. Our home for the night was the Comfort Inn. We had dinner at a nearby bar and grill before calling it a night.

The weather today was chilly. It was cloudy and 50 degrees when we left Gail’s. The temperature fluctuated between 46 and 50. We saw sun off and on for a total of maybe 30 minutes and we rode through occasional light sprinkles. The plus side of the sprinkles was that we saw two pretty rainbows. My total mileage was 320 miles.

I hope we see more of the sun tomorrow.

For pictures from today click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/FallFoliageRide2009?feat=directlink

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