Fall Foliage Ride

Day 1; Friday; 10/28/2011

Five motorcycles (9 humanoids) departed the Quick Trip at 151st and 69 Highway in Overland Park, KS for a ride into southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas.  The purpose of the trip was to view the fall foliage and, of course, to ride the motorcycles.  A sixth motorcycle (1 humanoid) met us at the motel at the end of the day.

We rode south on Metcalf to Louisburg and then east to Highway 2 in Missouri.  We rode east and south on Highways 2, 52, and 135 through Harrisonville, Leeton, Windsor, Cole Camp, and Stover.riding Hwy 52 in MissouriWe gassed up in Leeton and then again in Laurie, after which we grabbed lunch at the Chances R Restaurant and Lounge.DSCN3358a

Highway 5 took us all the way south into Arkansas and we saw some very pretty fall foliage along the way.fall foliage along Hwy 5 in southern Missouri

We stopped for the evening in Mountain Home, Arkansas at the Comfort Inn.  We walked to the nearby Arena Sports Bar & Grill for dinner.  It was a bright sunny day for a ride.  Temperatures started out at a brisk 41 degrees and topped out at a cool 59.  We rode 330 miles.

Day 2; Saturday; 10/29/2011

We rode out of Mountain Home at 9:10 am.  This is a beautiful area for motorcycle ridingcrossing the White River; Cotter, ARand our first stop was along the White River at Cotter Big Spring Park in Cotter, Arkansas.Cotter Big Spring Park; Cotter, AR

We rode west to Yellville and then south to Blanchard Springs Caverns located just south of Fifty Six, Arkansas.Chris and IThe ladies did some shopping in the gift shop while the boys sat and watched.Gary & Carl enjoying the gift shop at Blanchard Springs Caverns

We then rode north and east through Allison, Melbourne, and Salem (AR) to Mammoth Springs, Arkansas.  We gassed up and the ladies shopped at Accents of Christmas.  Using his cell phone, Carl kept the guys apprised of the score in the K-State vs Oklahoma football game.  It was looking good for the Wildcats when we continued our ride north into Missouri but we found out later it got ugly and the Cats lost big time.

We stopped for the evening in Salem, Missouri at the Holiday Inn Express and we had a buffet dinner at the nearby Pizza Inn.  They had some larrapin good desserts - it hurt so good.  We had another beautiful day of riding with temperatures ranging from 43 to 64.  We rode 255 miles.

Day 3; Sunday; 10/30/2011

We started out today at 9:00 am and a short while later we stopped at Maramec Springs Park west of Steelville and east of St. James.  This is a beautiful park (http://maramecspringpark.com/maramec/) with a spring, a trout fish hatchery, and remnants of an old iron smelting operation.Bill, Jamie, Marge, and Carl by Maramec Spring

From the park we rode a mile or two east on Hwy 8 to the Snelson-Brinker House (circa 1834), which, at one time, served as the Crawford County Courthouse. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3TPQ_Snelson_Brinker_House_Steelville_MissouriMarge

We rode west and north through St. James, Vienna, Iberia, and Eldon to Versailles, Missouri where we had lunch at the Pioneer Restaurant.  From there we rode on home, retracing a portion of the route we took on Friday.house along Hwy 63

It was another enjoyable day of riding except for some significant wind.  We rode 305 miles in temperatures ranging from 48 to 64.  My motorcycle reached another milestone by turning over 108,000 miles.

Ridemeister and Trip Guru Gary planned and executed another great ride.  In most places the foliage was gorgeous while other places had mostly brown leaves or no leaves at all.

For more pictures from this trip click on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/FallRide2011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

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