Mammoth Springs, MO.

Hello Again:
You know how is is when you wake up in the morning you just never know what will be in store for you that day. Well today has really has been an amazing day for us. We left Dyersburg, TN today about noon, "This seems to be Chriss's earliest time he can get going." The day before was very frustrating for me as Best Western had a poor wireless hook up. Chriss and I had a very hard time hooking up our PC to write my daily blog. All this trouble in spite of help from their tech person. Anyway it is a new day and we will move on. We had breakfast at Perkins which was connected to Best Western and off we went. on Rte 155 toward Arkansas in nice bright sunshine with temps in the 80's. Crossing the Mississippi was interesting. I did take a picture while in motion. No, I didn't dip my toes in it, the bridge was too high. Almost our whole trip today was on Rte 412 and it was a nice ride with multiple stops for gas and Gatorade. We asked at a gas stop if there were any other bridges south that we could use. We didn't get much of an answer, the only unfriendly time on the whole trip.

After crossing the great Mississippi we took highway 412 to Hardy. There a road sign told us we were close to Mammoth Springs State Park. Once again Chriss is always open to adventure. He told me over the intercom he would like to take me there to see the sights. You don't need to ask me twice, so off we went in search of adventure. We made the detour to view a new wonder. Very interesting, no gushing water but some very pretty water falls from ponds fed by the spring that overflowed. This made some gushing falls to view. A lot of history, a good diversion.



Then we returned to the town of Hardy, Ar (click to see our full route) to stay at a Best Western that had a Kopper Keddle restaurant across the street. We dumped our stuff in our motel room. Got the bike parked comfortably under an overhang with the help of a very nice motel owner who kindly supplied an old shower curtain to protect our bike from any rain. Nice lady she was, very helpful.

The resturant was about to close so with no time to spare. We quickly stripped out outer riding summer mesh gear and off we went....... climbing an embankment, running across a main thruway to the Kopper Keddle. We were in for a tasty Chicken Cesar Salad and a delicious choc. pudding, cherry, and crushed oreo and whip cream concoction that was called dessert.


You need to visualize our appearance. We only had time to shed our leather motorcycle summer mesh outer garments. Now we were dressed in our black silk shorts and black shirts with black knee high socks and black motorcycle boots. We looked like a team of Russian Gypsy folk song dancers. When we walked in everyone in the restaurant including the owner and other diners turned and looked at us in amazement. One person asked if we were some sort of dance team performing in town. Yeah, sure! not in these boots. Anyway after a good laugh we just said we were on a bike and it was too hot to wear the whole riding outfit to dinner. Because the restaurant was closing soon we were in a hurry and left our hotel in what we were wearing underneath our outer armor.

There were two couples about our age at a table in back of us that started to talk to us as we were getting ready to leave. We all ended up sitting down again and began telling them about our trip and Blog. Chriss always brags about me and what a great companion I am. They all wanted to read about our adventures. I took e-mail addresses and names. Seems they were vacationing at a nearby time share. They originally met at the time share and had been coming back for a get together for many years. One couple from Kentucky and the other from Chicago. They were really nice people and very interesting. When the restaurant closed we went outside and continued talking in the parking lot. They Then asked us to come to their time share house for dessert. We agreed and they drove us in their car about 5 miles to their place. We spent the evening and had peach pie and ice cream. We had a great time with some wonderful people. Now it is 1:00 AM and I am typing and Chriss is doing laundry in our Motel room. See what I mean, life on the road is so unpredictable.

We only got half way across Arkansas today but I did see Cotton growing and also soybeans. After a few mountains in the eastern part of this state it is very flat with huge fields that go on for miles and miles. Now however, we are back in the hills and I like it much better. It was a great day. Tomorrow our plan is to continue on Rte 412/62 to Harrison, Ar. then south on Rte 7 to Hot Springs. Rte 7 is supposed to be a very scenic road. We will see.

Will write more tomorrow,
Carol and Chriss

Dyersburg, TN.

Double click picture to enlarge, back arrow to return

Hello again.

Today was a good travel day for us and we are just about out of Tennessee. It sure is a beautiful state but we must move on. Because bad weather was predicted in Memphis and possible flooding we chose to move north and cross the Mississippi into Missouri rather than Arkansas. Well we just about made it. We are now in Dyersburg, TN with just a few miles to go. to make the crossing. But we are too tired and it is getting late. So here we sit at a Best Western still in Dyersburg,Tn. At least the sun came out late in the afternoon, our plan worked we beat the rain once more.

Although the weather was overcast this morning during our travels the temperature was great. It must have been in the high 70’s. The roads were nice although not as nice as in a park way. the roads were scenic and easy to drive. We ate breakfast at the hotel before leaving but by 2:00 we were in need of a break. We made a wrong turn, a right instead of a left. My bad as I am the navigator. Chriss's GPS was correct and mine was out to lunch. Chriss finally pulled into the entrance of Henry Horton State Park where we could park and check our map. I stayed on the bike and he went to buy me a coke. He came back without the coke but told me there was a park building that looked like a big restaurant. Chriss said there was a sign that said it only served lunch from 12:00 until 2:00. It was now 2:02 PM. There was a coke machine on the side so we proceeded up the stairs to get a coke. The door was open and we peeked in and asked if we could get something to eat. The lady said “oh sure, come on in”, more Southern Hospitality for sure.

Well it seems this State Park had a restaurant that was an open buffet of hot food and salads. They were just about to close down but welcomed us to have lunch for the cost of $6.75 per person. The servers and cooks proceeded to sit with us, get acquainted and tell camp stories. What nice people. We spent at least 1 ½ hours with them laughing and telling stories about all of our experiences during our wild motorcycle travels. This park is gorgeous has camping sites, a hotel, a restaurant, trails, and educational opportunities for just the price of camping at at state park, amazing. After that we left and continued on our preplanned route.



We were hoping to stop two towns before we actually found a town with an acceptable motel. Dyersburg would have to be it. So far we have traveled 1400 miles since our departure last Monday 8/4. As the crow flies I am sure the number is much less because we certainly have not traveled in a straight line. If someone told us of a nice motorcycle road to try we took it regardless of where it was going to take us......what fun. We have met some very interesting and nice people along the way. We have seen some beautiful sights, much more enjoyable on a motorcycle. Since Missouri is the Show Me state we are hoping to be shown some more. We are tired tonight after all our travels but will start again tomorrow.. The pictures are of the State Park and Lunch, what nice people they were.

Good Night,

Carol & Chriss