Mt. Nebo State Park

I arrived at mt nebo state park. I ended up hitting my first rain on the way up. The road up was extremely steep and had a lot of switchbacks and in the rain it felt a bit treacherous. I have to admit i am not looking forward to the trip back down. The view up here is amazing. I've seen lots of deer up here. I'll post more pictures later when i have an internet connection.

Talimena Scenic Byway

I headed out yesterday to finish up the Talimena Scenic. I could see rain coming from the south, but I was heading west, so figured I should be able to make it. There were some really fantastic overlooks along the way.

This was one of them. It was only 5 miles to the OK border, so I crossed over. The Talimena goes about 40 miles into OK, so I was planning to ride the length of it into OK. I got about 2o miles into OK and the temperature started to drop dramatically. The roads were wet so it had already rained there. I could smell the rain in the air, so I figured I'd turn around and head back to the lodge. I was only 20 miles into OK at that point. I'd dodged rain the entire trip so far and didn't want to get caught in a storm now. The road was in good condition, but there was no shoulder and places to pull off were far between. If I got caught in a downpour, it may be several miles before I could find a place to pull off and gear up.

I got caught in a slight drizzle, but nothing major and made it back to the lodge before the storm set in. The view from the lodge look like this before I left.

This was what it looked like when I got back

The storm was pretty severe. I was really happy that I had opted for a room at the lodge rather than a campsite at the park. This was the view from the same spot this morning. It was raining off and on and visibility was about 10 feet. I asked the lady at the counter if the fog would burn off soon.

"You're on top of a mountain sweetie. That ain't fog. It's a cloud. Based on this storm, will probably look like this for the rest of the day."

So, I'm still at the lodge. Decided to stay an extra day. The hotel staff told me I could take a shortcut "off the mountain" to get out of the clouds, but would still be riding in this rain and limited visibility for several miles. I decided to wait it out here. The whole point of my vacation is to enjoy the ride and my destination, Mount Nebo, was supposed to look the same as here. So I'd be driving out of this mess just to drive back into it. Hopefully tomorrow will look a bit better and I can get outta here. This place is really scenic, but there isn't anything to do. I'm ready to get moving.

-s

The Queen Wilhelmina

I just arrived at the Queen Wilhlemina Lodge and State Park. The lodge and campground is located on the 2nd highest peak in AR. The views are very nice. There is a campground that I had planned to stay at here, but they are predicting severe thunderstorms tonight, so I got a room here at the lodge. It's not fancy but the price is right. I'm about 5 miles from the OK border and there is about another 40 miles of the Talemina scenic for me to ride, so I'm gonna saddle up in a few minutes and finish the rest of the scenic. Then come back here for the evening. I'll post pictures a bit later.

-s

Thunder and Lightning

Thunderstorms are in the forecast all weekend for the area. Right now there are thunderstorms to the north, and cloudy and overcast skies to the west. Looks like I'll be heading west today. I'll take the Talimeda scenic past Queen Wilhelmina State Park over into Oklahoma. Then come back and stay at the QW State Park. Only a total of a little over 200 miles today, but it is supposed to be very scenic with lots of pull offs to take pictures. Hopefully it won't be so cloudy that I can't get some good pictures. I'll post some pics later tonight.

-s

Hot Springs Bath House Row

In historic Hot Springs, there is a line of bath houses on central avenue that is known as bath house row. These bath houses are built over the hot springs and pump the spring water into private or public baths. I stopped in at the Quapaw and had a private bath and a massage.

There is a hotel that was built in the 1920's called the Arlington which was the hot spot back in the day. Al Capone used to frequent it. I stopped in a small bar last night that Capone used to frequent. It's now named Capone's. Go figure.

The bath was nice. Very relaxing. And the massage was nice too. I had a hot stone massage for the first time. It wasn't great, but it was good. More thunderstorms are in the forecast tomorrow, but I will watch the weather report and head out when it looks like I can dodge them best. I'll either head to Mt Magazine or out towards OK. Which ever looks dryer.

-s

Hotel Buffet Breakfasts

Well, it's 9:13 AM and I am sitting in the hotel lobby/restaurant having breakfast. I should be on the road already, but looks like I will be delayed for a bit. There are 2 directions I could head today, west to OK or north up to Mt. Magazine (the highest point between the Appalachians and Rocky Mountains) and then over towards Mt. Nebo. According to the weather report, there are currently thunder storms to the west in Mena AR and thunderstorms to the north in Mt Magazine state park. Looks like I'll be staying put in Hot Springs today. I guess if I have to get caught in bad weather, I'd much rather be staying in a nice hotel than in a tent camping.



I don't usually mind riding in the rain. It's not something I particularly like, but I don't mind. Thunderstorms are a different matter. And since I will be riding with a fully loaded bike on unfamiliar roads with steep inclines, twisties and switchbacks, figured it would be best to stay put. I'll get out and around historic downtown Hot Springs today and be a tourist. It should be fun. This is probably best anyways. I'm on vacation but seems I've been rushing around. This will force me to slow down a bit. Might even do some flower sniffin.



-s

View of the Ozarks

View from my hotel. Rode up from lake chicot state park where i camped last night to El Dorado AR and on up into Hot Springs. I got a hotel this time. Pic is from my hotel window.

-s