Tag Archives: Mel’s Hard Luck Diner

Route for today

Getting ready to go. Larry T., Janet, Ivan, Larry C.

Today was another good riding day. The temperature was in the low 40’s and it warmed up to the mid 80’s before rides end. We were up at 6:00 and on the road by 8:00.

On our way to Peel Ferry

There are 7 different rides out of Harrison, AR. Today I combined the Peel Ferry & Eureka Springs routes for what should have been a 228 mile ride. We didn’t ride the route as I had laid it out due to some confusion on my part and being miss directed by the GPS. I learned some new things about my bike’s GPS on this trip… Most of them were not good. In the past we have always traveled from point A to point B with a few via points in between to control our route. For the next three days we will be traveling from point A (Harrison) and back to point A (Harrison) with various via points in between. Not only does the GPS not like going from point A to point A, it got confused several times on the via points and tried to send us down a gravel road, wanted us to make U-turns instead of continuing on or just routed us different. I now know I need to add more via points. Any pointers from Goldwing riders using the older GPS would be greatly appreciated. Enough venting…

Other than the above mentioned problems the ride was a good one. We saw some scenic country and rode some nice twisty roads.

Riding Peel Ferry to Missouri

We headed north out of Harrison on Hwy 7 to Hwy 14 and rode east a very short distance to Hwy 268 north to Hwy 125 where it dead ends at the Peel Ferry. Then we rode the ferry across Bull Shoals Lake into Missouri. The ferry ride was free and a fun break in the ride. We continued on Hwy 125 to Rueter, MO where we turned on to Hwy 160 and followed it to Hwy 76. We took Hwy 76 west to Branson. The route from Harrison to Branson was very scenic with lots of twist and turns.

Crossing river into Branson

We visited Branson the first time last summer a year ago. We sort of knew our way around but then we did get sort of lost. The traffic on Hwy 76 is terrible through the entertainment area so you want to avoid that. Last year we ate at Mel’s Hard Luck Diner several times. We thought it would be fun to eat there again. All the waiter staff sing in between taking and serving your order. The food is as good as the entertainment.

Janet and Shirley relaxing before climbing back on the bikes…

After lunch we looked at some of the shops and took our time getting back on the road.

Our route to Eureka Springs was again very scenic over great motorcycle roads. We left Branson headed south on Hwy 65. We then turned west onto hwy 86 then picked up hwy 21 to Hwy 62. When we stopped for gas we decided to skip stopping in Eureka Spring. After a detour caused by me and the GPS we continued on… heading south on hwy 23. Again the GPS was taking us in an unexpected way and was causing a lot of concern and confusion. So we decided to just head back to Harrison via hwy 412 skipping the most southern part of our route for the day.

In conclusion, we did have great riding weather and rode some very beautiful scenic roads. We had a good time in spite of the mis-directions by me and the GPS. I will definitely need to resolve the GPS issues.

Checkout the other days of our ride below…

Ride introduction…
Day 1 – Georgetown, TX to Bowie, TX via scenic FM 4. (250 miles)
Day 2 – Bowie, TX to Wewoka, OK to Holden, OK  (193 miles)
Day 3 – Holden, OK to Harrison, AR  (263 miles)
Day 5 – Ride 2 out of Harrison, AR  (120 miles)
Day 6 – Ride 3 out of Harrison, AR  (207 Miles)
Day 7 – Harrison, AR to Jessieville, AR (149 miles)
Day 8, 9 & 10 – Jessieville, AR to Scroggins, TX to home