Today is day 6 of our Harrison, AR motorcycle ride. It rained last night and was still sprinkling this morning at 6:00. The roads were still really wet. The rain was to move out of the area by this morning. I was a little concerned about riding twisty wet roads that none of us had ridden before. We left a little later this morning, sometime before 9:00, hoping the roads would dry some. There were a few clouds lingering around and it was a bit cooler because of the rain but the roads were dry, for the most part. The sun soon was out and the temperature climbed into the mid-80’s by the end of the ride.
Ivan, Larry C. Alfred & Larry T at Bull Shoals Dam
I combined the Bull Shoals and Mountain View rides. Because we had so many issues with the GPS miss-routing us on the earlier day’s rides I came up with a backup plan. Combining old and new school, I wrote the directions on a piece of paper for Janet to refer to and verify where the GPS was directing us. This worked really well. The GPS did try to take us on a different route on a couple of occasions. We just ignored the GPS and rode the ride as I had planned it.
White River down stream from Bull Shoals Dam
On the Bull Shoals ride we rode Hwy 65/412/62 to Bellefonte where we turned left onto Hwy 412/62. Hwy 412/62 goes to Yelleville. Just before Yelleville we turned left on Hwy 202. Hwy 202 took us to Flippin where we took Hwy 178 to Bull Shoals Dam.
James Gaston Visitor Center from Bull Shoals Dam
The ride to Bull Shoals Dam we rode through beautiful scenic farm land, across Crooked Creek to Bull Shoals Dam. At the dam we stopped to stretch our legs and take some scenic pictures. Just above the dam was the Bull Shoals-White River State Park James Gaston Visitors Center. We rode up there to tour the center and use the facilities… The Visitor Center had many interesting displays about the history and ecology of the lake. From the observation deck there was a nice view of Bull Shoals Dam, Bull Shoals Lake and the White River. Great photo opts.
Stream by the Country Kitchen Restaurant in Yellville
We continued down Hwy 178 to Hwy 126 back to Hwy 412/62 at Gassville. From Gassvile we rode to Yellville where we ate lunch at the Country Kitchen. After lunch we took a few pictures of the stream by the County Kitchen and then walked down to a biker gift shop that was closed. We did get a picture of Larry C. on his dream machine.
Larry C. on his dream machine…
From Yellville we turned left on Hwy 14 and rode to Mountain View, riding through Harriet, Big Flat and Fifty Six.
In Mountain View we stopped for ice cream. Larry C. can never pass up a chance to eat ice cream. It was a nice break. We need to come back and explore Mountain View some other time when we have more time, as it looked to be an interesting little town with a quaint and charming historic square with unique shops and places to eat.
From Mountain View we turned right onto Hwy 66 to Leslie. At Leslie we turned right onto Hwy 65 which took us back to Harrison and the end of our ride.
Today ended our time in Harrison. In the pasted three days we have ridden some of the most scenic motorcycle roads in the Arkansas and enjoyed meeting some very friendly and interesting people along the way. My one regret is that I did not plan more stops on our rides. We hope to return one day and spend more time exploring the area.
Stuck behind a logging truck.
Tomorrow we will say goodbye to our riding friends, Larry C, Larry T, Shirley T and Alfred. They will be heading home to Alabama and Georgia. Too bad we can’t ride together more often.
If you want to follow us on the other days of our trip click the links 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 4 – Ride 1 out of Harrison, AR
Day 5 – Ride 2 out of Harrison, AR (120 miles)
Day 7 – Harrison, AR to Jessieville, AR (149 miles)
Day 8, 9 & 10 – Jessieville, AR to Scroggins, TX to home
