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The fog was thick and wet, and it felt like the temperature dropped 10 degrees as we
dropped into Ponca. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
After stopping in Kingston to warm up, we headed down the Pig Trail, stopping again at
the Turner Bend store, then again in Ozark for gas.
There was an accident between the store and Ozark that was being pulled out of a hollow
along a real twisty stretch. It looked as if the top had been cut off the truck to free the
occupants..... Hope they were ok.
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Detouring out of the way, we headed toward Mt. Magazine. There was a fair amount of
road construction and a few miles of new chip & seal with loose gravel along the way. This
was the worst part of our ride, but the views off the top were awesome and the new lodge
looks to be a super nice place.
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Arriving at our motel Sun Country Inn in Mena around 4:30 p.m., we were surprised
to see a large group of bikers from Dallas checking in also. The Inn was full and it looked
like mostly bikes, several of the other motels were full of bikers also.
Mary and Charles' daughter-in-law Ginger drove up from where she lives a little south of Mena
to meet us for dinner. It was a pleasure meeting her, as she's a really sweet gal. Being in Iraq,
Mary's son Brett was unable to join us. Maybe we'll get to meet him the next time.
We woke Sunday morning to another cool start........ except my bike wouldn't start...... for some
reason I had a dead battery. I let Charles and Mary know that we were going to be a bit late
getting started as I had to get my bike running.
I borrowed Denise's bike to go look for a battery or jumpers......... well Mena's like Harrison at
8 a.m. Sunday morning..... very quiet and not much open, so I ended up at a Wal-Mart where I
found some jumper cables.
As if things couldn't get worse, I was only 1 block from the Inn at a stoplight when about 15 bikes
pulled up around me...... here I am on Denise's bike with her PINK pack and PINK fuzzy keychain !!!
Let me tell ya, those lights last a LOOONNNGGG time !!!!
After a quick jump we were off to the Talimena !!
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Stopping for breakfast at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park Lodge we had a fantastic view from the restaurant.
With full bellies we were off to see the sights. It was beautiful and with pull-offs and views every mile
or two, you could spend all day enjoying this ride!! One interesting stop was at the Dwarf and Elfin
Forest. The white oak trees here are stunted because of severe winter conditions, and lack of water,
so most mature trees only get to 10 / 15 ft tall. We also met a nice couple along the ride, Joe and Paige
from Justin, Texas. The last Vista along the way offered a 360 degree view that was AWESOME !!
Pictures just can't do it justice, so you'll have to see it for yourself.
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We spent way more time on the Talimena than we planned, so we gassed up and headed out. Our way
back took us thru hwy 80 at Waldron and on to Dardenalle. It wasn't to late so we made a quick trip
up Mt. Nebo, stopped for a burger then headed up Hwy 7 towards home.
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Halfway back the sun was getting low and cooling off, so we stopped at a rest area to put on our jackets.
The next stop was Jasper just to say our "see ya's" before home. The trip to Talimena was a great one !
With good friends and great weather, it couldn't have been much better. We missed having the rest of the
gang along, but there's always next time : )
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