Well, I was able to take my first real ride of the season finally. I'm working in Conway Arkansas right now. One of my co-workers took a ride last weekend toward the Natural Bridge and said Arkansas 65 was a nice road. I took off at around ten o'clock. The Weather Channel was calling for rain so I grabbed the rain suit and headed out. It was heavily overcast but the clouds were those high kind that usually mean no rain (right away anyhow) and it was about 72 degrees. I jumped on I-40 briefly and headed off exit 129 northbound on Rte 65. The road was in pretty good condition. Traffic wasn't bad, it was light and most people were watching their speed. After about five miles I saw why. There were three State Troopers in the next five miles. All told I would see about eight Troopers on the trip. The only thing I saw more of were churches and antique stores. I've literally never seen so many churches in a 40 mile strip of road. The road went through several small towns and the area seemed a lot like the places in Alabama I've rode before. The litter was less than around Conway which was nice.
The Natural Bridge park is about three miles north of Clinton. The road into the bridge is narrow, barely one lane but it's only a mile or so and there doesn't seem to be much traffic. There's a small gift shop and a very short nature trail and "hill billy" display including a still. It cost $4.00 to get in to see the bridge. The gift shop is strategically placed to block the view which works out for the proprietors because if you could see it from anywhere coming in it would only take a glimpse to see it all. It was more of a reason to ride somewhere. The woman in the gift shop was nice and helpful. When I mentioned the twisty and steep nature of the road she mentioned the park is closed from the end of November until the first of March.
By the time I got to Clinton the sun was out and it was gorgeous. The trip back was uneventful. I was looking forward to stopping for lunch at the Mexican restaurant I passed on the way up. It was as good as I had hoped. It was so nice after lunch I decided to ride to Little Rock. Little Rock is thirty miles southeast and by the time I got to Little Rock the sky to the south was so dark you couldn't see the skyline of the city. I decided to hightail it home. All in all it was a great ride, but than there's ever hardly a bad one.
Miles - 144
2 comments:
First time I realized that you had another blog. I like it! And these two pics are great.
Thanks Jim. I wanted to sort out the motorcycle riding because it's such a big deal to me I thought it kind of deserved it's own blog.
Thanks for the kind words on the pictures too.
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