We got on the road this morning the earliest yet at 8:00 AM.  After almost a week of re-packing and re-loading the bikes, we are getting better at it.

We headed back to downtown Hot Springs to get a few photos of the old bath houses and The Arlington and then turned around again to head for the Ouachita National Forest.  The Arkansas marketing propaganda said the roads through the forest were so scenic that it was hard to keep your eye on the road.  Well, it was pretty . . . but not as pretty as Pennsylvania and Kentucky . . . but still nice.

We crossed the border around noon into Oklahoma.  We stopped at Wister Lake Dam and took a few photos and then headed to Wilburton, the old stomping grounds of Jesse James and Belle Star, for lunch.  Right away we could see a difference between Arkansas and Oklahoma – Oklahomians (just made that up) take pride in their state and want everyone to try and keep it beautiful, not just for tourists, but for themselves as well.   The roads were all well-maintained even if they were not overly exciting to drive on with our motorcycles.  Oklahoma is just very neat and tidy . . . I was hoping to at least see some tumbleweed but maybe tumbleweed has been banned from the state as too messy.

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Well, what can we say about Arkansas.  They say if you don’t have anything good to say it is better to not say anything.  This blog is meant to track our good and bad days, though, so I will post a few words on today’s experiences.

 We set out from the Heartbreak Hotel at 8:30 AM this morning, fresh and ready for “The Natural State” of Arkansas.  Highway 70 between Forrest City and Little Rock is very straight and very bumpy.  Our excitement on this route was armadillo road kill, a minnow farm, one curve, and a crop dusting.  We tried not to inhale the crop dusting . . .

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We started out this morning with some photo opportunities within Jellystone Park with Yogi and his friends before the rest of the park woke up.   After we had our camera fun at poor Yogi’s expense, we headed to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in hopes that it was run by early birds.  No luck.  We took a picture and took a trip down the road to the Grand Ole Opry in hopes that it might be run by early birds.  Also, no luck, but we took a photo to prove we were actually there anyway.  Time to get out of Nashville . . . the town that sleeps in and parties all night, I guess.

We navigated out of Nashville via the interstate, escaping the interstate and exploring some of the less travelled highways starting at Bucksnort, Tennessee.  Definitely, one of the best town names so far on our trip.  Knob Lick, Kentucky was also a contender in the best name category.  I forgot to mention that one yesterday.

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We had a nice surprise this morning at our Holiday Inn in Lexington’s complimentary “continental” breakfast.  We were expecting muffins and bagels and some juice and coffee.  In Kentucky, a “continental” breakfast is a full breakfast buffet including eggs, sausage and grits.  I decided that I liked grits, but only in small quantities.

After we loaded up our motorcycles again, we were off to check out the Shaker village of Harrodsburg.  Once again, the roads were amazing through horse country.  We “stole the soul” of a Shaker actress by snapping her picture and fled.

Next checkpoint for us was Lebanon, Kentucky.  There is a photo of main street from today.  It really is very typical of what we have been seeing on our trip.

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