Ozark Escape April 18 – 21

The day had finally arrived. The planning was complete and Jamie and I were loading up and heading out to the Ozark Great Escape. The destination was Mountain Home Arkansas, right in the middle of the famed Ozarks. To say we were excited was a huge understatement.

We slabbed our way to the hotel as rain was in the forecast and getting caught in twisty roads during a hard rain storm is not my idea of fun. We road most of the way in cool, but dry weather. That ended on the last 30 miles of our trip. It rained buckets and it was a great test for our rain gear.

As we rolled into the hotel, we were greeted by a minimum of 30 motorcycles. There was another group from Michigan (MSTR) staying at the same hotel. It made us smile. More bikes equal more fun. Most of the attendees were going to ride up on Friday. We rode up early as some of our friends from the Dallas area came up so we could do a nice loop on Friday. It was great getting to spend some time with old and new friends. The weekend was setting up to be a great one.

Friday April 19th – Overcast skies, cool temps and Fantastic Roads.

We had a gathering time set for 8am. As we got the bikes ready, it was apparent that the temps were not as high as the weatherman had predicted. It was 46 when we headed out under overcast skies. The weather looked threatening, however we all headed out with our spirits high.

A short 30 minutes into our ride, we turned onto the famous push mountain road (PMR) or Arkansas 341 if you are keeping score at home. As always the road is a brilliant example of twist and turns, that warm the soul. That was a good thing as it was cold, with temps dropping into the low 40’s. After running PMR we were headed to Mountain View for breakfast, however much to our surprise, the old Cody’s in Fifty Six AR has been reopened and branded as Hunters. We made a quick U-turn and had breakfast there. We were not disappointed. Good food and warm coffee, what else could we have asked for?