Arkansas - Slowly

Kay and I finally made it to Arkansas, but it took a couple of days. There are so may great places in Oklahoma to visit, especially when you are riding dual sport motorcycles. People ask us "where you going?" and we just say "east", which is generally true. Normally we don't have a specific plan or route. We just wander, find a back road we like, and see where it takes us. I try to stay off the highways as much as possible. We discover some very interesting and unusual places this way.

Northeast of Shawnee, just cruising along a county road, we ran across a sign that said "Jim Thorpe's Birthplace" with an arrow pointing south. Humm. We turned around, went back and followed the arrows south and found this marker.

GPS waypoints:
N 35 25.318
W 096 45.213



These are the types of roads we like to travel - west of Okemah



Anytime I am near Henryetta and have some extra time, I like to stop and visit my Grandpa Maghe's gravesite. He was my only grandpa I knew and I really liked him, so I like to stop and clean things up a bit and think about him. He was a WW1 veteren. This time I marked his gravesite for my kids.




GPS waypoint:
N 35 26.411
W 096 00.762



We stopped in the outskirts of Eufaula for fuel. As Kay was preparing to leave, she had a wino friend eyeballing her.



We wandered back roads along the north shore of Lake Eufaula, staying to paved county roads as much as possible. Eventually we wandered close to Stigler and decided to stop by one of our favorite places, Kickstart Bed & Breakfast. It was good to see Mike & Patty, proprietors of this motorcycle-only B&B. We always have a great time and sat around that evening talking about motorcycles.







The next morning we wandered east and north, stopping by the locks on the McLellen-Kerr River Navigation system.



Sequoyah's Cabin


We finally made it to Arkansa via back roads and even some dirt and gravel roads - pulling in the back way to Devil's Den State park, a secluded park right on the AR/OK border.

Kay taking a break at Devil's Den State Park


The warm sun prompted Kay to take a nap while I explored the area.


We rode some back roads over to Highway 16 and rode the "Pig Trail" down to Turner's Bend, a popular motorcyclist hangout on Highway 23. Later we spent the night in Ozark.

Arkansas

Sorry for not closing out the Australia posts as some people requested. Yes, we made it home safe and sound.

Today we head out on another adventure. Our original plan was to trailer our BMW daul sport bikes to Tennessee and ride "The Dragon", but a change of plans has us just riding locally to Arkansas, Missouri, and from there we are not sure. Our travels usually do not include much planning. We don't make reservations, we just have a vague idea of where we are going and what we want to see. For this trip we are just going to jump on the bikes and head east, then when we get to Arkansas we will decide whether to go north to Missouri or south to Louisianna. Our only plan is to get back by the following weekend. Should be fun.