Today we rode the best roads of this trip. The morning started out very nice, but there were storms north of us. After a quick breakfast at McDonalds we headed north where we encountered dark clouds and a chill in the air. No rain but the roads were wet.
7 North to 164 West to 123 Northeast
Dark clouds hanging over 164
Low hanging clouds on 123
A one lane bridge on 123
123 to 16 West to 65 North
Wonderful curves on 16
It seems like 16 is one of those roads that just goes on and on
65 is a major highway, but still fun to ride
Super sweepers on 65
27 Northeast to 14 East to 9 Northeast
Approaching a hair pin on 27
This section of 14 was wide with many awesome curves
Mike on 14
The roads in Arkansas are great and it’s actually hard to find a bad road out here, but today’s roads were just amazing. 123 was really great, although the pavement was a bit bumpy in some places. 16 was very similar to 123, but a bit better in my opinion. The pavement on 16 was better for the most part and the road was very long, it just kept going on and on. But my two favorite roads of the trip have to be 14 and 9.
14 had a bit of everything. There was a section that was narrow and a section that was wide with a shoulder. The wide section was still very twisty but because it’s wider you can maintain higher speeds. 9 was very twisty and slow going, most of the curves on 9 were posted at 20MPH. There are so many great roads in this area of Arkansas that we could have just rode here and spend all the days riding the local roads.
14 to 9 Northeast
9 was one of the twistiest roads of this trip
Most of the curves on 9 were posted at 20MPH
9 to 56 East to 412 North to 63 North
The visitor center at the Mammoth Spring State Park in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas
Mammoth Spring
Ducks and geese at Mammoth Spring State Park
There was no camping at the Mammoth Spring State Park but not too far from there was a private campground called Mammoth Spring Camp Ground. It was located on RT 63 just a few blocks south of the state park. When we pulled in we though the camp ground was closed since there was no one was camping. But there were two people there sweeping up some garbage. We found out they were the owners and they were cleaning up after a very, very busy holiday weekend.
The camp ground was $17 for the night and that included all the fire wood we could burn. The neatest thing was that after the owners left we were completely alone at the camp ground.
Mammoth Spring Camp Ground, that's rain in the distance
Awesome water front camp site
Our camp site viewed from the road
Two cars from a derailed train at our camp ground
The camp ground was located next to the train tracks and a few days ago a train had derailed here. Two cars were still on the ground because they couldn’t be removed. We were told by the owners that tomorrow morning a crew was coming to cut the cars in to smaller pieces so they could be removed.
This camp site also had neat little cabins for rent
Dinner is served
One storm passed not to far from us as we were setting up camp, an even bigger storm was in Oklahoma and was supposed to roll through Arkansas in the middle of the night, so we got the tarp ready for the possible downpour. There was also a flash flood watch in this area from all the rain they were getting. The owner told us that the cam site had flooded before, but the chances of that happening tonight was slim.
There were not many places to get food at this late hour in Mammoth Springs, so we had Sonic for dinner again.
Even though we had all the wood we could burn, the wood was wet from all the rain and it wouldn’t burning. The mosquitoes were really bad again tonight, so with no fire to keep the bugs away we turned in early. Even though the road was just above us and the train tracks next to the camp ground, the noise wasn’t too bad and there were not a lot of trucks and trains running through the night. It was another pleasant night in the 60’s. The rain never came.
Wow, those derailed cars are mighty close to some camp sites!
ReplyDeleteLooks like some fantastic roads!