DAY 7 - BEAVER LAKE, AR TO BENTONVILLE, AR

Mileage: 32.3 - Total Mileage: 231.7

Margarita Count - 16

For once on this trip we started off going downhill from camp instead of having a big climb at the start. That made Dave happy! 

It got down to 45 degrees overnight, but we were both warm and cozy in the tent. The sleeping bags and tent have worked very well on this trip - you're never quite sure if the gear will live up to what's advertised but are happy it did!

It was still cool when we started off this morning, but it didn't take long for the sun to warm things up. We dropped down from camp to the Beaver dam and then had a nice a climb up from the dam. Every good descent comes at the price of a hard climb!

The view from the top of the dam this morning. There wasn't any water flowing out.

Since this was Bikes, Blues, and BBQ weekend, there have been many motorcycles on the road the last two days. Today was no exception. Even with the extra traffic, it hasn't been bad. The motorcyclists are out cruising and enjoying their ride, and that has helped keep the traffic speeds down. 

As we got closer to Bentonville, the hills became smaller and not as steep. We were riding them like they were only small hills. It is always amazing how quickly my body can adapt to physical work when I just keep pushing it. 

We stopped about halfway to Bentonville in the small town of Garfield for some lunch and a break. While at the general store, we saw this poster for the Testicle Festival. I couldn't make this up! Billed as Beer, Balls, Bands, and camping in Bentonville. Too bad it's a few weekends away. 

I won't say it was any easy cruise today, but it wasn't a hard day.  Before we knew it, we were on the outskirts of Bentonville and just had to ride across town to the Bike Inn, where we stayed before the tour and left the truck. We rode into the Bike Inn at 3:30pm and felt both tired and elated! We had completed a pretty tough tour and made it back without any major mechanical or physicsl issues. 

Better yet, Dave was no longer a touring virgin and he didn't ask for a divorce once during the week! In fact he had such a great time he asked me to marry him again! How could I not want to spend my life and adventures with this semi-crazy, almost-as-stubborn-as-I-am man with the best helmet hair?! ❤️

After cleaning up, we were able to spend the evening with friends at their place outside of Bentonville. It was nice to see friends we hadn't seen in awhile and share good food and drinks with them. 

Now that this tour is done, it is time to plan the next adventure. Not sure what it will be, but it will be an adventure! 

DAY 6 - SOUTH OF EUREKA SPRINGS, AR TO BEAVER LAKE, AR

Mileage: 20 - Total Mileage: 199.4

Margarita Count - Finally 12

Today, we were supposed to head to the east of Fayetteville for our return to Bentonville on Saturday. As has been the theme so far, that is not exactly how it played out. 

We did the usual route and road check this morning and talked to the owner of RiverDream Camp where we stayed last night. Yes, I forgot the damn campsite picture again! I still have one more chance tomorrow. After talking through the road conditions on the route planned, we found out there was a lot of gravel with steep climbs and descents. Additionally, one of the river croasings was washed out a couple months before and he wasn't sure it was fixed.

It was cool enough this morning to wear my bolero for a few hours to keep my arms and shoulders warm. I'm sure glad I used it at least once - I would hate to have carried it and never needed it!

That left us two options - hope the bridge was fixed and deal with the gravel, or reroute to Eureka Springs and figure out a new plan for the night since it would be another 49 miles to where we planned to be tonight. We had a leisurely lunch in Eureka Springs while we looked at other options. Eureka Springs was packed with bikers, but they are some of the most courteous to cyclists on the roads, since we both deal with issues of visibility in motorists' eyes. 

We had beautiful scenic views over the valley today. 

Dave found a dive shop/resort/campground on Beaver Lake outside of Eureka Springs, and called to see about availability. With thousands of bikers in the area for the weekend, most places are already full. The person he spoke to didn't know if they had sites available but we decided there were other campgrounds around the area and we would find something. 

Before leaving Eureka Springs we stopped for groceries for dinner and also went across the street to the liquor store for evening provisions. The liquor store even had a bicycle rack out front - now that's not something you see everyday!

There were several resorts on the way to the campground. I saw this one with these "ladies" dressed for the weekend's Bikes, Blues, & BBQ festivities. 

When we got to the dive shop/campground we were in luck - they had plenty of room for tents. In fact, we are the only ones here. The bonus was that we didn't have to eat a freeze-dried meal or something we cooked in camp. The dive shop sold pizza and wings. Dinner was set! Only Dave could go on a bike tour and bring home a souvenir t-shirt from a dive shop!

This was a semi-rest day for us. Our mileage was only 20 miles but there were three big climbs covered in only 20 miles. The worst was coming out of Eureka Springs. We had a very sweet 2.5 mile downhill, followed by an approximately 2.5 mile uphill. I say approximately, because when I stop riding my Garmin shuts off and doesn't record the mileage. Based on my steps for today, though, it was at least 2.0 miles of walking and I rode the first part of the hill. 

For my mountain biking friends, there is a downhill course right out of Eureka Springs if you are in the area. We know this because their "Shuttle Bug" passed us several times as we made our way up the hill! Once we were over that hill, it was more of the up and down almost-rollers the rest of the way into camp. 

Dave's quote of the day uttered as we were almost to the top of the big hill out of Eureka Springs - "The hills go on forever, and the sweating never ends."

It is supposed to dip into the mid-40's tonight, so we will have a good test of the new sleeping bags we bought. I sure hope they are as good as they claim! Tomorrow we return to Bentonville and the end of the trip. It has been a great week but neither one of us is ready for it to be over. We're ready for the hills to be done, though!

DAY 5 - HARRISON, AR TO SOUTH OF EUREKA SPRINGS, AR

Mileage: 34.6 - Total Mileage: 179.4

Margarita Count - Still 8

Now that we're back in Arkansas, there is no more liquor in the convenience stores, so it is not as easy to get camp provisions for the evening hours. Hence, the low margarita count this trip. The little Italian place last night didn't even sell wine! 

We did a route check and road check again this morning and saw that US 412 seemed to be a good road. It is a four-lane divided highway with a shoulder as wide as a lane. Although it was a busier road, having the wide shoulder made it bearable. The other plus was that as a US highway the grades were a little more moderate. 

The first 10 miles went by very quickly and we stopped at the Top Rock Diner for 2nd breakfast (me)/1st lunch (Dave). It had great diner food and topped us off for a few more hours of riding.

Today we saw the first signs of fall colors as we left Harrison. It will be beautiful here in another week or two. 

Today starts a 4-day weekend of Bikes, Blues, and BBQ for Eureka Springs and the surrounding areas. Since we are headed south of Eureka Springs for the night, we started seeing many people on bikes. We thought we would fit in perfectly with this group. Alas, it's the other type of bikes! We met this group at a convenience store break and had a good time chatting with them. We have seen every type of motorcycle go by today - so many nice bikes!

Soon it was time to head south to our campsite on the King River, called RiverDream Camp. I found this place on the internet and it looked kind of cool. I called the owner to make sure we could camp (so many places only allow RV's these days). He reserved us a space and said we could pay when we got there. It was a really nice place and we shared the campsite with one RV. They also have glamping tents, cabins and a treehouse for people to stay in if they don't want to "rough it".

This is a shot of the quiet road into camp in the late afternoon. Some of the best pictures I see happen to be when I am flying down a hill. I will rarely stop for those because I know there is another uphill waiting for me at the bottom and I need all the momentum I have to get up and over it!

Me and my sweet hubby during a quick photo break. I'm so glad I found someone who puts up with my craziness. ❤️

Tomorrow will be a longer day as we make our way west towards Fayetteville. We are both tired so we'll see what the day brings. 

DAY 4 - FORSYTH, MO TO HARRISON, AR

Mileage: 38.2 - Total Mileage: 144.8

Margarita Count - Still 8

Today started out just like the last ones - uphill! That's the problem with staying near lakes and rivers. You almost always are down in a valley and have to climb out. It took us two good climbs anf 8 miles to get out of camp. When we got to the top, the Hilltop Gas & Grocery was there with a convenience store and grill. That was just the ticket - they made a good cheeseburger! 

I've talked some about all the climbing, but it seems like so much more during the day. Especially as the days and miles pile up in your legs. We have had more hike-a-bike than we would like, but it hasn't been anything we couldn't do. Once the grades get above about 9% it is very diffucult to peddle uphill, even with the low gears we have. 

We rerouted ourselves again today. When planning a route, you only know what you can see on Google satellite view. But when you actually get there and see the road conditions, many times you can find a better option for the route. As we go each day we look at what our options are and then make a change if it seems better. 

It turned out that US Highway 65 was a better option than some of the backroads. The backroads were very curvy and steep, and sometimes had limited sight lines. US 65 still had plenty of climbs, but the grades were lower (5 - 6%, instead of 9%+). The climbs were longer on US 65 but with the lower grades there was no hike-a-bike. Win-win! 

We are staying at a very nice KOA campground and had the luxury of laundry available tonight. Normally, I wash my riding clothes in the shower and hang them to dry. It has been so dewy at night that nothing has dried and I've had to tie them on top of my tent bag to dry while riding each day. Since there are only 3 more riding days, now everything is clean and I don't have to do any shower laundry the rest of the trip!

I again forgot to take a picture of camp - it's just one of those trips!

We have had amazing weather so far. We wake up to clear blue skies. We haven't even seen any clouds these first four days. It is still warm during the day - somewhere in the mid-80's - and cools down to the low 50's overnight. 

We decided to order dinner from the local Italian restaurant tonight and have it delivered through DoorDash. It took over an hour to get our food because DoorDash's website was screwing up. Even though it was only warm when it got to us, we were so hungry it didn't matter! It was gone in minutes. 

We'll see what tomorrow brings. For now, it's time for bed!

Shady break area on the side of a church. Only thing we'd seen for miles. 

View over the valley to the the next set of hills. 

DAY 3 - CAPE FAIR, MO TO FORSYTH, MO

Mileage: 34.2 - Total Mileage: 106.6

Margarita Count - 8

What a day it was today! We had another morning with a monster hill right out of camp. This one wasn't as long as yesterday but it was every bit as steep. We both walked a portion of it since we knew we had a full day and there's no sense blowing up first thing in the day. 

We had a few busy roads today, but for the most part the drivers were courteous and we were on the busier roads at quieter times in the day. We even had several long sections today where we were rolling along the ridge line. It was nice because even though the road was still going up and down, they weren't long or steep and we coud just roll down the road. 

We had some longer climbs today than earlier in the trip, but they weren't as steep and we could ride them, albeit slowly. The scenery as we went along the ridges was pretty amazing. It was like you were rolling along at the top of the world and you could see for miles. 

My favorite road today was Rock Church Road. We never did find the rock church, but it was a beautiful rolling, shaded road running through a valley. That meant there wasn't much climbing, which was very nice!

We were late out of camp again this morning, waiting for the tent and fly to dry before packing up. Which means we were later getting into camp tonight. We may try to change things up tomorrow and pack up a little wet to get in earlier in the afternoon. We'll see how that goes! We're still working out the camp routines. 

I have been remiss in taking pictures of our campsites each day. I will try to get one in the morning and attched here tomorrow. Tonight we are camped at a city park down by the river in Forsyth. There are a couple of travel trailers here and us. It will be a very quiet night - although that's not necessary for us to sleep good!

We stopped at a convenience store before heading to camp. I found cans of margaritas that boast 2+ shots of tequila plus triple sec and lime juice in each 12 oz can. They are pretty good and will help the muscles relax and refresh for tomorrow morning. At least that's my story - and I'm sticking to it! Dave's relaxer of choice tonight is some Captain Morgan's spiced rum. It's a good night in camp!

And the promised picture of camp from tonight. Notice the laundry hanging to dry - we lucked out having a little shelter to keep it mostly protected from the overnight dew. It helps a lot when clothes and towels can dry overnight. 

 

DAY 2 - CASSVILLE, MO TO CAPE FAIR, MO

Mileage: 34.0 - Total Mileage: 72.4

Margarita Count - Still 4

Today was a shorter day, but featured more climbing on tired legs. It started right out of the park with a long, strep climb that Dave and I both walked a portion of. You just can't do that on cold legs!

We got a late start out of camp this morning a little before 11am. We were slower packing up the tent and sleeping gear, and organizing everything in the right bags. We wanted to let the tent and fly dry a little from the overnight dew. It wasn't a worry, though, because we had modified the route today based on information from a guy working on the park roads. It shaved a few miles off the total and supposedly had a little less traffic on the roads. 

Because of the number and variety of hills today, we took more breaks along the side of the road. Because of this, we didn't pull into camp until about 5:30pm. Not bad considering the late start and challenging terrain. 

As we rolled into Cape Fair, we saw a bait shop on the side of the road that also advertised snacks. We stopped to pick up snacks for this evening and tomorrow morning. We met Mike, shop owner of Catch 'Em All Tackle and Bait, and his wife. His wife had just finished a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream, and she insisted we have some. It was really good, and the perfect snack after a hard day of riding!

There were more steep hills today and more walking occurred. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we know we need to pace ourselves to get through the next few days. No sense blowing up on a steep hill when there are plenty more to come. Although sometimes I think it is harder to walk and push the heavy bike than it is to ride. It's just a different kind of hard!

Just one example of the road today - seemed like it was just up and down the same 50 feet all day!

At the top of one long climb, we saw and old fire watch tower. That was a nice sight since those are usually built up on the top of the ridge. It looked old and no longer in service but could be seen all the way up the hill. 

The only real restaurant option tonight was a restaurant that was about 2 miles down the road up and over another steep hill. We decided it just wasn't worth it. Tonight was the perfect time to eat one of the freeze-dried meals we were carrying. I had chicken fettucine alfredo and Dave had beef stroganof. They aren't quite as good as homemade but most everything tastes good when you are tired and hungry!

Some beautiful scenery from today, and my patient and adventurous hubby, Big Dave. 

We are looking forward to a good night's sleep and another good day of riding. 

DAY 1 - BENTONVILLE, AR TO CASSVILLE, MO

Mileage: 38.4 - Total Mileage: 38.4

Margarita Count - 4

We stayed in a cute "cottage" at the Bike Inn last night where we will leave the truck for the week we are gone. As you can tell by the name, it is a place that caters to cyclists and has some neat touches. Each room has a rack for two bikes, there's a couple of bike repair stands outside, a bike wash and outdoor shower, and a great outdoor communal space with tables and chairs for people to gather. 

The cottage was small - more like "glamping" than a hotel - but it had a bed and was easy since we are leaving the truck there. 

We rolled out about 9am and I promptly missed the first turn. In my defense, it didn't have a street sign. Between Dave and I we managed to get out of Bentonville without much more trouble. We had a nice stretch of quiet gravel roads for about 3 miles, and the first "real" climb of the trip hit us 9 miles into the ride during the gravel section. From then on, there were repeats of the hills throughout the day. 

The valley and hills in the distance along the gravel road. 

We stopped in Pea Ridge for food and Dave was looking for something at Wal-Mart when we saw this big platform even with the roof of the store out back. We went back to see what it was and it was a "Zipline". But not the kind you are thinking of!  They are testing out drone delivery of small packages from that store. A lady on break told us they have a range of about 50 miles. Pretty cool!

I'm not sure what the deal is with abandoned/wrecked house boats along this stretch of Arkansas, but I saw two within about 10 miles. One sitting in the middle of a field,  and one roght next to the highway. Weird!

The motto we learned today was "Don't be a dick!"  This was rule #1 of the house rules at the Bike Inn, and we just think it applies to almost any situation in life. 

We crossed the Missouri state line today - we didnt waste any time getting a border crossing on this trip! I'm not very good at selfies, but I'll work on it this week. 

We weren't in a rush today - we took our time and had several stops to get snacks and food. There weren't any restaurants near the state park where we are camped, so we stopped at the last convenience store before the park. As we rolled in we saw three bikes leaned against the wall with some minimal bikepacking gear. I went in and found three women who were on their way home from an overnight trip. Two of the women had never done a trip like that, and were tired but very happy with their adventure. I love to see other people out on adventures!

We stocked up on dinner items and snacks, and found convenience stores in Missouri can sell liquor. Missouri rocks! I found some individual bottles of ChiChi's margaritas. Unfortunately, they were pinapple margaritas. Oh well, there's always going to be a little suffering on a tour. I'm drinking them now and they are doing their job loosening the muscles. They are just a little too sweet. I told you I was suffering! 

Camp is set, we're both showered, laundry is done, dinner has been eaten, and finally we are relaxing. There's a lot to do in the evening! I foresee an early bedtime - especially since it is already dark at 7:30 - and both of us sleeping really well!

Until tomorrow...