2019 Arkansas motorcycle trip
Day 3
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May 25
It was a wonderful first morning at our vacation home. The fan was humming. I had a great night's sleep. I peeped out the window to see a sunny day awaiting us. People sat on the deck, ate some breakfast, checked their email. Ahhhhhhh...vacation.
My mom & dad have had a poodle named Ebony for 18 years. She and Dad are inseparable. Sometimes when they are outside Ebony will decide to explore and wander off a little. After awhile she'll think about Dad and look around for him. If she doesn't see him you can tell she misses him and has to find him. I call that an 'Ebony moment'. When I wake up on vacation and Donna isn't there I have an Ebony moment. I miss her and I wonder where she is. When I find her I have butterflies.
Today we will ride to Rogers and check out some things on the way. We need to make a supply run to Walmart. One negative we've found about this house is a lack of towels and wash rags. Our wash rags are actually dish towels.
In no hurry everyone got dressed, moved the bikes out, and prepared for the day. Deer freely roam through the neighborhood. There is a roadrunner that occasionally crosses the road. In the distance the White River widens and has a lake atmosphere. The whole area is framed by bluffs.
 To get to Eureka Springs we start on Bandy Lane that runs by the house. Then CR-66 to AR-187 to AR-23 that leads to Eureka Springs. On AR-187 there is a one-lane bridge that we must yield for. The one-lane bridge seems an oddity on this fairly high-traffic road. When you reach Eureka Springs one of the first things you see is the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway. It offers rides and dinner trains on 4.5 miles of track. We researched the dinner train but it seemed expensive for what it was.
There are the remains of an old building...
...and lots of inns and B&Bs.
Towards the center of town are shops. There are also some interesting older buildings.
 Do you see a stop sign here? Me either. It's behind the tree. I got honked at for running the intersection. Sorry.
Passing thru Eureka Springs we turned west on US62. A nice motorcycle road.
 Some very curvy 15mph sections joined by sweeping curves. They are having a motorcycle rally in Eureka Springs this weekend so there are lots of bikes out. Not as many as I would have thought, though.
Curves are what it's all about on the bikes.
I never saw a train on this trestle.
Enjoying some more curves. We passed an intersection with AR-187. Isn't that one of the roads to our house? I glanced at the GPS. Yes it is. It will make a nice short cut around Eureka Springs. Mental note made. We passed several antique stores that I'm sure the girls were noting.
 Garfield, AR. 10:00, mileage 100,413 - Donna requested a bathroom break to release her coffee. A gas station came into view at Garfield so we stopped there.
 A few miles down the road we stopped at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. We enjoy the history and it has a driving loop which will be fun to do. All the other military park driving loops we've done have been free and we were disappointed to find they charge $15 per motorcycle here. We decided to just check out the inside displays. 
 Wes wanted to look for parts for his bike's antenna and Mike wanted to check out front tires so I had the GPS plot a course for the Honda shop in Rogers. As we were riding through town Donna and I both noticed Rainbow Honda on our left, so we made a loop through Rainbow Marine next door. The GPS said we still had four miles to go. Strike one for the mapping software.
 They had some new Goldwings. Beautiful bikes. I like the new transmissions and electronics. But overall I am disappointed with the new design. They went for more of a sport touring design. Smaller trunk, smaller saddlebags, smaller fuel tank, smaller passenger area, smaller headlights, smaller mirrors, smaller windshield...smaller. No lights on the trunk. No intercom. Poor navigation system. The lack of intercom is a big negative for me since Donna and I love to converse. Sidenote: The girls and Wes were crop dusted in the Honda shop, but there wasn't a plane involved. Ha!
 Leaving the Honda shop we rode to the downtown area near the Daisy museum. There was plenty of parking. The cobblestone streets and Coke mural gave the area a nice vibe.
 John and I were members of our local Elks Lodge until it closed several years ago.
 It was time for lunch. Debby did a Google search and there was a restaurant around the corner. We had lunch at the Parkside Public Restaurant. Air conditioning felt good, and so was the food.
Donna and I. The bartender appears ghostly.
 After lunch the girls decided to check out the stores while the guys went to the Daisy BB Gun museum. Donna didn't find anything.
 The Daisy BB Gun museum is in a corner store. It's about half museum and half store. John, Mike, and I all bought M1911-style BB pistols. I was interested in an M14 BB rifle but they don't carry them anymore.
 We've been needing to stop at a vegetable stand to get some supplies. We saw a farmer's market on the way into town so we stopped there. We also needed to go to Walmart. Google said there was one in Rogers so we decided to go there. I found Walmart on my GPS and it led us to the airport parking lot. What???? Strike two for the mapping software.
 Donna used her phone and navigated us to the real Walmart. We bought some towels, drinks, and other supplies. I bought a mobile charger and wall charger for my cell phone and neither of them worked. They had weird ends on them (type C?). They were $30 each so I will be returning them. It was nice having five bikes to carry all the groceries. We usually bring a trailer but it didn't work out that way today. Picking up supplies at Walmart is a trip ritual.
 When I see railroad cars I know the tracks are active which I like to see. An active railroad usually equals a good local economy.
 On the way back to the house we took the AR-187 shortcut. We passed the Railway Winery. Donna laughed because it was hard for me to say. Railray Winery. Railway Rinerwy. The railroad in Eureka Springs used to connect to the railroad in Rogers but a washed out trestle cut the line and the section to Seligman has long since been removed. That's sadness for a train nerd like me.
 At the town of Beaver is this one-lane suspension bridge. I've seen pictures of it in other people's trip reports.
There is a country store here but we never stopped to check it out. That evening we had salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and peach cobbler for supper. We spent the evening on the deck and lounging around. Tomorrow we ride. Ahhhhhhh...vacation.
93 miles. Click here for the next day's adventure.
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