Beemer Boys Motorcycle Trips

Saturday, January 26, 2019

2019-01-26 Van Buren AR to Shreveport LA

Today's goal was to go back east a bit and see Hot Springs National Park, and we were successful, mostly.. The government shut down ended Friday and we had this crazy idea that the national parks would be open the next day. Did not work out that way as you could have guessed..
Van Buren is next to the larger town of Fort Smith, and was an ok town, but we were itching to go. We drove through a nice part of Arkansas and made the transition from the very hilly north-west of the state to the more rolling and finally flat parts to the south. Arkansas actually surprised us with how nice the landscape was. Must be nice in the fall when the trees are all full.

Deb had been following someones blog that raved about Hot Springs and it is an unusual national park for sure. While there is a large natural area, the focus is on the restoration and protection of the town and it's history of the hot springs. The headquarters are in an old bathhouse and that building and another 4 or 5 buildings make up the national park headquarters.

Hot Springs was visited by native Americans forever, then Cortes back in 15-something, and then by the French when they owned this area (think pre-Louisiana Purchase). It attracted people because of the 143 degree water bubbling out of the ground. The town has been through all the usual cycles of discovery, frontier years, abandonment, trading post, crazy people, wooden cabins evolving to wooden hotels which all burned eventually, replaced by non-flammable buildings, then the pre-depression tourist boom, the post WW2 boom, then the slow down in tourists. Right now there are a lot of high rise buildings built 50+ years ago that seem mostly empty, waiting for the next cycle.
But what is open is pretty nice and all in all it is a nice small town. And a National Park.

We walked all over town and after chatting with the local tourist info ladies (who do not seem to get along with the national park folks..) we drove to the top of the mountain behind town and took the elevator up the tower to get a birds eye view.
The park was closed of course so we headed south toward Louisiana. It gets flatter and flatter and wetter and wetter as you go south. We finally ended the day in Shreveport LA just as the sun dropped over the horizon.
My back got tweaked out this morning so I was in pain all day, but Deb pumped some Advil into me and I am on the mend tonight. We found a local place (not fancy) that had catfish, shrimp, oysters (but no crayfish).

Good dinner of catfish and back to the room to get John to bed and get his back healing. Another fun day!!

Friday, January 25, 2019

2019-01-25 Mountain Home AR to Van Buren AR

Mountain Home was so-so, even though it was listed on a list of 10 cutest towns (or something like that). Kinda meah. Eureka Springs, however was a very cute little town. Definitely an end destination town for all the surrounding area and crazy cute. It was built down in a canyon type geographical detail and a single row of houses on either side makes for a skinny town running up the canyon.
This corner of Arkansas is very different from the rest of it, and I can truly now say I understand what they call the Ozarks. The road we took between Mountain Home and Bentonville was built on top a ridge so lots of up and down, twisty turns and 15 mph corners. And not much traffic.

We stopped and saw the Christ of the Ozarks (saw a billboard), and what a big guy he is (actually 66 feet tall). Eureka Springs is down the hill from him.

Next stop, Bentonville where we stopped at the Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville. This place was built by one of the Walton daughters (think Walmart) and it must have cost a fortune. No real art theme here but some nice works. We toured a Frank Lloyd Wright house they moved from New Jersey which was built in 1950. Pretty timeless design. And simple. The museum buildings are amazing and the art is ok. A few pieces that caught my eye (but heck, I'm and engineer..)

We stopped in Bentonville for lunch and chatted with a local guy and the bar maid. This corner of Arkansas is like a different state than the rest of Arkansas since it is so hilly and geographically interesting. Bentonville is where Sam Walton had his first Ben Franklin store back in 1950. They have a completely restored replica which we took a quick look at.

It started to snow so we headed south and ended the day in Van Buren AR. We did some laundry and walked up the street to an Italian place for dinner. Arkansas has 75 counties and 39 of them are dry (no booze). This is one of the dry counties so no beer or wine with dinner tonight.
I called and got a slot next Weds at the Toyota plant in San Antonio TX (plant tour) and we have lots of time so we may head down to the gulf. Stay tuned..

Thursday, January 24, 2019

2019-01-24 Memphis TN to Mountain Home AR

Where Martin Luther King died

We spent half the day in Memphis. If Nashville is the home of country music, Memphis is home of the blues. Beale Street is to Memphis what Broadway is to Nashville, but different music. Lots of neon lights, blues clubs and music blaring everywhere, live or recorded. We started by spending 2-3 hours in the National Civil Rights Museum, a must do if you come to Memphis. They built it around the motel where Martin Luther King was shot and killed in 1968. Growing up in Vermont, we are isolated from the 3-400 year struggled African Americans have endured. I had tears several times today.
The take away is that the United States has been striving toward "All men are created equal" for generations and we are slowly gaining ground. Powerful place.

Memphis is Blues

We then walked around the city until we found Beale Street and found some coffee and took in the "scene" there. We ran into what we first thought was a meter man, but turned out to be one of the dozen or so city ambassadors who make the rounds helping tourists find their way and peppering us with Memphis history and information.

Light lunch

He pointed us to Central Barbecue for lunch and we were not disappointed. Pretty inexpensive and awesome barbecue. We finally made it out of Memphis and across the Mississippi River and into Arkansas in the early afternoon. We were trying to find "The Ozarks" and at first we seemed to run out of the rolling hills of Tennessee and onto the flat plains. Looked like cotton and corn were grown there, but maybe something else. We headed north and the countryside slowly got hillier and finally it got very rolling with lots of ponds and lakes. This was the Ozarks. Pretty rustic like Vermont and of course no leaves since it is January, but you can see why people from all those flat places flock here to enjoy the mountains and lakes.

Map of last two days

We only made it to Mountain Home before it started getting dark, but that was plenty. We are way ahead of schedule so we can goof off.

Weds Jan 23 Nashville to Memphis

Rained most of the day so perfect time to stop at a museum. And the most recommended museum by the history profs at the bar last night was the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Easy GPS directions to downtown Nashville. Underground parking (which ended up costing $30 @#$%). But the museum is top shelf. Nice history of how country music moved from folk / bluegrass in the early 1900's and morphed with blues and later more mainstream rock influences. Special Emmy Lou Harris exhibit and Waylon & Willie "Outlaws" section. Nashville is all about country music. After a couple/few hours at the museum, we walked around the block and down Broadway which is the main drag with lots of neon lights, honky tonks, and music playing from almost every doorway. And live music as well. All in the rain. (I did not bring a rain coat so we made a stop and purchased a Frogg Togg one, which is what I use for motorcycle trips).
The goal today was to make it to Memphis for the night and we tag teamed the driving playing tag with trucks on Rt 40. Dinner at a little local Mexican place and then went to see 'The Up Side" at a theater (with a giant pink elephant water sculpture in the lobby..)where we were the only people seeing any movie as far as we could tell. We are making good time and still getting some diversions in. Deb has mastered the cheap motel thing and is working up to having my coffee ready when I wake up, still working on that :)

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Sat-Tues Jan 19-22 VT to Cookville TN

A little behind in this since we have been doing so much socializing..
We left Saturday under threat of the incoming storm and got out just in time. I packed the summer tires in the back with the idea of changing the studded snows out in North Carolina so kind of a full car.

We kicked off the trip with breakfast at Rosie's in Middlebury and took Rt7 to 103 and stopped in Chester since Deb had never been through there. Chester is easy to miss since the downtown, such as it is, is not on Rt103 and I have driven right by it a hundred times on my way back and forth from Putney to Burlington.
We made it to Shelton and saw our old friends Vera and Glenn. They moved to CT 16 years ago so it was great to catch up. I got to meet what

Night at the Gaitano's

seemed like the whole town at the local pizza place where we picked up fresh bread. Friendly and tight knit community (Italian) and Glenn goes way back with everyone there. His high school football team picture was on the wall at the pizza place. Wonderful folks!! Five stars all the way.
Sunday we headed for our next stop, Deb's cousin Michelle and her family's house in Arlington where they also fed and housed us. Nice to catch up with them and their growing teens (and Aunt Ginny who was also visiting). They have a great spot right next to a park and a rail trail. We drove by the capital, Pentagon and Washington Monument! Another pleasant evening.
Monday (MLK day) we gave Deb's brother Pete a

Breakfast at Heimberg's

ride back to Greensboro, which meant getting the tires change at a local place and stashing the winter tires at Michelle & John's place instead of Greensboro. But the weather was great with nice dry roads. Also a good chance to catch up with Pete. We pulled into Greensboro as the sun was setting. We stayed the night at Pete's in-laws, Marian and Robert Heimberg who have a lovely apartment in Greensboro with a spare room. They made dinner for all of us and we stayed up late chatting and catching up. Another wonderful night. But our last night staying with friends and family..
Tuesday we decided to hear southwest toward Nashville. But first we wanted to stop in Boone, NC. What a nice town. Feels crunchy just like Vermont. and we walked around the downtown and got coffee and then wandered through the Appalachian State University campus on our way our of town. Felt a lot like Vermont.
Deb was sooo excited to cross the Appalachian Trail where she hiked 6 years ago and we found the spot where it crossed the windy back road we took toward Nashville. The roads around here are twisty and in good shape. She took me to the hostel she stayed in there and we found some good barbecue down the road for lunch. More windy roads and then back on the interstate with warm sun. We ended the day in Cookville which is a nice college town (Tennessee Tech) and found a brew-pub downtown where Deb chatted up a couple college professors who gave us lots of "must-see" ideas.