Today we rode from Osceola Iowa to BellaVista Arkansas. The day broke nice and cool. Larry, Gordy and Keith had got in around midnight. We got Keith's bike off the trailer and gassed up. We were to meet some friends of Keith's in Kansas City at a BBQ joint so had a schedule to meet. Al had decided to head back home with Jim. They were going to stop at one of the famous covered bridges of Madison County. We were now three bikers strong plus Gordy and Larry in the pickup hauling Larry's bike. This morning's scripture was Isaiah 43 "I am the LORD, there is no savior besides Me."
Because of our tight schedule we were forced to jump on the interstate rather than a prefered two lane road which runs parrallel to the super slab. As the morning sun rose higher it became a hot, fast ride which frankly wasn't much fun.
We met about 8 friends of Keith's at Fiorelella's Jack Stack by noon. They were very glad to see him. It turns out that Keith was a youth pastor at one time there and this was their connection. We consumed mass quantities of barbeque meats and hit the road with many of these guys. Those with motorcycles rode show quality Harleys. We headed south and east of Kansas City on some nice county roads, these guys leading the way. We stopped at Stockton Missouri at a Sonic for our Dairy Queen substitute. There doesn't seem to be as many DQ's in Missouri as Minnesota. At one point I knew for sure we weren't in MN when there was a dead armadillo in the middle of the road.
After our ice cream fix the KC guys needed to head home so it was back to us three bikers (Wayne, Keith, Lloyd) and two guys in a pickup truck (Gordy, Larry) to continue our ride south to Arkansas. We said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways. We were on State Highway 39 which turned into a very nice twisty and scenic drive as we got closer to the Ozark Hills. At State Highway 248 we turned west and this was an excellent road as well but now we were riding directly into the setting sun which caused some dicey moments. We made it to Cassville, MO and gased up and got ready for the final leg of our journey.
Our biggest concern now was the setting sun which might bring deer onto the roads and we had around 40 miles to go through the woods. The roads were great, nicely paved and twisty but the deer concern was always there. We made it through without seeing any animals though and it was fine.
We found a motel in Jane, MO at the outskirts of of Rogers Arkansas. It was quite late, 9:00 PM. After we unpacked, we walked over to McDonalds for a late supper. Then we did our bible study from Romans 12: "...be transformed by the renewing of your minds.."
Tomorrow we will finally be into the Arkansas Ozarks!
