The Last Days

Day 26-30 - June 2-6, 2008 - Fort Scott to home - Day 26 -The hairiest day was the day we left Fort Scott. We rode under a Tornado Watch with black skies chasing us. We stopped at three parks this day, and the storm caught us on the first two, but by the third park we had gotten far enough south to be out of the storm's reach. We stopped at Fort Scott in Fort Scott, KS, then onto George Washington Carver in Diamond, MO, and then onto Pea Ridge Military Park in Pea Ridge, AR. In the journal I wrote: "Severe weather was forecast for Ft. Scott but we woke to sunny skies. After breakfast we started to load the bikes and the sky turned dark with lightning to the north. We took off and stopped at the old fort for just the stamp and headed due east to Nevada, MO then turned south on Rt. 71. We monitored the weather band radio and kept our eye to the sky. We never got a drop of rain, but the storm was about a half hour behind us. Every time we stopped it would gain on us and we would take off again. At one point we hear that a tornado had touched down right where we had been! We kept pushing forward and we finally outran the storm. Once into Arkansas I took off my rain gear and the further we rode south the nicer it got. The went due east." We stopped in Russellville, AR for the night and stayed at the very same hotel we had stayed in on the way out. Mileage-308. Route-54 to Nevada, MO 71 south to Diamond, MO. Back to 71 to Bella Vista, AR then onto 62 to Pea Ridge to I-540 to Fayetteville to Rt. 16 to Rt. 23 (Pig's Trail!!!) to I-40.

Day 27 - June 3, 2008 - We Left about 11:00 and went to the new Honda of Russellville. Pretty cool place! Then we took Rt. 7 south to Hot Springs, AR. We went up the mountain to the Lookout Tower which is a city run money maker. Steep switch backs to get up to the tower. We had to go down into town to the national park visitor's center in one of the old bath houses. We left town and continued on Rt. 7 which is a very sweet road. The GPS got us off course for a while and Ted broke a highway light with a stone. We gave up riding and got a room in Camden, AR for the night. Mileage-185. Route-Rt. 7

Day 28 - June 4, 2008 - We moved from Arkansas to Louisiana to Mississippi today. We took Route 7 to Rt. 167 into Louisiana and then caught Rt. 84 east. This took us across the mighty Mississippi River and into Natchez where we stopped at the Melrose Plantation. We were too late for the house tour so we moved on until we came to Brookhaven, MS where we stayed the night. Mileage-300. This was a great day! Route 7 was fun but Route 84 was long, wide, no traffic and the speed limit of 70. Two great, different roads!

Day 29 - June 5, 2008 - We are done stopping at national parks so this was a ride day. It was sunny and clear so we left Brookhaven, MS and rode to Tallahassee, FL. We wanted to get through to the other side of Tallahassee because of morning traffic congestion, but it ended up being a good plan because of all the construction along I-10. We stopped in Monticello, FL at the junction of I-10 and Hwy. 19. Mileage-493. Routes-Hwy 84 east to 45 south to I-10.

Day 30 - June 6, 2008 - We left Monticello and this is the first time we are back in Florida time zone! It's 86 degrees and you can feel the humidity. We leave the hotel a little after 10:00. This is just a ride day and we plan on making home today. It was sunny and clear. Mileage-245. Routes-Hwy. 19 south to Alternate 27 to I-75 to FL Turnpike to Hwy 429 to Apopka and then back roads to home. The bikes are bug covered! We arrive home a little after 3:00 in the afternoon. Showers and naps are in order! The bike wash will have to wait for a bit.