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Fall Ride Journal Sept., 2011
We began the fall ride this year with 17 bikes and Rick Yeager as the road captain. We left Yeager’s
around 9am, Friday September 23, the first day of autumn in a cool crisp 56*.
We rode to Hwy 83 outside Warsaw and meandered through the countryside to Stockton and then to
Mt. Vernon where we lunched at the Red Barn Café & Hen House Bakery. Our lunch was excellent
beyond compare with plenty of parking and seating and the service was great. From Mt. Vernon we
lost a couple of riders who headed in a different direction as we headed to Cassville, Seligman and
Gateway stopping at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. History notes this Civil war campaign began
on Christmas Day 1861 with the main objective to drive the Confederate and pro-Confederate forces
from the state of Missouri.
The tour of the park began with a brief film on the history of the battle of Pea Ridge and the
battlefield. Afterwards we were allowed to ride our motorcycles through the battlefield which
consisted of numerous checkpoints, historical markers, and cannons with restored fencing along the
route. The Elkhorn Tavern still standing today once served as a hospital for wounded soldiers.
Throughout the park there are shallow depressions of what remains of the original telegraph road
traveled by thousands of Cherokee and other American Indians on the Trail of Tears in the winter of
1838-1839, when they were forced to leave their homelands. The trail also served as the route of the
Butterfield Overland Stage line from 1857-1861. Kudos’ to Jennifer on her research of our route to
bring us to such a humbling place, which now lays in peaceful serenity.
We later arrived via the twisty and hilly route 62 Hwy through Eureka Springs to Harrison Arkansas at
the Holiday Inn Express. The rooms were $91 but the breakfast was a feast if you’re up to it, and they
had a great new invention---a pancake making machine! Yes a pancake making machine that Frank and
I made cough out 9 pancakes before an attendant stopped the madness! Pancakes anyone?
The next day I parked my bike and hitched a ride with Frankie as we took off for Blanchard Springs and
Caverns. If you’re a nature lover this cave which is 20 stories underground, with two huge cave
rooms filled with a number of crystalline formations, sparkling flowstone, towering columns and
delicate soda straws and is probably the most interesting cave you’ll ever visit in the United States.
Our well informed and entertaining tour guide led our group down the trails introducing us to the cave
features and its inhabitants. Also, nearby is Blanchard Springs and Mirror Lake, home to some great
trout fishing and photo opportunities.
As the growls from our tummies echoed through the caverns the visitor’s center suggested Cody’s
café a few miles from our location in “56”. Yes”56” which upon founding this community in 1918, locals
submitted the name "Newcomb" for the settlement. This request was rejected, and the federal
government internally named the community for its school district number Fifty-Six, (“56”).
Hummmmm, the federal government. Well, the food was great and the pie, well that’s a secret only
Paulette and I share!
Our ride back to the hotel took us over the historical Bull Shoals dam. An evening with pizza and
beverages on the hotel patio filled the air with conversations about past riding experience,
motorcycle mechanics and laughter. With all our diffences we share a common
thread………motorcycles and the love of adventure. No matter where you journey, when you are on a
motorcycle you smell the air, the trees, the crops, and take notice the smallest details of this great and
wonderful creation. On Sunday, Frank and I said our good byes as we rode 65 Hwy back to Sedalia; the
others took a more scenic route.
Rick was a great road captain and Jennifer was awesome at finding the interesting highlight along the
way. So, knock the bugs off your bike, gas up, count your blessings and let’s start over again.
Susan Horton
We began the fall ride this year with 17 bikes and Rick Yeager as the road captain. We left Yeager’s
around 9am, Friday September 23, the first day of autumn in a cool crisp 56*.
We rode to Hwy 83 outside Warsaw and meandered through the countryside to Stockton and then to
Mt. Vernon where we lunched at the Red Barn Café & Hen House Bakery. Our lunch was excellent
beyond compare with plenty of parking and seating and the service was great. From Mt. Vernon we
lost a couple of riders who headed in a different direction as we headed to Cassville, Seligman and
Gateway stopping at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. History notes this Civil war campaign began
on Christmas Day 1861 with the main objective to drive the Confederate and pro-Confederate forces
from the state of Missouri.
The tour of the park began with a brief film on the history of the battle of Pea Ridge and the
battlefield. Afterwards we were allowed to ride our motorcycles through the battlefield which
consisted of numerous checkpoints, historical markers, and cannons with restored fencing along the
route. The Elkhorn Tavern still standing today once served as a hospital for wounded soldiers.
Throughout the park there are shallow depressions of what remains of the original telegraph road
traveled by thousands of Cherokee and other American Indians on the Trail of Tears in the winter of
1838-1839, when they were forced to leave their homelands. The trail also served as the route of the
Butterfield Overland Stage line from 1857-1861. Kudos’ to Jennifer on her research of our route to
bring us to such a humbling place, which now lays in peaceful serenity.
We later arrived via the twisty and hilly route 62 Hwy through Eureka Springs to Harrison Arkansas at
the Holiday Inn Express. The rooms were $91 but the breakfast was a feast if you’re up to it, and they
had a great new invention---a pancake making machine! Yes a pancake making machine that Frank and
I made cough out 9 pancakes before an attendant stopped the madness! Pancakes anyone?
The next day I parked my bike and hitched a ride with Frankie as we took off for Blanchard Springs and
Caverns. If you’re a nature lover this cave which is 20 stories underground, with two huge cave
rooms filled with a number of crystalline formations, sparkling flowstone, towering columns and
delicate soda straws and is probably the most interesting cave you’ll ever visit in the United States.
Our well informed and entertaining tour guide led our group down the trails introducing us to the cave
features and its inhabitants. Also, nearby is Blanchard Springs and Mirror Lake, home to some great
trout fishing and photo opportunities.
As the growls from our tummies echoed through the caverns the visitor’s center suggested Cody’s
café a few miles from our location in “56”. Yes”56” which upon founding this community in 1918, locals
submitted the name "Newcomb" for the settlement. This request was rejected, and the federal
government internally named the community for its school district number Fifty-Six, (“56”).
Hummmmm, the federal government. Well, the food was great and the pie, well that’s a secret only
Paulette and I share!
Our ride back to the hotel took us over the historical Bull Shoals dam. An evening with pizza and
beverages on the hotel patio filled the air with conversations about past riding experience,
motorcycle mechanics and laughter. With all our diffences we share a common
thread………motorcycles and the love of adventure. No matter where you journey, when you are on a
motorcycle you smell the air, the trees, the crops, and take notice the smallest details of this great and
wonderful creation. On Sunday, Frank and I said our good byes as we rode 65 Hwy back to Sedalia; the
others took a more scenic route.
Rick was a great road captain and Jennifer was awesome at finding the interesting highlight along the
way. So, knock the bugs off your bike, gas up, count your blessings and let’s start over again.
Susan Horton