I have a small group (3-6 riders) heading to this area in late April for a quick 5 day round trip from Wisconsin and wondering if we will need to make reservations for motels or will we be able to pick them up as we need them? Planning to ride down the river from western WI to the St Louis area and then heading southwest from there toward the Harrison Arkansas area for a day and a half and then heading back toward St Louis and on up the river from there.
Any must see places and/or roads in that general area? I know about Push Mountain but thats about it.
Heck of a nice run you have planned. Fast Eddie's Bon Air in Alton, IL is a landmark with special bike parking.
There are SO many good roads across MO and AR. There are a lot of springs in MO. Alley Spring is so photogenic, Big Spring, Ha Ha Tonka Spring and so on. Google large springs in MO. Mammoth Springs is just across the MO line in AR. Elephant Rocks in MO is a neat place to spend an hour or two. Hwy 19 in the southern part of MO is pretty good as well as MO 125 from Sparta into AR. There is a free ferry across bull shoals lake provided by the state. 125 is full of twists and turns and hills. MO has a lot of 'letter' roads and are the roads less traveled. Some of them very scenic. If you get the google terrain map up and look for the hills and pick roads through them, you'll have fun.
Into AR you know about 341, Push Mountain. Also consider Rt 123 from hwy 65 south. Hair pin turns, scenic valley views, etc. Rt. 16 in AR is a lot of fun too. Hwy 7 is good and it is scenic but also heavily traveled. Hwy 21 and 23 are good. Hwy 309 takes you to Mt. Magazine, the highest point in AR. There's a state park lodge there with a good buffet and a view almost like out of an airplane. If you are going to Harrison, the place to stay is the 1929 Hotel Seville. Most of it still original. There is inside parking and a bike wash. There's a bar with decent food. A quick walk down the alley will take you to the square where there are several restaurants, sometimes with entertainment. Also you can check to see if there is something going on at the live theatre. If you get over to the western part of the state the road from Mena west is awesome. Hwy 1 and 88 depending if in OK or AR. There's a lodge on that road as well. There's an Elk Preserve at Boxley that's beautiful. Not too far from the preserve is a state park with a cave that has an underground waterfall..bring a flashlight! Off hwy 16 is Pedestal Rocks. It's a nice hike and there are rock formations kinda like you would see in Utah...but not red. It's a fun ride up to Mt. Nebo too. Beautiful sunsets there. Hair pins and steep. You can almost see your tail light as you go around and up. Petit Jean SP has a neat old CCC era lodge that serves food. Very scenic valley view. Mt Home AR is also folk music capital. On a friday or saturday evening there are all kinds of performers gathered around the square.
Would be a good idea to send off for a MO and AR map as well as an AR motorcycle road guide. All of the roads in that guide are excellent. The blue numbered roads on the AR map are scenic byways and the yellow ones are scenic. A purchased map of MO will not have all the letter roads on them. Butler has an Ozark map too that's really good and it's weatherproof. It highlights the good roads.
Suffice it to say there are way more roads and places to see than you'll have time for.
