The short version:
Wilson's Creek battlefield
Missouri 76 and 86 - very yummy roads with twists and turns and in excellent condition.
Arkansas roads also very nice - cute one lane wooden suspension bridge.
Pea Ridge battlefield.
Eureka Springs is a quirky little town, very eclectic.
More when i get more time.
VBecky
Okay, the longer version.
Did my bike checkout in the morning, and the sight glass on the BMW is old and pitted and hard to read, and you're supposed to run it for a while, etc. Well, I wasn't sure, so I added about 1/2 quart of Mobil 1 15W-50.
(Note - my Japaneses bike owning friends (the bike, not the friend, although I have Japanese friends) the BMW has a dry clutch, so I can use oil like Mobil 1)
It's seeing a lot of hard use, so a little extra can't hurt.
Anyway, on the road, and other than the GPS being desperate to cut a corner on the beginning of the route, it worked fine. Learned my lesson - add waypoints until the GPS looks like Don's map.
Wilson's Creek Battlefield was my first stop. It's a very nicely done National Park deal, with a little wooded road running through it. The battle description, follows.
The army of the Southwest (14,000 men), consisting of Missouri militia (led by ex-governor Sterling Price) and Arkansas and Louisiana Confederate soldiers (led by ex Texas ranger Ben McCullogh ) were camped at Wilson's Creek, getting ready to attack Federal troops in Springfield. Nathaniel Lyon's 90 day volunteers (4500 men) plus Franz Sigel's Germans from St. Louis (1200 men) were in Springfield. Lyon wanted to strike before his 90 day men went home.
The Federals split their force in order to attack from two sides simultaneously. Both Lyon and Sigel had initial success. But Sigel stopped after his initial artillery barrage drove the enemy from the field - he was convinced that he'd won, and heard (from the enemy) that Lyon was slaughtering the Confederates on the other side of battle. Sigel advanced to another firing point, again had success, and then sat in the creek valley waiting for Lyon to show up. Lyon was holding off fierce counterattacks on "Bloody Hill".
Anyway, Sigel sat there until a counterattack with vastly superior numbers could be organized, and then was routed. Lyons men held on for quite some time, despite losing 1/4 of their numbers. but eventually Lyon was killed and the Federals retreated.
Price and Mcullogh couldn't agree on what to do next, so they let the Federals retreat to Springfield. Price eventually went North, and McCullogh went south to join other Rebel troops, and ended up dying at Pea Ridge...
Love these cute little dioramas - Sigel is on the left, Lyon is on the right.
Well, on to the riding - I rode some really spectacular roads. Missouri SR 173, SR76, SR 86, and SR 23, all winding, clean surface, through woods, along hillsides, topping ridges, just great riding. I focussed on turn after turn after turn and then all that effort is rewarded by a beautiful panorama as I topped a hill and saw the Ozarks. Really my kind of riding. If you see a sign like this:
Then you know you're in motorcycle heaven.
In and out of Mark Twain National Forest.
Lots of signs like this - which translated means squiggly fun road, 45 mph. If I don't know the road, I'm only 10-15 over the "suggested" speed.
Funky one lane wooden deck suspension bridge.
Note the Mark Twain forest sign in the distance.
Anyway, there should be more pictures but I'm busy riding. I have a bunch of Pea Ridge stuff, and that will have to wait until I finish riding earlier in the day.
Ride On!
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