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Anyone done the Ozark's.


Tonik

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Been wanting to go there, and I had mapped out a basic route. I like yours better.

A little surprised that route 7 through the Quachita National Forest was left out.

You might find it interesting to go down and back from Russellville to Hot Springs.

From what I can see, there is no food or fuel on route 7 between those two towns.

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Been wanting to go there, and I had mapped out a basic route. I like yours better.

A little surprised that route 7 through the Quachita National Forest was left out.

You might find it interesting to go down and back from Russellville to Hot Springs.

From what I can see, there is no food or fuel on route 7 between those two towns.

I had not planned on going that far south. But I can easily fit that in day two. Like you say, down and back. Appreciate the heads up...it looks interesting. Basically what I did was pick the central Ozark area and tried to route in every 'red' road on Motorcycle Routes US. That is usually a good starting point.

I also drop the little Google Map dude on the roads to see what they look like.

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I have been to the TableRock Lake and Branson area quite a few times. Bull Shoals and down to Mtn. Home and Greers Ferry Lake. All fishing trips in the younger days.

Never on a cycle though. Great roads and will definitely put the roller in roller coaster. Roads seem to rise and fall as much as they snake their ways through the country.

Pretty rural and short on amenities unless you get near the tourist towns.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thought I should toss out a quick trip report and thank everyone for the info, it was most helpful. We ended up doing 2050 miles in five days.

Trip highlights:

Had to unload and dissemble my weapon since Illinois sucks. Just because...I waited until I could see the welcome to Illinois sign and pulled over on the side of 70 and did it.

Hit St. Louis the first day just before rush hour. I am rolling about 70ish in the left lane where I like to be in heavy freeway traffic and 5 cars in front of me one lane over the left rear tire on the car completely exploded. He lost it and turned sideways, half in my lane and half in his. I am of course all over the brakes and god bless all the people right behind him (beside me) they stayed in their lane. He slides for awhile and then the tires catch and shoots off to the right and slams into a big sign. If he had gone the other way I am certain I could have finished stopping, but still had to clean out my pants afterwards.

Our hotel that night was right on old route 66, that was cool. Next day we are cruising along and the road just ends....at a ferry boat. We were like kids in a candy store jumping up and down and laughing because we get to take our bikes across on the ferry. It was pretty cool.

Third day I come around a corner and look way down the road and there is a herd of animals coming down the road. 3 bulls with huge horns, maybe 6 cows and a dozen sheep. And some dude herding them down the road with an ATV. No danger involved, it was just hilarious to see.

Then day four as we are heading east we cross a small section of southern MO. I was shocked to see miles and miles of cotton fields. Really didn't expect to see that in that part of the country.

The roads down there blow the Smokeys away...minus The Dragon which I am pretty much over. However the scenery in the Smokies is certainly much better. Overall I think I prefer the Ozarks. There is zero traffic down there, no slow cars, no slow cruisers and no sportbikes passing me on blind curves. We just rolled however we wanted and had no issues with traffic or cops. We hit a really small part of the area..there is so much more down there. Next year I will hit it again and start further south.

Pics, not a lot of them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimkennedy/sets/72157631734574304/show/

Final Routes:

Day one: Cleveland to well past St. Louis. 707 miles. Just cranking the slab to get there.

http://goo.gl/maps/m19tq

Day two: St. Roberts to Russelville. Awesome run. 125 right at the MO/AR boarder has a ferry you get to ride across. Great roads in great shape. Very curvy and several very twisty sections with multiple switchbacks.

http://goo.gl/maps/WWaVn

Day three. More awesomeness, best roads of the trip. 343 is a must do road. Perfect road that is just curve after curve. But not super tight curves so you can crank it a little but still relax and enjoy it.

http://goo.gl/maps/EdKhE

Day 4 and 5. Nice run east across AR towards Memphis, then we turned north and stayed in Louisville at the end of day 4 and had an easy ride day 5 to Cleveland.

http://goo.gl/maps/SsSb5

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