Independence, Kansas

We spent a nice 2 days at Elk City State Park in Independence, Kansas with a great camping site. The site was along the lake and we saw 2 very nice sunsets. The weather has been very hot and not made for riding our motorcycles. Chuck and I went on what we thought was a 2 ½ mile hike that ended up over 4. The last mile and half was walking along a paved road with the temperatures reaching over 100. To say the least it was a hot hike!! The park has an 18 hole, par 3 golf course that we didn't get to play. We didn't have enough golf balls anyway:)) check out the rough!! On to Sturgis!!


Sorry having trouble loading pictures. Will try later:((

Our last day in Harrison, Arkansas

The heat was not going to keep us from one more ride in the Ozarks. We decided to take a ride over to Pell Ferry, ride on the ferry and spend and hour or so in Branson. It was a very nice ride and my navigator did a pretty good job today. He is getting better but we are leaving the area tomorrow:((  We will be in Independence, Kansas tomorrow for a few days and will keep moving North to Sturgis.

More time in Harrison, Arkansas

We had a nice ride to Bull Shoals Dam. Bull Shoals Dam was completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1951. It is the fifth largest concrete dam in the United States. Including the portion located in Missouri, the lake totals some 45,500 surface acres. Almost 1,000 miles of rugged shoreline is open to visitors and 60,000 acres of public land provide a variety of opportunities. This is a very nice palce to visit. The weather was still in the 100's and again made the ride just a little HOT!! We are always glad to make it back to the campground and cool off in the AC. Chuck had a boot blowout the second time I have been with him when his boots have just come apart, and they were Harley Boots!!  Thank goodness for duct tape!! We ate at Gaston's, a neat restaurant on the water. It was even mentioned in Southern Living. It was pretty good food but the facility with all there STUFF was even better.  Here are some pictures of the ride.

Carp

Bull Shoals Dam

an airport at Gaston's restaurant

the blowout

the fix

inside Gaston's

Harrison, Arkansas

Made a short drive over to Harrison, Arkansas where we will be staying for 6 days to enjoy all the motorcycle roads. On the way over we saw an ATV come off the back of a trailer(the axle broke). At first we thought it was a car flipping but all it was was an ATV. It landed on all four tires, well off the road.

It has been over a 100 every day so far and is making the riding of motorcycles a little less enjoyable. But still the rodes are great and we have seen some wonderfull country. We took a nice ride over to Eureka Springs an old town from the late 1800's. It has some real nice old buildings and if it had been cooler, I am sure more tourists would have been there. Chucks' navigating skills haven't been the best and on 2 rides we have probably added 75 miles to our rides. I am not complaining, but Suzanne never got us lost like this. We took a nice ride the second day and ended up in Witt Springs, a town of 10 with a small place to eat called Cindy's. The food was good and ALL the locals were there. There were also dozens of hummingbirds feeding We asked this one guy how to get to Harrison and he said “You can't” and laughed. We were in no man's land:)

We took a nice 6 mile kayak ride down the Buffalo River. The water level was very low and we had some very shallow areas. The river was very cool and the views were fantastic. This was very mild for Chuck who is a seasoned kayaker, but for me it was a first.

We will be here for a few days and hope to have some cooler days.

Eureka Springs

Tom on the Buffalo

Petit Jean State Park

Spent Sunday and Monday at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas. We took a long hike to see Cedar Falls but since the area hasn't had any rain in 2 months the waterfall was just a trickle. But at least we got some good exercise and nice scenery. There was a night hike with the ranger to Bear Cave which gave us some history on the cave and of the petroglyphs. We also saw some sandstones that now look like the backs of a turtle. We saw deer, rabbits and a skunk walked within 20 feet where I was sitting. Thank goodness he went one way and I went the other:) Looking forward to getting up to the Ozarks and some motorcycle riding. If you want to read how the park became Petit Jean go to http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com/history/history_of_petit_jean_mountain.aspx it is an interesting story.

Bear Cave

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Sorry for the delay in posting, had to buy some space so I could load pictures. I have that solved so will try and catch up.

We made it to Vicksburg, Mississippi on Thursday. We will be here for 3 nights and leaving for Arkansas on Sunday. The campground, Ameristar RV Park, is nice and clean but no shade. The amenities are nice and the wifi is good and they have a free shuttle to the Ameristar Casino, where I have continued my streak of losing. Someone who will remain anonymous has done very well and even bought me a nice lunch. I think he feels sorry for me.

On our list was the Vicksburg National Military Park. We went Friday, and saw a reenactment

of a cannon being fired. There are numerous types and sizes of cannons which were used in the Civil War, some even shot a 32lb cannon ball. We took a 16 mile ride thru the park, which has over 1330 monuments, markers, tablets and plaques. It really is amazing how they moved cannons, equipment, etc.. all over this very hilly terrain. The park also has the largest burial site of the Civil War Union soldiers and sailors, the graves total over 17,000, of which 13,000 are unknown. You can also see the USS Cairo, one of seven ironclad gunboats. They had 13 large cannons mounted which gave them a big advantage. The USS Cairo really helped gain control of the lower Mississippi and split the Confederacy in two. This is really a great Military Park and even if you aren't a civil war buff it is well worth the time. Also the casino's are fun and the town is pretty nice for a short visit.

USS Cairo

Florida monument

More pictures from the Pensacola

More pictures:

Pensacola and the Naval Museum

What a great day at the National Naval Aviation Museum on Wednesday in Pensacola. If you haven't been, it is a must. The place is huge and it is free. The planes hanging from the rafters and the carrier models are really cool. I think Chuck took over 300 photos:) I also took a lot of them. We have so many pictures that I should post on the blog but space and time is limited.

After spending 6 hours looking at the displays we went across the street to climb the Pensacola Lighthouse. It has a spiral staircase with 177 steps. It was worth the climb to see the Navy base and the gulf.

We stayed at the Big Lagoon State Park for 2 nights. The park was nice and had some nice boardwalks to the water. All is going well but we haven't ridden much at all since the weather has been spotted with rain.