Arkansas backroads, Natural Bridges, random pitstops in BFE, & Dickson St Nightlife

We set the alarms today so we would wake up at a decent hour to get some riding in. It's hard to sleep in a hotel - you leave the curtains open and the street light blinds you. You shut said curtains and you sleep until noon because its as dark as a cave in the room. First world problems. After a quick breakfast stop, we headed out for a great day of riding and tourist-ing! We managed to be a little over-eager at how many roads we could fit into a day.. ok "I" was over eager... but they still followed! We took 23 out of Eureka Springs - one of my fave roads to pound corners on. The signs say 35 mph.. but they are amazingly fun and long sweepers and 70mph is 100% do-able (if you know the road). It was fun!!! I passed a sheriff at 72 in a 35.. which was NOT fun... but as I was frantically hitting the brakes to worn the other girls behind me, Shelly said later that he opened his window and pointed/waved... oops. WHEW! off we go to 74 through Kingston area - tighter curves, bigger hills, rougher road, all fun! We cruised through Mt Sherman area, onto 327 through Parthenon and down to Alum Cove Natural Bridge Recreation area. As we pulled into the parking lot area (after a rough road into the park), we met a few people who had just walked the path to the natural bridge and they gave us great insights and tips - including the fact that if you just walk the path that they marked, you miss the ENTIRE natural bridge in its entirety. They told us to cut down on the little path to the left of the actual bridge and walk UNDER it... and they were absolutely right!!! It was amazing!!! How something like this is created, let alone still standing how many years later, is a miracle!!! Another cool thing I learned about was the Walking Stick Bug. I had never seen nor heard of this thing.. it literally looks like a stick on legs. I was instantly fascinated!!!! From there we continued onto 327then to 74 where we found a random, hole in the wall restaurant with an insanely unexpected menu! (pics below) We made it back to Eureka just in time for nightfall. Cheers to another great day of riding with minimal traffic!

Route (approximately): 23 out of Eureka Springs - east on 74 - south on 21 - east 16 towards Deer, AR - Left on NFM28 towards Wayton, AR - to the Natural Bridge - then on to 327 north - west on 74 - north on 43 then on 103 to Berryville, AR to Eureka Springs. A solid 192 mile day with stops!

74 by Mt Sherman

327 by Parthenon

Great views from 327 / 16 intersection

A random turn off point (not planned) - off 327 - Alum Cove Natural Bridge. Totally worth the stop!

A bit of a rough road into the park

The locals said to take the 'off the beaten path' path

Walking Stick bug - these things are SO COOL!

Underneath the natural bridge... WOW

If you stay on the intended path of the Natural Bridge, this is all that you would see

Pretty colors

16 through Deer, onto 21 north

Curves on 327

There's a ton of hills in which there is a mystery on the other side....like, which way will the road curve?!

Someone went out a little too hard last night. This sign was EPIC "Never Kick a Fresh Turd on a Hot Day"

I forgot to take a pic of the name of this little café literally in the middle of nowhere off 327 and 44 just west of Jasper, but here are the GPS coordinates. There is nothing else around for miles and this place looked like a little shack. We walked in to find it PACKED and we grabbed outdoor seating. The food took awhile due to the rush, but it was phenomenal - the menu had far more than a BLT/Burger and fries place I envisioned.. there was seafood and fancy deserts and the works! Low Gap Cafe

103 near DryFork, AR 36.081 -93.399

103

Just outside of Fayetteville - on our way TO Fayetteville, where we rented an apartment for the night so we can go downtown on Dickson Street to watch the shenanigans and not drive.