Fair Grove Mill Loop

We decided to mill hunting again today. :) We headed north from Ozark up Hwy 65 and made stops at three area motorcycle stores: Cruisin 66, Gene's Gallery, and Honda of the Ozarks. We are looking for replacement seat options and also wanted to check out the condition of our tires, which turned out to be just fine.

After the motorcycle store stops, we headed north to Fair Grove and stopped at the Wommack Mill. Several families were taking fall photos there, but we were able to get some good shots without too much trouble.

We left Fair Grove and headed to Bennett Spring State Park. We didn't stay too long, but took some great pictures of the dam and a bunch of fly fishermen. We met a "Harley trike dude" from Lebanon.

We decided not to head to Pomme de Terre as originally planned, but instead headed to Bolivar across Hwy 32 and ate dinner at Smiths (open faced roast beef of course). From there we headed home.

Route Info:

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Starting mileage 72185
Ending mileage 72369

Roaring River and 911 Lady

We forgot to get starting and ending mileage for this trip, but you will understand why after you read about our adventure today.

The goal of the day was to go to Roaring River via a twisty route, then to Monett, then home. We had two unexpected twists along the way. One historic school (cool) and one hysterical lady (uncool).

First, the cool twist to our day. As we were taking the "twisty way" to Roaring River, Cindy spotted a sign that said "Woolsey Historic School," so we turned around and headed down the side road for about four miles. One deer and several dozen twists later, we found the rock one-room school building. We took several photos of the school, a small stage area, and even two outhouses. We headed back to the highway and headed toward Cassville.

So here's the uncool twist to our day. We were talking about the cool school and missed the turn for Hwy M. We continued to head toward Cassville on Hwy 76. As we rounded a corner about five miles from town, there was a young woman in the middle of the highway begging us to stop and help. She was barefoot, crying, and wearing only a bra and towel. We were unable to stop in time, but slowed to around 10 mph and coasted past her mobile home looking for a place to stop. At that time, we noticed that she was being pursued by a guy wearing only boxer shorts. She was clearly in serious trouble and we were not sure what to do. We came to a stop about 1/8 mile down the road. There were two cars trailing us and they drove on without stopping to help. The lady continued running down the highway toward us. We could not tell if she was still being pursued. Eric pulled off his helmet, grabbed his cell phone, and called 911. He explained the situation and that we were at the intersection of Hwy 76 and 86 near Cassville. At that time, we both heard a gunshot, although we were not sure if it was related. The woman was getting closer and we did not feel safe to engage her. Eric hung up the phone and we headed on down the road. As we pulled out, we saw a white SUV stop by the woman and we proceeded to hear shouting. Two sheriff's cars passed us heading toward the woman, so we were hopeful they would be able to figure things out. We found a place to turn around, and headed back toward the scene to make sure the police found the woman. When we got back to the intersection, there was no woman, no SUV, and no police. We continued back to the mobile home, where we saw the SUV with both front doors wide open, no people, and no police. We were very concerned that the police didn't know where to look and figured that the woman was still in serious trouble. We found a place to stop and called 911 a second time. We described the SUV and the location of the mobile home and pleaded with them to send the cops back to the area. Not wanting to stay involved, we headed back to Hwy M and went to Roaring River. We couldn't stop thinking about that lady and still wonder what happened to her.

Roaring River was beautiful as usual. We parked at the hatchery (next to a Goldwing that didn't look nearly as nice as ours) and hiked up the small loop. We took some photos and then headed on to Grandma's house.

We arrived in Monett and helped Grandma set up her Christmas stuff. She fed us well (as usual) and then we headed back home the normal way. This was quite an adventurous Sunday ride!

Ride Info:

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Arkansas Fall Foliage Tour

Today we went out for a "fall foliage tour" through Harrison and Jasper, all the way down to Clarksville, over to Ozark (AR), up the Pig Trail, through Eureka Springs, and home. Along the way, we took a pit stop at Pedestal Rocks for some hiking. BEAUTIFUL leaves! This is one of our favorite routes for day ride in Arkansas.

Ride Info:

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Starting mileage 71621
Ending mileage 71992
Total mileage 371

Starting temperature 41 degrees