This was a great trip! Everybody got to do something that they really wanted to do. Judy wanted to dig at Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Don wanted to go to Ojeda's on Maple Street in Dallas, and try to finish off three margaritas. Kristi's goal was the Talahina Scenic Skyway.
Don kept a running total of mileage, as he has done with every single mile he has logged on his Goldwing. From his house to Arkadelphia via the interstate was 427 miles. From Arkadelphia to Broken Bow, OK, via Highways 7 and 270 to the Talimena Scenic Skyway and Route 259 to Broken Bow, 291 miles. From Broken Bow to Cathy's house in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas (via OK 259 to I-30) was 213 very windy miles. From Dallas, we blew across Louisiana on I-20 to Vicksburg, for another 397 miles. From Vicksburg to Memphis was 299 miles, along U.S. 61 and MS 1, the Great River Road. We wanted to try to get to some of the "gray line" roads along the levees, but heat, storm damage, and lack of general facilities and services along MS 1 convinced us to stay closer to civilization. From Memphis, we decided to head home on some smaller roads, so we road US 64 to Waynesboro, and headed up TN 13 to the interstate. TN 13 had some really fun twists and turns, but beware of the heavy logging truck traffic. They know the roads well, and don't want to wait for you! When we got back to Nashville, the day added another 253 miles, for a grand total of 1880 miles for the whole trip. Yes, there was a fair amount of interstate travel, but given the ambitious itinerary for the time allowed, it's what we had to do to make sure there was plenty of time for margaritas (and recovery) in Dallas. Priorities!!!!
