It was just a little foggy in spots but not enough to slow you down. Pic on left is coming to the mountain between K'ville and Nashville. Then you hit the Plateau and back down to Nashville. Cool in mtns.The picture on the right is coming into Nashville on I-40. The loop around town was slower than the interstate so I just stayed on the main road. A little morning traffic but not too bad as I was there about 8:30. Wheeled through Nashville heading to Jackson, TN where I would exit I-40 for U.S. 412 and ride it all the way into Harrison, AR.
After Nashville the terrain changes to long rolling hills all the way into Jackson, TN. After turning onto 412 you come into a big camping/fishing area called "Land Between The Lakes". Lots of water. 
Plenty of fishing done here.As the land flattens out a bit you roll into Missouri. You really can't tell one state from the other in this area. Lots of farming land.
This stretch of highway is mostly a four lane highway which eventually runs into I-155 just north of Dyersburg, TN. Take a left onto I-155 and after a few miles you cross the Mighty Mississippi into Arkansas. You'll go under I-55 and on to a town named Kennett where I stopped at a Walmart to check my Garmin GPS. It had quit just before I crossed the Big Muddy. Lady there plugged it into store power and it wouldn't come on. Kept saying "battery low". I had it plugged into my auxillary power source but I guess it wasn't making good contact and was running off the battery. I don't have a house power adapter for it with me so there goes the Garmin. Then the fool thing would come on by itself. I tell you, I believe my wife, Diane, slipped out there and put a hex on my bike.
Still running 412 I came into Paragould, AR. Now this area is strictly farming country. Rather flat with fields of rice, corn and soybeans all along the route. Further on down the road you hit Walnut Ridge, a sleepy little town which didn't take to long to go through. Now you realize Sweet Thang gets thirsty just like I do so every 125 or so miles we have to give her a drink. Those six carbs like to go and so does the gasoline. But I often never get off the bike, just give her a drink at the gas well and take off again.
All of those fields and no mountains make for long straight highways.Boring.The only thing to keep you awake are the small towns you go through.
Then you finally start to get into some hills and curves. Now the ride sensation starts to pick up but you realize the feeling in your butt has long since gone with the miles you've ridden so far.Even in Arkansas people die as the picture above right indicates with tombstones in a cemetery. They are going to have to fence that place since people are just dying to get into there. GROAN. I must be getting tired to think like that.
I roll on through Cherokee Village, Ash Lake, Salem and into Mountain Home. It's been some years since I've been here and it sure has grown. After Mountain Home comes Gassville, Yellville and finally Harrison, a city of about 12,700 or so people. Nice size place. Sort of a hub city with highways going in almost any direction into and out of it. I pulled into the Family Budget Inn, a low cost motel but clean with nice folks running it. All of us bikers were on the pool side of the building bunched together. Makes for less walking to meet up for rides, eats and BS sessions.
Pulled into Harrison in 13 hours door to door. Not bad for an old retiree riding an old motorcycle (1999), but don't let Sweet Thang know or she may get her panties knotted up and leave me beside the road someplace. I try to treat her nice and keep her neat and clean.
The next morning a bunch of us pulled out heading for Eureka Springs, the Gatlinburg of Arkansas. We rode through town, no pics as my camera quit working (remember the hex). Quaint and historic.
Jeff (JetDriver), Lloyd (a rider from Toronto, Ont., and I broke away from the group ride and took off on our own, the long and curvy way back to the motel. Then at this stop my camera came alive.The pic above shows Sweet Thang in the forefront, Jeff's bike in back same color, and Lloyd's Goldwing F6B in the back. We had two riders from Ontario and one from Montreal this reunion. Several from Illinois, one from Wisconsin, one from Kansas, one from Indiana, several from Fla., and the President of the club who lives in the SW corner of North Dakota. There were a few others sprinkled in the group from other places. This year as two years ago, there were 4 bikes the same color scheme as Sweet Thang. We eve had a couple of non-Valkyrie riders. We don't snub anyone, just bring your toy and ride.
We were on the lip of a bigcanyon in the Ozark
Mountains. Tese mtns. are not as curvy or steep as my Smoky's but still very pretty and nice roads with sweeping curves.
MP, our club Pres., and his charming wife ride a Valkyrie with a side car. That way she can take a nap while he's tooling along. Maybe she's not asleep, just doesn't want to see what's coming. 
We ate in Jasper a couple of times, lunch once and breakfast on Thursday. This day we stopped at the Cliff House Rest. Good food and wonderful scenery. It's also a motel with cabins. 
That handsome fellow in in the red shirt is one heck ofa guy. Loves his bike, loves to ride and has been known to enjoy a meal or two. A mountain view from across a field.
One of my working buddies, the last of the original gang, rode up from Searcy, AR Friday to visit me. We rode to dinner that night in a drizzling rain. He's riding a nice BMW Touring bike. Since it rained all Friday afternoon and Saturday wasn't going to be much better, he and I said our goodbyes to the remaining VOAI group and pulled out at 8 a.m. Saturday for Little Rock. He called ahead and contacted two other guys now retired to meet us at a restaurant for lunch. We took AR Hwy 14 back to U.S. 167 that runs into North Little Rock. It is a great road, lots of curves and a biker store along the route out in no where.
We arrived at the restaurant, met the other two guys and had a lunch BS session all rolled into one. I don't get to see these guys very often as they all three live in AR and I live in TN. We worked together for about 14 years until I retired. Next time we want to contact another buddy living in AR so we can have a reunion of our own. After lunch I headed for TN.
Taking I-40 from North Little Rock I didn't have to worry about route changes as this route takes me right into Knoxville, TN. The problem was the weather and highway construction. Got tied up in a 5 mile traffic jam due to construction and a tour bus that broke down. In and out of small showers until I finally passed through Nashville, bone tired. Made it about 40 more miles to Lebanon, TN at 9:30 p.m. We left that morning at 8 a.m. Unloaded gear, showered and died.
Woke up Sunday morning and pulled out of the motel at 8:30 a.m. burning and turning all the way to Knoxville with a fuel stop and a cup of coffee in Crossville. Arrived at the house at 12:45 EDT. Crazy, just past Crossville you go from Eastern to Central time while in the same state. Total miles this week, 1,808. Cost, who cares. Excitement, more than money can buy. Great trip, great friends, great food, great scenery and a safe journey.
Time grows shorter with the years, fun is still young at heart. Ride safe.
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