For experienced Arkansas/MO riders - Trip advice please (pictures added page2)

[John A]

Bentonville is in NWA 

 Dusty

I haven't been there since '88 ,wonder why they moved the whole town
I'll have to dig out a Arkansas map tomorrow , 

[oldbike54]

I haven't been there since '88 ,wonder why they moved the whole town
I'll have to dig out a Arkansas map tomorrow , 

 Bentonville is still in the same place , the rest of Arkansas has moved Southward 

 Dusty

[rocker59]

For the very brief while - maybe not much longer given what you guys are saying, we still have reservations at the newly renovated Hotel Frederico in LR.  It was cheap and very nice looking.  I do care about a place being safe per se, but then again we hadn't planned on being on the street except to get on and off the bikes and to go in and out for dinner.  TripAdvisor didn't mention in any reviews about the part of town, but plenty said a lot about the renovation noise when it was still going on - supposed to be finished now in the main part of the hotel.
 

You did pretty good on picking a cool hotel.  "Hotel Frederica" is on the Historic register.  Formerly "Sam Peck Hotel".  It's on Capital Avenue downtown.  Close enough to the River Market District, where you can find food and entertainment.  Also the aforementioned Historic Arkansas Museum, and other points of interest.

Little Rock Marriott and Double Tree by Hilton are actually on the river, have covered parking, and are closer to restaurants and entertainment.  If you choose to stay in Little Rock.  That area of downtown is relatively safe.  I'd stay there.  Just have to keep aware when walking around downtown.

Really, the biggest problem with staying in Little Rock is the commute out of, and back into the metro each day on your motorcycle.  In downtown Little Rock, you'll have 30-40 minutes of traffic before things thin out and the roads turn good.

AR-10 (Cantrell Road) and Kanis Road lead west out of town.  Both are nice rides, once west of suburbia and connect to AR-9 west of Little Rock, which is a north-south curvy road.  Kanis runs west of of town to Paron.  It's a popular motorcycle road to get out of town.   AR-300 is a nice ride around the north side of Lake Maumelle.  It connects to AR-113 which also connects to AR-60.  AR-60 is a good east-west highway from Conway to Plainview.

[bpreynolds]

You did pretty good on picking a cool hotel.  "Hotel Frederica" is on the Historic register.  Formerly "Sam Peck Hotel".  It's on Capital Avenue downtown.  Close enough to the River Market District, where you can find food and entertainment.  Also the aforementioned Historic Arkansas Museum, and other points of interest.

Really, the biggest problem with staying in Little Rock is the commute out of, and back into the metro each day on your motorcycle.  In downtown Little Rock, you'll have 30-40 minutes of traffic before things thin out and the roads turn good.

AR-10 (Cantrell Road) and Kanis Road lead west out of town.  Both are nice rides, once west of suburbia and connect to AR-9 west of Little Rock, which is a north-south curvy road.  Kanis runs west of of town to Paron.  It's a popular motorcycle road to get out of town.   AR-300 is a nice ride around the north side of Lake Maumelle.  It connects to AR-113 which also connects to AR-60.  AR-60 is a good east-west highway from Conway to Plainview.

You rock, Rocker!  Thanks so much again.  I think for this, my first trip to the area, we are just gonna stick with LR.  With my Choice Hotels membership we got an almost stupid rate per night - stupid for such a nice place - like $58 or something.  I spent a long time last night looking at Harrison, Hot Springs, and even those amazing lodges out there - you guys have it nice in that regard for sure (all booked for our dates, sadly).  I know this is perhaps not the best base but next time I’ll plan a little better.  At least one good thing with LR is it is the shortest throw for us on that first day.  Short enough that I hope we can get into town on Wednesday and even (fingers crossed) possibly get a short ride in on late Wednesday afternoon into the evening. 

As per the traffic you mention, I assume the worst hours are???  7:30AM-9AM/4PM-6PM?  Just trying to gauge the best times to get out and get back into town though it is likely we’ll be riding right up until near dark each day. 

[Texas Turnip]

How do you list the best roads in AR when you've been traveling in the state for 40 plus years? OK, I'll try.
 Ditto on 123, Mt. Nebo, Buffalo River area, greers Feery and fo sure The Winding Stair MTNS and Queen Wilhelmenia.

Theree is a park in downtown Hot Springs that you can ride to the top and see for a long ways. Oark is a hamlet that is well worth the trip. Old 71 from Alma to Fayetteville is a good road with little traffic.


this was the main road before the Interstate was built. There used to be big billboards saying how many were killed in the past three years. This was the major truck route and it got exciting on rainy nights. The good ole days BS

The choice is yours for Little Rock, but why waste an hour a day getting in and out of LR? Harrison etc would IMHO would be better.

Enjoy your trip to AR. Willing to be bet you'll return

Tex

[oldbike54]

 Yep Tex , I lived on old 71 before I 49 was opened , had to come out of the driveway doing 50 to keep from getting crushed by a Wal Mart or chicken hauler truck  Made riding interesting for sure . Now that the new 4 lane carries all of the traffic old 71 is pure bliss to ride , even the locals don't much travel the old road . Passing that big sign stating how many had died everyday certainly made ya think .

 Dusty

[rocker59]

As per the traffic you mention, I assume the worst hours are???  7:30AM-9AM/4PM-6PM?  Just trying to gauge the best times to get out and get back into town though it is likely we�ll be riding right up until near dark each day.

Yes, typical morning and afternoon rush hour peaks.  But with the metro area just over 700,000 population, traffic can be fairly heavy in certain parts of town all the time.  Downtown does pretty well clear out after business hours, so it'll be pretty quiet on Capital Avenue at the Frederica after 6pm.

[Luap McKeever]

Now you’ve all got me wanting to ride old 71 again.


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[John A]

I haven't been there since '88 ,wonder why they moved the whole town
I'll have to dig out a Arkansas map tomorrow , 

the ferry I was thinking of was on 160 east of Doddridge, east of 71. closed now, google says that in the '70s there were more than 30 ferrys operating in AR, now just one, Peel ferry east of Bentonville

[John A]

Now you’ve all got me wanting to ride old 71 again.


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 :1:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_Jean_State_Park is a good one, not on 71

[oldbike54]

Now you�ve all got me wanting to ride old 71 again.


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 For all of the talk about the Pigtrail , I enjoy old 71 more . Almost no traffic , passing lanes every couple of miles in case you do get hung up behind a slow moving vehicle , really good pavement , long fast sweepers , some technical stuff , and some really nice views with pull outs for stopping .

 Dusty

[rocker59]

the ferry I was thinking of was on 160 east of Doddridge, east of 71. closed now, google says that in the '70s there were more than 30 ferrys operating in AR, now just one, Peel ferry east of Bentonville

Peel Ferry is east of Bentonville.  112 miles east.   

[LowRyter]

Peel Ferry is east of Bentonville.  112 miles east.   

I've listed it on the map I highlighted.

 

[bpreynolds]

Simply amazing trip.  Thank you guys so much.
Quiet confession here, I was ready to be underwhelmed.  I know how you boys like to talk up the home state and too, many many google image searches on various roads were leaving me kinda �meh� from behind my iPad screen.  Having ridden WV, NC, TN, and GA fairly extensively, I was skeptical about how �great� Arkansas could possibly be.  I fully expected to have a wonderful time but come away just saying �nice place.�  I can now pretty much say overall it�s the best riding by a good margin I personally have ever experienced.  And too, I barely touched it.  My bud and I drove almost Sun up to Sun down for 2 days.  He went home on Saturday and I stayed an extra day to get some additional lone riding in and also to traverse the 27 miles of gravel/dirt road known as the Winona Scenic Drive.  Our whole trip was around 1800 miles altogether but only about maybe 800-900 there in the Ozarks.

Splendid.  Absolutely sublime.  I won�t go into every day here but our first day of riding took 7 north and 123 up to Harrison.  That was some superb and wonderful riding; yet, even still, I wasn�t blown away per se.  Then.  We took the backside of the Moonshine Run back down, this to include 43 and 21.  Oh mamma mia, mamma mia.  For whatever reason, those two roads linked together are the closest thing � for me � I have yet experienced as motorcycle nirvana.  It went straight, like a bullet, to my number 1 stretch of road I�ve ever traversed.  I�m not a racer but by golly did me and the KTM feel like we were on a giant never ending track almost.  Just bliss.  Did I say that already?  Anyway, the next day we spent covering 341, 9 from Allison to Melbourne, and roads around that area and down.  Sheesh.  So fantastic.  On my last lone day there I spent it in the dirt and gravel mostly but I still managed to venture further into the Ouachita.  Again, just beautiful. 
Link to full album of very short videos and pics here
https://flic.kr/s/aHskyoN9MS

022C9CC0-7177-4B79-83CE-B813B2D904A0 by Brian, on Flickr
47341BDF-6CD8-44D0-8E0E-F390AE47E0A4 by Brian, on Flickr
7882C940-FA06-47C0-BA8D-878923A871B6 by Brian, on Flickr
7E951D14-6530-4BD5-9A6E-EF3EAB89F1E8 by Brian, on Flickr
18CA96EC-2FF8-4A3C-BFC4-5D087F6D0556 by Brian, on Flickr
5532CF48-0AD2-4BD0-8C63-C3033D4EDED7 by Brian, on Flickr
10DCDAC8-9AC6-4259-ACC8-5B6AEAA2BC8D by Brian, on Flickr
F7486352-D35A-4F3D-B6D8-EF4A1F06189B by Brian, on Flickr

[oldbike54]

 

 Dusty

[twowings]

Glad you enjoyed yourselves...'y'all come back now, y'heah?' 

[Gliderjohn]

Yep, hard to beat. Glad you enjoyed. 
GliderJohn

[Guzzistajohn]

Arkansas is as good as any. And more remote than most. It’s been said, ‘‘Tis a privedge to live in the Ozarks!”

[LowRyter]

yep,  nice ride.

did you make it to Oark Gen Store from 21?

You'll have to come back to our Guzzi Raid in Harrison in May

[rocker59]

Glad you enjoyed it here in The Hills.  I forgot to tell you about Winona.  But being a KTM guy, you found it!