Motorcycle Diaries: Fall Ride to Arkasas

My wife and I have done countless miles of motorcycle rides across US. Arkansas has been our favorite weekend getaway when we used to live in Dallas Texas. We don't miss the fall colors every year, some times we even do back to back weekend rides to see the peak colors. And not to mention Arkansas has one of the best scenic drives in whole of US.

Here is the route we covered in 2 days on our trip. Close to 900 miles

Our first point of interest is Talimena scenic drive. Half of the scenic drive is in Oklahoma and other in Arkansas.
The is one of our favorite routes , depending on the weather this section could look different. We have ridden in peak colors , post peak colors and even when its completely foggy. Lot of tourist visits this route and its favorite among bikers too. Beautiful hilly roads with lots of twistiest and with mind blowing views .

Fall Colors here is amazing provided you come at the right time. I usually check the weekly report before we head out to the hills. Most of the time our trips are last minute unplanned plans, so it works for us.

A Fellow biker greeting us on the way ! One this we have always found during our trip is people are generally very friendly and we always had a warm welcoming experience till date !

Thats me and @deeps-kivi with our matching Revit riding gears !

At times we take the off beaten path to explore bit inside the woods. You would see more colors there !

One of those such offroad trail exploration we had friendly encounter ! Photos from my go pro ! Dog came at us a bit aggressively mostly because we are strangers, our riding gears and motorcycle. I love dogs and generally is not scared of them, he came close , sniffed me . By the time Man came over. We said hello , chatted for a while and continued the ride.

Once you cross Talimena scenic drive you get to the City of Mena. This is our stop for Lunch. We had lunch here , tanked up the motorcycle and headed towards our next scenic drive which is "Pig Trail'

Start of the scenic drive

Spot the Alien :)

We took a break and some photos !

Our stay for the night. We are not much in to fancy expensive places, so we mostly prefer Motels. They are cheap, decent, never have to reserve it and always find it most cities / small town. After all its just to crash for the night and for the hot shower ! works for us !

Next day , start early . We always start the day with heavy breakfast , because most of the time we end up skipping lunch because during the day we will be exploring areas where there are less places to eat away from city (some where in the hills or woods :)). So we end up having early dinner as well.

Today, our first stop for fall color exploration is at a Cemetery (yes you ready it right). Maplewood Cemetery is famous for its fall colors with lot of Maple. So we headed there first , unfortunately we were late by couple of days and leaves had already started falling ! We came back here another time at peak colors , that's a story for another time :) ! Interestingly this is one of the most photographed places in Arkansas during autumn and lot of tourist visits here.

From here we head further down south back to Dallas via Hyw 7 which is one the best scenic drives in the state.

Some friends we met on our ride back , outside a restaurant !

Country Side !

Beauty !

Well thats all for now , there is more to come. Hope you liked what you see, please do leave a comment ! Have you been to Arkansas or live here ? do you ride motorcycle ? I would be interested to know!

Thank you for Stopping By!
@ashwinrajt