MO Hwy 90 Loop – skip it

Tired after yesterday’s ride so I decided to do a short ride and explore some new roads. Looking at the map I decided to see how the roads were further north of here. Highway 90 in Missouri looked fun. So I setup this map.

Once you reach Gravette and turn north on 59 the road gets fun. Good pavement, nice twisty road going up and down hills. Worth another visit. Once you reach Noel, MO you’ll hang a right. There is a gas station and stuff there but I continued on. You can either go straight on to 90 or hang a left on to Missouri Highway H. I probably should have taken the left turn. Highway 90 is a sin against god. Such a huge disappointment.

To be on this twisting road that climbs up hills and then plunges down in to valley. There are segments where you immediate have to transition from the left side of your bike to the right and back. Over and over went on forever. It goes on and on like this. But the pavement would make a washboard jealous for how rough and bouncy it is. It caused a blasted CEL on my bike because it was so rough.

It seems fitting to me that the ‘end’ of 90 has a gas station that is out of business. From here I continued south. Ozark beverage is just north of the intersection with AR 340 which took me back to casa.

Chasing the Pig

We drove up to Bella Vista Thursday night for the holiday weekend. I still had some work to do on Friday. I got things taken care of for work and got a late start. My plan was to run up and down the Pig Trail, Arkansas Highway 23. Initially I had planned on running down to Fayetteville and taking Highway 16 down to 23, but I changed my mind and took Highway 12 out of Rodgers.

The route I took:

· Take 62 in Rodgers to Hwy 12 (there is a drive in Hamburger place called Susie Q’s at the intersection. · Head east on 12 for roughly 40 miles – There is a Shell gas station at the intersection of 12 and 23. · Turn right on to 23 and head South. · There are two gas stations in Huntsville (The shell is better) · Inside the Pig Trail there is Turners Bend which has gas. There isn’t that much there, but they do make an ok sandwich. · On the far side of the Pig Trail before you reach i40 is a Valero gas station. · Turn around and do it the other way

 

The road surfaces are good. Some parts are excellent having been recently repaved. There are parts where the surface is a bit cracked, but it doesn’t matter. Because I was out in the afternoon before the holiday weekend there wasn’t much traffic, but I imagine over the weekend the place will turn in to a zoo.  Overall given the scenery the slower moving traffic shouldn’t be to big a deal.  However, if you are wanting to rail through the turns either go on a week day or avoid holiday weekends.

My big concern on the ride was keeping my Duc fueled. However, it turned out to be a non-issue. First the 848 was getting around 42mpg. Next with the gas stations at the intersection of 12 and 23 and the Valero by I40 were spaced perfectly. I only had to put about 1.4 gallons in the tank. Finally, it turns out that Turner’s Bend has a gas pump even though it didn’t show up in Gas Buddy or on Google Maps.  So all in all you fuel is not a problem.

Overall this was the best ride I’ve been on. Then again I generally don’t go on street rides so I don’t have much to compare it too. Guess I’ll have to go out more and collect more data.