We're Back!

[black roadster]

Trina and I are back from our Honeymoon. We had a great time in Jefferson and tearing up the roads in Arkansas. :)

I forgot how awesome those roads are up there.

Here is the detailed report.

Saturday

We left in the afternoon after the wedding and lunch with Family and just drove main roads to Jefferson since we just wanted to get there. We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast in the old part of town within walking distance of downtown. Great place!

Sunday

We shopped Jefferson but got bored quickly. Trina suggested we check out Caddo Lake since she heard it was the only natural lake in Texas. It was really beautiful with Cypress trees growing in the water. The roads down there were pretty good too. We rented a canoe and paddled among the cypress trees. The water was like glass.

After that we decided to head over to Bossier City, LA for a few hours to take a gamble at the Horseshoe Casino. We split up, Trina hitting the slots and me hitting a 3 card poker table. I lost my money pretty quickly but Trina doubled hers. So far we're even! :) I then hit the Black Jack tables and quickly doubled my (her) money. We decided to have dinner and then play some more. Trina lost at the slots so we hit the Black Jack table. I was up then down. Final total was a loss of $25 but we had lots of fun so it was worth it.

Monday we checked out of the B&B in Jefferson and headed north to Arkansas taking back roads about half the way. We stopped for lunch in Hot Springs and went north on Hwy 7 to Russellville. We stopped at Mt. Nebo and took the crazy ride up and down the mountain. The first gear tight turns uphill are insane! It began to rain as we headed north to Harrison. This was a major bummer because it rained the entire way through the Ozarks. We're talking bad rain too. We were crawling behind a train of cars but kept going since we just wanted to get to Eureka Springs by now.

Two scary things happened on the way up.

Scary thing #1: The storm had knocked a bunch of debris into the road and a log was hiding in some I had gone over. So now I'm dragging a log under my car. It was not gonna clear itself and it's raining cats and dogs. A few feet up I see a turnoff. I pull in and drive one side of the car up on the curb and the log is free. I kept an eye on my oil pressure for a while to make sure no damage was done. Thankfully the oil pan survived!

Scary Thing #2: Driving along, lightning struck no more than 100 yards from us with a big CRACK! It sure woke us up!

Needless to say, the weather prevented any "exploring" along 16 or 123.

We survived the storm and as we entered Eureka Springs the skies cleared and the Sun was shining as if coming out of a big tunnel. We decided to take an AAA recommendation and booked the night at the Holiday Inn. It was late and this place was easy to find. This is the same Holiday Inn I stayed at on my first Arkansas trip with the Lone Star Miata Club it turns out. ICK! After being spoiled in the B&B this place was horrible. We vowed to find a B&B in Eureka the next night.

Tuesday

Woke and ate breakfast at that great pancake place across from the cabins we stayed at on the second Arkansas trip. Yum! We found a great B&B in the heart of the historical district and then went shopping again. Again we got bored with all the shops with the typical "Tourist Crap" and decided to head to Beaver Dam and Beaver Lake. We drove all around 187 and had a blast. We headed back to E.S. and ate at a new Mediteranean place that it turns out used to be the Speggetti restaurant we ate at on Ark Trip #2.

Wednesday

Decided we had seen all we wanted to in Eureka and headed for home. The weather cooperated this time and we had a beautiful clear drive down. As we were heading out of Huntsville, AR I had just overtaken two cars in a "thankfully" legal pass but was booking it as I completed the pass. A car rounds the corner and the Valentine1 starts screaming! I pulled over immediately and the Sherrif pulls up behind me. $%^@& ! He asks where we're heading and I tell him Dallas, coming back from our Honeymoon. He tells me to slow it down. He clocked me at 78mph. He said there were several police down the road that aren't as nice. Woohoo! We breathed a BIG sigh of relief!

The plan was to spend the night in Mena, AR but Mena sucks so we deciced to continue the trip home. Took the Talimena Scenic Byway and only came up on one car the entire way which I quickly passed. At Gary Shuhart's suggestion we also checked out "The Wall". South a few miles on 259 of Talimena. Very cool, unmistakable road. Going along the concrete barrier with the graffiti looks like a track wall with sponser banners.

By the time we arrived in Antlers, OK I was beat and thankfully Trina offered to drive the last leg home. We arrived at 8pm and crashed (in our bed!).

The trip was fantastic fun, Except for Jefferson, the trip was unplanned. We just did what we wanted and had a great time. I'm not only blessed to have a beautiful, loving wife and best friend but also a partner that shares my enthusiasm for backroad twisties and she was a tremendous co-pilot the entire time!

We are looking forward to visiting more B&B's in the future and taking the roads less traveled.

Sincerely,

William and Trina Curran

[OzCop]

Sounds like a fantastic trip, even if it was a honeymoon trip. Glad you guys made it home without incident any worse than described. Hope you continue to have a fantastic marriage, and she continues to embrace the road trips as much as you.

[Treibenschnell]

Sounds like you guys had a fantastic time!!

[Ataim]

Glade that you are back, now get back to work :mad: