Day 10 – August
31, 2004
{Photos} Ride from Denison, Texas to Our Home in the Ozarks {Home}
As much as we hate to head home, we can hardly wait. It is funny
how much you want to go home while at the same time you want to stay on the
ride. This years ride seems so short but at least we have this last day. As we leave our friend behind still looking
forward to the next time we can visit, we realize that we have crossed into
Oklahoma only a few short miles away. As we top
the hill and join the main highway {69} we look across the Red
River and into a great valley that in years gone by was likely
looking out over a Choctaw Reservation. Although I am not so sure they were
happy to have been moved here from Mississippi, I still feel a sense of pride
knowing that I am partially descended from these Native Americans. I ponder my
ancestors need, on both sides of the family, to hide this fact from their
families even to the point of denying it. Still we all got here from some
combination of parents and it is interesting to consider.
I find the roads so much quieter today than the last couple
of days. I truly love riding the byways of
this country much more without all the truck traffic. A few still pass us, but
most of the time we have the road to ourselves. These are the times I am so
proud to be an American, to live in a place so beautiful and to have the
freedom to explore it as we do today. The curiosities you can come across can
make a person wonder why at times. We pass a cemetery in a remote location, and
I notice a guard standing inside the gate
almost hiding behind the gate post. Why there? Was he keeping someone out, or
in? Meanwhile Diamond is just cruising along having a great
time. I think she likes ride as much as I do. She doesn’t much like it when we
stop for breakfast though. We leave her in the shade outside a restaurant where
we can see her. I make sure she has water and is close enough to know where we
are. Still shortly after we start eating, she disappears. Karen went out to
check, but before she can find Diamond, here she comes running straight to me
across the dining room floor. I guess she thinks she should be able to go in
and eat with us. Perhaps I’ll have to find a stronger leash.
As we arrive in McAlester,
where we had originally planned to stay last night, and I missed the turn onto
270. I notice almost immediately and we need gas, so we pulled off and stopped
at a station in a place called something Gap. I feel kind of bad about this one
because the girls there made a point of
telling me the name. I can tell you it was 1st exit past the 270 on
the 69 and the street was Gene Stipe Blvd. I got a picture of the place and the
girls that told me the name of it. If you see this, drop me a line and I’ll
correct that little error. They were more interested in the dog riding than us
though so I doubt they will. After doing a short backtrack and heading east we
shortly found that we should have took a little longer. It was a very hot day
and the traffic was piled up for miles just outside of town. No one knew what
was going on, so I cheated a little and passed the cars on the shoulder. About
a mile or so ahead the police had the road blocked off because there was a
“suspicious” bag in the road. It seems that it had fallen off a truck and it
was possibly toxic. Fortunately we had gotten there toward the end of the
cleanup and had to wait only about 20 minutes before the road cleared. Here we
are in the middle of Oklahoma,
miles from any populated area, yet we are affected by the terrorist concerns of
the Hi-way Patrol. Sometimes I think in some small way they have got a hold on
us even this long after 9-11. I don’t blame the police, but still we have lost
a little freedom. We move on as we get
closer to the east side of Oklahoma I am surprised by the change in the road
from a 2 lane road to a 4 lane freeway. It only lasts for a few miles and then
returns to a 2 lane road for the short ride to the Arkansas boarder. As we get
closer we start to notice signs indicating Arkoma.
I never knew it was a town, I always thought it was just a general area. We
finally cross the state line, I keep looking
for the river. My memory tells me that the Arkansas
River wraps around the city of Ft.
Smith. It turns out that the road I picked runs south of the river and then
crosses it later as we leave the Ft. Smith area. I think to myself as we take
the {540} where it joins the {40} for the short 5 mile stretch east, that we
are almost done with the freeways. Boy was I wrong. The {540} runs about 90
miles from the south to the north. Still it is not all that crowded and it is a
beautiful ride through some very isolated country. If you ever want to make the
trip from north to south, try this road. It has some outstanding views and is still a great road for
either car or bike. There is even a tunnel cut through one mountain that looks
like you are riding into the end of a double
barrel shotgun. As you blow out the other side it is like crossing into Rocky Mountains for the first
time. It is not the slow ride I prefer, but for making up time, it is perfect.
And then we see the rocks carved through for roads that tells us we are getting
close to home. I noticed that Diamond fell
asleep for part of this ride. As we got close to the north edge of Arkansas
I had planned to stop a little while in Rogers, but we were running late, so we
just gassed up and headed for Missouri. As we made the final turn north to the
Missouri state line, I saw it. The reason we had kept coming back to the
Ozarks. The sky was a deep dark blue, but there just over the horizon was that
color of blue that you see when you look into the clear blue pools called eyes
of that person you just can’t forget. The person I forget, but the eyes I never
will. As we get closer to Springfield we notice the traffic, but it quickly
clears as we leave the main road and head for home. Diamond seems to smell it as she stands and stretches to the end of her harness trying to get closer. Best
of all, we arrive to find guests waiting for us. My Air Force son and my
brother on the porch and deer wandering around
our front yard, Diamond wasn’t too happy about that part, but quickly sends
them running. It’s good to be home. There was one guest we found on the back
porch that we had to evict, but that was to
be expected around here when you are gone for awhile. I guess it is time to get
back to work for now, but we will start planning the next trip soon so stay
tuned and until then, I’ll see you on the byways…
