What a NEAT weekend my wife and I just experienced!

IF you frequent this forum (my VSC forum) with any regularity, I'm sure you have seen "Steve Weaver" post and input over the years. During those years, Steve and I have become good "virtual" friends.

Welp... a few months ago the plans were laid for Steve and his wife Ann to fly in, Sharon and I would pick them up, and on a pair of Harley-Davidson's, we would all go touring in the Ouachita and Ozark mountains, to be "virtual" friends no more: Now face to face and "shur'nuf real".

This we did! Sharon and I led them through four days of twists, turns, vistas, quaint mountain towns, railroads, abandoned railroads, and the Coup de' Grace: Eureka Springs.

Together we all experienced one of the most fabulous roads in the Arkansas Ozarks: Hwy 123. This was a first for Sharon and I, having never ridden this one before! The road was so tight, steep, and amazing, that a huge sign said at the entrance/bottom:

NO TRUCKS OR TRAILERS.
IMPASSABLE TIGHT TURNS AHEAD.

All I can say is wow. WOW. Fantastic road. Fantastic scenes.

This morning, I returned Steve and Ann to Tulsa Int'l Airport to begin their journey home.

As I type, they should on a short layover at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, then it will be off to Harrisburg, PA... and then their drive home. Hopefully, shortly after they get safely home, Steve can jump in and share some of his and Ann's experiences!

Who'd a thunk that a small route (the StLNA), an internet forum, and some time exchanging emails would lead to such an experience as this??? Like I said in the subject title: This internet thing is AMAZING!!

That isn't the highway just north of Cass is it? I want to say you cross the Mulberry at Turner's Bend...go about 3/4 of a mile and it takes off on the right. In a former career I took some dirt machines up there with a 48' trailer when the State was rebuilding it...exciting ain't the word I'd use to describe some of the curves with that trailer. All I will say is Thank you God that I never had to meet someone in a car, let alone a big truck on that road. I want to say the road goes almost all the way to Clarksville...but I don't remember exactly, and don't have a map handy right now.

Hi Zack!

The Hwy 123 that I am referring to is over southeast of Jasper on the east side of Hwy 7. Leaving Jasper, we followed Hwy 7 south, then took Hwy 374 east thru Vendor to Mt. Judea, then 123 south to Lurton. From Lurton, we hit Hwy 7 north to Hwy 16, picked up Hwy 21 north back to Berryville... then US 62 west to Eureka Springs!

BTW, since we both love food, thought you might appreciate this: We ate at the historic/rustic Ozark Cafe at Jasper. The food was SUPERB. Man, a feller' sure kin git fat eatin them good vitals in the Ozarks!

Isn't it what this is about, enjoying trains, friends and camaraderie.

If you look at the dates we started some of us have been around a long time

Thats how the Illinois group got together, now we meet 3 or 4 times a year

Great story Andre, life is good isn't it

First day back at work - a number of irons in the fire, but I just had to reply ...

Andre is a great host, with tricks up his sleeve, just like his MSTS activities. A highlight for us was what I called the First Official Fan Trip on the Ozark Northern - we rode from Ozark on the Arkansas River up to Turners Bend, on into Cass, where we gawked at the BM&E roadbed, on past Mountain Creek and then up the hill to Fly Gap. We then descended past "Zinc City" into Brashears and gawked at the Frisco roadbed into St. Paul.

Motoring north from St. Paul we schemed about a route to Eureka Springs - more on that later someday ...

Up in the Eureka Springs area we gawked at the ES rail yard, Beaver, the White River bridge and The Narrows.

Sunday was spent traversing the Frisco (now A&M) from Fayetteville to Fort Smith, we're we looked at slumbering A&M motive power.

Hey people, Andre is real, the Ozarks are real and I don't care what he says about the Ozark Northern, but the terrain is real! An excellent trip!

I shot some pictures, which I will post later ... More anon!

Okay! Time to stand and deliver:

Here we are following the leader. That's Andre and Sharon out front, and my right ear. Ann is the camera woman. In this photo we're heading north towards Turners Bend.

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As I said above, Andre was full of surprises. So, we're driving through the fog on SkyLine Drive in the Ouchitas, and out of the mist appears this Alco ten-wheeler. Surprise!

Miss Sharon patienting waits while the men discuss the finer points of running steam in the cab.

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Ozark Northern men! This is a physical characteristics test: Recognize this scene? We're heading from Mountain Creek towards Cass. Around the shoulder of the ridge on the left, before the distant ridge lies Turners Bend.

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More physical characteristics: If you can't guess where this is, you need to purge your hard drive or return your CD of the St.L&N.A.R.R. to Andre!

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Here we are in Fort Smith, standing next to Andre's daily ride, No. 50, the A&M's Fort Smith switch engine. His Duece is in the foreground with the loaner Road King to the left. Yours Truly is the geeky guy to the left ...

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Last but not least, photos of our intrepid travelers ... First, Andre and Sharon ...

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... and Miss Ann and Yours Truly! Hope you enjoyed the travel show!

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Oh, and totally unrelated except that it was fun, yesterday when I returned to work, I got to ride in this new SD40E. It hasn't been on the NS roster for more than a week. What reminded me of it was that it had a "new Harley" smell!

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Also as part of the "fun and games" I got to run this new battery-powered unit. It's funny, when you move the reverser, it still has the same old EMD "clunk" of the relays. But when I went into Notch 1 and bailed the independent, there was no sound except the bell. Weird ...

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Here's the console of that battery unit - fairly standard EMD. Anyway, today was more prosaic, shuffling paper and switching ...

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Cool pics!! Nice shot of you and Ann on the Skyline. The familiarity of the Ozark Northern scene is rather uncanny!

As for me: I'm playing in RE tonight! Touring the Ozarks aboard the Harley's and showing Steve some of my favorite railroad haunts has me all fired up!!

Wow, Beaver was up that day! The few times I've been up there the water wasn't that high...but then again it was early fall when I was there, so the water had drawn down by the lack of rain in the summer. Sounds/looks ya'll had a great time & good riding weather.