Day 3 (Monday, August 1) - Paducah, KY to Nixa, MO - 365 miles

The motorcycle trip really kicked into high gear today. What a great day of motorcycle riding across southern Missouri. I started out in Paducah and worked a route to avoid all interstates. That would be a relief after the long slab riding I did on Sunday across the entire state of Kentucky.



That plan didn't work out too well very quickly as the two lane US 60 bridge across the Mississippi River was CLOSED.

Looked like it had be closed for awhile. I hope that is not a permanent closing as it is such a historical and nice bridge. The only other bridge across the Mississippi anywhere nearby was the I-57 bridge between Illinois and Missouri so I ended up having to ride the slab again for several miles back down to US 60 in Missouri!

 A really interesting location in that same area was a place called Future City, Illinois. There was NOTHING there that I could see. As a matter of fact the east bound sign and the west bound sign was only a couple of hundred feet about. I guess this is just an example of midwestern optimism (on the other hand I bet someone gets money from the federal government for this "future city"!!




Got on a GREAT motorcycle road that was US160 between Doniphan and Alton, MO. This was Missouri's "Dragon". There was 35mph curve after 35 mph curve! It was a fun road with little traffic and great pavement. Such a joy after riding the slab! It ran through the Mark Twain National Forest so it was very scenic. I would highly recommend this route!

Mammoth Spring State Park

Later I was very close to the Arkansas border so I crossed the border and visited Mammoth Spring State Park. A very nice park and the world's 10 largest natural spring. A very nice park ranger gave me brochures on motorcycle riding in Arkansas. Looks like they have a lot of good motorcycle roads and are very motorcycle friendly. Funny, I really had a hard time understanding the ranger speaking initially as he had a real Arkansas accent!!

For my old "power company" friends, I had to include a picture of the old electric generator at the springs. It is not used for electric generation anymore, but the old powerhouse was open to visitors.

I met a couple from Bossier City, Louisiana. They were heading to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Ontario. They were recently married and he was going to visit his mother-in-law for the first time!! (He seemed very excited about that!!). They only had two weeks, so that was really going to be a quick trip. I have to wonder if they will really make it in only two weeks at the rate they were going. Told them about the great US 160 road and they were planning to go that way north. Hope they liked it!

Missouri Rt 76

Continued on Rt 14 towards Nixa, MO, my destination for the evening. Ended up with two detours due to road closings. Had to take Rt 76 that was also a fun motorcycle road. It was like riding a roller coaster with 45 mph sweeping curves. All in all a great day of motorcycle riding on some great country roads.

WOW! Doesn't this look good!!

Made it to Nixa around 3:30 and had a GREAT visit with friends, Amy & Tom!! A great dinner of smoked turkey made on a Big Green Egg smoker. (I may have to get one of those!!).