OldJeff
Member
Highway 123 From Lamar to Sand Gap.
Saturday was cool and damp, my original plan was to take 10 out to 7, then north on 7, then 64 into Lamar, but the roads were WET, so I hit the freeway and blew thru to the Lamar exit on 40 from Little Rock. And I do mean Blew Thru, caught a vette (barely ) who was in a hurry and tagged along. The NCX ran sweet and true at close to max speed for the 100 miles into Lamar.
First stop was a nice little Phillips 66 store in Lamar, topped off the tank, grabbed a bite and a smoke. This was my first time on this road, so I was planning on taking it easy and scouting the road anyway, but with the road as wet as it was, this was going to be a 35 mile put-put. Pretty country, even in the dead of winter and the road was as advertised with only a few straight stretches. The road condition itself was good with only a couple of spots where Old Man Winter had tore up the surface a bit and just one spot where sand was still evident.
There was one area just before the one lane bridge that was almost magical, deep in a narrow cut the road followed a creek, crossing over it multiple times. The rock face to the right had beautiful frozen waterfalls even tho it was 50ish. Except for the road itself, it felt like no man had ever been thru here before. A deer leisurely crossed the road in front of me, glancing over to me and almost seemed to nod. Awesome!
The only real hazard I saw was the one lane bridge. As you come around a sharp left, the road narrows to the bridge quickly, be sure the way is clear.
A thick fog settled in as I climbed the Ozarks towards Sand Gap and Highway 16, visibility was reduced to 20 to 30 feet in any direction, so I just putted along in the clouds, which made for a good scout on the road conditions and the area immediate to the road. The stop sign at Highway 16 and Sand Gap still snuck up on me. There was a store there and I needed a break, so I pulled in. A friendly older couple were running the store and it had a old wood burning stove heating the place. That stove and a cup of coffee sure was nice!
We chatted a bit and I made the decision to cut the trip short and head down highway 7 and home, the fog was just too thick this high and there was no chance it was going to burn off. So back to the Freeway at Russellville and home. Five hours and 260 miles, a very good day!
Saturday was cool and damp, my original plan was to take 10 out to 7, then north on 7, then 64 into Lamar, but the roads were WET, so I hit the freeway and blew thru to the Lamar exit on 40 from Little Rock. And I do mean Blew Thru, caught a vette (barely ) who was in a hurry and tagged along. The NCX ran sweet and true at close to max speed for the 100 miles into Lamar.
First stop was a nice little Phillips 66 store in Lamar, topped off the tank, grabbed a bite and a smoke. This was my first time on this road, so I was planning on taking it easy and scouting the road anyway, but with the road as wet as it was, this was going to be a 35 mile put-put. Pretty country, even in the dead of winter and the road was as advertised with only a few straight stretches. The road condition itself was good with only a couple of spots where Old Man Winter had tore up the surface a bit and just one spot where sand was still evident.
There was one area just before the one lane bridge that was almost magical, deep in a narrow cut the road followed a creek, crossing over it multiple times. The rock face to the right had beautiful frozen waterfalls even tho it was 50ish. Except for the road itself, it felt like no man had ever been thru here before. A deer leisurely crossed the road in front of me, glancing over to me and almost seemed to nod. Awesome!
The only real hazard I saw was the one lane bridge. As you come around a sharp left, the road narrows to the bridge quickly, be sure the way is clear.
A thick fog settled in as I climbed the Ozarks towards Sand Gap and Highway 16, visibility was reduced to 20 to 30 feet in any direction, so I just putted along in the clouds, which made for a good scout on the road conditions and the area immediate to the road. The stop sign at Highway 16 and Sand Gap still snuck up on me. There was a store there and I needed a break, so I pulled in. A friendly older couple were running the store and it had a old wood burning stove heating the place. That stove and a cup of coffee sure was nice!
We chatted a bit and I made the decision to cut the trip short and head down highway 7 and home, the fog was just too thick this high and there was no chance it was going to burn off. So back to the Freeway at Russellville and home. Five hours and 260 miles, a very good day!
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