Reluctantly, we started the trip home on Wednesday. We’d had a restful time with our friends, but Beth had a church event she needed to get back for. Beth liked the secondary roads we’ve traveled on, and she asked me to continue to route us on those back roads. I wanted to avoid I-40, Memphis, and Oklahoma toll roads. Also, I wanted to travel on roads we haven’t been on before.

I chose a route that took us down the middle of the Oklahoma panhandle, across southern Missouri, and down through northeast Arkansas.

We started out going north on I-25. We had not been on this section of the highway before. We stopped for gas in Las Vegas, NM. A couple of blocks north of the gas station I spotted a restaurant and then recognized it as one we stopped at in 2018 on our way to Durango, CO.

Our lunch stop was on a street in the shade of a row of trees.

We were beside a house with a great man cave.

I was impressed by the house across the street. It must have been built by a prominent citizen in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Our evening accommodation was in the shop of a Bunk a Biker host, Jarrod. This was the most eclectic BaB place we’ve ever stayed at. It really was a lot of fun. It’s a penultimate man cave. There was a huge screen with projector, auto lift, bike lift, and pool table. Jarrod has a collection of Corvettes and Motorcycles.

We set up a couple of cots and brought in our sleeping bags from the camper.

Thursday, we rode the entire length of the Oklahoma panhandle. The roads were lightly traveled; we saw maybe 5 cars every 25 miles. The roads were bordered with grazing land and some crops. The most interesting thing to me was the change in elevation from Keyes, OK, to Braman, OK. We dropped 4600 ft. — from 5700 ft. to 1100 ft. in about 300 miles. The plains are flat, but not level.

In one town we had to wait for a freight train. I grew up in Western Springs, IL, along the Burlington. Waiting for freight and passenger trains was a daily occurrence.

We had lunch at Stone City Park in Buffalo, OK. The town was originally called, “Stone City.”

The WPA built a swimming pool and the Oklahoma Highway Department built the pool house in 1938. The pool opened with 200 swimmers, who paid 10 cents apiece. The pool was closed in 1974.

Surprisingly, the park has 2 EV charging stations.

Our BaB host in Braman, OK, Shannon Hampton, suggested we bunk in her 5th wheel camper. We readily agreed as the temperature was in the upper 90s. Shannon hosts a biker breakfast one Sunday a month and serves about 400 people.

After moving our stuff in, I washed bugs off the bike. We covered the bikes as clouds started moving in. We finished up just as a severe thunderstorm with marble-size hail hit us. The sound of the hail hitting the 5th wheel was very loud. Fortunately, everything, including the solar panel, survived without damage.

In addition to the monthly breakfast, Shannon hosted the first band concert on Aug. 3rd. She built the stage in memory of her late husband, Tom. The band played 70’s rock music. The event was a success with 200 in attendance. Hopefully, it was the first of many more to come.

Friday, we continued our eastern journey towards Mansfield, MO, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder RV Park. The park is across the road from the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum. At our first gas stop we encountered the first gas pumps with large touch screens.

Lunch was in a park in Joplin, MO.

We arrived at our campsite in the late afternoon.

Somewhere in the middle of the day we felt the high humidity and realized we had entered the eastern half of the country. Sleeping in the humidity was uncomfortable, and that is probably the last night of camping for this trip.

Saturday, we continued going east in Missouri, then turned south to Arkansas. The road had nice, easy curves as it crossed the eastern Ozarks. It emerged into flat, northeaster Arkansas. We passed by fields of rice and soybeans.

Lunch was at the Joe Mack Campbell Sports Complex in Jonesboro, AR.

This evening, we are in a hotel in Batesville, MS. After showering we took a dip in the indoor pool. The water was pretty cold, even for Beth, so “a dip” appropriately describes our time in the pool.