sign with the arrow graphic, twisted like the devil’s backbone, stands roadside. I can make a loop ride out of this trip by working my way to HH and following it back to the north. Even better is to drop off on Route Y for
a few miles and hook up with WW. This road starts out easily, but quickly turns into one of the highest rated rides on my Butler motorcycle map of the Ozarks. I pass a shambling building here with a sign that announces “Joe Mamma’s Hilltop Tavern,” just before connecting with WW, and though I have yet to see the lights on in the place, I love the quirky name. I count 34 curves in the 10-mile length of WW. I am fortunate to be able to often ride on
weekdays. The alphabet roads are remark- ably free of traffic through the body of a day in the middle of the week (in mid-morning there is the random mail truck, and in the afternoon maybe a school bus making its rounds).
It’s unusual to get stuck behind a
car or, more likely, a pickup or logging truck. WW is a marvel of curves and eleva- tion changes, and it includes fields and woods with few houses in its length. Others are not shy about hanging their vehicles over the yellow line when rounding
curves, curves that I feel my way through with the knowledge that oncoming traffic may not honor what should be my space… not theirs. The culprit is often a pickup pulling a big trailer with a garden tiller strapped on, or, if it’s deer season, a raft of ATVs. The window on my GS tank bag holds a
folded down map of the state, though it is largely hidden by a half-dozen sticky notes bearing jumbles of encrypted letters. Each slip of paper is a loop ride that I frequent. The smallest of these simply reads “H…E left…Y right…YY left…A right.” Doesn’t sound like much, but it is a guide to a fun ride that I sometimes key into a portion of a larger loop route. My much-loved, longest day ride starts
with Highway T (country folks will simply call this T road), morphing into V. Next I follow to a state highway; it’s a numbered road, but one of the best in the state, with several curves that notably raise the pucker factor. I find my way to P and on to double D, a road that flows through a national for- est with timber pressing both road shoul- ders, a road not only laden with curves but with the best possible scenery. One more numbered highway and I am at a cross-road
called Bixby. There is a little country store here that makes sandwiches and has a decent restroom; on summer weekends, that parking area is often loaded with two- wheelers. Off-road riders find fun nearby, too.
I like to sit at a table at the back of the
store where I can see a half-dozen hum- mingbird feeders hanging off a railing. It’s not unusual for there to be 30 or more of the little birds boiling around the nectar dispensers all at once. After relaxing a half- hour, I head for home. The entire ride is some 225 miles. I’ll retrace some of my steps north, then cut off on another road called “T,” and this one is a supple passage through state-owned forests with almost no sign (other than the road itself) of the hand of man. I travel this road wishing it would continue forever. At its end, I will follow H to the southern tip of the previously men- tioned WW and enjoy its flowing contours. NN is next and then…bang, I’m almost back in the city. I’m planning a ride for tomorrow. I pre-
dict a curvaceous delight…brought to me by highways K, P and DD! Close-to-home motorcycling does not get any better than this.
May 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 89
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