A ray of sunshine

It's a cloudy day, and chilly.  I can feel winter coming on, which is a little depressing.  Cliff isn't home today, so I don't have the usual meal-preparing schedule to distract me.  I was just feeling a little "droopy", that's all.  No big deal.  
The other day Jessica, my former co-worker from Kohl's, messaged me on Facebook to ask for my address.  She had found something that made her think of me, and she wanted to send it to me.  She warned me not to expect too much, it was just a small thing.  
Jessica, if you recall, was born and raised in Arkansas, and says she pays particular attention when I blog about her home state.  Recently I talked about Dogpatch, which is adjacent to Hub Motorcycle Resort where we camped recently.  I included some Youtube videos about the old theme park, now a ghost town.  
So I went to the mailbox on this dreary day, and there was a package for me.  The timing couldn't have been better.  That girl always did have a way of making me smile.  

Thanks so much, Jessica, for putting a bright spot in my cloudy day.

Dogpatch

Cliff was recently talking to a biker in Buckner (has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?) who told him about a biker motel in Arkansas where the food is heavenly and a room can be had for $45 a night. We vowed to look it up. We knew it was someplace on a scenic roadway where we'd ridden before, but Cliff didn't get any details and we certainly didn't recall seeing it.

There's this ghostly place just south of the Arkansas state line on highway 7 (wonderful, curvy motorcycle ride) that was quite the tourist attraction forty years ago, back before Branson made the big-time. It was called "Dogpatch", and had all sorts of carnival-type rides and concessions, with a hillbilly theme.

Of course, I love abandoned barns, houses, and ghost towns, so there's a big fascination with this place; I snapped a few pictures as we drove by.



A short distance up the road from there is a scenic overlook where you can look out over "the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks", and we pulled over. There was a biker and his (well endowed) girl friend there, and the guy struck up a conversation. You know, the usual, "Where you headed?".

They, as it turns out, were headed in the direction from whence we came, going to the Biker motel. Turns out it's on the Dogpatch property. He said some weekends they have bands, and often it's "no vacancy".

So now we know. After we and the couple parted ways, I said, "Cliff, I have a question about that lady."

"Of course I noticed them," he answered.

"Well I knew that, silly. But are they real?"

"Oh yeah!" he grinned.

We really didn't want to turn around and go back, but at least now we know where the Hub biker motel is. I'd like us to get together with Cliff's sister and her husband and go down there, one of these days. I'm pretty sure it's a rougher group of bikers than we're used to, but it would be a great place for people-watching.

All over Arkansas the treetops are horribly damaged from last winter's ice storm.

This shot was taken at the spot where we talked to the couple on the Harley.