This morning we sadly bid goodbye to Eureka Springs. We may want to go back there again sometime. But, the adventure continues. The weather report looked good, so we dried off the bike from last nights rain - hope the hotel doesn't mind a couple of extra dirty towels. This mornings ride was a short one, only 50 miles to Branson, Missouri. We had 9:00AM tickets on the Branson Scenic Railway, so we left with plenty of time to spare. The roads were great, mostly AR-21N and MO-86E. And we almost made it, until we reached the top of one of the mountains, and it didn't as much rain, as we drove into a low hanging cloud and got wet. But the rain cleared up just as we were arriving in Branson, and the sun actually began to pop out!
     We passed through a couple of really small towns on the way to Branson, but the one with the strangest name was a little town in Missouri called Blue Eye - NOT Blue Eyes, but Blue Eye . It only had a population of 132, and I'm sure there's a story around the name.
    The Branson Scenic Railroad was great, a 1950's diesel locomotive and some passenger and observation cars. They took us on a 40 mile round trip at the blazing speed of 25 mph. There were actually 2 tunnels cut through rock, one about a half-mile long and the other about a mile and a half. The ride ended about 130 feet in the air on a trestle overlooking a valley. The conductor was a retired software engineer who got tired of retirement and was looking for something interesting to do when the railroad job came up 3 years ago.
     Actual downtown Branson itself wasn't much. Half the stores were actually Flea Markets set up as a series of booths within a storefront. I guess the attraction of Branson must be the shows, but not being much of a Country Western fan, we decided to pass. There was one bright spot of civilization in the center of town near the train station - a Starbucks! So we relaxed with a Skinny Latte, Caramel Machiato, and a couple of coffee cakes for lunch . We also had to make a detour to an actual Best Buy in town. For the past couple of days I have been blogging with a broken mouse left button and have been waiting for a Best Buy to appear within range, so mission accomplished, I am now blogging with a new, fully functional mouse.
     The weather held out for the afternoon, and the motorcycle ride across Missouri on MO-76E and MO-14E was relaxing. Not quite as spirited as Arkansas Scenic Route 7, but scenic just the same.
     The original plan was to stay in the thriving metropolis of West Plains, Missouri, but we needed to do laundry, and the West Plains hotels did not seem to have laundry facilities. So we found we were able to stay in the only hotel in Willow Springs, Missouri, which did have laundry facilities, and coincidentally is right next door to the only restaurant in Willow Springs, a pretty good BBQ place called the Open Range Steakhouse. Oddly, it is marked with a huge sign that says OR BBQ & Grille - imagine my confusion. Despite the confusion, the pulled pork BBQ was excellent and there was a 10% discount for staying at the Comfort Inn next door. Jody was able to do the laundry, and we are ready to go for the upcoming week.
     Tonight was just a stop over night on the way to St Louis. We will be spending a couple of nights about 20 miles outside of St Louis, because the hotels are cheaper, and it will help in our morning escape.

183.6 miles today
1692.4 miles total

4.002 gallons today
40.023 gallons total