From Monett, we headed south on routes 37 and 62 to Eureka Springs, which turned out to be an amazing destination. It has been designated an historic district and claims to be in the top dozen distinctive destinations in the US. Having never heard of it, in the end we decided that it would be a perfect destination for our friends Marla and Phil as it has oodles of antiques and Victorian era bed and breakfasts. It is all original from the 1880s and was initially established so that people could drink the spring water which was thought to have medicinal properties. It was the most beautiful town we have been in on this trip.....the terrain is so rugged that the main street is built over a stream bed, to get to the town you drop 648 ft in about .2 miles. You can see part of the town falling down behind Bev while she awaits her lunch. The town runs shuttles all over which is very convenient for bikers, though their rationale is much better. They want to keep down the number of vehicles on the narrow streets.
We continued on through Harrison on route 65, then went up a really lovely little road (route 66...but not THE route 66) through Mountain View and then on route 14 out of the hills and into the Mississippi valley where we stopped for lunch in Newport. It is here that we decided without second thoughts that Arkansans are the NICEST Americans! Everyone in the restaurant welcomed us and in the end a lawyer, James A. McLarty III, changed our route sending us along hwy 14....thanks James! (note: James said to me, "have you read any John Grissom novels? as I am the kind of small town southern lawyer he writes about".....to which I said, "but have ya been in a movie???"
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