Eureka Springs

What a fabulous weekend!! Jay and I have never been to Eureka Springs and to say we were excited about the trip would be a definite understatement! The historic downtown part of the city is amazing… quaint shops, horse-drawn carriages, people strolling with their dogs – really like taking a step back in time. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning…

We left Friday morning, and since we had no plans other than to make it to Eureka Springs sometime on Saturday, we were already ahead of schedule! Rich had a great route mapped out for us, and we were anxious to get on the road and away from the Texas heat. We took the scenic route on Friday, and stopped for lunch in the tiny little town of Idabel, OK.

There we had the first of what would turn out to be a whole weekend of BBQ! M R Pigs Cafe and Catering Company has some pretty rockin’ bbq – pulled pork, brisket, chicken, hot links and all the fixings. The owner is a huge Texas Rangers fan, so plan on spending some time talking to her about her large and unusual collection of Rangers memorabilia. They are only open from 11 am to 2 pm, so plan your stop accordingly – we barely made it in before the doors closed for the day.

Since we had no reservations for Friday night, we were again ahead of schedule when we decided Fort Smith was our stopping place for the night. We drove to the first place that had a beer sign in the window, and headed inside for a little bit of relaxation. Border Town BBQ – see what I mean? – is in the process of moving locations, but luckily for us, that wasn’t completed yet. Maggie took such good care of us – she really was a great bartender and Fort Smith wealth of knowledge. She pointed us to the closest liquor store and recommended the Guest House Inn as our final destination for the evening. Dinner was good, but we were slightly disappointed that we had arrived too late for the prime rib special that the local patrons recommended. We sat on the back patio, enjoyed some adult beverages, good food and great conversation. The breeze was just enough to keep us cool and we stayed for several hours, but thankfully we were still ahead of schedule!   After a quick stop at the liquor store so we would be stocked up for the evening, we headed straight to the room and immediately to the pool! Ahhhhh!!!!! We consumed most of our alcoholic beverages, and then headed upstairs for some much needed rest. Great first day!

We jumped on the bikes about 10 on Saturday to resume our trip. A quick stop for breakfast at the McDonald’s in Fort Smith turned out to be much longer than we anticipated due to some incredibly slow service, but since we were slightly ahead of schedule, it really was no big deal. The rest of the day was spent riding through some of the most beautiful scenery with huge trees shading the road, steep hills and sweeping curves. We stopped whenever we felt like it, stayed as long as we wanted and still managed to stay slightly ahead of schedule!

We had heard that Eureka Springs did not have a Harley store, so we were pleasantly surprised to find one right on the main drag. It is a small retail store with overpriced clothing – even for Harley – so we decided to grab a bite before going to the dealership in Rogers.

The Rocking Pig Saloon shares a parking lot with the Harley shoppette, so we headed over there. I ordered the cheeseburger sliders, but the waitress and I had a miscommunication and she brought me BBQ pork sliders… lol! The menu was pretty extensive – pizza, pasta, bbq, salads, ribs, seafood – not bad at all. We had a quick bite and then headed over to Pig Trail Harley in Rogers. They had a huge selection of clothes and the prices were much better. We grabbed a Cool Vest for Rich since he was the only one who didn’t have one yet (Note to bikers who must ride in 100 degree weather or not ride at all: This vest is the best thing since sliced bread. Get one…now! You won’t regret it!).

Shopping completed, it was time for a little rest and intoxication! Downtown Eureka Springs is so small that we were able to park the bikes for the night and take off on foot.

Our first stop was Chelsea’s Corner Cafe and after we recovered Rich’s lost phone, we were delighted to find out that we were slightly ahead of schedule!! We met Tina: “My name starts with T and does not end in ‘its’ ” and her husband and proceeded to have a pretty fabulous time!! Shots were flowing, oompah dancing was happening and before we knew it, it was time to head back to the room. We made plans to see Tina and her man on Sunday night, but sadly that was not to be.

We slept in Sunday morning and then headed off to explore more of the magnificent riding in the mountains. We did a great ride out to the lake, stopped for a quick bite and headed back to town. The Cat House is right around the corner from our hotel, and they had a good-sized parking lot full of bikes, so we stopped there to check the place out. April and I ended up buying a souvenir glass to bring home – what a fun place. Actually – it was us having the most fun – except for the one group that had something going on with a man, a fanny pack and an ashtray. Good times!

We decided to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before the evening’s festivities, but somehow we made a wrong turn into the sports bar on the 6th floor – you know, since we were slightly ahead of schedule! Lisa, the-ER-nurse-turned-nighttime-bartender-to help-her-sister-who-was-in-a-bind, took such good care of us!!! Can’t say enough about this girl.

Let’s set the stage: 

Us, coming into the bar at 5:45: “Wow, we are the only ones here!”

Lisa: “That’s because I’m not open for another 15 minutes.”

Us: “Oops! Sorry! Can we just sit over here and wait till you’re ready?”

Lisa: “Absolutely! As long as you don’t mind that I still have my shoes off. I worked a day shift today and my feet hurt.”

Us: “Shoes off? We don’t care about that at all! In fact, we’ll just take our shoes off, too! It will be a shoe-free bar for the rest of the night!”

Us: (Laughing uncontrollably while we take off our riding boots and wiggle our toes.)

Lisa: (Does the first of what will be many, many head shakes during the night.)

We bellied up to the bar, had a an adult beverage or two, and played a couple of games of chess and the world’s worst game of Foosball before the next customers came in. Since we had declared that it was a shoe-free bar for the rest of the evening and Lisa was sooo tired, we immediately assumed shoe-police duties.

Us: “Sir, sir? Can you come over here, please? Yes, you. And can you bring your lovely lady with you? Great. Folks, this is a shoe-free establishment, and before Lisa can serve you, you must remove your shoes. You can just leave them right there in the pile with the rest. Yes, we hope you are able to find them when you leave, too!”

Us: (Laughing uncontrollably)

New customers: (Remove shoes and order drinks.)

This scene was repeated many, many times throughout the night. We even had people come and ask us if they had to put their shoes back on to go to the bathroom out in the hall. Jill, George and George’s cousin were the first victims and the ones who assumed shoe-police duties after we left. Thank goodness they were there – backup is very important!! When we finally left that night, we each had our own shoes – both of them – and we were still slightly ahead of schedule!

We decided to take the shorter, more direct route home on Monday, knowing that we all had to work on Tuesday morning. This actually turned out to be a great idea which allowed us time to stop and grab some cold-weather gear – yep, you heard right! It was 60 degrees when we left Eureka Springs! – and still stay slightly ahead of schedule!

We rode for awhile, stopped for awhile and just thoroughly enjoyed the ride back. We made a brief pit stop at Loose Wheels for lunch, and visited with some friends who were already there.We tried the fish and grilled chicken tacos, and neither April nor I were very impressed. We did hear the Banana Lug Nuts – warm, gooey cheesecake and banana bites topped with Heath Bar crumbles, whipped cream, caramel syrup and a cherry – were to die for, so maybe we should have just had those for lunch instead.

We tried to stop at one of our favorite watering holes when we got back to DFW, but Reno’s was closed for the holiday – sheesh, Dave!! Since we still had plenty of time, and we were ahead of schedule, we stopped by No Frills Grill for one final toast to a really great weekend!!! Thanks to our guardian angels who watched over us and made sure we made it home safely – close to 1000 miles there and back. Big thanks to Rich and April – we had such a great time! You guys ROCK!