The Talimena Scenic Drive

Day1: Kick stand up at 8am, departed our home in Plano Texas, headed to Oklahoma via US-75. My husband had bought me a gently used 2004 Kawasaki Ninja 250 as an anniversary gift back in May. After a few 200+ mile day trips around north Texas, I was ready for my first weekend tour: a trip up to Arkansas via the Talimena Scenic Drive.

We took a brief rest stop at the Oklahoma border and decided to modify our route to get off the highway and onto the Kiamichi Trace via Durant. This was a nice little find to get us over to the Talimena Scenic Byway, with no backtracking.



Just before getting onto the Talimena drive, we caught lunch in Talihina OK at Pam's Hateful Hussy diner.

What more can be said about Oklahoma road food other than it's cheap, plentiful, and won't kill you. During the first day of the trip I had to learn to interpret the local dialect. For example when ordering iced tea at a cafe, the waitress will invariably shoot back "Sweeter Uhn?". What she is asking is if you would like the Sweet Tea, or Unsweetened Tea (i.e. Sweet or "Un"-sweet). Unless would like to try your luck with type II diabetes, go with "Un" or at the most a blend of "half and half" which they will readily accomodate. (The Sweet Tea can be used as a syrup substitue if pressed.)

The catfish buffet at the Hateful Hussy hit the spot, and after a stop at the Talahina Liquor Store, we hit the road. (Liquor laws get squirly in Arkansas and many counties are dry, so be sure and do your research and necessary purchases ahead of time.)

The Talimena National Scenic Byway is a stretch of road that goes from south eastern Oklahoma and runs 54 miles east into Arkansas. It's great for motorcyclist (and bicyclists), and is very steep, twisty and scenic. It' has dozens of turnouts for vistas, so take your camera and take your time. You will be treated to spectacular views of the Ouchita national forrest.




At the end of the Talimena is Mena, Ark. We found a great B&B, the Cedar Rock. http://www.cedarrockbnb.com/ The hosts Tony and Debra were just great, and invited us to a Crawfish Boil they were hosting for July 4th. They have a beautiful 4 acre property, complete with pool and spa, which was just great after our 260 mile trip from Dallas.

The crawfish were fantastic, as was Debra's popovers. We also discovered that even though the county was dry the people were not. Tony keeps a party fridge in the pool cabana fully stocked for his guests. It was truly an evening to remember.


End of Day 1 was a great night's sleep at a B&B that truly exceeds expectations.