Ferry Ride!

Laurie and I love being on or near the water... Add mountains and/or beautiful scenic countryside and the combination is hard to beat!

One of the things that I try to do as I drive the back roads of the country, is to seek out those few ferry boats that still exist and then fit them into our itinerary.

The first photo is of the countryside in northern Arkansas, just south of Bull Shoals Lake. This is on Arkansas Highway 125 headed north towards the lake.

And here comes our ride! This little free ferry is operated by the Arkansas Department of Transportation. It operates year around and it connects Arkansas Highway 125 from Peel AR to a peninsula jutting down into the north side of the lake. The peninsula is part of Arkansas, and it's just south of Protem, MO.

Here the ferry has docked on the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake and it's about to unload. Next, it will be our turn...headed north.

The ferry operates at 20 minute intervals during daylight hours year around...weather permitting.

I'm enjoying the ride...watching the water slide by and checking out the scenery.

Here's Laurie, my better half and co-pilot, relaxing on our short journey across the lake.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only ferryboat in operation in Arkansas. Missouri has 4 ferryboat operations on the Mississippi River and one crossing the Current River within the Ozark National Scenic Riverways area.

Moving north and east after the ferry ride, this is a bit of scenery along US Highway 160 in southern Missouri.

This little road trip involved about 2,500 miles of driving...visits with family...a few nights in motels and lots of exploring!