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Welcome to the Arkansas Tin Lizzies Spring Tour The Arkansas Tin Lizzies Spring Tour will be based in Fayetteville, Arkansas in April of 2012. We will enjoy three days of touring, with the option of extending the fun to five days. Our Tour will take us on some of the most scenic highways in Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma. Dogwood and Redbud trees should be in bloom, so this is a perfect time to get your Model T out and join us. Those who wish to do so may join a group which will drive their T’s from Russellville, Ark. to Fayetteville before the tour, and back to Russellville afterward. The “official” tour will be April 12 – 14, and the additional drives from Russellville to Fayetteville and back will take place on the 11th and 15th. We are all about driving our Model T’s. The points of interest we’ll see are usually just excuses for us to get in our Model T’s and drive. However, the main event on the first day of the tour is an exception to that norm. We will visit the newly-opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton has chosen to spend some of her vast wealth acquiring significant pieces of American art, and having built a world-class museum to house that art so that it will be available for the enjoyment of the public. The museum building itself is a work of art and the building and its contents will surely become known as a National Treasure. The Wal-Mart Foundation donated several million dollars to the museum to be used for the payment of admission to the museum, so admission is free. This is how the tour is organized: You are on your own. You will be given the tour routes for each day, and you may begin each day’s tour at any time you want and return whenever you want. You will not be expected to be at any particular place at any specific time, except for lunch on Saturday. There will be lots of places to eat, so you may choose where you want to eat and how much you want to spend. This will spread out the load on the restaurants so that one or two aren’t overwhelmed by our group. It also gives you the choice of when and where to stop, depending upon how late you sleep in. We expect to have quite a few cars on this tour, so it will be unreasonable to expect everyone to stay together in “parade” fashion. We suggest that you travel in small groups of a few cars, so that it will be easy for you to keep each other in sight. If you are driving solo, without a navigator, be sure to hook up with someone who does have a navigator so you aren’t trying to drive and read instructions at the same time. Exchange cell phone numbers with others in your travel group so you can keep in touch with one another. Let’s all work together and make the tour easy and pleasant for everyone. We will have a “vulture wagon” on the tour, and the cell phone number of its driver will be provided to you. We will take it easy on you and your cars on Thursday, the first day of the tour. Our scenic route to Bentonville and back is only a 65-mile trip, and there are no significant hills to be encountered. You may spend as much time as you wish at the museum, or you may return early in the day to the host hotel for any adjustments you might need to make to your car. Be sure to have your car in tip-top touring shape, because the next two days’ routes will be more demanding. On Friday, we will travel about 125 miles, going into Oklahoma and back. This is a fairly easy Model T drive, with just a few notable hills. We will go through Siloam Springs, where fuel, food, and other facilities are available. You might wish to pick up some food there and take it to our next stop for a picnic. That next stop would be Natural Falls State Park, which is just a few miles across the state line into Oklahoma. The main draw for this park is a 77-foot high waterfall which should be breathtaking at this time of year. Picnic tables and rest rooms are available at the Park. After leaving the State Park, we will travel down Oklahoma Scenic Highway 10 to Tahlequah. Highway 10 follows the Illinois River, which is an Oklahoma Scenic River. The highway is mostly flat and twisty, since it follows the river valley. In Tahlequah, dining opportunities are again available if you haven’t had lunch yet. The route back to Fayetteville has a few hills, but it is mostly an easy Model T drive. Civil War buffs might wish to stop at the Prairie Grove Battlefield National Park if it’s not too late in the day. The Park is at the edge of Prairie Grove as you are leaving town toward Fayetteville. We will be driving right past its entrance, so it is not out of your way. Saturday’s 85-mile tour will include the Farmer’s Market, held on the Fayetteville Square. The Market opens at 7:00 a.m. You may spend as much or as little time there as you like, but try to leave the Market by 9:00 or 9:30, so you don’t miss the catered lunch at Devil’s Den State Park. We’ll drive some very scenic highways to the south of Fayetteville, enjoying some lovely streams and stone bluffs along the way. We’ll drive through Winslow, once a thriving resort area where folks came from all over the country to avail themselves of the fresh mountain air and healing springs. Today you’ll miss seeing downtown Winslow if you happen to blink your eyes while driving past it. There is a challenging hill to climb upon leaving Winslow. Even if you have a Ruckstell or Warford, you probably will need low pedal for this one. It is steep, but fortunately not very long. Leave plenty of space between your car and the one in front of you, just in case. Once up the hill, you will be “on top” and the road levels out for several miles. Shortly after entering Devil’s Den state Park, there is a series of downhill switchbacks which take us down into Lee’s Creek valley. Take it slow and remember to pump your brakes, and enjoy the roller coaster ride. Our lunch will be catered by Penguin Ed’s Barbecue, of Fayetteville. They will serve us between 12:00 and 1:00, so try to be there at that time. The Arkansas Tin Lizzies will foot the bill for lunch and the rental of a large pavilion for our tour. The pavilions and cabins at the Park were built by the CCC in the 1930’s and are very rustic and beautiful. The dam forming the lake was also built by the CCC and it’s quite a piece of work. It is an easy stroll from the lunch pavilion. If you arrive at the Park early or want to spend some time there after lunch, feel free to explore. The highway out of the Park has a long hill to climb, but it’s not steep like the one we came in on. It’s an easy 30-mile drive back to Fayetteville, so you can plan your time accordingly. The “extended tour”, which leaves Russellville on Wednesday (or maybe Tuesday, depending on interest) and returns on Sunday, is about 125 miles each way. The routes will be different on the two days, but both will include very scenic highways through the Ozark National Forest. Parking space in Russellville for your trailers and tow vehicles will be provided by Tin Lizzie members. You will need to secure lodging in Russellville for Tuesday night, the 10th (or maybe Monday night the 9th), and Sunday night, the 15th. We recommend La Quinta Inn & Suites, located at 111 E. Harrell Drive. Their phone number is 479-967-2299. For more info on the extended tour, contact Bill Howell at 479-236-3630 or whh@nwabcs.com. The host hotel in Fayetteville is the Comfort Inn and Suites, located at 1234 Steamboat Drive. If you are familiar with Fayetteville, this is within a stone’s throw of I-540 and Wedington Drive. Their phone number is 479-571-5177. We have blocked 15 rooms for our tour at a discounted rate. We can get more if need be. The price per night at this point is about $71 per night, subject to change a bit for 2012. They won’t know for sure until the first of the year. Be sure to tell them that you are with the Arkansas Tin Lizzies tour. The rooms we have blocked are non-smoking rooms with two queen-size beds. Rooms with a single king-size bed are available for the same price. A few smoking rooms are available. They also have some wonderful large suites with king size beds, sofas, etc., for only $10 more. You may have any type or room you want, just tell them what you want when you call for the reservation. The cutoff date to get the rooms at the reduced rate is one month before the tour, March 13th. Trailer and tow vehicle parking space is available right across the street in the shopping center lot. Other hotels located next door are the Holiday Inn Express, 479-444-6006, and the Homewood Suites by Hilton, 479-442-3000. RV parking is available at the Road Hog Park, located at 1159 W. 15th St. Concrete-paved sites with electricity and water hook-ups are $25 per day. A sewer dump station is also available. Contact Bob Roten at 479-409-8178. For more information, go to the Club’s website at www.ArkansasTinLizzies.com or contact Mike Walker at waterwalk99@hotmail.com or 479-790-4229.
Click here for more details on the "extended tour." We are planning an extended tour on the front end of the 2012 Spring Tour in Fayetteville, AR. If you would like to drive your T from Russellville to Fayetteville, AR with a possible overnight stop on the way to Fayetteville then block out the week of April 8-15, 2012. We will leave Russellville, AR on either Tuesday or Wednesday for a cross country drive to Fayetteville where we will participate in the Spring Tour before returning to Russellville on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Please let us know if you are interested in joining in this "expanded" tour so that we can block rooms and arrange for trailer parking.
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