Ride the Ridge

Plan on 3 or 4 days to complete the full loop, or you can shorten it by cutting across at some point. (You can drag the route shown in Google Maps to create a new itinerary.) This ride offers a variety of breathtaking scenery, from hardwood bottomlands, through bucolic agricultural fields and panoramic views on Crowley’s Ridge.

Start riding in Newport, heading north on Highway 367, which becomes Highway 67, AKA “The Rock ’N’ Roll Highway.” This was The Road that led to juke joints and clubs that hosted the likes of Cash, Orbison, Presley and Twitty and many other greats of rockabilly, blues, gospel and rock ’n’ roll music. Follow the highway into Walnut Ridge, the only town in Arkansas where the Beatles stopped. Don’t miss the Beatles Sculpture, Imagine Gift Shop, the Guitar Walk. Stop in the Lawrence County Library, home to the Argenta Collection, which contains more than 200 photographs of the Beatles.

Continue north to Piggot, where you’ll find the Hemingway-Pfeiffer House and the Hemingway Barn Studio behind it.

Here is where Ernest Hemingway wrote some of “A Farewell to Arms” plus several short stories during the 1920s.

You’ll leave Piggott heading south on Highway 49 to Jonesboro, a growing city whose downtown is filled with gift shops, restaurants and art galleries. Plan to spend extra time here. In Jonesboro, take Highway 226 east to Cash, then continue east on highway 18 back to Newport.