Jasper is a courthouse square with a handful of shops and cafés in the middle of the Boston Mountains, and it is the finish line for a ride that has earned its sit-down. Newton County has fewer people than almost anywhere in Arkansas, and the village, a few hundred strong, is the county seat in the way small places often are, with a stone-fronted square, a pharmacy and a long front porch of a restaurant that has fed travellers since 1909. Harrison, twenty-six kilometres to the north, is the nearest town of any size.
The road that brings you here, Highway 7, comes down from the Arkansas River Valley over a series of ridges, through forests of oak and hickory, with sandstone bluffs along the shoulders and long views over hollows that go blue in the haze. The Boston Mountains are the highest part of the Ozarks, a deeply cut plateau rather than a true range, and the roads follow the ridgelines and drop into valleys in a way that gives the whole route its rhythm. Dogwoods flower in April, and in late October the hillsides turn a deep rust and gold.
Around Jasper lies the Buffalo National River, the first river in the United States to be protected under the national river designation, in 1972, and it runs clear and green between limestone bluffs. Canoes drift through in spring and early summer, when the water is high enough. A short drive away, Boxley Valley holds a herd of elk reintroduced in the 1980s, and in the cool of the morning or evening you may see them grazing beside the road, which is a good reason to ride with a little caution. The Little Buffalo, the Ponca bluffs and the old Boxley mill give the area a settled, quiet beauty.
Jasper has fuel, but check your tank earlier in the day because hours are short in the evening. Rain can come in fast, and the shaded bends are slippery with wet leaves in autumn. Order something fried and ask the person at the next table where they would ride tomorrow.