That's great for you! I don't live anywhere near there, so I'm afraid I can't offer any advice. Hope you have a great time!

Stop in at the Hotel Seville in Harrison AR for a sandwich in the bar. Hotel was built in 1929 and they renovated it a couple years ago.
Jasper to the S of Harrison on Rt 7 is another great ride and small town. Full of hills and curves.
Buffalo River to the S & E of Harrison has some great canoeing. There is a 225' tall waterfall you can hike into but I swear it's uphill coming and going.
Eureka to the W of Harrison is another old town to see with great drives around it and plenty of shops although it has gotten touristy.
Bull Shoals Dam and the information center on the hill above the Dam.
Bull Shoals Lake, Norfork Lake, the area around Mountain Home AR.
Peel Ferry takes you across Bull Shoals Lake from AR into MO.
Flippin AR S of Bull Shoals Lake, just so you can say you've been to flippin' Arkansas.
The 1850'concrete arch Cotter Bridge over the White River in Cotter AR.
Rt 5 S from Mountain Home to Mountain View. It follows White River and has small interesting towns along it.
Salem AR W on Rt. 62 out of Mountain Home is another nice drive and quaint town.
A lot of these small towns and homes are built using native stone. I love them.
North of Salem is Mammoth Springs at MO border. To this desert native it looked like a whole lot of cool clear water just being wasted down a river.
In MO just N of Mountain Home AR area are some old mills on rivers or springs. http://www.ozarkmtns.com/milltour
The Rockbridge Mill converted the old mill barn into a bar with a wooden patio looking over the stone dam. You can sit there and watch the fishermen catching trout below the dam. On a hot day with the big barn doors open, a cold brew in hand, and a cool breeze off the water it's a hard place to leave.
They have weird hours and days they are open so best to call ahead.
That North Central AR has a lot of beautiful country. You can google a couple of those names and check them out. What gets a guy from the desert in AZ excited might not be as exciting to a person from the land of real trees and 10,000 lakes.
If you happen to be towing a motorcycle I can fix you up with some people that will show you around the back roads of that area.
Oh ya, don't forget the little restaurants with their pies, cobblers, and biscuits & gravy. If you don't gain 5 lbs. you're not doing it right.

Tinfoil,
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm taking along my fly rod so we will definitely check out some trout sites. We are also taking our DSLRs and some new lenses so waterfalls and mills are on the agenda.

Unfortunately hubby-to-be sold his Golden Wing and V65 last year so we won't be riding. He was planning on becoming a hermit after he retired so he bought some land near Capt. Jack's on Bull Shoals near Lead Hill, MO. Since he met me he has decided not to become a hermit so we're going to sell the land or better yet take a Class C RV in trade. (Wishful thinking.)

I love Minnesota so I hope I don't have unrealistic expectations for MO and AR. We're also hoping to find some good BBQ along the way but pies and cobblers sound good too. (BBQ seems to be the newest rage in MN??? But never fear, we still have lutefisk!)

Thanks again Tinfoil.

... a girl named Max

Max, Mansfield, MO isn't very far from Bull Shoals & Branson, of course. Mansfield has the Laura Ingalls Wilder home & Museum. Lotsa good exploring in the whole state.
Watch out for ticks, they're all over the place in May.
Don

I forgot. About 5 hours south of Branson is Murfreesboro, AR. It's the home of the Arkansas Diamond Mine, where you can hunt for diamonds (for real) and keep whatever you find!

Thanks Don. Of course Branson is on our list. Walnut Grove, Minnesota also has a Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. Supposedly Walnut Grove was the setting for "On the Banks of Plum Creek" written by Laura and published in 1937. We'll do some research on digging for diamonds in AR.

Has anyone been to the Ozark Medieval Fortress (Castle) that's being built using 13th century building techniques? I think that's going up near the Lead Hill area.

I'd also like to go horseback riding in the hills/mountains, and if I can find the $$ and muster up the courage I'd like to try some gentle whitewater kayaking, and maybe even try ziplining. I think I can talk hubby-to-be into trying kayaking and ziplining. I got him up on a horse last fall. I promised him he would never be bored with me but I have to remember this is a man who was going to become a hermit when he retired.

Max

Mountain Home is beautiful...and someone just found a $21,000 diamond at the mine within the last few days!! :)

Bill and I dug in the diamond mines in the 70's but
didn't find anything but 'mini diamonds'.
It's fun tho'. We usually drove on some side roads
and would stop at any local museums that we found.
I was not into junk like I am now, however, so
didn't stop at many junk places. We also had the
AAA travel books (do they still have those?)that
told about lots of places to see.
With the computer there should be lots of things
by googling the towns you plan to go through.