Shane and I had a simple choice Sunday morning: point the Porsches toward Dallas and take the quickest way home, or make one more routing decision before the weekend was over.

We chose more driving.

We met up at 6:00 a.m. in Eureka Springs. John had already left us for a better offer — his wife — so it was down to Shane and me. Neither of us was particularly interested in jumping on the highway and watching the miles click by.

Instead, we set a course south for Mena, Arkansas, with the idea of picking up the Talimena Scenic Byway and following it across the Ouachita Mountains into Oklahoma before finally turning toward Texas.

That little detour turned the trip home into a 424-mile drive with nearly 11,000 feet of climbing.

Out of Eureka Springs Before Breakfast

We left Eureka Springs just after sunrise and started working our way south through northwest Arkansas.

This is the stuff we’d come to Arkansas to drive: wooded hills, little towns, farms tucked into valleys and two-lane roads that seem almost offended by the idea of going straight.

The elevation data from the drive tells the story. We spent the morning rolling up and down through the Ozarks, eventually dropping into the lower country around Fort Smith before turning south toward Mena.

And then the terrain started getting serious again.

As we approached Mena, the road began climbing into the Ouachita Mountains. That’s where the elevation trace suddenly looks like somebody turned the gain knob all the way up.

Mena to Talihina

Once we reached Mena and picked up the Talimena Scenic Byway, the character of the drive changed completely.

Instead of winding between hills and valleys, we were climbing onto the ridges themselves.

The Talimena runs through the Ouachita National Forest between Mena, Arkansas, and Talihina, Oklahoma. From up there, the forest seems to go on forever. Ridge after ridge fades from green into blue and eventually disappears into the haze.

Was the Talimena Scenic Byway worth adding a big detour to a 424-mile trip home?

Then we came across one of the overlooks.

There was absolutely no chance we were driving past it.

We pulled in and parked the Porsches with the valley spread out behind them. My Lizard Green 911 looked almost radioactive against the muted greens and blues of the mountains, while Shane’s white Boxster sitting behind it made the whole scene look suspiciously staged.

The pavement at the overlook was covered with years of names, messages and graffiti left by people who had apparently felt the same urge to stop there.

We contributed photographs rather than graffiti.

And, yes, a selfie.

Proof that the nut behind the wheel survived the weekend.

Great Mountains. Questionable Pavement.

Here’s where Talimena and the roads around Eureka Springs separate themselves.

The Talimena Scenic Byway is unquestionably beautiful. It’s also plenty twisty and hilly.

You climb through the trees, run along a ridge, dive downhill and then start climbing again. There are long sweepers, tighter corners disappearing around the mountainside and stretches where the valley suddenly opens beside you.

The problem?

The scenery was better than the pavement.

We encountered plenty of bumps, patches, potholes and rough sections. Some of it has clearly seen a lot of traffic and weather.

That changes how you drive it.

You can’t simply settle into a rhythm and attack corner after corner. You have to read the pavement, choose your line and leave yourself some room in case the road serves up something nasty halfway through a bend.

In a stiffly sprung 911, your backside becomes a remarkably accurate pavement-condition sensor.

Mine collected quite a bit of data.

Eureka Springs Wins the Driving Contest

After several days of driving around Eureka Springs and then crossing Talimena, the distinction became pretty clear.

For pure driving, give me Eureka Springs.

The roads we’d been running around Eureka Springs were smoother and much better maintained while still giving us exactly what we wanted: elevation changes, tight corners, sweepers, blind crests and mile after mile of two-lane pavement that refuses to sit still.

They’re roads where you can get into a rhythm with the car.

Brake. Turn. Feed in the throttle. Climb. Crest. Set up for the next corner.

Repeat until hungry.

And when that happens, there’s usually another little Arkansas town somewhere ahead with coffee, breakfast, barbecue or, apparently, a soft-serve ice cream cone large enough to require structural engineering.

Talimena couldn’t quite match that driving experience.

But the views?

That’s another story.

Standing at that overlook with two Porsches behind us and the Ouachitas stretching all the way to the horizon, the extra miles suddenly seemed like a pretty good idea.

So my verdict after the weekend is simple:

For the driving, give me Eureka Springs.

For the view, give me Talimena.

Absolutely.

We could have taken the direct route back to Dallas.

But sometimes the best road home is the one that makes absolutely no sense on a map.