It was a beautiful sunny morning this morning. We woke up a little earlier than we usually do when we stay in a hotel because we had hopes to make it to Mississippi today, so we knew we had a lot of miles ahead of us. For breakfast, this hotel didn't have a normal continental breakfast, instead they handed out McDonald's cards for a free breakfast. We don't usually eat a whole lot of fast food, but we can never pass up free food. When we got all packed up and headed a couple buildings down the road to McDonalds, we got to order hot chocolate instead of coffee since we don't care for coffee, and each got a little breakfast sandwich. It was pretty yummy and got us filled up and ready for the ride. As we were riding out of Rayville, there were absolutely clear blue skies ahead of us, but creeping up behind us was this huge blanket of clouds. It really did look like a blanket being pulled over everything. Despite that, it stayed relatively sunny as the clouds eventually broke up into smaller clumps. Not only was it a beautiful day, but we primarily had a tail wind, we were just so happy about that! We passed through little town after little town before we got close to Wisner, which is where Becky (the choir director we met last night from Rayville Methodist Church) and her husband Howard lived. Last night before we left, she gave us directions to her house and said to stop by on our way through. It was only mid- day and we had gone just about 30 miles before we found the road she lived on. Although we weren't sure how far down the road she lived, we had her house number. We rode about a half a mile up to the first house to see what that number was. It was WAY off from her number, so at that point we were worried that it would end up being 5-10 miles down the road. Just as we were deciding on what to do, a car pulls up next to us and says "I bet I know who you two are.. you're the two that's ridden to Alaska and all over the country, am I right?!" We were surprised at first that someone would know that, but then when the man said he was Becky's husband it all made sense. He told us that the house was about 2 miles off the main road, and that Becky would love if we stopped in. What an amazing thing- whenever we are in doubt or don't know the answer to something, it seems we are always provided with the some kind of event that gives us the answer. What good timing he had. So, we were off to visit Becky and were happy to have gotten to meet her husband so that she knew when we would be there. We had a bit of a head/ side wind to battle, but that was nothing after we had such a great tail wind for 30 miles!! Just before we pulled into the driveway, we saw Howard pull out. He said he was on his way to get some catfish! It was so neat that we could see her again. She showed us around and introduced us to all of her rescue dogs, which were just so cute. She also made us hot chocolate and before we knew it Howard had returned with Catfish and french fries. Becky said that this area of Louisiana is known for it's catfish and that we couldn't leave without having some. It was really tasty!!! For dessert, we had an ice cream cup and some super yummy cake. Afterwards, Becky and Howard took us on a tour of their family's 100+ year old farm house that was located on their property. That was really neat!! I'm so glad that they shared that with us. We have been so fortunate to meet so many wonderful people. I'm so glad we got to see Becky again and to meet her husband. After visiting for a little bit, we continued on down the road, still enjoying the tailwind. We weren't sure if we would make it all the way into MS today, but we knew we could get pretty close. We rode through part of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area on the way. When we got to the town of Ferriday, we thought about stopping for the night at a nice church that we saw, but we decided to continue on since we never know if we will get a tailwind the next day. We made it all the way to the town of Ridgecrest and found another great church. There were cars out front so it was perfect- we could ask permission to set up the tent. They said there was not problem at all to do so and told us that we could set up under the overhang in the back. It was perfect. Before they left, they let us use bathroom inside, which saved us from having to walk to the gas station next door. Another wonderful day on the bike. Can't wait to go into MS tomorrow, then back into LA towards Baton Rouge! Our miles totaled 75.62 today.
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Aaron made some very yummy fluffy pancakes (the perfect kind) for breakfast this morning, while Chris cooked up some sausage. Another wonderful breakfast, we are so spoiled! After the kids were off to school, we checked the weather and the forecast was finally right! It was chilly, but dry! We finished up our packing and were ready to hit the road. It was a little sad to leave because we had so much fun with everyone there. We are so glad our little angel came to save us the other day and that we got to meet everyone we did in Hamburg. It was a pretty uneventful ride this morning, there were no clunking chains or frozen gears. We were moving right along and we actually felt like we were moving pretty fast after the other day's ride. The trees were covered in a layer of ice and it was just so beautiful to look at as we were riding along. From Hamburg we only had less than 20 miles to go to get to the state line. We were so excited when we got to the sign. We made it to Louisiana!! Now we have ridden to every state west of the Mississippi, except that silly North Dakota that we missed. Once we crossed the line into LA, the shoulder that we had disappeared and the road turned into a 2 lane divided highway. As if there wasn't already quite a bit of ice on the trees before, the further south that we got, the more ice there seemed to be. The ice cycles on the road signs seemed to get longer and the trees seemed to be even more weighted down. We were a little cold, mainly our toes, but not from being wet, so it wasn't even comparable to a few days ago. When we made it to the first major town in LA, Bastrop, we stopped for a quick break at the visitor center to see if they had a map of LA ( I like to have one to put in the plastic map case on my handlebar bag so I can follow along, even though Joe carries one inside his handlebar bag already). Sure enough they had a free map. As we were about to leave, the lady working there asked where we were traveling from, etc. After telling her, she said "could I make you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate!?" We figured we could use the extra break inside where it was warm, and of course we can never turn down a cup of hot cocoa! So, she took us back into the HUGE conference center room and got the hot water going. As if it couldn't get any better, she pulled out a big bag of mini marshmallows! Little surprises like this are what make riding every day so much fun, you just never know what to expect. With our bellies full of hot cocoa, we headed out of town. Although we thought about going to the city of Monroe to get some new brake pads for Joey's bike, we decided it would be better to just avoid the traffic and get them further down the road. We knew it would only be a couple days before we made it to Baton Rouge and that we would make it until then with what he had left. We are officially in the flat lands now; it sure was flat- quite a difference from last week when we were in the Ozark Mountains in northern AR! We were moving down the road pretty quickly as we passed by huge fields, cows, horses, and even some buffalo. The ice on the trees made them look so frosty, which was an interesting contrast to the rich green color that blanketed a lot of the fields. Before we knew it, we had made it to the town we had hoped to get to today, Rayville. We were getting close to the I-20 as it ran through just south of town. Since we had made it to where we wanted to, we started looking for a place to set up the tent. We knew the chances of rain tonight would be higher, so we were keeping our eye out for some kind of overhang. We found the Methodist Church in town and saw that it had both an overhang and a couple cars in the parking lot. So, we decided to give that a try and hoped that someone would be there to ask. The door to the fellowship hall was open, but it was pretty dark in there. We did a quick check to see if anyone was inside, but didn't see anyone. Just as we were about to walk out the door, we heard a piano playing. There was someone there after all. We followed the music and found out that it was the choir director practicing her music. After talking with her for a few minutes, we learned that her name was Vickie and that she seemed to think that we would have no problem setting up our tent under the overhang for the night. She said that the Pastor was there and so we followed her over to the church to check with him. We talked with Brother Daryl for a few minutes and told him what we were doing and that we were looking for a place to set up our tent for the night. Now almost all of the pastors that we've talked to have said that it wouldn't be a problem at all to set up our tent where ever and to go right ahead. Not, Brother Daryl. He responded to our question by saying "Now my Lord says that there is room at the inn." He said that when we walked in asking for a place to set up our tent, all he could think of was Mary and Joseph. He insisted on buying us a hotel room instead. We didn't know what to say since that's never happened before. The pastor was getting ready for a little communion service that they were going to have before choir practice, so we got to enjoy that, too! We had about 45 minutes before that started when we originally got there, so we had time to just relax inside the warm building. Vickie gave us a tour of their gigantic fellowship hall. It was amazing. There was a full gym, kitchen, and choir room downstairs, and a really neat teen youth group center upstairs (fit with a kitchen, ping pong table, wii, and some really nice Sunday school/ group study rooms). I can just imagine all of the wonderful youth events you could have in a facility like that! After the little service, we said our goodbyes to Vickie and the other people we had met. Vickie gave us her contact information and told us where she lived (about 30 miles south of town) and to stop by tomorrow if we wanted to. Since it was easier to just ride the couple miles down the road to the hotel, we did that. Brother Daryl met us there at the Days Inn just as we were pulling in. It was perfect timing. Neither of us could believe that we were actually going to be in a hotel tonight! What a treat! Joey carried our bikes up the stairs to our room, since there was as the desk clerk put it "No elevator, cuz we are in the country here!!" It was pretty funny the way she said it. Not only did Brother Daryl treat us to a hotel, but he also took us out to dinner at Big John's steak and seafood restaurant that was just down the street from the hotel. Originally he was just going to pay for us to have dinner, but he decided to join us, and I am so glad that he did. We had a great time talking to him and learning about some of the work he has done with hurricane disaster relief and how life is out in this area. After a wonderful dinner of seafood and of course a burger for Joey, he dropped us off at the hotel. He had also given us a book to read too! We had a great time and feel so blessed to have been given a warm place to sleep and a hot meal. A truly amazing day. Our miles totaled 65.93 today.
So, we had another fantastic nights sleep in a bed. What more could we ever ask for. With uncertain plans to leave today, we checked the weather to see what would be in store for us if we did. It was really not looking good. More freezing rain and winter storm warnings were in effect until late that afternoon. Chris said she would like it if we stayed because then she didn't have to worry about us out in that weather. I guess it would be kind of silly of us to leave a nice warm place where we were welcome to stay, just to put ourselves in the same situation we had yesterday again. So, I guess we are taking an unexpected rest day today! On his way home from work (he was working nights last night), Aaron brought home some donuts! Chris made some bacon and eggs to go along with them. So much good food! Once the kids were off to school, the house was just so quiet. Only little Bree was left and she wasn't very loud. She is one of the smiliest babies I've ever seen. She is to the age where she is going to start walking soon. For a couple hours, I made myself comfy in bed and worked on typing a bit. Bella, the puppy, finally got used to us an let us pet her. She was actually pretty cuddly and playful after that, which didn't help me get my journals done, but it sure was fun to have puppy time! Later that day, Chris made us some of her favorites- Rotella dip and chips, and homemade chicken and dumplings! The perfect meal for a cold day. Later on that day, we heard news that the kids were getting let out early from school because of the weather. So the kids were home around 1-1:30. It was great to have a little extra time with them! Later on that day, some of the people we met last night stopped by. At one point, we headed next door to one of the lady's houses for some baked goods. Chocolate cookies, banana bread, and "Red Lobster" biscuts. It was so yummy! It was nice to have a chance to spend some time with some of the group from last night again. The thing I noticed here was that everyone spends a lot of time at each other's house. I asked if that was a normal thing, and they said that it was. It was so much fun having everyone together for no special occasion at all, just because. What a fun group of people to be around! As we walked back to Chris's house, the grass was going "crunch, crunch" as everything was covered in ice. Lots of ice cycles everywhere. The funny thing is that down here, any kind of snow or ice ends up completely shutting things down. Later that night, we played Wii with Brynn and Bret, and got to enjoy some ice cream!! Joey played the Wii sports games with them and I played the "Just Dance" game, which I loved- if we ever get a Wii, that is one game that I will have to make sure to get. It was a very fun day, I guess it worked out just fine that there was more freezing rain today. The weather forecast looks clear for tomorrow, so we should be ok to get back on the road, but then again, that's what they said a couple days ago and were completely wrong. We will see what happens!
We woke up very rested, warm, and ready for the day's ride. First thing on the agenda today was the continental breakfast. They had fruit, juice, hot cocoa, cereal and milk, yogurt, and those really big Belgium waffles! After breakfast I walked over to Walmart to get a couple "Voila" frozen dinners for the road. It worked out really nice that it was so close to the hotel. As I was walking over, I was happy to see a pretty strong wind blowing from the North- we were going to have a tailwind today!! Even though it was cold, the most important thing was that it was dry. We were able to get all of our clothes, and even our cycling shoes dried out on the heater in the hotel, so that was a tremendous help. It's no problem riding in the cold as long as we are dry. We took our time getting ready this morning as we wanted to get the most out of our hotel and being indoors before gong out into the cold. Just as we were finishing our packing, I heard what sounded like rain outside. At that point, I thought- it couldn't be! The weather forecast said that it was going to be cold the next couple of days- but that it was also going to be dry. When we looked outside, it was even worse than we had thought. Not only was it raining, but it was FREEZING RAIN! Right then and there, our happy spirits dwindled quickly. Had we wasted going to a hotel yesterday, just to have weather just as bad today? We hardly ever take hotels and try to save them for when we really need one. We checked the weather forecast again today after we saw the freezing rain outside. The forecast took a complete 360 since we looked at it last night. It is amazing how wrong they were. Had we have known that there would be this kind of weather, we probably would have kept riding yesterday, even if it meant shivering and shaking from the cold. Oh, well. What's done is done. But looking on the bright side, all of our clothes are warm and dry, so we should get quite a few miles done before we start to feel really cold. We were a little reluctant to head out at first, but knew we had to get further south and fast. There were a couple icy patches in the parking lot, but there was enough traffic on the road, that it was just wet. The only problem with that is that the mist from the cars was getting us wet. The freezing rain wasn't really an issue in terms of getting wet because it just bounced off us. After a few miles, the main problem was our feet. The water from the road and the cars just soaked our feet, mine faster than Joey's since my shoes are so worn out that the rubber on the bottom is separated from the bottom of the shoe. Good thing that there are only a couple months left of the trip- they should make it home. Those poor shoes- they are my original pair from when I first started cycling. I wore them for the 15,000 miles on my road bike and the almost 17,000 that is on my touring bike now. I guess you could say that I got my money's worth out of them! It will almost be a little sad when I can't wear them anymore; they've gone so many places and are just so comfy now. Our toes weren't the only things that were frozen. The further and further that we rode, the more the ice started building up on our bikes. We had to apply our brakes every once in a while to try to keep the ice off the rims in case we needed to stop. Not only that, but a tube of ice had formed around all of our cables and spokes. Our rear derailers froze solid, so much so that we were unable to even change gears. What a nightmare. Luckily for us, we were getting further and further into the flat lands, so we didn't need as wide of a range of gears anyways. It was pretty slow going. Ice was also slowly building up on our cassette (rear gears). After a while, there was so much ice that my chain wouldn't even sit on the gears. Instead, it would bounce around as I pedaled going "clunk- clunk-clunka-di-clunk.....," as if I wasn't going slow enough already. The only thing that saved us was having that tailwind from the north. It's amazing because the clouds in the upper level atmosphere were moving in a completely different direction from the way the wind was blowing down here, hence the freezing rain. About 12-15 miles into the ride, we came across a little gas station. We decided to stop and get ourselves warmed up a little so that we would be able to at least get to the next town. As we sat there sipping on a cup of hot cocoa that we split, we started to dethaw a little. Our coats had a layer of ice on them and were very crunchy as we moved. Same for any other water spots, either on our booties, helmets, or bikes. Ice everywhere. The little break inside did wonders. I could feel my toes again! With nice hot cocoa in our bellies, we were ready to go tackle the freezing rain some more. At one point, the freezing rain stopped coming down, but that obviously didn't change the amount of ice that was on us and the bikes. There was enough water on the ground to make sure that the ice continued to form on us and the bikes. We felt like we just weren't getting anywhere. No gears, jumping chains, no front brakes for Joe- so much ice. Our bikes were almost to the point where they were un-rideable. We were moving very slowly and had hoped that we would be able to just make it to the next town, Hamburg, which was still about 10 miles away from where we stopped for hot cooca. We thought that if we could just find someplace, like a fire hall, or something where we could get our bikes warmed up enough that the ice would melt, we would be able to ride a bit further. At one point, a silver car passed us and the driver was looking at us pretty intently. We must have looked pretty funny since we were moving so slow on mostly flat ground. A minute or so later, we saw that same car do a U- turn and pass us again going the opposite direction. Then, less than a minute later, that same silver car pulled up next to us with their window down. The nice lady inside asked if we needed any help. Now normally, we are fine and don't need anything- but this time- we really did need some help. We told her that we really needed a place we could put our bikes to get them warm. Since she was in the middle of the road, and it was hard to talk, she pulled over on the shoulder and I ran over and talked to her. She said that we were more than welcome to come to her house in Hamburg and warm up. Chris told us her address and said that she would be there in about a half hour because she had to pick her kids up from school (they were getting let out early because of the weather). She wanted so badly to just put our bikes in the back of her little SUV and take us there, but we told her that they might not fit and it would be ok if we just rode there. Joe and I just couldn't believe it. Every time that we really do need some help, we are sent an angel. Someone upstairs is definitely looking out for us- we have been so blessed on this trip. We had about 6 miles to go to get there. It was slow going, but we still made it there without breaking down. Chris lived close to the edge of town, which helped because by that point, the less our bikes had to go the better. She was there waiting for us and we were able to take our bikes right inside. The room we put them in had a cement floor, so there was no worries that the floor would get ruined as they started to melt. It was wonderful. Joey and I were back to our super happy mood that we started out having this morning before the freezing rain started. We had been rescued, there is no doubt about it. There was a nice heater that we could stand in front of to get warm and that alone was amazing. It turns out that they decided to keep the kids at school until the end of the day anyways, so there weren't any kids there when we arrived. Since our pants were soaked again we got changed into dry clothes pretty quickly. Chris offered for us to do laundry while we were there if we needed to. It had been a few days and we did have quite a bit to wash by that point. Not only did she rescue us, but we also got to do laundry too! We relaxed on the sofa for a little bit, tried to play with their puppy, Bella (without much luck since she was scared of strangers and would run away if you got near her) and then went with her to pick up her daughters at her neighbor's house. Chris, and her husband Aaron (who was working at the time) had 3 kids- Brynn, Bret, and Bree. A little while after picking the girls up, Bret came home on the bus. All 3 of the kids were so cute. As we were watching the weather channel on the TV, we could just see the amount of freezing rain still coming towards us. It still amazes me that the weather forecast yesterday could have been so off. With all of that freezing rain still coming, and the winter storm warning, Chris said that we should just stay here for the night. We were thinking about how our bikes were riding and knew that we would just run into the same problem again a few miles down the road, so we decided that that would probably be best. Chris happened to have a box that we could use to mail some things home, including the licence plates that we had found for these states. She took us to the post office in town so that we could get everything mailed. That was such a big help to get that done. Later on that evening, we went out to a local restaurant called "Sawyer's," where a few of Chris's friends and their kids came to join us. We got to try something that is very popular in this area- fried pickles. I'm not normally a huge fan of pickles, but these were very yummy! For dinner Joey got his usual cheeseburger, while I got chicken fried steak with gravy on top. SO yummy. We ended up getting some homemade chocolate pie for dessert too! What a great way to spend an evening- great food and great people. Not only were we joined by some friends of Chris, but we were also joined by one of the town reporters for the newspaper, the sports guy! He asked us a few questions, some of which were hard to answer because it is hard to pick a single "best" or "favorite" because there are so many great stories and places, and instances where there are multiple stories that could answer the same question. It would be neat to have an article in the paper there in Hamburg! For the rest of the evening, we just relaxed. The reporter's teenage daughter wanted to meet us, so they stopped over and talked with us about our trip for a while. It's amazing how our day went from one extreme to another- freezing rain and bikes that were barely rideable to being inside where it is warm and enjoying a nice dinner with some very nice people. Now we can say that we really do understand "Southern Hospitality!" We only made it 28.98 miles today, but with our bikes the way they were, I am almost surprised we made it that far. We will see what the weather brings tomorrow and keep our fingers crossed.
Around 10pm last night, the rain started to come down, and boy did it ever come down! The thunder and lightning were right there along with it. I couldn't believe how loud the thunder was- I was actually really scared during the storm, even though I love thunderstorms. The fear of a tornado was what really did me in. After everyone said that a warm day like yesterday makes them worried for tornadoes, I was just paranoid. I clutched onto Joey because I was so scared. Not that it mattered, because neither of us were going to get any sleep while that thunder and lightning was going on. We were SO lucky to have found such a good place to camp tonight. It would have been even scarier had we been out in the open somewhere. The wind was already blowing pretty good, but we could have ended up in a puddle if the ground had started to flood a little from the amount of rain the storm put out. I don't know how I did, but after the thunder was very distant, I was able to fall asleep. The rain continued right til morning. It was going to be a wet, chilly day. As we were getting things packed this morning, a truck pulled into the carport we were camped under (it was big enough to fit a bunch of cars, plus our tent). An older man got out and said something to the effect of "so you have traveled all over and up to Alaska!?" I wonder if he was the one that called the sheriff to come check on us last night. If not, then he found out about us somehow. He unlocked the church and said that if we needed to use the restroom, we were very welcome to do so. What a great treat- now we didn't have to go way out into the woods in the rain! The best part is that I could wash my face with nice hot water! After unlocking the door, he got back in his truck and left. What a nice thing of him to do. Although it didn't feel that cold out this morning (probably in the 40s), it did feel cold after going inside the toasty warm church. Before we had left, we met the pastor and a few of the parishioners that had showed up for Sunday service. We thought about staying, but we knew that we had a lot of miles to do and that we were going to get wet no matter what. Also- we hoped to make it to Monticello so that we could have some cereal and milk for breakfast as we had only snacked on a granola bar this morning. It was tough to leave, but we had to do what we had to do. At first, it wasn't too bad riding in the rain- it sure was better than riding into the headwind yesterday. We made it about 5 miles or so before I saw Joey's rear pannier come flying off. I wasn't sure exactly what happened because he was a little too far ahead for me to get a real good look. When I pulled up, he showed me the GIGNORMOUS pothole that he had hit. Now this was not just any pothole; it was a monster. The road we were on was pretty smooth overall and had almost no potholes. This one that he hit was filled with water and was WAY deeper than either of us would have thought. Joey said that when he went in it, the water came up almost half way up the wheel-or at least high enough to pop his bag off. Not only did it pop his pannier off, but the worst part of it is that his back tire instantly when flat. Just what we needed- a flat tire in the rain! As we were standing there changing it, the rain went from normal rain fall to a downpour. A couple nice souls stopped to check if we needed any help, but since it was just a flat, we were ok. Before the flat, we were both relatively dry. Our feet were dry along with most of the rest of us. After fixing the flat however, we were both soaked to the bone. With that being said, we were then also freezing. Our day went from ok to not very good at all. We only had about 12 more miles to go before we could get somewhere we could go inside and warm up. With a little bit of a tail wind for a change, we moved along pretty well in the rain. Thank goodness for that tailwind because otherwise we would have been even colder than we already were, for longer. We got to the end of Route 35 and turned onto Route 425, which of course made me think of home (I grew up on rt. 425 back in Wilson, NY). Our first stop in the town of Monticello was McDonald's. It was so cold that we sat inside for quite a while trying to warm up. With our soaked clothes however, it was not a very successful mission. We thought that maybe today would be a good day for Pizza Hut buffet, that way we could be inside for a while longer. So, we looked up where the Pizza Hut was located and decided we would check it out. Before heading out, we made a quick stop at the Walmart that was right by McDonald's, to get a couple of our frozen dinners. I was shivering pretty bad by the time we got back on our bikes heading for Pizza Hut. We knew it was a shot in the dark if there would be buffet, but we saw 2 other Pizza Huts in this state that had the buffet Sun- Fri, so we figured it was worth a try. When we got there, there was no buffet at this one on Sunday's. Being a little bummed and freezing, we thought that we might just call it quits today and go to a hotel. We had checked the weather and it said that the next few days were supposed to be dry. So, we headed over to the Super 8 back near Wal-mart and decided to see how much a room would be. It was reasonable and we were both so cold and wet that it was worth it. We figured that it would be very helpful for tomorrow to get everything dried out. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold- but we can ride in the cold as long as we are dry. It took me a while to warm up, but when I finally did, I was so happy. I think it was a good decision to take the room. Although had we known we were only going to make it this far today, we would have went to church this morning. I was pretty disappointed at that. The main problem was getting that darn flat- dumb pothole! So, for the rest of the day, we relaxed. We ended up making the frozen dinners for lunch/dinner in the microwave, almost right away because we were so hungry from not really having breakfast. I typed my journals and talked to Kelly for quite a while as Joey enjoyed watching a little Sunday football. A little while later that day, Joey waked over to Walmart and got a couple snacks for us. All of our wet clothes and shoes got dried out nicely sitting on the heater in the room. Not the way that we expected to have our day go, but I guess it worked out ok. We only made it 17.10 miles today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice dry day with a good tailwind to get us nice and far.
I slept like a rock last night. We planned to be up earlier than we ended up getting up, but that's ok. Joe and I had some special K with strawberries for breakfast- I think I may have a new favorite kind of cereal. It was delicious. As we were packing up this morning, Kurt, Trish and Allen were too. They were getting ready to go to a running race in Alamagordo, which was about an hour away. At first they were debating whether or not to go because of the rain, but for the most part, the rain was heading off to the north. It was the kind of rain that came in sheets. The duration wasn't very long, but it just came pouring down when it arrived. One spurt of this happened while we were getting ready to go. At that point, I was really dreading getting on the bike today. Luckily for us though, the rainclouds were moving in the right direction so that most of the day should be pretty dry. When it was time go get on the road, it was still raining, but was more of a light drizzle at the tail end of the main rain clouds, so it wasn't bad. We made it about 50 feet from the driveway when we noticed that my back tire had gone flat. At that point we figured it was probably because of a wire from a truck tire. Those have a way of causing such a slow leak that you don't notice it's flat until the next morning. But then again, it could just be a little low. So, since it was raining, we turned right back around and went under Kurt and Trish's car port. Not sure if it was a full blown flat or not, we just pumped up the tire and got on the road. It seemed to hold very well, at least we would get a few miles in. On the way out of town, we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a bag of our favorite frozen pasta veggie meal. By the time I had gotten back out of the store, the tire had lost some air. At that point we knew that the tube did indeed have a hole in it somewhere. So, Joey worked his magic again and fixed my flat for me. I'm so lucky to have my own mechanic (I'd be there for over an hour getting that tire changed if I had to do it). Luckily for us, while I was in the store, the rain had also stopped. We were very excited about that. About 6 miles out of town, we turned onto a "back road" that had no shoulder, but also almost no traffic. It was very peaceful to say the least. For most of the day, we had a headwind, so we couldn't go nearly as fast as we would have liked. On this back country road, we got chased by every dog on the road (and at least half of the houses have dogs!). All of the dogs were friendly and just thought we looked like a fun thing to chase, but it still got tiring trying to outrun them. It really bothers me that their owners don't have someway to keep them in the yard, ie an invisible fence, or something. It would absolutely crush me if I saw a dog get hit by one of these crazy drivers. We passed through a couple really tiny towns as we traveled along. After quite a while, we made it to the town of Rison. By that time we were very ready for lunch. The road crossed over a set of railroad tracks and then curved around through the town. We were happy to find a nice little park with picnic tables to eat our lunch at. Today, we were having some mac and cheese, our old faithful meal. As we were sitting there getting our lunch cooking, a truck pulled up. The man inside walked over and asked where we were traveling to/from/etc. He sat right down at our picnic table with us and chatted for quite a while. It was so nice that he checked in to make sure everything was good and that we didn't need anything. He was the sheriff there, but was off duty. He told us that he had seen us riding earlier and was curious as to where we were going. There are so many really nice people here in this whole central region of the US, it was the same when we were in Iowa early in the trip. I don't know what it is about this section, but the people are just so much more friendly. After our mac and cheese, we ate the last little baggie of the jam cookies that grammy had sent to us. I have no idea how they made it this far, but they did. I think part of it had to do with it being so cold there for a while. We didn't do anything but get our tent set up and get in our sleeping bags. There was no time outside in that cold to be getting anything extra out- even if it was food. Anyways, it was a great treat to keep us going today. As we left town, we continued on in the headwind. Despite the wind, today was a wonderful day because it had gotten up to 73 degrees today!!! We haven't seen temperatures like that in quite a while. No pants or jackets required, we were riding in just our jerseys and shorts- how wonderful! The only bad part is that everyone we've talked to today said that they get very worried when the temperature gets this warm at this time of year. They said that when this type of thing happens, they start worrying about tornadoes! Now that just made me VERY uneasy, especially since we knew there was supposed to be a thunder storm with 100% chance of rain tonight. We had high hopes for making it to the town of Monticello tonight, but that wind was just wearing us down. After a few hours of riding after lunch, we ended up stopping at a little church out in the country. It had a HUGE carport that would definitely keep us dry. It wasn't quite our usual stopping time, but we were both ready to be done. My body was feeling sore for some reason, and Joey was ready to be done for the day too (probably from fighting the wind). He is usually always ready to keep going, so I was surprised he was ready to stop. I think he was also worried about the rain, and it did seem like it could rain at any moment. So, there we were in the big car port. It's kind of amazing because the majority of the homes, and quite a lot of churches, have these car ports, and no garage. Guess if it is usually warm, there is no need for a garage. We had plenty of time to sit outside without having to freeze our buts off. It was spectacular to just sit there in the warm weather. I made a couple little bicycles and typed for a while. For dinner we had some hot chocolate in our bowls and then our frozen pasta meal. We got a chance to talk to some family and friends back home and simply relax. A little while after it had gotten dark, a truck pulled into the driveway of the church. We saw a beam from a flashlight and then saw a man. It was the town sheriff dressed in his regular clothes with a "Sheriff" baseball cap on. Someone had called him because they saw us at the church and weren't sure what we were doing there. When he saw us he asked if we were camping, which we obviously were. Then after seeing our bikes asked us all about where we had traveled. He had no problem with us being there at all and completely understood why we wanted to be under the carport. He was a very nice guy. I'm glad that he stopped by so that someone like him knew we were there and why. The rain had not yet started when we went to bed, but we knew that it was on its way. We rode 57.54 miles today and made it to the "town" of Rye.
I can hardly believe it, but today is the 10 month mark of the trip. It doesn't feel like we've been gone for that long just because the time has gone so fast. With every day an adventure, there is never a dull moment to let us get really really homesick, which helps. However, as we look back over the last 10 months, the first few states, and even Alaska seem almost like a different trip. We've seen so much and gone so far that it's sometimes hard to believe it. But it's easy to say that the last 10 months have been nothing but incredible. We started out our day today having a great nights sleep and a good breakfast of hot chocolate and granola cereal. Susan was home today, but had a conference call she had to be on, so we only saw her for a little bit. John on the other hand, decided that he would join us on our ride to and through Little Rock. We were pretty excited because it is always so nice when our host joins us on the ride. The best part is that we have our own personal tour guide, which makes it twice as fun (and equally stress free). The weather is much better than yesterday. Although it was said that it would rain the entire day yesterday, it was mainly cloudy for a good portion of the day. There were a few times that it did rain, but not as bad as they said it would. Either way, we are glad we stayed the extra day. Although there were still clouds in the sky, it wasn't as cold and the sun was actually shining!! Once we were all packed and ready, John jumped on his single speed bike, and the three of us were off. He took us on a very enjoyable route through some neighborhoods with some beautiful homes so that we could avoid the busy roads. For quite a while we rode along the Arkansas River, part of which was on the river front trail. That trail was so nice to ride on: it was smooth and didn't have too much trail traffic on it the day we were on it. At one point we passed by the longest pedestrian bridge in the US. It was built right over the Big River Dam and was probably close to a mile in length. As we rode along enjoying the sunshine and having our own tour guide to tell us what was what, we drew closer and closer to downtown Little Rock. The first thing we saw was the capital building across the river. When we got to where we could see the main downtown section, it kind of reminded me of Portland, OR simply because it was across the river and there were a bunch of bridges. John took us across the old rail road bridge that they had converted into a pedestrian bridge. That was a very nice ride across the Arkansas River- no traffic! Right on the other side of that bridge was the Clinton Presidential Library. As we rode along, we couldn't believe how small downtown Little Rock really was. We were in and out before we even realized it. As we were sitting at a stoplight, John said that if we weren't in a rush, which we never really are at this point, he would treat us to hot cocoa at one of his favorite cafe's there before we left. Of course we couldn't turn down hot cocoa and the chance to chit chat a little longer with John before parting ways. Along with our hot chocolate, all 3 of us got a little treat. John got a very yummy looking brownie, Joey got a donut, and I got a cupcake (since just the other day I was saying how yummy a cupcake would be!). It was so nice to have a little extra time with John today. As John showed us the way out of the city, we stopped and saw the house where John and Susan used to live since it was right on the way. Once we were pretty much out of the city and John had gotten us to a spot that we couldn't get lost, we parted ways. Hopefully someday they will decide to come to NY and ride around there- maybe the Erie Canal Trail! We had such a great time with them- I'm so glad that he decided to stop us on the road a couple of days ago! As we headed south, there was not much of a shoulder on the road we were on, but the traffic was pretty respectful. We went from being in the city area to being a good way out of the city very quickly. Almost right away after John left us, we were in a country like area. At one point we saw a McDonald's, which was a little unexpected, so we stopped there to look up how to get to our Warm Showers host's house for tonight. On the way from Little Rock to Sheridan (our destination for the evening) we rode through a couple small towns. When we got a little closer to Sheridan, we turned onto a different road that had a nice big shoulder. At one point, we got a little hungry, so we stopped for a granola bar snack. A little while later, I rode up to where Joey was stopped waiting for me. But this time, he wasn't just standing there waiting, he was taking off his back bags. That could only mean one thing- there was a flat on Joey's back wheel. We are pretty sure it was another of those wires from the truck tires that did the damage. But the other part of it is that the back tire with the bulge in it is officially done. Joey put on the back-up Pannaracer, and threw the Schualbe tire on top of his bags where it rode for a couple thousand miles earlier on in the trip. With the tire all fixed, we were ready to roll again. We stopped at a gas station for a quick break and I fell in love with this dog that was hanging around there. He had a collar on, but seemed like he was pretty skinny. I wish I could have just taken him home. We made it to Sheridan just as school let out. There was a HUGE parade of buses, I couldn't believe it. The line just kept going and going. I didn't think that this town could be that big, but they probably bus in kids from all over the place. With our directions in hand, we headed out to find the street that our host lived on. From the main light in town, they were a couple miles out. Without any trouble, we found their street, or so we thought. From the map online that I looked at, their house should have been relatively close, at least within a half a mile. We rode for over a mile thinking to ourselves that we couldn't possibly be lost. As we were looking, we saw a church. Since we were early (Kurt, our host, said he wouldn't be home until about 4:30) we decided to take a little break outside of the church. We figured we would look at our map on the computer in a little bit and see if we could figure it out even without internet. We didn't sit there too long before someone came walking along with a big smile on her face. She said that "I bet I know who you are, you've ridden from NY all the way up to Alaska and you are on your way back!?!?" Sure enough, she was right- that was us (but I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be too many other people riding around this area on loaded bikes at this time of year). Trish introduced herself and told us that we were going to be spending the night at her house tonight; she was Kurt's wife! What a perfect thing- we were lost and now we were found! She told us that their road makes a huge loop, so from the main road, there are 2 entrances. Somehow, we didn't notice this when we looked at the map before. Either way, she pointed us in the right direction and said we could head on over and that she would be done with her walk soon. So, we ended up taking the long route to get to their house, but we found it just fine after talking with Trish. Less than 5 minutes after we got there, Kurt rolled in on his bike from his ride. He's into Ultra-distance cycling and had done Race Across America (and got 7th place!). Now that is just completely amazing to me. I could tour all day at our speed on our 100+ pound bikes, but I could never do something like that. First of all, I am just plain slow, but even more so- I like sleep way too much. When they do RAA, they hardly sleep at all. I cannot imagine how hard that must be simply to fight the sleep deprivation. It is very hard to ride when you are tired. The day we left Yellowstone, I was completely exhausted and had gotten hardly any sleep. I was almost falling asleep on my bike (hence why we called it quits and got a hotel in West Yellowstone, MT that day), it was just so hard to keep going and stay on the road that day. It would be aweful to have multiple days like that. Long story short- Kurt is a very in shape, tough guy. The world of touring is very small, but the world of Ultra-distance cycling is even smaller. Kurt knows Jim Finger, a host we stayed with in GA on our last tour (and might stay with again on this tour), which we thought was pretty neat. Once we got settled, we each took a shower, and threw in our cycling clothes with a load Kurt was doing. That worked out really well because we didn't really have much laundry to do except for what we had worn today. When Trish got home from her walk, we had some awesome chili and salad for dinner with their son Allen and one of their daughters, Katelyn. For dessert, we had some marble cake drizzled in milk. At first, I was surprised when I saw both Kurt and Allen pour milk right onto their cake. Then they explained that it was kind of just like having ice cream on it in a way. This was their usual routine when it came to cake. Now I just had to try that after seeing them do it. It turned out to be delicious! I don't know if it would have the same effect if there had been icing on the cake, but this is something that I will have again for sure. After our yummy dinner, Joey and Allen (and Kurt, too) played a little wii sports. It was pretty funny to watch- especially the boxing match. The guys got so into it, it was hilarious. Trish, Katelyn and I worked on a puzzle that Trish had started already. By the end of the night, the three of us completed it! That was a lot of fun. It's been a long time since I've put together a puzzle. Before bed, the 4 of us watched a movie, some of the group didn't make it all the way through it because bed was calling, but it was still fun anyways. What a great day. It is crazy how it worked out that we had two Warm Shower's in a row. That doesn't happen very often, especially since we didn't plan it that way. Either way, it was a wonderful day. 54.39 miles was the total for today.
Yesterday, John mentioned to us that the weather for tomorrow (today) was supposed to be 100% rain (but that Friday was supposed to be clear and sunny). With that being said, he mentioned that we were more than welcome to take a day off there and go with him and Susan to their Arkansas Cycling Club meeting in the evening. Of course, it is never much fun cycling in the pouring rain, especially when it pours for the entire day. So, wit the following day being clear, we decided that it would be much more enjoyable to take the day off (plus it sounded like fun to go to the cycling meeting!). I guess it worked out really well that we decided to take a day off because after not sleeping the other night, I must have been super tired. Joey let me sleep in and he finally came to wake me up at 10am! I couldn't believe that I slept so long, but I guess I needed it. Joey and I had the rest of our Cocoa Puffs from yesterday morning along with some huge cups of hot cocoa for breakfast. For most of the day, I tried over and over again to be productive by catching up on blogs, but didn't have much luck. Joey wanted to watch a couple movies, and of course I did too. That darn TV really makes me such an unproductive person- which is one reason that we didn't have cable, DISH, etc. when we were home. Even though I wasn't productive in the least bit, we had a great day of relaxing, watching movies, and playing with Smitty. Later that afternoon when John got back to the house from doing what he needed to do, he ran us to the bike shop so that Joey could get a new chain, cassette, more patches, and a couple new tubes. When we got back to the house, Joey got the cassette changed and the new chain put on just in time to get ready to go to the cycling club meeting, which was at a restaurant in the same plaza as the bike shop we had gone to earlier. We had a great time at the meeting with chances to to talk to quite a few of the members and hear about some of the tours that they have done. John and Susan treated us to dinner again at the meeting- boy do we feel spoiled!! The food was so good though. We both got mushroom swiss burgers- yummmmmy! When the meeting started, the president welcomed all the guests, including us, and asked us to talk a little about our trip. John, as well as a few other members, asked us a questions about different things and we answered them the best we could (it's often hard to answer questions like "what's been the best part" because there are so many great memories and often different reasons for liking different ares.) We are very glad that we decided to stay an extra day. Going to the meeting made us excited for when we get to go to the cycling club when we get back home. When we got back to the house, the 4 of us relaxed for the rest of the days. The movie "The Hunger Games" was on tv, so we ended up watching that. Every time I see that movie now, I think of when we were in Fort Collins, CO and we went to the Drive-in with Jesse and Lauren and saw that movie. That is such a good movie. We ended up going to bed a little late, but having not ridden today and with Joey letting me sleep in, I didn't feel overly tired. Either way, it is always so nice to sleep in a bed. That is one thing about this tour- I have learned to appreciate things so much more- sleeping in a bed, showers, washing dishes in a sink, etc. Before I ever toured these were all things that were just part of daily life and taken for granted. It's just one part of how our perspective on life has changed through the trip. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to do this. We had a wonderful rest day today.
It rained a bit last night, just like we thought it would, so it worked out really well that we camped under the overhang so we didn't get soaked. Along with the rain, there was just a ridiculous amount of traffic going by all night long. Every time we would get to sleep a huge truck would go rumbling by and wake us up again. It was a VERY long night. That is one thing that I will not miss- hearing the traffic all day long as we ride and nights like this- when we still can't escape the traffic. If only they could make cars as quiet as bicycles are. The forecast for today said that it was supposed to rain all day. Since we didn't sleep much, we were awake around 6:30. At that time it wasn't raining or nearly as cold as it has been lately. We ate our cereal we had picked up yesterday and used up the rest of our milk from yesterday as we enjoyed our breakfast in our tent. To try to avoid the rain for as long as we could, packed everything up right away and got on the road. We had a great tail wind and there weren't too many huge hills in the way to slow us down. The miles went by very fast today. Somehow we kept riding and riding waiting for the rain and it never came. The sky was full of grey clouds and it sure looked like it should be raining. We got chased by a couple dogs at one point, which is no surprise. Overall, the ride was mostly flat, but there were a few smaller hills here and there. At one point we felt really hungry so we had a granola bar break. Boy, those chocolate covered chocolate chip granola bars sure are great! Before we knew it we were in the city of Conway. On the way in we crossed under the I-40 again, I don't know how many times that makes crossing it on this trip, but it seems like we keep crossing it over and over again. Originally we planned on having some lunch in Conway, but since there was no rain yet, we decided to just keep going to get as many dry miles done as we could. By the time we got another 10 miles down the road to Mayflower we were starving and had to stop for lunch. Almost right away we saw at laundry mat and figured that even though it wasn't raining yet, it could start anytime, so we thought that would be a good place to stop. I sat on the bench outside and cooked our Voila meal and once it was done, we headed inside to sit at the table. We had a couple little snack cakes for a snack and enjoyed our little break. It didn't seem like we had hardly ridden today with the tail wind, so we didn't need too much of a break today. When we were about to leave, a guy that we had met at the laundry mat asked if we wanted a coke. He said that he would never be able to make it on a bike on "the tiny little lunch we had." He said that he had a whole bunch of soda in the back of his van and insisted that we take a couple. It was very nice of him. Since we were all packed up and ready to go, we each took one to have a little later. We rode for less than 5 minutes and that rain we've been expecting finally started. Even still, we had a tailwind to help us out. Within the first couple miles of riding this afternoon, Joey got a flat tire on his rear wheel. Unlike a lot of the flats he's gotten lately, whatever he hit made the tire go flat right away; it was nice that it wasn't a "slow-leaker"- those are such a pain because you find out miles down the road, or sometimes the next day. We were able to find a spot to chance the tire under a little overhang where we could be drier while changing the tire. When Joe took the tire off, he found a pretty large piece of metal stuck in it that made a hole in the tire, and poked through both sides of the tube. It is just amazing how much junk is on the shoulders of the roads. In addition to getting a flat, the tire was getting very close to being done. When we were carrying the extra tires through Canada, one shifted and rubbed against the moving wheel at one time. That caused a little bit of the rubber near the edge of the tire to wear off. That tiny section, after a few thousand miles, eventually caused a little bulge in the tire where the rubber separated from the wire inside. Although the tire probably could have gotten a few hundred more miles out of it, the blue was already showing quite a bit indicating that it was starting to wear out anyways. After all, that tire made it all the way from the Yukon, through Alaska, down the west coast, and all the way to Arkansas! I think we got our money's worth out of it even still. Once the flat was all fixed, we only had about 11 miles left go go to get to John's house in Maumille. We didn't have any trouble whatsoever finding our way there. John and his wife Susan live in a beautiful 2 story condo with their little dog Smitty. When we got there, we dried our bikes off the best we could since the rain continued on straight through from when it started. One at a time we took our bikes up in the elevator to their condo. It worked out just fine with our bikes because they have a whole room dedicated to the bikes. Once we got settled, we took showers and did a little laundry. We had fun playing with Smitty and chatting with John and with Susan, too, when she got home from work. Later that evening, we went out to a local restaurant to get some dinner. I got a really tasty buffalo chicken wrap and fries and Joe-joe got his usual bacon cheeseburger. We had a very great evening and enjoyed hearing and sharing lots of cycling and travel stories. When it was time for bed, I was so tired, not physically, but sleepy tired from not getting much sleep last night. We are so glad that we have a place to stay tonight so we aren't out in the pouring rain in our tent. Our miles totaled 50.01 today.
It was a little warmer this morning that the past few mornings, but still cold enough that we would need our full warm gear on. After packing up, we headed off to find the grocery store in town. Upon finding it, we got our cereal and milk and were, as usual, hoping to see some tables inside to eat at. Sure enough, over near the deli/bakery area of the store, there was a whole group of tables. That always starts our day off so well when we get to eat indoors. The table we sat at was near a rack of books. We had fun looking through one of the "Joke books" as we ate. The one joke still makes me laugh every time I think of it: The lifeguard told the mother to make her young son stop urinating in the pool. "Everyone knows," the mother lectured him, "that from time to time, young children will urinate in a pool." "Oh really?" said the lifeguard, "from the diving board!?!?" There were quite a lot of funny jokes in that book, but we laughed the hardest at this one. After a laughter filled morning, we headed off into another headwind. A hill to get us out of Marshall and then more flattish land for a while. We stopped at a gas station at one point for a quick break and a nice lady started talking to us asking about where we were headed, etc. It still amazes me how simply traveling like we are opens the door to meet and talk to so many people. I never would have imagined that a loaded down bike could serve as such a portal for conversation to start, but it really does. We have met, talked to, and stayed with SOOO many more people that we ever would have dreamed of if we were doing this by car or bus. Meeting so many people as we go is probably my single most favorite part of bicycle touring. It really is just such a cool thing. You just never know who you are going to meet or what your day is going to bring. I love this so much. After our break, we started climbing into the mountains again. This time, it was a much longer climb that the ones we've done lately. We probably climbed for almost 3-4 miles. There was snow on the sides of the road in the areas that the sun couldn't reach to melt it as well as frozen water on the rock cliffs next to the road. It was beautiful. At one point we also saw a waterfall off in the distance behind a bunch of trees. When there were no cars going by, we could hear just the sound of our breaths as we climbed and the relaxing waterfall in the background. Joey of course reached the top long before I did. I had to stop a couple times to shed some layers because between the climbing and the sunshine I was just boiling. When I finally got to the top, I saw Joey relaxing on the picnic table at a gas station. He's too funny; he just made himself comfortable since he knew I would probably take a while longer than he did. From there, we rode along with a great view before another downhill to a little town that had an Antique Warehouse that had "the largest inventory in the USA." It definitely looked like that could have been true as they had 10 buildings packed full of antiques. We took a short break there since we were really hungry after all the climbing. We had only done a little over 20 miles, but it was very slow going. At that point we just felt like we weren't going to make it anywhere today. We had a little snack of Nutty Butty bars and were on our way again, headed for Clinton. Another few hills to climb in between, but a nice downhill into Clinton. We took our lunch break there and almost thought about going to Pizza Hut again since there was one in town. But, we knew that since we just went out we really didn't need to go out again. Instead, we spotted a laundry mat nearby that had a picnic table out front. It was warm enough to cook outdoors as long as we could get out of the wind, which we could there. Going to the laundry mats has been a real life saver lately. Protection from the cold, a bathroom usually, sink to wash dishes in, and usually a table and chairs of some sorts- what more could we ever need? We made some pasta for lunch and made a couple calls home. A quick stop at McDonald's to check the email, and then off to Wal-mart to get a Voila meal for dinner. These dinners have really become our favorite thing to eat now. It's cold enough that we don't have to worry about it going bad if it thaws a little, and they are full of chicken, pasta, and veggies. Easy to cook, they use hardly any water to cook, and it's a very easy meal to clean up. Love these- thanks to our friend Kelly for showing these to us way back before we left on the trip. While I was in Wal-mart, Joe ended up talking to a guy for quite a while. As usual, he asked about our destinations, miles, etc. Before leaving, he gave Joey 2 big boxes of granola bars and a box of fig newtons. The guy did some kind of work with that type of food, so he had quite a bit of it in his car. It was just so nice of him! Now we have granola bars- and REALLY yummy chocolate covered chocolate chip ones included- to keep us going. More hills and climbing for the rest of the day. We had hoped to make it all the way to the town of Damascus by the end of the day, but we weren't sure if we would if the climbing continued. At one point it started to rain a little, not pour, but enough to get everything wet. As we were getting to the top of a hill an SUV pulled over in front of us. The guy got out and asked where we were traveling to and from. It turns out that John, is a cyclist and is actually a member of Warm Showers! There were quite a few hosts in the Little Rock area and probably because he lived in a suburb of Little Rock, we did happen to contact him (originally we thought we would be further down the road and it would be perfect to stop right in Little Rock). After talking for a while, he gave us his contact information and just like that, we have a place to stay tomorrow night!! It's amazing when things like that happen- it still is just hard to believe it sometimes. Not a minute after John pulled away, Joey noticed he had a flat tire on his front wheel. He mentioned that he thought his bike felt weird going up the hill, and kept looking at his back wheel (since that is the one that is usually flat), but didn't notice anything out of order. So, we pulled off the road into a parking lot of a restaurant and began changing the flat. That pretty much took up a good portion of what daylight we had left. Once the flat was fixed, we headed down a pretty long hill. What a view- the big mountains were gone and we could see for quite a ways. As we were coming down the hill it was getting closer and closer to being dark. As we were flying down, we saw a guy dressed in dark clothes weaving all over the shoulder as he was walking down the hill. Joey had to slow way down to go around him since the guy was walking all over the place. As that was happening a guy in a truck pulled over on the side of the road right in front of me, so I had to stop in the middle of the downhill. There was so much traffic on the road at that point that I had to stop behind him to wait for an opening in the traffic to go around him. The guy in the truck picked up the weaving walker and then passed us as we were back rolling down the hill. When we got to the little "town" of Bee Branch we saw that same truck pulled over in a parking lot and the driver on the phone. Joey said he saw the "weaving walker" walking towards the woods. We just couldn't figure out what possibly could have happened for a guy to pick up someone and then drop them off again about a quarter of a mile later. Since it was almost dark by that time and we knew we had about 7 miles left go get to our hopeful destination for the evening, we decided to call it quits where we were. There was a lot of traffic as we are getting closer to Little Rock, so it wouldn't have been as safe for us to ride had it gotten any darker. We found a church that had a front porch with a roof on it that we could set up under. Since it had rained off and on this afternoon, we knew the chances of it raining tonight were pretty good. We got all set up and snacked on some of the granola bars that we had gotten for dinner since we didn't need a full dinner with having such a late lunch. It was SO nice out. We were able to sit outside of our tent for a while and enjoy the "warm" temperature. It was probably only in the 40s, but since it hasn't been that warm in a while, it felt like summer. As we were sitting there eating our granola bars, we saw the weaving walker go by heading out of town. About 2 minutes later, a cop car flew by with its lights on and pulled over behind the guy. The cop was there for a while and then next thing we knew the cop car and the weaving walker were gone. We sure did wonder what was going on! At least we had some entertainment to go with the warmish weather we had. We didn't make it nearly as far as we wanted to today, but since we have a place to stay tomorrow in Maumille, it will end up being a good distance tomorrow for the day. We rode 42.12 miles today.
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