Day 21 - Arkansas

We departed the Grand Queen Wilhelmena Lodge just after daybreak…and had some refreshing cool breezes. The refreshing cool breezes lasted about 30 seconds on the first whipping descent out of the lodge before we started a couple more climbs like yesterday and I remembered that the heat and humidity here know no bounds.

The ride quickly turned into a descent off the end of the ridge into Mena, Arkansas, and then we meandered for miles and miles through greenways lined with trees and front yard ponds, churches, boarded up towns, churches, boarded up houses, and churches. It seems that the churches are just about the only businesses left in these depressed parts.

The heat and humidity just kept creeping up as the day progressed. Given the prevailing weather, I was particularly amazed at Karl’s ability to work diligently over the stove at lunchtime, creating another pasta and meat or tofu miracle. Some of Karl’s other talents include flying glider planes and creating Windows operating systems (in a past life).

I enjoyed the rest of the ride in from lunch with Walt and Russell, who noted a similarity between the area in which we were riding and some areas of forest in England (formerly Sherwood Forest) – except for the heat. After passing by a dammed up lake and casting longing glances at the people frolicking off of their boats and innertubes, we headed to our interchange of the day in Northern Arkadelphia.

Did you know that a small chocolate Wendy’s shake has 410 calories? Me either. And, a McDonald’s medium chocolate shake has 580. Dinner at Crackerbarrel – with ham, chicken ‘n dumplings, meatloaf, fried okre, slaw, biscuits and cornbreadl; like the heat, humidity, and smell of pinetrees; gave me flashbacks to life in North Carolina, back in the days of medical school.