Day 22 - Arkadelphia to Pine Bluff

We got our first flecks of rain today. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it kept the temperature down. The rain reminded me of the weather when I lived in Tallahassee. More like a hot shower than the Oregon / Scotland rain which is always cold. I have a picture of me standing in the warm rain.

We passed a lot of churches today. Actually, it seemed like second building that wasn't a house was a baptist church. I was wondering about the size of their congregations as it doesn't seem like there are enough people to support them all. I guess it must work out. We also passed a lot of houses that looked run down or derelict but, I'm sad to say they weren't. Living in Portland, I'm obviously living in an ivory tower as to how some other people have to live in this country.

We did do one good deed today. We spotted a turtle half way across the road this afternoon. Instead of letting him go the way of most of the animals we've seen on the tour, Jeanine picked him up and put him on the side of the road in the direction he was facing. Hopefully he got to where he wanted to go.

Today we had another slight accident today. We were all goofing off sprinting for city limits signs when older Greg had a bit of a spill. The end result was some road rash on his hip, leg and arm and a bruised ego. He did win the bad ass award fro the day by riding covered in blood. Get well soon Greg.

The other exciting activity today was when we were riding towards lunchtime. Lori and Jeanine were leading the group and they spied Russell up ahead. They took off at a great rate of knots and I managed to get on their wheel. I felt a bit like Ben Hur on a chariot with my two trusty steeds. As they caught and passed Russell, they mooned him. I'm still snow blind from the whole escapade.

Currently there is a big storm outside. I just looked at the weather channel and there are tornado warnings for the area we just rode through. Fortunately it wasn't that bad for us at the time. Here's hoping tomorrow isn't too bad.

PS. I forgot to say, we had to deal with a ton of athletic dogs today. None of them were vicious but they took great delight in running alongside us for a maybe 100 yards at a time to get their morning exercise. This happened about 15 times today. I guess they don't see many cyclists round here?