Day Twenty-Four - 5/17/2003

Robert S. Kerr Lake, OK

Lucille:

May 17  - Saturday - We awoke to overcast sky but no rain.  We drove back to Whitefield where Tom resumed his ride.  As I drove back through Stigler on my way east, I decided to stop at a laundromat.  What a funny place!  Stigler is a tidy-looking town - manicured lawns, etc., so I was surprised to see the condition of the laundromat.  These folks love duct tape.  The large crack on the window was repaired with duct tape.  There were many handwritten signs with the rules, all attached to the wall with duct tape.  Of course, I noticed spelling errors.  Various information about condition and use of the machines was written directly on the machines in ink.  This laundromat obviously gets lots of use.  There were several people there, most with cigarettes in their mouths.  Some cigarette butts were on the unswept concrete floor.  One of the seats in the place was the seat from a van.  The large table top for folding clothes sat on 3 large oil drums.  There was a round hole cut out of the wall to the outside.  It was covered with wire, and in the opening was a fan that was plugged into an outlet on the wall that was about 7 feet from the floor.  Written directly on the wall was this:  If you are warm, plug in the fan.  If you are cold, unplug the fan.  The machine that washed my clothes sounded ike pieces of metal rubbing together during the whole washing process.  I won't even describe the restrooms.  This place wasn't very appealing but the clothes did get washed and dried.  Today because of the iffy weather, I decided I'd stay closer to Tom.  We passed each other most of the day.  I would drive and park along the road at a wide spot every 5 miles or so, do some reading, and wait for him to pass me.  Then I'd go on another few miles and do the same. At one point it started to rain, but lightly.  We've decided biking in light rain is ok, but not in a storm.  It turned out to be a good weather day with just a couple of short showers so Tom was able to bike a bit over 92 miles instead of the 57 he had originally planned.  Our destination was Paris, Arkansas.  Unfortunately, the only motel in town had no vacancy.  It was graduation weekend and also decoration weekend, the weekend when people came from out of town and helped decorate the graves of family members.  The man at the Paris motel was so kind to me.  I spent a couple of hours on a bench in front of his place waiting for Tom.  Twice during this period it started to rain, but then stopped just about the time I was going to drive to check on Tom.  The first time I was looking through his phone book to try to find a motel in Russellville.  He told me to go ahead and find Tom and to just keep the book.  Later he offered to get me any kind of drink I wanted.  I ordered ice water.  When the second rain came he told me to go ahead and to just keep the glass.  It was a nice glass, not the thin plastic ones usually found in motels.  Tom arrived, and I returned the phone book and the glass, very appreciative of his concern.  We put the bike on the car and drove to Russellville, the nearest town with a motel.  We are staying at a Days Inn.  We had a good meal at Dixie Cafe.  The young man who was our waiter was so cute.  He was in awe of Tom's trip.  He said he had some friends who biked from Canada to Mexico last year and thought they were terrific because they covered 25 miles a day.  He couldn't believe Tom just rode 92 miles.  Arkansas is very pretty.  The drive today reminded me of the area near Donalds, SC--very green, lots of trees, more brick houses that we've seen elsewhere.  I did manage to visit one antique shop today in the town of Bloomer.  The plans for tomorrow will depend again on the weather.

Entering our sixth state

May is a great time for seeing wildflowers.

We watched these clouds carefully.

Total Trip Distance: 2030.1

TOM:

Day 24 – Whitefield, OK to Paris, AR 93 miles. Route was mostly flat with the elevation going from 560 feet to 420 feet with valleys and hills ranging between 400 to 700 feet.  I got off to a faster start today with a northwest wind blowing.  This wind pattern was caused by counter clockwise rotation around the low pressure system now over Memphis, TN.  See, I am learning something watching the weather channel.  I learn better if I also experience the effect in person.  The first three hours I covered 46.7 miles for an average of about 15.5 mph.  This is almost 5 mph faster than yesterday.  This was fun.  Since we had to cut the trip short yesterday due to rain,  thunderstorms, and tornado warnings, today was a good day to help make up for the lost distance.  The weather is like people,  both good and bad.  The storms and rain yesterday were bad in that it is upsetting to the ones that have to live through the storm.  Today the low pressure center that had moved across the state of Arkansas was good for me because it created the conditions to pull me along toward the east with ease.  The last part of the trip was a little slower due to the hills and a slight change in the relative wind direction.  The 93 miles was covered in 6 hours and 32 minutes for an average speed of 14.1 mph.  I used state highway 9 in Oklahoma and state route 22 in Arkansas.  Both of these routes are good for bike riding because they have a wide shoulder and smooth surface for the most part.  There were some small variations as the road proceeded from one county to another and construction projects.  During the morning, the skies were very overcast and there was some light rain.  Today I used the bike poncho that I got from Joan and it worked great except for the water that is splashed up from the wheels.  By noon the rain had stopped and the skies were starting to clear.  By the end of the day it was mostly sunny.  In addition to the scenery, which consisted mostly of green trees and grass and some hills in the background, there was the sweet smell of honeysuckle when I was surrounded by the vines.  Also there were the frogs talking to each other when I was passing through an area where I was surrounded by marshes.  Wonder what they were saying to each other.  It was a great day, especially after the last three overcast days.  

Whitefield, OK to Paris, AR 93 miles.  Whitefield, OK to Paris, AR 93 miles. Route is mostly flat with the elevation going from 560 feet to 420 feet with valleys and hills ranging from 400 to 700 feet.