Total Trip Distance: 2113.85

I passed many creeks.

Paris, AR to Houston, AR 84 miles.  Slightly down hill from 420 feet to 315 feet with hills as high as 700 feet and valleys as low as 300 feet.

Day Twenty-Five - 5/18/2003

Corn field

Lucille:

May 18 - Sunday -The last few days the end of the day's bike trip has been in towns with no available motels.  That happened again last night, so this morning we drove the 35 miles from Russellville back to Paris for Tom to start his bike ride.  I looked around Paris for a while, but today was Sunday and everything except a supermarket and a Dollar General store was closed.  This was the case in every little town we passed through today.  The weather was fine today and the roads not too hard for biking so we expected to get lots of miles in.  This was another day of my stopping every 10 miles or so and waiting for Tom to pass me.  Since he's riding alone now and since the weather can change so quickly, I feel more comfortable doing this.  Tom had 3 flat tires today, which made for a long day with the extra time needed for changing the tires.  We spent all day in rural Arkansas--very pretty country--very green, lots of trees.  We went through several small towns and passed several chicken farms.  Many of the chicken farms seemed to be no longer in operation.  Tom and I met for lunch at a community center/park and had our picnic near a fountain there.  Tom biked as far as Houston, AR and I picked him up there and we drove 11 miles to Morrilton, where we are staying tonight.  

TOM:

Day 25 – Paris, AR to Houston, AR 84 miles. The day was again overcast. The route was slightly downhill from 420 feet to 315 feet with hills as high as 700 feet and valleys as low as 300 feet.  The day's bike trip started at a fast pace of over 16 mph for the first quarter hour due to a slight breeze from the west and a flat road.  Afer this start, the road had more rolling hills and curvy roads which lowered the average speed over he 84 mile trip to 14.3 mph.  The riding time was 5 hours and 51 minutes.  At about one hour I had a flat tire caused by a small piece of  steel wire from a  steel belted tire.  This was the first flat in about 6 days.  While repairing the flat Lucille caught up with me and I got a new heavy duty tube from the car as a replacement.  It took about 40 minutes to make the repair since I was getting rusty in repairing flat tires.  In about 45 minutes, while riding over a bridge the same tire suddenly went flat again.  I got off the bike and walked about 2 tenths of a mile to get off the bridge and to a high spot on the road with a driveway suitable to make the repairs.  I discovered that the rear tire had picked up a rusty Arkansas 6 penny finishing nail with a slight bend.  The nail went completely through the tire and exited just outside the rim, making a scratch in the rim. This is my most dramatic flat. This repair only took 20 minutes. About five miles later I stopped in Dardanelle, AR to have lunch with Lucille.  After lunch the route turned south toward Ola, AR and the same tire went flat for the third time after about five miles.  This repair was done quickly.  Practice helps.  I think that's enough practice for a few days. The  remainder of the trip was pleasant with the blue sky starting to appear.  The differences observed in Arkansas today are more houses along the road , more small towns (200 to 1000 population) usually spaced about every six to ten miles, lots of wild life - many killed along the road, lots of lakes, and many creeks that have clear water runnng in them. It is a beautiful state.  Another great day of biking.

Benedictine Abbey and Academy in Subiaco, AR

Arkansas roads are curvy.