Another church

Road flooding is a problem after heavy rain.

Day Twenty-Seven - 5/20/2003

TOM:

Day 27 – Hickory Plains, AR to Forrest City, AR 66 miles. The route today was over a flat part of the state. The starting elevation was 250 feet and ending elevation was 300 feet with a flat area in between at 215 feet. The ride started at Hickory Plains, AR continuing east and somewhat northeast.  The sky was overcast with the rain prediction at 50%.  It started to rain lightly after about 20 minutes and lasted for 10 minutes. About 30 minutes later it started to rain again but harder and this time lasted for 30 minutes. I used the bike poncho to keep dry both times.  The wind was blowing out of the northeast and was in the face most of the day. Most of the trip was over open farm areas similar to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys in California.  There were some areas where the  trees blocked the wind, making the ride easier. The average was about 11.5 mph for most of the trip.  There was one 4 mile section going north on Highway 49 that was directly into the wind where the average was about 8 mph.  Knowing that the last 6 miles would be going south made me try harder to get to Highway 1 going south.  When I was going south the wind pushed me along at about 20 mph with little effort. The average for the 66 miles was 12 mph taking 5 hours and 30 minutes.  Eastern Arkansas is a flat delta- like area.  It is quite different than the last two days.  There were many large farms growing  rice, cotton, corn and  beans.  The equipment for this type of farming is different than the equipment for other types of farming that I have seen earlier. I also saw a few crop duster airplanes.  The lower areas had much water close to the road. There has been  a lot of rain in Arkansas this spring.  It is very evident in the area that I covered today. All the creeks were very high with little distance between the bridge and the water.  It was an interesting day and the last few miles were a lot of fun.

Hickory Plains, AR to Forrest City, AR 66 miles. The route was over flat land at about 215 feet. The starting elevation was 250 feet and the ending elevation was 300 feet.

Crop duster

Farm equipment

Rice field

Eastern Arkansas is flat.

Total Trip Distance: 2255.82

Lucille:

May 20 - Tuesday - This morning it was back to Hickory Plains.  The sky was overcast all day, and we had some light rain a couple of times during the day.  This eastern part of Arkansas is quite flat with a lot of rice fields.  The towns we passed through didn't have anything that took too long to explore.  One town, Cotton Plant, had an incredibly trashy Main Street.  Almost every store was out of business, and there were lots of broken windows.  The homes were modest but didn't look too bad, but I don't understand why the downtown is in such horrible condition.  Poverty is one thing, but vandalism is another.  I'm glad we only had light rain today because we could see that this was an area where the roads get covered with water if there is much rain.  We are staying in Forrest City tonight.  Tomorrow we plan to go to Braden, Tennessee for 2 nights to visit our friends Jack and Betsy Rice.  We will not be writing journals for the next 2 nights.  Weather permitting, we will resume the bike ride on Friday.