Total Trip Distance: 962.17

TOM:

Day 28 – The route today was over the flat Mississippi Delta area with an elevation of 220 feet.  The start and ending elevation was at 300 feet.  There was a hilly area at the beginning that went up to 365 feet.  The trip today started out in a northeasterly direction with the wind almost directly in the face.  About two thirds along the way the road turned east and the wind was no longer directly in the face but still somewhat in front of the left shoulder.  After the turn, the speed increased about two miles per hour. The weather was perfect with a few clouds and cool temperature.  The scenery was mainly like yesterday's with lots of  big farms, mainly rice.  There were also several farm equipment stores along the way as well as crop duster operations.  There is lots of water in the delta.  Look at the picture of the Mississippi River to see how high the water is.  As always there were several interesting things to see.  Can you identify the birds shown in the pictures?  I saw my first kudzu covered trees today as I was leaving Forrest City.  Most of the trip was on Highway 70 which parallels I-40.  I crossed the Mississippi on the I-55 bridge, the only one with a sidewalk.  The sidewalk was about three to four feet wide and was seperated from the freeway by a concrete barrier and was also higher than the freeway.  The bridge is old and moved a lot with all the trucks passing by.  It was a spectular ride with the mighty Mississippi  River and the water at a high level. I also saw a large barge slowly making its way up the river.  The direction was southeast,  making the riding effort easy.  After crossing the river I met Lucille at Kentucky Street .  We loaded the bike and headed for Braden to visit our friends Jack and Besty Rice.  It was another great day.

Forrest City, AR to Memphis, TN 47 miles.  The route was over the flat Mississippi Delta area at 220 feet. The start and end were at 300 feet with a hill of 365 feet just leaving Forrest City on Highway 70.

Old man river

Burro

What are these birds?

Lucille:

May 21 - Wednesday - Tom left Forrest City at about 9 am.  We were about 45 or so miles from Memphis, our biking destination for today.  Our plan was to go on Highway 70 until it joined Highway 55, take the 55 bridge across the Mississippi, and get off the road as soon as possible after crossing the Mississippi.  According to the map on Tom's Topo Map program, Kentucky St. might be a good spot, so that was our plan.  I was quite nervous about today's ride, knowing we'd be in a large city that we didn't know without a paper map of Tennessee with us, and not knowing if Kentucky St. was a place where we could park the car long enough for me to wait for Tom and to load the bike.  I stayed at the motel in Forrest City until almost 11 and then started the slow ride to Memphis.  I kept passing Tom.  Then I would stop a few miles up the road where I could find a wide spot in the road and wait for him to pass me.  I would look back at the traffic light when we were in West Memphis and wait for the light to turn red and all of the traffic to pass me.  Then, without traffic close behind me, I would slowly go until I found another wide spot ahead of Tom a few miles and continue this routine.  This way we were not too far apart when it came time to cross the Mississippi.  When I got to Kentucky St., it was a good stopping place, and Tom was close enough behind me that we were able to communicate by walkie-talkie to verify the meeting place.  It all worked out just fine.  We put the bike on the car and headed for a Tennessee Welcome Center where we picked up a map of Tennessee.  From there we got on I-40 and drove the 40 or so miles to Braden where we are staying in Jack and Betsy's home.  Betsy served us a delicious dinner, and we are having fun catching up on all the goings-on in our lives.  The Mississippi River is quite a sight.  So huge, and the water was very high.  

Our seventh state

Day Twenty-Eight - 5/21/2003