Arkansas Biking Days 1 & 2

The heart of my Indiana to Kansas trip is 5 days of gravel cycling in the Bentonville area of Arkansas. Above is a typical scene of our riding so far, rural country with red clay roads.

This week is organized by Trek Travel. Here is the group as we get ready for our first ride. It turns out that two of the three Trek guides are guides who I have had before. Marty and Kyle (the two working on the bikes) were guides on my South Dakota gravel trip in 2024.

The weather was threatening throughout Monday, but it never actually rained.

For those who have followed my cycling entries over the years, here is a red barn for old time’s sake.

We cycled past a wide variety of cows on our first ride.

By the time happy hour came around, the weather had mostly cleared.

Bentonville is the home of the Walton family, founders of Walmart. They have invested heavily in public art throughout the town. This is the view of one of the public parking garages looking out of my hotel room at night.

On our second day, we took one of the bike paths out of town. One of the Walton children and a couple of the grandchildren love cycling. They have invested heavily in making Bentonville very bicycling friendly with a particular emphasis on mountain biking. This bridge is one of the countless local art works. The bridge is designed so that the slightest wind makes the bridge sing with melodic notes.

Our second day of riding was rather similar to our first with many quiet rural red clay roads.

I spent much of today’s ride just checking out whatever birds I noticed flying by, but that meant that I forgot to take virtually any photos.

Walking back from dinner tonight, I snapped this photo of Sam Walton’s first store.

I will post again later this week. Take care everyone.