Arkansas Biking Days 3 & 4
Today was day 4 of my gravel biking in Arkansas. We rode just under 50 miles, and for me, this farm was the highlight. These burros are very cute, but that is only part of the reason this was the highlight.
This sign, in conjunction with cycling on bumpy gravel roads, had me laughing out loud.
In general, the scenery today was rather similar to that of days 1 and 2: rural red clay gravel roads.
Overall, lots of smaller farms, cows, and hay fields.
We spent some time riding along and crossing over various creeks. The weather today was overcast and pleasant for riding with temperatures in the 60s and low 70s.
We did pass our share of abandoned buildings. As my cycling friend Ruth would say, HAUNTED.
Of course, my riding blog’s entries would not be complete without a red barn. I am not sure what I will do as I cycle from Paris to Istanbul this summer. I think that red barns are really a USA thing.
You may notice that I did not start today’s post with day 3. This was the scene outside of the hotel Wednesday morning at 6:30am as I got my morning coffee. It had been pouring most of the night with lots of thunder and lightning.
The weather actually cleared by 8:30am, but more thunderstorms were expected in the afternoon. The guides shifted our route on the fly making it shorter and having it be entirely on bike paths. With a couple of inches of rain overnight, the gravel roads would have been extremely muddy.
Here is an example of the flooding we saw as we rode on Wednesday.
As we rode through town, we passed by this building which has ramps all around it allowing people to cycle to any of the floors of the building.
The bike path network around Bentonville is quite extensive and in excellent repair. I particularly appreciate how wide the paths are. Generally, they seem to be about 12 feet wide. This makes it very easy to cycle by walkers and joggers. My guess is that the bike path I ride on in Cape Cod is 8 feet wide. The extra space is really great.
Tomorrow, I think I will skip the final short morning ride and head to Oklahoma for a day of birding before driving north to Kansas where I will be Friday and Saturday nights.