Weather:
Cloudy and humid in the morning and about
70 degrees.
Occasional sprinkles and liquid sunshine
through the morning and early afternoon. Light winds, even some
tail winds and temps in the low to mid 80's.
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Points of Interest:
There seems to be a disturbing pattern
over the past three days of a Walmart and McDonald's in close
proximity to each other at the outskirts of the city.
There were a number of trucks hauling
long pine trees and whizzing by us along Route 79.
Arkansas has done a good job of naming
its towns - Pine Bluff, Camden, Hope, Rison, Thornton, Fordyce,
etc.
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Highlights:
Fudge Brownie Sundays at lunch!!
Another short day allowed for "active"
recovery. The scenery continued to be tall pine trees, very green
dense forests and rolling hills.
This town has a mall which we eagerly
visited in hopes of taking a quick glimpse at the civilization
we've been separated from for the past 2 1/2 weeks.
Brian bought some new sunglasses and Bruce
bought a shirt and 2 books.
We scouted out the food court for possible
dinner spots.
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People We Rode With:
We rode sweep (i.e., last ones to leave)
together from the hotel with Ed and picked up Rich along the
way to the first stop. Bruce was determined to keep his heart
rate low and avoid burning quads in order to speed his recovery.
We caught up to Marty and Lisa on the
tandem, Anurang, Pat and Monika after the second stop and rode
with them for a brief stretch on the way to the hotel.
Saddle time of 4 hrs, 29 minutes.
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Comments/Quotes:
We've heard that truck drivers criticize
cyclists they encounter along the highway on their CB's. We experienced
first hand some Trucker rage today as a couple of them drove
by within a foot of our bikes at high speeds.
We've witnessed "poverty" on
the back roads of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and
Arkansas. But the people we encounter are content and friendly.
We are reminded again and again that its not how much you have
but how happy you are with what you've got!
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