Arkansas!

Somehow I'm only managing to find time to post once a state, and the states will only start going by faster... But here goes!

We've now biked over 1200 miles and have crossed our second state line into Arkansas. Unfortunately I missed one day of riding between Sweetwater and Dunlap, TN due to some crazy spider bite/chemical burn??? I ended up going to the doctor, who was this awesome guy who has done an Iron Man in Florida and one in Canada. We chatted about biking the whole time he fixed me up, and all is well now.

I was sweep on our first 90+ mile day with Ana when we went into Savannah. It was a lot of fun hanging back and stopping to eat watermelon, trying on some Amish bonnets, saving a turtle, etc. (I've now helped three of them to the opposite side of the road, but I've lost count of the number of squished ones I was too late for.)

We had two days of building in Maryville, TN and a day off in Memphis. We actually stayed in Germantown, but went into Memphis for a night of fun. After 7 days of biking in a row, it was a much needed rest! Then we rode into Arkansas. We had to walk our bikes over the bridge to cross the Mississippi River for fear of getting flat tires. (The group I was with still managed to get 2!) We're all getting pretty good at changing them though...

The terrain quickly changed from mountainous to flat. Our ride from Memphis (actually Germantown) to Brinkley, Arkansas was 87 somewhat miserable miles of flat, rough roads with a whole lot of nothing to look at, as well as some serious headwind. But I crawled into bed right after dinner that night, and had an awesome 68-mile ride into Little Rock to make up for it.

We're building here in Little Rock for two days, then its on to our first century!

The Mighty Mississippi.