Hard Rainfall and Tornado Watch - Magnolia, Arkansas

The photo above pretty much says it all. It rained all day! A tornado watch was in effect for much of the morning, and on the Weather Channel, I watched a vertical line of potential tornado areas travel across northeast Texas towns I had just been through on Highway 82. (De Kalb, TX and Hooks, TX) The storm area with more probable tornadic activity was far enough away from Magnolia and traveled northeast into central Arkansas.

I still struggled with frustration and boredom from the day off, but noticed I did better mentally and emotionally compared to my off days in Reserve, NM and Graham, TX. Who knows? I may have been more experienced to handle such an idle day as this and the likeability of Magnolia probably helped too.

Here's what I did: I ate breakfast at a Dairy Queen. I walked around the town square and met a friendly woman inside an art gallery who was amazed with my bike trip and honored that I was going through Magnolia. The town library was located "caddy corner" to the motel and I spent a lot of time on the Internet. I also ate at a Chinese restaurant buffet for a second time. (Yesterday for dinner was my first visit.)

This was the first day Jennifer, my researcher, became insistent that I consider buying an airplane ticket soon, anticipating I would finish the ride in about 14 days. The sooner I bought a ticket, the cheaper the fare would be. At this point, I was not ready at all to commit to a date to fly back to San Diego. There was still plenty of riding to do and potential for all sorts of mishaps to slow me down.

A Great Idea in Arkansas - But Will Anyone Take My Credit Card?!

Before the trip, my local hair stylist suggested I get a deep shampoo treatment and a thorough comb out of my long, naturally curly hair as needed on the road. It was on the agenda at some point, but I did not know when, and financial stresses kept me procrastinating on the idea. Still, a debate raged internally: C'mon, what about self-care? Why couldn't I do nice things for myself? Yes, finances are tight, but this would be a nice thing to do for myself. Not to mention, this is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing I was doing anyway and I might as well enjoy myself.

Walking around Magnolia, I noticed a storefront with pedicures for just $20. This was my sign! I walked inside to an eeriely quiet room with just one woman doing nails of a teenage girl. They did not accept credit cards, I learned. Oh well.

Still, I "caught the bug" about doing this. I received one pedicure in my lifetime, just a few months earlier, and it was really relaxing and my feet felt great for many days after. I found another hair salon not too far away from the first place, and I walked in confidently asking about getting a shampoo and "comb out" and inquiring about their rate for a pedicure. Here, I at least felt more welcome and some of the women appeared impressed with my boldness. There was just one problem: They didn't accept credit cards either! :(

Nice. I finally reach the point where I was willing to do something nice for myself, and this itty-bitty southern town does not have anyone who takes plastic. I was not willing to go to an ATM - someone would either take my plastic or it would not happen.

I walked around more and spotted a large beauty school in a strip mall with discounted prices for haircuts. This would be my third try. I approached the entrance and did not see any symbols for credit cards. Just forget it! I turned away and did not even bother to ask.

See what happens when I have the entire day off from bicycling and I'm relatively bored? Stay tuned for more writings about my adventures on finding a place to get my hair shampooed and combed out by a professional. Oh and a pedicure would be nice too! ;)