Photos Above: Lunch at Johnny B's Grill in El Dorado, Arkansas. The huge
Arkansas Razorback on the wall was outstanding! :)
| Chilly South Arkansas Ride
The rainfall turned into a modest drizzle with it remaining
quite dreary and chilly on this morning in Magnolia.
The morning forecast called for the temperature to hover in the 30's,
with the sun to finally break out in the afternoon.
I decided to delay my usual departure time of 7 a.m. to wait things out.
It was a good excuse to spend an hour or two at the Dairy Queen, where I encountered the
friendliest and most forgiving workers when I spilled my coffee all over the floor. :p)
I faced a time dilemna: I could wait until the afternoon to ride,
but I would need to check out of my motel before then, leaving me with a few hours to do
something in town with my bike by my side. The prospect of locking it up somewhere with the
risk of it being stolen was a real concern. Plus, I simply did not want to wait that long!
I waited until 10 a.m. for what seemed like an eternity.
The temperature climbed two degrees to 37 by 10 a.m. and the drizzling stopped. Describe me as stir-crazy,
determined, restless or whatever word you think, but I was going. I did not care about the cold. I went for it!
As I came to expect, the friendly motelkeeper thought I was crazy to be on a bike at all on this morning,
and she spoke of El Dorado, merely 35 miles down the road,
as if it were far off in Europe. I rode to the eastern edge of Magnolia
and waited just a little longer at a convenience store, when
a man in his 30's pumped gas and asked what I was doing.
I guess I looked really out of place to be riding a bicycle today
and I pointed out I was riding across the country and
started in San Diego.
"San Diego? How long ago did you start?" he asked.
"Four and a half weeks."
He was amazed. Conversations like this were very common.
We talked more and I really encouraged him to consider bicycling for cardiovascular
exercise, losing weight and feeling strong all over.
Lamentably, I did not capture any photos of the
chilly 35 mile ride to El Dorado, partly because I rode hard and did not waste much time.
The temperature stayed below 40 degrees the entire way and my
extremities did not appreciate the briskness in the air.
Just know this modest 35 mile ride was very meaningful. It was so nice to get moving down the road!
|
| El Dorado, Arkansas
I really liked the town of El Dorado in south central Arkansas.
This is a southern town I could live in!
El Dorado's downtown area was busier than Magnolia, but it still had southern
small town allure. My three adjacent pictures do not do justice to the area, and I probably
should have entered into the Mink Eye Pub, an Arkansaw Pub. (Photo directly below)
The sun and blue skies did come out in the afternoon.
I walked around the square and spotted a gift shop that served coffee,
ice cream and Arkansas items that had an available computer in front. It was a nice way to enjoy the afternoon.
Glorious Arkansas!
(I just had to shout that.)
|
| I finished the day with a visit to a hair salon that
gave me a good shampooing and comb out ... oh and yes, they took credit cards!
The owner, Billie, was very professional and we talked about all sorts of matters:
Living in her "small south Arkansas town", her childen and family life,
and how I was biking across America. At first, she thought I meant a motorcycle,
and she disclosed about her numerous long distance motorcycle trips including her description
of the damage the wind sometimes did to her hair.
I listened for quite awhile and enjoyed her talk
about various long hair matters. Once I pointed out that
I rode my bicycle, not a motorcycle, all this way from San Diego, she was shocked. :)
My hair looked and felt great and I passed on a pedicure. I walked out with a really helpful
hydration product by Pureology, a conditioner. By the way, I wrote a short article about it for
a long hair web site that you can read here:
Hydration Pureology Helps With Bike Trip. |
