Bike Odyssey Day 12 – Riders in the rain

There was no point in trying to sit out the downpour: rain is forecast for the next 2 weeks continuously. We set off in the wet (singalong with Randy, Just a ri-i-der in the rain…), towards the beautiful woods and pastures of northern Arkansas. Dropping on Bobby’s Cafe for breakfast, we’re immediately asked, ‘You boys lost?’. Who else would drop in, except the lost? Anywhere near the rough world of North Little Rock is, inevitably, Boarded-Up America, the one we see a lot of on our trip, dismantled gas stations, houses with plywood for windows, stores closed for a decade or more, and those that are open have barred windows. It’s a landscape fit for a zombie movie: The Living Dead Move In. As I write this, the bikes are parked in the rain – we had a sweet burst of hot sun after crossing the Arkansas river into Oklahoma, then the clouds returned.

Highlight of the day was this Arkansas diner – it had a feeling the photo doesn’t convey (it looks rather posh in the pictures), of the unreconstructed working class diner. Free salsa and chips served as you sit down. The price of southern hospitality: our overworked waitress was getting $3 an hour; we could only hope the locals tipped her as generously as these lost boys did.

2000 miles completed; and yesterday’s ride was the most comfortable of the trip so far – after a day’s rest and a new configuration of seat, backrest and pillow, my back was no longer complaining and my left leg was finally happy at full stretch on the forward foot rest, for long periods (gives better balance when my right foot’s also on its crash bar foot peg – Russian-made). Today the right knee remembered its longstanding duty and gave faint twinges, as 180 miles came up. Very faint; the journey continues astonishingly easeful. And the rain has been a boon – Arkansas and Oklahoma heat can be fierce at this time of year; instead it’s been a pleasant 78 degrees. Aside from the downpour, an unremarkable day: lush greenery, much cattle, and as always in the south, magnificent horses; more raccoon and armadillo roadkill; quiet roads, with the interstate thunder of I-40, sometimes less than half a mile away, very easy to reject.