Fort Smith and a much needed day off.

We left Mcallister Oklahoma this morning and headed for Arkansas  our sixth state of the ride. I felt decent this morning but tired. My backside hates to get on that hard little seat each day and I always feel a bit nervous knowing the challenge that awaits. It is hard to comprehend riding a 115 miles at least almost every day. I remember the first time I rode 24 miles out to Fremont and back and how sore I was and what a big deal I thought it was. It truly is the case that the nature of the event does not change but we do. We had much less climbing today and only 106 miles. People along the way have been very kind and curious about what we are doing. Today I must have seen 25 dead armadillos along the road along with numerous snakes, turtles, rabbits coons, skunks, birds and others. Sometimes the smells  are hard to deal with. I still find it very sad when you see the flowers and markers along the highway, most seem to be young people. The roads were very ruff today and would shake you pretty good. Did I mention the temp at noon was 100 degrees. I went thru 10 water bottles and was still thirsty. It helps a lot to wrap ice up in my bandana and tie it around my neck. Everyday my jersey is covered with salt stains it is pretty funny. We had a little help from the wind today and I averaged 17.3 mph over the 106 miles. As we got into Fort Smith we had a man follow us in his pickup for 3 miles to our motel. His name was Jim and he was a local biker who was curious about our ride. He wanted to give us inter tubes  and anything else we needed. I took 2 inter tubes and thanked him. What a nice guy.
    When we ate dinner at Chillies  then went back later for dessert the manager gave us a free gift certificate. People really are good at heart. All is good, a day of rest ahead for the final leg of this epic journey. The final push will be 10 straight days with no break. Better get some sleep.

  Life Is Good Ride On