Day 9: Russellville, AR to Greenville, MS

Well, last night's rain ended at 9:40 PM. The only restaurant/bar in the area was open until 10 PM. We made last call.

This morning we had some decisions to make. Fresh from the experience of the storm of last evening, and with the input of some of the locals, a change of routing was in order. To avoid storm activity, road construction and heavy traffic congestion we felt the need to reroute south if we had any hope of getting to Atlanta in time for G to work on Monday. The new routing actually had some fortuitous benefits. The first portion of the new routing would take us through the Ouachita National Forest with 70 miles of hills and curves. Bad for the hands, good for the soul.

 T seemed like he was getting his old groove back but we don't think that there's cause to believe that a Smokey and the one eyed bandit sequel is in the immediate future.

Our interim waypoint destination was Hot Springs, the site of a local biker rally for several hundred thousand bikers. How good is that for a reroute!

We spent most of the first 60 miles riding back and forth with an elderly local biker who needed a wide berth because his custom wooden cane was sideways on the seat behind him. You can see him in one of the pictures with G. The fellow is a member of the local Toad Suck Harley Owners Group chapter in Conway, Arkansas. No we are not making this up! See if you can see it on his patch in the picture.

With the help of the GPS ( not intentionally so) we skirted around the bikers rally in Hot Springs. Probably a good thing or we'd still be there.

At this point we  trained our focus on a direct shot to Greenville,Mississippi. We left the tree lined cover of the National Park and were naked to the sun, the heat and humidity for the next 150+ miles. We knew the humidity was up because the handlebars get sticky under those conditions, as do several other things.

The temperatures got hotter and we got more parched in spite of frequent stops for water. We stopped in a cotton field and couldn't help but feel empathy for those who weren't in a cotton field just for fun.

Then before we knew it(okay, maybe just before we passed out) we were crossing the Mississippi River and closing in on Greenville. It was a hard ride due to the continued exposure to the heat, day after day. But a good day.