Day Twenty Three                  Wed 13 August                                 Berryville - Salem, AR        

Distance: 118.0 miles               Total Distance: 2044.1miles

Ride time: 7hrs 43 mins            Including stops: 9hrs 00 mins

Ave speed: 15.2mph                 Max speed: 38.4mph

85°F

This morning there was a low mist over the golf course, making for a very picturesque setting.  We watched some rabbits playing whilst having our breakfast and Keith finally set off at just after 8am.

The scenery is now much more urbanised, with towns being much closer together, larger and more commercial.  The landscape is very similar to England still, with green grass, trees and shrubs.

We passed through a town called Yellville, where the RVers managed to get a coffee and free brownies, as they were a day old, and Amy bought a new bag to add to her rather large collection!

We caught up with Keith and pulled into the side of the road, however Keith said that there was a State Trooper earning his bread and butter, by having people spread eagle on their cars, so we headed further up the road and finally found an extremely large church parking lot to stop in instead. 

The rest of the days riding went well, passing through several different towns, over numerous creeks and stopping in a couple more church parking lots!

We arrived in Salem at around 5pm and checked out the RV site, although once again it didn’t have any facilities and so we looked for a local motel, which we found a couple of miles up the road, “The Riverside Motel”.  A really lovely motel, with very friendly hosts, and if we had been there next month, they would have completed their bistro.  So instead we headed to the local diner for dinner, and upon our return to the motel we were greeted with lots of fireflies giving off an amazing light show.

Day Twenty Two                   Tues 12 August                               Jay - Berryville, AR

Distance: 94.9 miles                Total Distance: 1926.1miles

Ride time: 6hrs 42 mins            Including stops: 8hrs 10 mins

Ave speed: 14.1mph                Max speed: 41.3mph

75°F

Once again, this morning we woke up to rain, although this time, thankfully, it had stopped by the time we left the RV site.  Keiths ankle was still very sore, so we ended up leaving later than usual, after trying to decide whether to cycle on it today. 

Not far down the road, we stopped at the state line of Arkansas in order to take the obligatory state sign picture, only to find that Arkansas didn’t have a sign to proudly announce that we were entering their state, so we had to carry on our way without a picture of our eighth state.

As the day went on, Keiths ankle seemed to be holding up well, and it wasn’t long before we were halfway through the days mileage, and had hit the 2000 mile marker. 

The RVers stopped in Bentonville for some lunch (home of Walmart), before following the most bizarre detour signs – they actually did take you right back to where you started!!  So we found another way out and headed for Pea Ridge to catch up with Keith.

The countryside definitely changed when going into Arkansas, as there were lots of large plantation houses and estates.  The main farming seemed to be cotton plants and rice paddy fields.

In the afternoon we drove through Eureka Springs, a resort area for bikers and tourists - lots of motels and RV sites and restaurants.  Needless to say our stop was another 15 miles up the road, at Berryville, where the RV site had no facilities and was directly next to the highway!  Therefore we headed back up the main road, and found the Fairview Inn, which looked directly over the local golf course.  We thought we would give Brian a treat!!

Tonight we had tea in the RV, and then as we were heading to our rooms we had our first ever sighting of a live armadillo, who was trying to avoid the green fees by using the golf course in the dark.

Day Twenty One                       Mon 11 August                               Hominy - Jay, OK

Distance: 106.5 miles               Total Distance: 1831.2 miles

Ride time: 7hrs 22 mins            Including stops: 9hrs 39 mins

Ave speed: 12.5mph                 Max speed: 32.5mph

73°F (Very Wet)

Got up as usual at 6am, although today we awakened to some rain.  As the day went on, the rain seemed to get heavier and relentless. 

We headed onto Collinsville, which seemed to be a good time for a pit stop, although after some 28 miles we had still not seen Keith.  We headed back in the RV, whilst speaking to Keith on the walkie-talkie and upon seeing him on the roadside we realised that the RV had taken a slightly different route to the one marked on the maps!  Oops, although I’m sure that it will not be the last time that happens!!  Keith changed into dry cycling gear before setting off cycling again.  Something which again would not be a lone event!

We carried on through Claremore, where we paid closer attention to the maps, and also managed to pick up a bright green grasshopper hitchhiker for a couple of miles, which managed to hang on for dear life whilst we travelled at 45 mph!

By 3pm it was still raining heavily and Keith came in for his third change of clothes for the day, before heading into Spivanaw, where once again Keith took up the chase with some local dogs.  Unfortunately this did not appear to be the last set of dogs that day, and more found him as he entered into Jay, our destination for the day, and in the rush to try and get away from the large waist height animals, Keith managed to pull a muscle in his ankle, and he came limping up to the RV at the last stop.

At just before 6pm we drove from the Jay up a proper rollercoaster road to our RV resort by the river for the night.