Three weeks of cycling..this is my 21st day on a bike, I am still amazed that I am in pretty good shape, a few bumps, bruises, a stiff neck, and tired legs once in a while, but everything seems to be in working order....
Memphis TN, here we come, roughly an 88 mile trek from Brinkley, over the Mississippi River, into the state that has become my second home...I find it hard to believe that once in TN, I am only one state away from Virginia...albeit a long state to cross, the countdown would definately have begun.
First we had to get out of Brinkley, but as usual, there were things to be accomplished, one of those was running out of clothes again, I had to find a laundromat to wash all my cycling clothes. Hygeine is exceptionally importantly, as any form of bacterial itch can become infected very rapidly and that will be the total end of the ride. My clothes must be washed with anti bacterial soap to prevent anything happening...so the first part of the morning is domestic time...
Its time to have a good breakfast whilst the clothes are being washed and dried, plenty of fuel for the upcoming day in the heat...and its going to be a scorcher again today..plenty of sunblock...
After all is prepared done, cleaned, washed, RV cleaned, bike prepared, we are ready to exit Brinkley Arkansas and head towards TN, ..yet I think Brinkley wants to keep us for no sooner than I cycle 10 miles down the road I receive another flat rear tire...now last night, I had just put a new tire on the bike, not just a new tube, but a new tire too, just in case ..yet right through the tire went a small piece of sharp something enough to make the tire go down again...
Chris had gone ahead, but I had the tools to repair the damage .. what a funny sight..I was by the side of the road next to a stream, leaning over the water with the tube in the pond water looking for bubbles in the tube....what a site...I found the hole and was able to repair the damage with my a new instant repair kit...within 15 minutes I was back on the road...but as usual these things have always happened in two's...5 miles later I had another busted tire..this was getting ridiculous, Five flats in the space of 25 miles over two days. I was running out of innertubes and we not even out of the Brinkley town limits...
Chris was way down the road somewhere, and out of cell service ..I was contemplating a long walk to where he was...however, I decided after 5 minutes, maybe I should hitch a lift...I flagged down the first Pick up truck that passed me, and a lady, Tammy as was her name ...with her two teenage sons stopped to assist me..." We saw your picture on your RV up the road there...we would be glad to gie you a lift ..." Chris was about 5 miles up the road, not too far, and for the next few miles I happily chatted to this charming family about my exploits of cycling across country....it was redemtion from the idiots I had encountered a few days previous who tried to run me off the road....! My faith in Arkansas had been restored ...Nevertheless I was very annoyed that the day was being wasted, the wind was in our favour, I wanted to make the best use of it, yet I just kept on destroying my tubes...
I replaced the tube again when I reached the RV, after this, we needed to find a bike store to stock up again but there was not going to be a bike store till we reached Memphis... I was down to my last replacement ..I have gone through 10 inner tubes on this journey..it goes to show how bad some of these roads are..I prayed that this one would hold out..
Thankfully it did....I was able to make great time and mileage the rest of the day..there were no further problems ..the Arkansas State limits were well in my site, finally Tennessee was obtainable...
The big bright city lights of memphis were there somewhere within cycling distance, I just had to keep on riding...we came to the end of state road 70, as I had nicknamed destructo highway ..and we were now entering the last town of Arkansas before the Mississippi river, West memphis...cycling through this town, you undoubtedly realised a big town was approaching, the further you cycled, the busier it got...and then it ended. Route 70 was now going to turn into interstate 55, with a million cars going a hundred miles an hour...it was time to get off the bike...and get into the RV.
And here we are...parked for the night just on the outskirts of Memphis, the Home of Graceland..we drove through downtown Memphis right past the Old Presley mansion...it was dark, it is unfortuante that I cannot visit in the morning...a brief stay in Memphis tonight and tomorrow we head somewhere towards Nashville...with todays 88 miles we have covered 1857 miles in 21 days...
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