Map of day 5: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/54914470
The plan for today was to ride from Mt Ida to Hope, where we would stay the night with Jerrie's parents. Found out it would be a little farther than I'd planned, about 85 miles. We could probably do that, but this trip is not about just bike riding. It's a photo safari, a "visit with the locals", and site seeing. Oh, then Jerrie also decided to make it a "collect souvenirs for her co-workers from things we find on the shoulder of the road". That was interesting.
As we were leaving, we met "Fred", a gentleman selling muscadine grapes on the Mt Ida square. He'd grown them himself. Told us about growing the grapes and some of his other produce. Visited with him a bit, then headed out. As we were leaving, he shouted at us to come back. Wanted to tell us the short cut to the road we wanted. I think next long bike ride, I"ll take a portable stool to sit on, pull out a note pad, and get more information from the people we meet.
We continued on hwy 27 south of Mt Ida through the communities of Norman, Caddo Gap, and Glenwood. Stopped at city hall in Norman and once gain, found some friendly folks to visit with. Glenwood was the largest town since Mt Ida, with a nice convenience store, and even a McDonalds! Lajunta found a nice park with picnic tables in Murfreesboro, where we met her for lunch. We continued on to the town of Nashville.
Riding hadn't been too bad that day, just normal type hills I'm accustomed to riding. Up to that point, the roads have been very bicycle-friendly.....nice shoulders to ride on. However, that changed as we left Nashville on hwy 278. Honestly, this is NOT a safe road to cycle on, until you get to about Ozan.....little to no shoulder, curvy roads (traffic is right upon you, before they see you), heavy traffic (lots of 18 wheelers), and what shoulder there is, has those "rumble strips" on them (good idea for cars, terrible idea for cycling). Often times the shoulder was so narrow, it's impossible to ride to the right of the rumble strips. We found ourselves occasionally stopping to get out of the way of the 2 way traffic.
The plan had been to make it to Hope today, however Jerrie's parents, Bob and Jackie Dillard, have a cabin near Washington, just south of Ozan. She wanted to take Lajunta and I to see it, as her dad was working there. So we decided it made better sense to stop riding for the day, load up the bikes, and go visit the cabin. It was a beautiful cabin in a beautiful setting by a small lake. We then drove to the Jerrie's parent's home. We all cleaned up, changed clothes, and went out for dinner at Amigo Juan. Jerrie's dad, "Mr Bob" as he is known, highly recommended the restaurant. He said, "On Sunday, there's 2 places we always go, church and Amigo Juans".
Mileage for the day...not sure, I think 60 something, but I took a photo of the odometer. Will find out when I download those.
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| First time we ate out breakfast. Most mornings I fixed the oatmeal I'd prepared. Good food, was at the "Mt Ida Cafe" that claimed, "Our Vittles Are The Best In Arkansaw". |
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| Lajunta waves "Good bye" after dropping us off where she'd picked us up the previous evening. |
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| Another delightful gentlemen to visit with. I think his name was "Fred", was selling his home-grown grapes on the Mt Ida square. |
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| Asked Jerrie if she thought we should stop and see if we could trade our bikes for this tandem. Decided wouldn't be a good idea. |
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| Nice terrain and road as we head south out of Mt Ida. |
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| Could this be the state's smallest library? |
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| One of the unfortunate facts about cycling, you pass up some opportunities to pick up a bargain from sales along the route. |
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| An interesting rock formation. |
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| Caddo River. |
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| Seen several signs for the "Albert Pike Rec Area". In June 2010, a terrible tradgy took the lives of around 20 campers at that camp site, when flash floods hit the unsuspecting visitors. |
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| Not much shoulder here, but very scenic. |
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| The town of Glenwood was one of the larger towns we passed thru today.....a couple of convenience stores and even a McDonalds, and the "Sponge-Bobs Carwash". |
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| Nice to see a section of gently rolling hills. |
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| Didn't have room to carry this machete on my bike, so left it. Was a couple feet long! I'll bet one of Jerrie's co-workers would have loved this! |
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| Lunch in Murfreesboro. Lajunta met us each day for a picnic lunch. |
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| Pawn Shop and Tourist Information. |
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| I thought Sweet Home was in Alabama! |
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| Flat lands! Nice shoulder to ride on too. |
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| The road south of Nashville was about the most dangerous we rode on. Often there wasn't enough room to ride to the right of the rumble strips. |
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| Jerrie and her dad, at his log cabin they are building |
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| We had dinner at Amigo Juan's with Jerrie's parents, Bob and Jackie Dillard in Hope. |
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