Lizard of Oz

We started the Northwest highland loop trail today. Up at 5 am. Carrying very little. Left by 7 am. Rode 10 miles to the trail. The Razorback Greenway trail was about 25 miles long through urban, small towns starting in Bentonville going south. Then the trail ended and it became rural……and climbed up onto the plateau and up and down through the Arkansas hollows. Lots of gravel roads late in the day and only one fast terror of a dog. We are in our tent and it’s pouring and thunder and lightning - third night with the same weather on this trip. We are glad to be sleeping in a giant litter box tonight because they drain really well and we don’t end up in a puddle! Really great infrastructure on the urban trail with access for many communities. Lots of bridges, followed a Creek for miles. Lots and lots of turkey vultures here feasting on carcasses, but not ours. The bike is not killing us! We estimated we rode 87 miles today with over 5,500 feet of climbing. The lighter bikes made a big difference on the steep, climbs up the Ozark mountains. Early views were cows, cows, cows. Cows in the pond. Then lots of vultures. Lots of dead armadillos. A crazy crocheted mushroom. Staying at white rock campground. The highlight of the day was the purple Mt Dew slushie and Tara’s favorite cherry slushie filled right into the water bottles! Everything is really lush and green here because they’ve had lots of rain. Tara said yesterday was brutally hot (it was!!) and once again, we found ourselves in the trickling water ditches getting our sleeves wet for the cooling effect. If you’ve never worn sleeves to protect yourself from the sun and wet them for cooling, they really are I was amazing. We arrived at the white rock campground just in time to have a popsicle and ice cream sandwich before they closed. Bag chips. We also had chips and Gatorade. This Viking biking diet is crazy.