“How far are y’all going?”

Or…”Where are y’all riding to?” Or, our favorite, because we’re always riding last, “What is this race?”

When we were in the west, we’d get a lot of encouraging comments, “Better hurry up”, “You’re looking good”.  And, we’d get horn toots of encouragement or the occasional motorcycle who would pass us and pretend to pedal.  But, it was rare that someone asked us where we were going.  Oh, there was the guy on the absolutely beautiful copper colored beach cruiser that wanted to know if we were going *all the way* to Prescott (nope… about 60 miles further that day and 2 mountain passes), but mostly just encouragement.

However, since eastern Oklahoma, the questions of who we are and what are we doing come at least once a day.  But, unlike many people we talked to before we left, the local questioner will nod, calculate the miles and reply with things like, “That’s a lot of miles you’ve already done.”, “Good job”, “Good luck”. “Glad you passed through here… we are the pretty part of the country”, etc.

And, well, we have to agree…. Arkansas is a very pretty part of the country.  We waxed poetic on it yesterday and today was almost as nice.  But, as the road worker mentioned, “It ain’t gonna be this nice if those <explicative/> loggers keep taking down the trees.”. We agree.  The loggers are clear cutting large swaths of land…. images of The Lorax flashed past several times today.  Sad, really.  But time will tell if they keep it under control.

But, today ends our last full day in Arkansas. Tomorrow we cross the Mississippi.