October 13, 2014
Day 35: To Huntsville
As predicted a big thunderstorm passed through overnight. Heavy rain and high winds from 3:30 to 6 AM. I got up at 9 and walked in the drizzle for an excellent breakfast at Mud Street Cafe. I called my wife and left the hotel at 11:20.
First I climbed a steep hill in town to see the 1886 Crescent Hotel. The oldest and grandest hotel in town, with large landscaped grounds. It's supposedly haunted.
I skidded a couple times going down the wet 20% grade back to downtown.
It was about lunch time when I came back from the Crescent Hotel, so I ate again at the Mud Street Cafe. At 1:10 PM I left Eureka Springs heading south on AR 23. It was still dense overcast with occasional drizzle. Today will be an easy day.
The road has a narrow shoulder and traffic was heavy for the first 10 miles. Then it got quite pleasant. Most of the time the road is high in the hills.
It threatened to rain for much of the afternoon but there was only 10 minutes of rain.
Scenery was pretty good and traffic was light after I got well away from Eureka Springs.
Coming into Huntsville the smell was really bad for several miles. Not sure if it's hog farms or chicken farms. Probably hog farms.
I arrived in Huntsville at 4:45 PM. Quite a boring town compared to Eureka Springs. I got a $62 room at Madison Motel. Tile floor, microwave. Heat doesn't work. Crappy motel in a crappy town.
40 miles west is the prosperous and rapidly growing Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, Fayetteville region. That area is uniquely wealthy because of Wal-Mart headquarters and the University of Arkansas. The prosperity doesn't seem to have spread to this area.
I took a nap, then a huge rain shower delayed my ride to the nearby Mexican restaurant. My return ride was only half a mile but it was after dark in drizzle. Days are getting shorter!
Today had a high of 65F and it was overcast all day. Extremely humid. Things are very wet. Huntsville had 7 inches of rain in the last 4 days, erasing a minor drought.
Distance: 31.4 mi. (50 km)
Climbing: 1749 ft. (530 m)
Average Speed: 9.6 mph (15.4 km/h)
Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 1,676 miles (2,697 km)
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