Day 17, May 7, 2014

Today we left Ft. Smith, Ar for Conway, Ar, 122 miles.  We are on our final 10 day push to the end, with no more rest stops.  Although we have endured our share of wind, cold and heat, we have yet to get rained upon.  Our fortunes may be changing though, as the forecast for the remainder of the week is calling for scattered thunderstorms.  I'll take the chance of scattered rain as opposed to a hovering low front.  Tomorrow (Thur. May 8th) takes us from Conway to Brinkley, Ar (about halfway between Little Rock and Memphis, Tn.)  Tomorrow's ride is scheduled for an easy 102 miles with very little elevation change.  Today's weather was beautiful, high in the mid 80s with a breeze out of the south-southeast, giving us some headwind, but nothing too unberarable.  Most of the ride was on good, wide shoulders, with very courteous drivers.  We had a few, unleashed dogs make a go at us, but so far were unsuccessful (They can't figure out how to intercept, they run at where you were, rather than where you're going).  We were told by our tour leader, Mike, that the dogs further east (Deep South) are all unleashed and are much smarter, they wait in the middle of the road and attack head on.
  Jere got a laugh at my expense today (actually, he gets a lot of laughs at my expense).  My granddaughter gave me a Guardian Angel pin, which I affix to my cycling jersey everyday (along with wearing my St. Christopher's medal) to keep me safe.  At hotel check-in, in front of Jere and a couple of other riders, the clerk asked me if my pin was Tinker Bell.  I explained to him; "no, its a Guardian Angel" and now I have to ride 900 more miles with the guys calling me, "Tink".
  For some reason or another, I find it intriguing to take pictures of court houses I pass on my bike travels.  My fellow riders are trained to stop for the photo op when passing by a court house.  Today, we passed by 3.  Someday, I may publish a coffee table book of court houses across the USA.
  Jere was feeling much better today, the shot in the ass he got at the clinic in Ft. Smith did its job.  Unfortunately, Frieder (part of the Pa. posse) had to surrender to the van for a few miles before the 1st rest stop.  He made the mistake of putting sunscreen on his forehead and it got into his eyes and he couldn't see.  After he was able to flush out his eyes and recover, he joined us at the rest stop and rode the rest of the day without issues.  We affectionately call Frieder our "Panzer Division", because he can just go and go, but today he created a chink in his own armor.
  At today's hotel I found the first scale since leaving home.  I left home weighing between 195-197lbs, I weighed in at 191.  I haven't seen that weight since the last X-Country in 2009.  Jere left weighing 140 lbs and he put on weight, even after Montezuma's revenge and his other issues.  We are all eating everything we can find, the more sugar the better.