But that didn't make today the worst day's ride of the voyage. That day still belongs somewhere in Alabama and I'd rather not recall it. The difference was that I had braced for worse than this and although it was bad - oh it was bad - it was still better than what my dark fantasies cooked up over the last couple of days. It didn't hurt either that I took yesterday off and spent most of it in bed watching movies. Speaking of yesterday, when I finally managed the resolve to get out of bed, sometime past noon and then only to find something to eat, the first foot outside of my motel room and I was greeted with a chilly bluster that made me instantly thankful I wasn't on the road for I would have been utterly miserable. Having road shoulders throughout Arkansas has taken a lot of the sting out of the sheer effort of pushing oneself forward. I've played this record before of course so no need to bore you again.
So that's it. I crossed a sizeable portion of this state in three days of riding and it has been mostly pleasant. As I write this I'm only a half mile from the Missouri state line and feel the midwest inching closer with its red carpet welcome of hundreds and hundreds of miles of FLAT terrain. Ask me how happy that light at the end of the tunnel makes me ;-)