Dateline: Salem, AR

T-storm activity quit around 10:00PM last night. Slept quietly. In AM wind came up and sprinkles. weather forecast was for clearing and favorable for ride. Counting on rocky sandy soil to dry quickly.

Drove back down green mtn rd to TH. There were 2 rigs there. Rode White River Bluff. Lots of ice damage but trail cleared. Rocks were slippery and i rode cautiously and avoided overly technical moves. Back to TH picked up orange trail Bald Scrappy loop and merged onto blue trail Scrappy Mtn Loop. Saw fresh bike tracks, must have been riders whose rigs were in parking lot. Continued until hit uncleared trail. What a mess: not a simple walk around a tree trunk. Heard voices ahead, I had caught up w/ other riders. Trail is impassable. Their solution is to hike up the mtn to pick up trail on other side. A bit lost. Bashed thru poison ivy. Luckily so far i wore long tights, several of the other guys were only wearing shorts. Oh, big poison ivy coming for them. Found trail, continued around and came out @Scrappy mtn TH and rode road back to first TH. The other guys were from Conway & had to get back. I rode the orange trail the other way. Bit of rocks but several muddy h2o sections. Trail is on rock, not deep mud but spewed up h2o that had stuff in it. My drive train made grating sounds. My front brake squealed: I wore out the pads and the metal spring was grinding on the rotor when I squeezed the brake lever. No front brake! Luckily the trail never got steep enough to really miss it. Made it back to van OK.

CXT outhouses @ each TH.

Concern over condition of components. I had 1 new pair of brake pads. My Chris King bottom bracket I just knew needs grease and finding the grease tool would be a problem. I needed a shower and clean up bike, and then go buy parts.

Called Competitive Cyclist to buy King tool. They didn’t have. failure. I would have driven 125 miles backwards direction to score tool. Plan B is if bottom bracket is grit affected is to buy another bottom bracket and use until I would score the King tool.

Called usfs rs and asked about a shower in any of their nearby XGs. Said yes @ Blanchard rec area on rt 14. If I drove into town of 56 I went to far. I found the sign to Blanchard caverns but it didn’t say XG. Called back to RS and was assured that it is the same place, just drive further down road. trusted her and she was the one yesterday who said that trails were cleared. Free shower in a bigger CXT building. Washed bike off. replaced worn front pads, cleaned off rear pads seeing that there is a little meat still left, cleaned chain, & spun crank. Bottom bracket appears to spin freely. Maybe safe for more rides, tomorrow will tell.

About 6 motorcycle riders pulled in right across from where I was working. they set up camp looking much like back packers w/ their Shelter selection. 2 guys chose the covered hammock trick.

Back in the woods during my ride I saw many pieces of styrofoam and several pieces of sheet metal like siding or patio roof material. Deduced that it was debris the tornado sucked up and they finally fell from the sky long ways away from touchdown.

Drove hwy 9 again, still a windy twisty climbing dropping 2 lane no shoulder road N to Missouri. Managed to make Salem. Saw sign for airport on outskirts of whatever kind of town Salem is. Small airport, several single engine airplanes under roofs & cars. Decided if I got internet connection I would spend the night. No people around. No lights on runway so likelihood of airplanes returning to the cars was slim. Adding airports to sleeping locations.

Saw news story of CNN about tornadoes in SE USA killing people. One just struck Mena, AR where I was just several days ago. Staying ahead of bad weather.

Dateline: Mountain View, AR

Slept OK in motel parking lot. Drove away to less populated parking lot for bfast, Hit Home Depot for growler. Found propane. Headed out on rt 9 back road to Mountain View for the Syllamo trail, however it started to rain on way. Forecast is for possible strong t-storms. Stopped @ RS for beta, reiterated 2 of trail loops are closed because of January ice storm tree fall. Loops comprise almost 1/2 of system making it a 1 day ride if it doesn’t rain tomorrow.

AR is hilly. Saw several tornado shelters dug into an earth bank. I bet that tornados are such a crap shoot in that actual path is narrow. Imagine hearing a warning and then hunkering in your shelter or basement if you have 1. Imagine living in a mobile home w/ no basement and no underground shelter. What is your view on a warning?

Believe I found source of wiring problem in upper cabinet when I slide stuff towards the back a wire is forced loose.

Off to find primitive camp spot near TH.

PBS is airing a show on Appalachia tonight. If you can, see it. Cities of America have taken the land from the people by making fun of them, calling them Hill Billies and minimizing their existence. This makes it better for some of us to rartionalize mountain top removal to get @ the dirty coal underneath to fuel power plants that spue CO2 & heavy metals into the air so some of us can crank on the air conditioning and otherwise excessively consume, nay waste, the energy. Celebrate the lifestyle of these folks. Some day somebody might make fun of us citified people.

UNC won the NCAA Bball dance. Zags lost to them @ sweet 16.

Dateline: Laundromat outside Hot Springs, AR

Two nights ago slept on shore of lake @ TH of Womble. A bit windy & temp dropped into low 30s. AM was blue bird day but chilly.

Decided to ride today in AM cold to allow for long day. Greased bike up. Left after 9:00 wearing wool long underwear, tights, & long fingered gloves. Trail climbed up thru woods. Narrow ST bench cut into hillside. Trail is hiking trail that was in disuse until mtn bikers discovered & cleared it out. I am riding on the Ouichita Challenge course from past Sunday. Amazing little damage from all bike tires except in muddy areas, In a short while those tracks will disappear. Tires seem to roll the earth where as a hiker’s foot post holes it. On & on the trail climbed & descended and then went fairly flat. I needed to ride from mile 37 to mile 17 to complete trail, 40 miles out & back. As going out starting wearing me down I debated options of how to return or even to cut ride short. Made turn around where I camped the night before. Did ride a short section of road till I rejoined the trail and rode trail all way back for 39.21 miles, 4264′ vert 5 hours ride, 3607 calories burned w/ average HR of 123 bpm. Found a big morel mushroom but only 1 so i let it grow.

Caught up w/ 2 riders ahead of me on way back. Saw their tracks on rocks after water crossing. Chatted with them off & on as we all rode towards end of trail.

Called Gracie 2 nights ago and left her a message before I drove out of cell phone coverage. On my ride I carried my phone and left it turned on. About 4 miles from finish as I was starting to struggle w/ effort of big ride, my phone rang. It was Gracie. She got 5th @ Tsali behind 30 yo women. She was pleased.

Finished ride ran out of h2o too soon. Shot a goo for a burst of energy but too little to quench my growling tummy. Know the corrections to make.

Next stop is Syllamo trails up in NE corner of state. Today is chore day for laundry, groceries, seek electrical solution for 2 lights not working,Turner shop in Little Rock for possible bushings replacement, & whatever.

Saw several beagle type dogs, 1 @ camp site and a bunch on trail, not sure if they were abandoned or simply didn’t return to hunter. The 1 @ camp ran away from me. I wasn’t interested in rescuing them.

Last night I splurged for $14 to stay in XG where I got showers. Too tired to want to deal w/ dirtbagging.

Flies are in van outside laundromat.

Lots of poison ivy lining trail. Tread was narrow and rocks were more of small size. Maxxis tire hooks up better than paddle type like velociraptor.

Mount Ida, population 931, is dry. Grocery store lacks lots or some really healthy foods. Remote towns don’t have the foods I need to live healthy.

Succeeded in no treats yesterday. Did stop @ Dairryette for ice cream cone. I asked for a hand dipped hard ice cream and girl said yes they had it. She handed me a soft ice cream cone. I took a bite without really comprehending what she gave me. I gave it back for my $ return.

Van filled w/ drying clothes. I think the low temp drying I did this winter burned the stretch out of shorts. Damn.

Update: Conley, AR in a parking lot yet to be discovered.

Drove to auto repair shop to check on malfunctioning lights. Guy climbed in van, I switched on the light to show and it worked. Loose wire somewhere. I drove off. Some time later I turned it on again & it didn’t work, but then it worked again.

Found Competitive Cyclist in N Little Rock to score a bushing rebuild kit for the Spot instead of trying to mail 1 from Turner. Something about the store that I couldn’t place. It is an internet store and I bought stuff from them in the past. Nice people they let me use a bike stand and actually offered assistance for my R & R bushings. I think the looseness came from the shock reducers that I could not remove, but they did. We also tried the King bottom bracket grease tool but the grease gun was beyond us. New Bushings, bikie felt tight in parking lot.

Called PUSH in Loveland, CO and made appointment for 4/21, 22 to overhaul the fork & shock b4 heading West. Jimmie said he spoke w/ someone who told of this guy…. . Must have been a rider I met last weekend in OK as he has had his stuff PUSHed.

Comment to all light weight riders reading: Get your suspension PUSH Industries.com tuned for your weight, bike, & riding style and your ride will move to a higher more enjoyable level. I did. The Spot turned into a different bike, way better. I am a better rider as a result. Tell them you heard it from me.

Bought a digital voice recorder @ Best, need to learn  how to make it work.

I have driven thru or nearby former Civil Rights battle sites. How could we have been that way? But we still are in other ways against other groups, be it a sports team or religion or you support dog fighting.

Mono: I finally bought Bruce’s newest. Different tact in his life, no biting social cause.

Hey you Spokane readers: I have an idea of spending the winter back home skiing and am looking for a house sitting position for a no rent place, or maybe swap some minor chores for a place to stay for the winter. Should you know of a place please email me. Thanks. Going to brush @ 49 for pass again.

Tomorrow is Syllamo trails further North. There are multiple loops in this 50 mile system but several are closed from ice storm damage. Might stay there for 2 days and then the long drive across Kansas. Still tracking for Fruita festival.

Moving on. Good night, Gracie.