Welcome to Arkansas!

Day 13 - The motel stay allowed us to get on the road earlier than usual.  We had already traveled 8 miles to Holcomb, MO. and were ordering breakfast just a little after 9:00 AM; the time we are usually just leaving a campsite.  We put our Missouri State Parks bicycling goal on hold (with just 2 state parks left!) until after we complete the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, MS. to Nasville, TN.  We hope to pick up the last 2 Missouri Parks we need on the return trip home.  We are officially in the Missouri Bootheel now.  Corn and soybean crops have changed to cotton and rice fields.  We have noticed that there sure is a lot of wasted cotton after a harvest.  It looks like there is just as much cotton left in the fields as was picked up.  Someone really needs to invent a better cotton combine!  In addition, both sides of the road are lined with cotton that was dropped in transport.  Someone really needs to think of a better way to haul cotton from the field!!  The flat terrain of the Mississippi River bottoms is allowing us to keep up a high average speed, although we do miss not being able to coast down a hill once in a while.  We had to work against a moderate head wind today when we traveled south, but the temperatures got in the lower 90's today (our hottest day yet), so the wind probably helped cool us more than it hurt.  We were forced to stop, however, about every 10 miles to rehydrate.  At every stop there would usually be a friendly inquisitive resident wanting to know where we were going.  Mid-afternoon, we left Missouri behind when we passed through an unusual concrete arch as we entered Arkansas.  An hour later we were checking into a motel in Blytheville, AR. with WiFi service, so we could download several days of photos.  It was too hot to camp anyway!  We covered over 55 miles today and averaged 11 mi/hr which isn't too bad against the wind.  Our maximum speed was only 24 mi/hr, since we never get a chance to coast down any hills in this part of the country.  I am pleased with how well we did in the heat today.  Perhaps we are getting in shape!  We don't eat like healthy, fit people, however.  There was an all-you-can eat buffet located right next to our motel.  We put a very big bent in that spread of food!!  Unlucky 13th day of our trip?  I think not!!!