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Deane and Norm's Motorcycle Trip to Labrador | |
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Monday, June 18 Mena, AR to Tupelo, MS - 420 Miles |
| Today we rode across Arkansas, and into
Mississippi. Our route across Arkansas was through largely forested
areas, with breaks for towns and very pretty lakes and reservoirs.
We started in the Oauchita National Forest which was very scenic, and was
fun to ride the curvy roads. The humidity increased markedly over
previous days, and we were hot and wet most of the day. But we drank
lots of water, and kept going.
Some of the forested areas seemed impenetrable, and it's easy to see how early settlers would have had a difficult time to build roads, clear land and wrest homes from the forests. Our main memories will be of riding through more and more forests. Rick and Deane share the desire to ride the "back roads" and "see America". So we stay off the Interstates / Freeways / Toll ways, etc, and find our way on the US highways, state roads and county roads. Today we were rewarded with a wonderful little slice of life in the backwoods of Mississippi. After we had crossed the Mississippi River into the state of Mississippi, we took a "short cut" which Deane had picked out on the map. We rode on a little state road which was under some construction to resurface it. Alongside the road were many fields of cotton and some of corn. It lead from the cotton fields to a small village which could have been used in "Gone with the Wind". The village had a half dozen little false-fronted stores, weathered from decades of weather and no paint. People on the boardwalks in front of the stores eyed us suspiciously as we rode through. Then all of a sudden we passed back through more cotton fields, and finally back to a more major road. Interestingly enough, we found the humidity decreased in Mississippi, compared to Arkansas. Tupelo is quite a bit higher than most of the area we passed through, so that may make some difference. (No Photos today) |
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