Thursday, June 27, 2013 – Day 14

Not surprisingly, today was much the same as yesterday … just eating up the highway on my way to the Smokies.  The scenery did improve … it was flat, hot and dry when I first started out and by the time I hit Arkansas, I was into the Ozarks, which are really rolling hills with some higher hills interspersed and the whole thing is covered with a verdant green carpet.  Very pretty actually.  A lot of haze though due to the heat.

The issue today was, once again, the incredible heat wave that’s hit this area.  I had a 5 hour ride and by the time I hit Conway, Arkansas, the mercury was at 101.5 degrees.  But, this gets even better.  Because of the low humidity in Western Oklahoma, the 104 I experienced yesterday actually felt like 105.  Today’s 101.5 degrees, when taking into consideration the high humidity level, feels like …… 117 degrees!!!!  Okay, so I’m all about the adventure and experiencing the road on top of a bike.  Nevertheless, let me be the first to tell you that riding a bike under these conditions is damn hard work!  I was literally stopping every 30 to 60 minutes to replenish fluids, even though I wasn’t visibly sweating, because at 75 mph, the sweat just evaporates off of you and dries you out like one of those little tiny flat sponges.  You know the ones … as soon as you hit them with water, they puff up to about 10X their original size.  I think I dropped about 20 pounds today until I got to the hotel and hydrated!

By the time I hit the hotel, it was time for a shower and a nap.  However, no rest for the wicked … I did my laundry instead and now I’m writing this.  Once it cools off a little out there, I’ll take the bike for it’s daily bath at one of those “do it yourself” car washes.  After the first day on this trip, I got tired of trying to clean the bugs off the windshield, especially when two bucks and 5 minutes leaves my bike sparkling!  (little road trip trick here)

Really, I don’t have any pictures because I haven’t taken any today.  Let’s face it, pictures of flat, dry land and rolling, green hills are just plain boring.  However, there is one milestone I hit today … I’ve crossed the 4,000 mile mark on this trip, with a total of just over 4,300 miles on the trip odometer.  With all that behind me a 1,000+ miles in front of me, I feel absolutely great!  This trip has made me feel 30 years younger (even though the beard I’ve grown is gray).

That’s it for today.  Tomorrow is going to be another 7 hour run and the last “snoozer” day because on Saturday and Sunday I ride The Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway … should be very interesting.  I’ll be taking a movie of The Dragon with my bike cam and if I can get around to opening a YouTube account, I’ll post a link top that on this blog.

Stay tuned.