10/31 spooky

Well, we left the dang hotel round 9.00 under clearing skies! Finally the rain was behind us, plus from the balcony outside our room, we could see the pedstrian walkway on the bridge of i-55 where we were supposed to enter west memphis, arkansas. If you don't absolutely need to go to this place, avoid it. It is the most depressing place we've been so far. Lining the main drag were payday loan places, used car dealerships and an inordinate number of beauty/hair cut shops. Just off the strip of exploitation to the right and the left, we could see neighborhoods of campers and r/vs sitting there in the fresh mud like it might be after a nuclear apocalypse. Signs on the lightpoles read "west memphis...wide open" which sounded like the tagline for a whorehouse commercial. The signs were obviously brand new, yet still suffered from a drab brown and faded black disorder, and had a series of lines in muted orange, red and yellow, making them look cheap and retro (in a bad way.) We stopped in a burger king to satisfy the hunger left by the shittiest continental breakfast I've ever seen. I know those things are supposed to be cheap and crappy, but this was supreme with the cream cheese tasting like rotten carrots, the milk for the frosted flakes cereal in a caraff warming on the counter, and the juice full of concentrate glops and gloops from being insufficiently stirred. We made our way into arkansas with a feeling of "finally". We were both so ready to get the hell back on the road, to feel exhausted from a long days ride again...to actually have a reason to sleep other than alien vs predetor being over and the encore showing of panic room not being as enticing as the first go-round. Well. Here we are just outside mirianna arkansas, stealthing it off the road a bit in a national forest reserve, somewhat surrounded by a family/gang of friendly foxes. I was feeling a little shaky in the stomach after a highly greasy burger at a gas station (which was highly good all the same) but I skipped dinner and I'm starting to feel a bit better. We are both looking forward to tomorrow, after riding 60+ miles today, while also shaving off 8 or so miles due to more direct routing, and ready for a solid week on the road. Hopefully we will get the chance to shower and properly clean ourselves before too long.
Sent from my fingers and brain.