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| Lunch stop: 90-year-old store in Oil Trough AR |
We rode with our acquaintances of last night, Chris and Greta, most of the day, although they stopped for the night in Newport while Adam and I pushed on to Harrisburg.
While passing through the hamlet of Salado (pronounced with
the accent on the first syllable "salad-dough") a
grandmotherly-looking lady out checking her mailbox invited us in
for ice water. She showed off her grandson whom whe was babysitting
and chatted with us for a half hour or so before we pushed on.
She told us to stop for lunch in the town of Oil Trough and tell
Violet at the deli that Miss Alice told her to make us a nice
sandwich. Later, at the grocery/deli (located in a 90-year-old
building), Violet made us nice sandwiches and pumped us for all
the latest gossip we picked up at Alice's.
Our stop in Harrisburg was interesting. Alice had been sure there were motels in town. We did find one place with a motel sign out front, but it had been converted into apartments. The follow thought there was one empty one left, but when the owner got home, it was not to be. By then it was 9 PM, so they let us camp in the grass. Between the dogs barking all night 20 yards away and the floodlights shining down, I didn't get much sleep. By the way, those Arkansas mosquitoes are fierce. I still have dime-sized welts on my ankles.