Thanks. I felt pretty good physically after my last, long day on this tour, but I was just too anxious about work-related stuff to continue, especially since I was heading into an area with unreliable cell and internet connectivity.

I'm going to have to find a way to resolve that in the future in order to enjoy touring.

Enjoyed following along. I grew up in Little Rock and in my early 20's I used to leave there by bicycle headed west and northwest into the mountains. You were just getting into the area where I began my career as a young geologist on a drill rig, so I was sad to see you stop. But I empathize with anyone trying to tour in the pressure-cooker heat and humidity of Arkansas in the summer! The fall is nice for bike touring, especially in the western half of the state.

Thanks! That corner of Kentucky is pretty empty and quiet. I'd wanted to cross the river at Hickman for years.

I can't remember ever reading a tour journal where the rider crossed there. That's probably because the ferry is apparently extremely unreliable, and closes if the slightest thing is wrong (water too high, water too low, too much silt on the landing, etc. etc.)

Thanks! I see those things everywhere, and never knew what they were.

Maybe you can get across a big river on a fishing boat on a tour sometime... I recommend it!

Thanks, Mark. I just had too much going on to get fully into the zone this time. And if I kept going west I'd be in an area with even less cell reception than I had in Melbourne (which was minimal.)

I still thought it was worth doing. Although I think I'd prefer extremely hot-and-humid Arkansas in the Fall the next time.

Yeah, I don't normally take photos of masses of flowers like that, but I thought the thickness of the field of them was striking in this case.

Thanks for reading!

I really enjoy your journals... Joy's too.

Not much photographic detail, but looks like dark center and yellow petals of black eyed Susans.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62741-Rudbeckia-hirta

White ones are queen Anne's lace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota

Not much detail to go on, but looks like yellow petals with dark red inside, so probably plains coreopsis (tickseed). Quite a nice flower display! I have never seen them so thick!

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/76445-Coreopsis-tinctoria

I enjoyed it while it lasted! Congrats on the 100+ mile day!

I do think you should change the title to "Seven Days, Seven Weeks, or Seven Months," because you didn't ride any of the three distances mentioned in your title. :-)

For what it's worth, I'll add my support for the Teravail Sparwoods. They were what came new on my Fargo, which is now in it's third season and just recently hit 4000 miles. They're still going strong. I can't claim they were completely flat-free, but I think I've only had two flats total, one in the front and one in the rear. I can handle averaging one flat a year.

That is the question

Good score on the river crossing! Many of us have crossed the Mississippi by bridge or ferry, but you have now added a 3rd category of fishing-boat crossing.