October 3, 2022
Delta Heritage Trail, AR
Woke this morning in Mississippi and a short while later we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas, state #39!
The Delta Heritage Trail is touted as Arkansas’ longest rail trail conversion and is separated into two section, north and south. We opted for the northern section and found the first 2 miles quite unpleasant, almost to the point of turning around but a fellow cyclist said it got better shortly … he was right.
We now found ourselves on a typical rail trail with quite a bit of history thrown in. After about 10 miles we passed a “Resettlement” community that emerged as part of Roosevelt’s New Settlement deal … 91 acres, 91 “negro families.” The community did thrive and has quite a legacy but modernization changed the landscape of the agricultural nature of the land and many moved away.
We were now cycling through the cotton lands of the south which were just history lessons for us and we ended up stopping for lunch in a small, mostly desolate town. Food was found in a run down, converted old gas station and was definitely made for order as you sat there but the three ladies were quite pleasant and one even broke out in some southern old time gospel singing while peeling and cooking the fries.
On the way back we stopped and watched modern cotton harvesting and even rescued one turtle who seemed stuck on the path.
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Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 610 miles (982 km)
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