April 10th, Wednesday 10:30a.m Russellville, arkansas
With the severe rain, I went out the back way, but in good news, I had just enough water left to take a Geyser sponge shower before I left camp. So at least I’m not stinky now that I’m back in public.
Getting laundry done. A bit of a dive laundromat, but the machines are clean. they’re fairly old machines too.
Snuck my grocery bag sized garbage into the dumpster here (which had a lock bar over it) but I assume being a customer it was okay. I’d guess the lockbar is to keep locals from piling their bigger bags into the dumpster.
After laundry I’m going to get some lunch and resupply at the Walmart Supercenter the next town over. I should gas up too. Then I need to hit the local bike shop and maybe swing by lowes for some cheap earbuds., I didn’t pack a spare charging cable for the bone induction earband headphones that I have. Ooopsie.
I like the ones that have an earbud design but with something that wraps over or around the ear.
This thing at the laundromat was interesting `torture device or laundry press or both? you decide! Lol
April 10th, Wednesday 6:30p.m Ouachita National Forest, arkansas
Rain rain go away…. The rain made the back road I drove in on treacherous a couple times. I think it was because of logging trucks were adding mud to the hard pack gravel/clay roads. but I’d rate the one slide I had an 8.5 out of 10 on the ole sphincter pucker factor scale. The slide was only about 10-20ft, but oof.
Nothing like when you start to go sideways and no amount of counter steering changes anything. You just keep sliding and you don't change the truck's angle at all. I’ve had that experience on snow a few times, but on a muddy road it’s a whole other level of sketchy. It felt greasier somehow. Tires weren’t biting into anything.
Thankfully, I was already going super slow when the skid started, so this happened when I was only going about 5 mph, but it was slightly downhill, so I had to power through the slide without tearing things up or burying my wheels from over-accelerating. I gave enough gas to the tires to try and keep myself centered in the road on the slow slide down the hill. Couldn’t stop the truck. Fun, but oh man, did I get a ton of mud on the sides and under the truck. An offroading baptism of mud? I managed to do it without gouging the road up or bouncing the truck off trees along the road, so I’m happy.
Anyhoo, I just went slow on the nastier spots, but if some young guy went blasting through those roads, it would not end well. luckily things should dry out a bit before the weekend when they show up. It’s only Wednesday after all.
Speaking of, I’m not sure how much biking I’ll be able to do tomorrow. I worry about what I’ve seen on youtube. Bikepackers doing the Great Divide trail trying to ride their bikes after it rains, but the roads haven’t dried out. They try to pedal with an inch of mud caked onto their tires. Doesn’t work well. I may have to give it a day to dry out. If it takes more than that, I may have to cry Uncle and head on home. hopefully it dries out though. But the weather looks promising, I just don’t know how long it takes for the clay/gravel roads to dry out around here after it rains an inch or two. Different conditions than I’m used to.
I managed to resupply in Russellville and Dardanelle except for beer. Maybe I was in a dry county? I searched google maps for liquor stores and there was nada. Oh well, better for my waistline anyway.
i also found a cheap pair of induction headband bluetooth things at Walmart. $40. should be fine until I can get home. maybe I’ll keep them as a spare in the safe.
Anyhoo. you won’t read this until I can get cell signal again. the sky is too obstructed with rain even for my satellite messenger gizmo. but I’m fine. easy drive out tomorrow. i’ll take the main gravel road, which is much firmer than the side ones. I’ll go explore and look for other sites at a minimum. this site is turning into a pond.
here are some screenshots of where I’m at. the yellow path shows the route I drove on the back dirt roads.
I’m getting sprinkled on sitting under my narrow awning. My plan is to make a lightweight attached awning/tarp so I have more space to sit under when it rains. haven’t gotten to it yet. Always more sewing projects!
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