April 15th, Monday 2:30 p.m Hotsprings then back Ouachita National Forest, forest road 132 arkansas.
Woke up this morning and went into HotSprings. I guess there’s supposed to be 26 miles of hiking somewhere, but I was on a mission for a beer and a pizza. Timed it well, only getting there 5 minutes early.
After finishing half of the pizza and the entire beer, I carried the rest of the pizza back to my parking spot. I splurged and did the paid parking even though there was plenty of free parking. I could have found a free spot if I tried harder, but I didn’t want anyone hitting my bike on the back.
Turns out I should have been worried about my own driving. After getting back to the Ouachita woods, at my campsite I backed into a small tree (thankfully small, the main section only being about 3” thick. Short tree which is likely why I hadn’t noticed it.
Anyway, it’ll only cost me a $10 derailleur hanger for the bike’s rear derailleur. no biggee. Just more of a D’oh! moment. Thankfully it happened on the last day of my trip so that I don’t have to go find a bike shop. and odds are I’d be waiting for a part to arrive. very lucky on the timing.
Tomorrow I head back out onto the highway. Hoping to drive through some rain to clean off the truck. If I dont’ I’ll drive to a self service car wash place and give the wheels and suspension a good cleaning. At low speeds I have a rotational squeaking that’s very annoying. Have to drive around with the windows up on the back roads. could be a stuck caliper or something.
My truck shop guy says you’re not really overlanding unless you’re breaking stuff so mission accomplished! At some point I want to upgrade my front brakes anyway. hopefully it’s just dirt in the leaf springs, but if not, it’s on my upgrade list anyway.
I may also need a new antenna for the weboost if it doesn’t survive the drive home. if it does, I can epoxy a fix with some leftover fiberglass tape, and paint it black when done. If not, another $100. Also from the small tree incident.
All in all, a very fun outing. Traveling alone I’d say that time slows down more. Feels more like a month where it’s only been a couple weeks. I like solo travel though, it’s not a bad thing if I have to head out on my own. Now I know where to go around here too. so next time, I may zip here, and start off with bikepacking before doing the comfy truck camping.
going to enjoy my last few hours in the woods. that’s all for now.
derailleur hangers are intended to be the sacrifical part and to bend. I should order a spare.
the lower bit is supposed to be inline with the gears above it.
weboost antenna damage….
if you look closely from the top down, where it starts to get thin, that’s where I broke it.
I put on some all-weather, gorilla-brand duct tape
and cinched the tape down further with 3 black zip ties.
The plastic enclosure wasn’t cracked all the way through. it just needs some reinforcement.
another shot showing the antenna at the tippy top. Part of why it works so well is that the GFC tent gets it up higher off the ground when the tent is up.
