Day 12: Fort Smith to Booneville

Top Photo: Heading into Booneville! Hunch down and screeam "Weeeee" all the way down the hill!

Welcome to Greenwood sign! What a royal welcome! Thanks Greenwood!

The view after the climb outside of Greenwood







I loved the Hampton Inn so much that I slept late and really took my time leaving. As I was leaving the front door and man in a suit asked about my ride and I asked him the quickest way back to Hwy 71. He told me and then looked at the map in the entrance to be sure. He was right on the money. The way he gave me was right to where I needed to be and cut some time. I was on my way to Hwy 10 and home! First stop would be in Greenwood to visit the paper there. Greenwood has a special place in my heart due to it being where my buddy Geoff Hartmann lived before cancer took him from his sweetheart of a wife and 2 beautiful daughters, Gracie and Christy. I still miss him and his laugh and true since of adventure. This guy would go to places like Peru to go trout fishing! Anyway, I'm coming into Greenwood and I have to get into the turn lane to get to the town square. I stop and look around a second waiting for traffic to pass and suddenly burst out laughing! There, right in front of me is a big Greenwood Chamber of Commerce sign that says "Welcome to Greenwood George Cobb". Bless the citizens of Greenwoods heart! Here's a middle-aged guy in skin tight black shorts, funny shoes and bags on his bike that now look as if he's a homeless person ... in the middle of a busy street laughing by himself! But they took me in and loved me like their own! Martha Cole is the sweetheart of Greenwood! We sat out of the sidewalk bench and she brought me some grade juice in a box (Hey Shannon Boshears, I thought about you!) and it was the best grape juice I had ever drank. We talked awhile and she took a couple of photos. Another lady came by and she said she heard that I was in town. She is the secretary of the Mercy Medical Bicycle Team. These guys are awesome and I told her I was a big fan of theirs. Soon I was one my way to Booneville but first stopped by the c-store to refill water bottles. Within that short time, I heard 8 different stories of how ACH has saved a child or improved the child's health when others could not. 8 stories in about 45 minutes!

The trip over to Booneville was a good one with a couple of Jim Dandy climbs but once to the top the view was well worth it. I'll load photo's of these views as soon as I get them back. A couple of dogs ran along with me for a bit. Not the threatening type at all. They were just bored and wanted to play. I got into Booneville and saw a couple of motels I had checked on and was very glad that Terri had asked the folks at the paper which one I should stay at. Countryside Inn is a nice little motel. Very clean and comfortable. It was the first motel room I had on the trip that smelled like fresh clean smell rather than motel room smell. The lady at the counter was one of those you just wanted to hug. Laughed when I told her I was sorry for coming in the office all sweaty and stinky. She told me the same and said she had been outside too. She had a great collection of John Deere ole toy trucks in the lobby and I told her about the quilting ladies of south Arkansas in the c-store/bait shop/restaurant that were putting together the John Deere quilt. Her eyes lit up and she really wanted to know more. If you go to the Inn this weekend, it might be closed due to her leaving and searching the south for a bait shop that has quilts! Good luck honey!

My niece Shannon came up and we had dinner at a local Mexican place. My dinner was out of this world! It's at the corner of Hwy 10 and Hwy 23 or known by the locals as Main and Broadway. When Shannon and I get together we always have a good laugh! She had had a bike wreck a few weeks ago and we had to tell war stories and compare scars. Thanks Shannon, you made my day! Later Ron Rizzardi came up and spent the night and we will ride the final day together.