Day 12: Ft Smith to Fayetteville. 60 miles. At first I thought these were real bison on the field with the horses. But they are fakes. Even the babies.



This was by far the most Ozarkian day of the trip. Lots of climbing. Ozarks everywhere.


Mt. Gaylor was the big climb of the day. Ten miles. Somebody set it as a course in my Garmin so I went head-to-head
against this guy. He did it in 29 minutes--which is suspect. I did it in 1 hour 49 minutes--which is spectacular.


Part way up the climb there was this rest stop. I rested often.


Artists Point. Three miles from the top. There was a store here unexpectedly. And lots of kudzu. The climb was really hot, but it seemed
to get cooler as I got higher up. When I stopped I would wring the sweat out of my gloves. My socks were squishy. It was gross.


And then I was over the top and on the long easy run into Fayetteville. This is the most awesome rest stop ever.
It even had wifi.


There were still Ozarks about, but the run-in generally avoided them.


Once in town I foolishly decided that I wanted to see the University of Arkansas campus. I discovered that it is
very hilly. Very hilly. And I did not appreciate it.


Could I have had more carbs? Yes. The Chicken-Fried Steak could have been Chicken-Fried potato. But, of course, that would be silly.