Our stay at Atlanda State Park was planned to be alittle unique. First, it would be our last ‘long’ stay before we headed back to California for some planned/group adventures (more on that later!) we didn’t want to miss. Second, it would be our first experiement in staying in one place for longer than a week (we were finding even a week seemed too short!). And third, it would include Janine’s birthday on Monday, March 28, AND we had found bike events relatively nearby for BOTH weekends in our stay, bookending the perfect birth-week celebration!
Our arrival at Atlanta State park on Tuesday, March 22 was a quiet affair, between the intermittent rain and chilly grey skies, and the visible damage from the recent storm/tornado in the area. Once again, the campground was virtually empty except for us and our camp host. Tuesday is the best camground arrival day! We quickly set up camp in between rain showers and hunkered down for another quiet night.
Wednesday, March 23 the weather was much better, the start of a long and wonderful string of consecutive great-weather days (another first on this trip!!). We rode every single day except for one day when we hiked and Mike got out his new fishing pole (and caught a 3.5 lb large-mouth bass!). The park was on Lake Tyler, a pretty big lake, and the trails took him right to a good fishing spot. There were just a few miles of trails (and pretty rugged…) so we focused mainly on road riding, which was pretty OK except for fast traffic on most roads. We found a crazy private animal sanctuary called Antioch Ranch, where we saw everything from longhorn cows to camels to zebras. We googled and found out they have 17 different species! We were able to enjoy happy hours and sunsets (a few minutes later each afternoon!) on our zero-gravity chairs most afternoons. Though it never rained much, a couple days were so windy we felt like we were riding sideways! We made a few trips into the nearby town of Atlanta for laundry, groceries and a propane tank refill. The days flew by in a blur, but the event highlights stand out.
On Saturday, March 26, we woke up at 3:30am and were in the truck at 4am. Mike cheerfully drove us north to a small town near Ft Smith, Arkansas so Janine could compete in the Ouachita Challenge
a 63 mile gravel race, for her 63rd birthday! It was a 3 hour drive each way, on the long side… but the PERFECT BIRTHDAY GIFT! We really liked the area and Janine was astounded by the diversity and beauty of the gravel roads. The race start was REALLY cold but it warmed up, making the 5 or so LARGE creek crossings exciting but tolerable. The other riders were friendly, and the support crew excellent, making it a terrific day on the bike. Mike meanwhile took a nap…! Janine finished around 1 or 2pm and the dinner wasn’t till 5pm, so we got in the truck and headed back ‘home’. It was nice to actually see the scenery we had driven past in the dark just that morning!
In the aftermath of missing an exit in Texarkana (that really is a city!), we stumbled onto a “Texas Best”, another huge gas station/convenience store/travel stop that included a “Steak N Shake” (burger chain we hadn’t tried yet), where we got a great ‘post-ride meal’. That apparently wasn’t quite enough, and in searching for the restrooms, we stumbled into their Texas-Best Smokehouse, where we placed our TO-GO order for 2 POUNDS of various bbq and assorted sides. Dinner at home? Check! All in all, a great, big day. And we definitely plan to go back to that part of Arkansas to explore at some future date!
The following weekend we both tackled the ArkLaTex Challenge century ride that started right in Texarkana. It was only a 30 minute drive away, making the whole experience alot less grueling than the Ouachita. This paved ride, while more or less flat to rolling (and of course windy…!) offered the fun experience of stopping at a geo-marker where you could stand in all three states (Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas) at the same time!
We devoured the post-ride sandwiches, and on our way back to the campground we stopped at another (highly rated) bbq place we had spotted on the drive to the event. Called Naaman’s BBQ, it was take-out only but super-convenient and possibly the very best BBQ we had on the entire trip. And that was saying something! We planned to pack up and start our trip back to California early Sunday morning, so we enjoyed our last beautiful afternoon/evening at Atlanta State Park even more!
In our ‘extended stay’ at Atlanta, we experienced the best weather of our entire trip. We enjoyed the solitude of an almost-empty campground on most days, and endured being next to ‘those campers’ (there’s always one!) with too many people, barking dogs, loud music, screaming kids, late-night carousing and reprimands from the camp host, for the last several nights we were there. The riding was nice enough, but we never saw a single other cyclist except at the organized events. The highs and the lows!
We were up early, and on the road on Sunday, heading back to home!