15 Aug 24: Apart from Judy, I was last to leave the house next morning. The ride along Route 35 was unremarkable and was followed by a more interesting Route 5 which took me through Hot Springs Village, which is not a village, but a large, and very upmarket, residential development. I found here a neat little diner, called Debra’s Good Eats, where I had breakfast. Although of very recent construction, an effort has been made to give it a traditional feel, and it largely succeeds.
Following Highway 7 I wound my way up and down and round Ouiachita National Forest. It was a most enjoyable ride because the surrounding forest kept the perceived temperature a bit lower. Route 7 led to Route 10 through Mount Magazine State Park and finally Highways 23 and 22 to Van Buren where I was spending the night.
My host, Brian was a retired submariner. He cooked me a tasty chilli for dinner, and I spent a restful evening sorting out my future route and bringing my blogging up to date. This was just what the doctor ordered, and I went to bed feeling quite pleased with myself.
16 Aug 24: I woke at my usual time and felt tired, in spite of having had a good sleep. It took a long stretch, a shower and some coffee before I felt up to packing up. I wondered if I had been on the road too long, or if I was just getting too old for this constant travel.
Brian had warned me that he “was not much of a breakfast guy” as his years in submarines had left him with an unusual sleep pattern, so after knocking on his door and receiving no response, I left him to sleep and headed out.
On my way – not out of the house, but the neighbourhood – I was chased by two dogs. I thin they were pit-bulls, or similar and I was lucky to be able to accelerate away from the potential danger.
Shortly after this, I was riding through some expansive open farmland and as I rounded a bend saw a little white cottage with the morning sun lighting up the rocking chair on the verandah. For whatever reason, this brought to mind a Don Williams’ song, “I’m just a country boy, money have I none, but I have silver in the stars, and gold in the morning sun.” Now there’s a reminder of the truly precious thing in life!
My route today was along Highway 59 through along a very pleasant road through hilly forest, which, like yesterday, protected me from the already hot sun. When I had to make a detour for fuel, I briefly entered Oklahoma, and later realised I was not even “Twenty-four Hours From Tulsa”. I’ll get tired of this song thing eventually.
After breakfast in another diner, Cathy’s Corner. It was described as “the best and most authentic example of a traditional southern diner”. If the number of people eating there was anything to go by, clearly a lot of people agreed with this. I had an excellent breakfast and the service was superb. Like yesterday’s experience, the waitresses were friendly and efficient; food came quickly and coffee was endless.
The PIN for the replacement debit card I had ordered, and finally received at the second attempt, had still. Not appeared at either of the two possible addresses, so I decided that I should try to get it from a bank, even though I was pretty sure this would not be possible, since I wasn’t Jack. I made a detour of some miles to go to a branch in Bentonville, which, FYI, is the hometown of the Walton family, that owns Walmart. In the bank they were very friendly but could not help me at all! So, it looks like I’ll have to wait for a couple of more days and then order another one.
Shortly after this I was warmly welcomed by Mack McCormick, who with his wife Ute, were my hosts for the night. I wanted to go find Belfast that afternoon, so I asked if he would like a bit of a ride out. He and his grandson joined me on the short trip to Belfast MO, which was only about 20 km away.
Belfast Minnesota – 16 Aug 2014
According to Wikipedia, Belfast, Missouri is an unincorporated community in Newton County. It lies above the south bank of Lost Creek and is approximately four miles west of Neosho. According to this source, it was established as a trading post about 1880, and was named for Belfast, Ireland, by a prominent Irish family there. Two names ae mentioned – H.M. Richey and H.H. Notts – but it is not clear if these are the family(ies) referred to.
Wikipedia says it was named after the ancestral Irish home of a share of the first settlers. Indeed in 2020 almost 12% of the population of the county claimed to be of Irish descent.
A post office called Belfast was established in 1889, and remained in operation until 1901.
Today, all that I found at Belfast was … you guessed it, and a cemetery. There were no burials there prior to the 1930s, and I saw a stone on the church indicating that it was build in 1941. Since the mapped area of Belfast is quite large, it is possible that the centre, with the post office were located somewhere else, but I found no record of this.
By the time we had wandered around the cemetery and I had tried to find someone to talk with – three kids who were working at a vegetable patch scurried indoors at my approach, and no-one appeared to investigate, even though I stood at the gate for some minutes – Mack’s grandson was feeling the heat, so we retreated to an ice cream shop to cool off a little before the short ride home.
Just as dinner with Mack and Ute finished, we all received a severe weather warning by phone. Shortly – less than 5 minutes – afterwards the first lightening flashes appeared, and then the lights went out! The storm was certainly severe, with the rain coming down in sheets. The good side of this is that it brings the temperature down, and, hopefully, it will have passed by morning. The bad side is that with all the moisture, and tomorrow’s temperatures forecast to be similar to today’s, the humidity could well be taxing. I’ll have to get on my way towards Kansas City bright and early. Incidentally, part of Kansas City is not in Kansas, but Missouri; did you know that? The other part is in Kansas.
The blackout lasted a mere 2 hours; nothing for a Zimbabwe veteran like me.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 