June 10. A short 37 mile ride in the morning to Joe and Lou's house. Another 17 miles over a hill on a gravel road to our cabin tomorrow and our ride will be officially over! We don't have internet access there, so here are some statistics:
Total miles pedaled: 1744
Total days: 31
Cycling days: 26
Highest point: 10531 ft.
Lowest point: the wind in eastern New Mexico.
Rainy days: 1
Close calls: 0
Flats: Carrie (1), Jerry (5)
Truck repairs: 3 (AC compressor, coolant hoses, water pump).
Motel stays: 5
RV park stays: 13
Private residence stays: 2
State or national park stays: 10
Best restaurant meal: Antonio's in Taos
Worst Meal: Blue Moon Cafe in Ponca City.

June 9. 68 miles from an RV park east of Bentonville, to a motel in Harrison. Joe and Lou continued on to their house, which is certainly a 2-day cycling trip in this heat and humidity. We did over 2500 ft in elevation gain and about the same in loss - the hills just go up and down forever. We had a nice stopover in Eureka Springs, which is a very picturesque community in the heart of the Ozarks. We were going to stop in Forest Green, AR, but the 2 motels in town were locked up and no-one answered the phone numbers listed, so we perservered another 22 miles in the sultry afternoon. The bright side is that tomorrow's trip will be shorter!

As this will be the last blog entry, we'd like to officially thank our support team, Joe and Lou Hatcher(Carrie's parents) and the team mascot (their Shih-Tzu) Lotus Blossom. They were there at the end of every long hard day for us with cold drinks and nutritious snacks (love the kettle chips Dad). They kept our clothes clean and can sniff out an RV park within 50 miles. We could not have done this without them. Love you both!

Luxuriant vegetation in the Ozarks

Enjoying an early lunch in Eureka Springs.