Wednesday morning with gatorade, a cold pasta and foccacia lunch packed, coffee and breakfast cookies in hand, J, my sweet Sarah Smiles and I headed out toward Mt. View, Arkansas for some trail ridin' fun. I've never ridden on the Syllamo trails so this was going to be a new adventure.
The trails still have some issues from mother nature's wrath during the winter and spring. I caught a bad spot and somehow managed a bad fall early in the day, turning my pinky finger into a Z. Some tape and 4 ibuprofen fixed it enough to Man Up and Ride On.
There were definitely parts of the trails we rode that I really liked. There was some hikeabike. I don't know anyone who will say they like hikeabike. The trail Gods provided us some nice views and some moderately difficult technique building areas that gave us a good workout. There were some nice rocky areas that were challenging but fun to play on, some sweet downhills sweeps and some sand. I do not heart sand but it does test your mettle. I had a good time despite the injury and came away thinking I've managed to improve my skills this last year even though it's been tough to find enough time to ride hard trails.
But the day seemed to be more about the food. With us, it's ALWAYS about the food. We had this really cool dude along for the ride, a travel writer. Who happened to also be working on a story about Pie. Pie. I love pie. Sarah loves pie. Our new writer friend, loves pie. We talked about pie and streudal for hours. Okay, Sarah talked about strudl for hours. Apparently if you haven't been to The Pantry in Little Rock for strudel, you are missing out on the sweet mystery of life. We rode, we talked, we even sang a little. Sarah and I found a soul-mate in our new friend who happily sang along to our bad TV theme song rendiditons. After 20 miles, a few hours, a couple of injuries and countless horsefly bites, we got off those blasted bikes and went to find pie. Sweet Glorious Pie. We went to Cody's in Fifty-Six and had pie. It was okay. Then we needed to drop our writer friend off at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. We can't stop there and not eat at The Skillet. They have green beans that are like crack. I don't know what they put in them but I could eat them all day long. That and the tomato/onion relish. Oh my heavens. Between the 4 of us we had grilled trout, chicken fried steak, catfish, baked potatoes, fries, mashed taters, green beans, carrots, homemade hush puppies, biscuits and cornbread and then....TADA Earthquake Cake. Now I've heard tell of Kaye's cooking afore. I hear she is one mighty fine country cook. I want to adopt her. Even though it would seem silly to adopt a grown woman, I'd do it anyway. Just for the recipe for the banana earthquake cake. See, she won't give out the recipe but I figure if I'm her momma, she'd have to give it up, right? Right.
Excuse me, I have to find a dessert. Fast.
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