Having promised to write about my travels across the United States on the Trans America Trail, a mainly dirt road adventure from “ Sea to Shining Sea” I find myself two weeks into it without having written a darn thing. So where to start?
When I saw this signpost I immediately thought of Shel Silverstein’s book of kids poems
I am not sure which of these little characters I best represent - maybe the dog, holding on for dear life. However I really do love to explore with an increasing sense of curiosity as I now move through my late teenage years. ( get real you old goat you are 65!! )
In Mississippi this is where the Sidewalk Ends
It took over an hour to dig the back wheel out of this good red dirt with the only tools available to me - my own two hands. Both the bike and me needed the carwash in the next town
So I must back up a little since my last blog post on munecatravels.blogspot.com found me having just arrived back in the US with Moto Naranja stuck in a shed in France until a nasty little disease would allow me to retrieve her to carry on with a little road trip from France to Mongolia.
Moto Naranja is still stuck in that little shed in France, so being the two timer that I am I bought another KTM 690 and equipped it for less international travel.
The riding had been really good fun and I enjoy every day with so much variety but I have to say that it can be a little depressing to stop in little towns where jobs and industry have moved on and a good job is probably in a fast food restaurant.
But wait, maybe I am just moving too fast and not stopping to really look what is going on. There is no doubt that these towns are hurting and the old factories that employed so many are never going to return but maybe this is where the opportunity lies for the real risk takers. Here is what I saw in the town of Helena, Arkansas on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River.
A walk down the main street saw hardly a store open apart from the shoe store that has been there for more than forty years. The old Nichols hotel is long closed and I only wish room rates were still a mere $1 a night
However this is the gem that I found run by a young man who moved here because the idea of starting his own business was intriguing and the buy in was relatively cheap.
Then I went out to supper and walked down the main street as it got dark - a little creepy. But the only restaurant open, The Helena Tavern, was owned and run by a young couple who also recently moved here as the place was going for a song. Helena does have a blues festival every year which sees twenty thousand people descend on one summer weekend — so just maybe these little towns will survive and be rejuvenated.
Headed over the big river tomorrow to ride through Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and beyond.
