This past Friday, Adam, Karen, Agent and I all headed down to Pencil Bluffs, Arkansas to spend some time in the Ouachita Mountains. The main event was to be the Ouachita Challenge mountain bike race. I went down hoping for a top 20 finish, but what I came back with was a lesson in living.
Our travels began with many miles in the car. Goal number one was finding Doritos Burn. Our first stop left us chasing a behind production chip manufacturer. Adam contemplated that we would probably find said Doritos in some "small town in Arkansas." More on that story later.
We arrived at our campsite at the Ouachita River Haven around 7pm CST on Friday. We got the tents all set up and got ready for dinner. I could not imagine a better place to camp and hang out. This is my third time camping at this spot, and the owners are by far the closest thing to family you could imagine. On site firewood, grills, showers, you name it. I know that isn't really camping, but when it comes to camping for races, it sure makes a difference to have a hot shower.
We sat around and drank a couple of beers and enjoyed our surroundings. We knew Saturday was going to require some traveling to pick up essentials either forgotten, or at least a meal depending on the weather. The next day we rode some sweet gravel and cruised the trails near the campsite. After riding and chatting with some guys camping and racing the next day we headed towards Boxer's Crystals and Hot Springs.
Boxer's was a no brainer for a stop. We needed more race crystals, and little did I know how much I needed them for the following day. I shudder to imagine how my day would have unfolded if I hadn't had two new race crystals. Either way both Adam and I received two (count them two) new race crystals from Boxer. I would elaborate more, but it would blow your mind.
We headed towards Hot Springs in hope of finding supplies. We went to Wal-Mart and picked up a comforter for Karen and Adam (and Agent), and then were in search of food. We spoke to our cashier Heaven (I wouldn't make it up if I could) who said that there wasn't anything good in Hot Springs at all. We didn't believe her and set out to find something awesome.
We ended up cruising past McClard's Barbeque. It was a crazy busy place. We stopped in and parked around back. The second good sign other than it being super busy, was the huge pile of wood out back. Score. We headed inside to find not an open table, and a seat yourself arrangement. We ended up with a table after around 15 minutes of waiting.
The menu was pretty brief, so I got the tamale's, and Adam ordered the Rib and Fries. Tamale's you say? Yes, but with a barbeque twist. The dish was two tamale's covered with Frito's, pulled pork, baked beans, onions, BBQ sauce and a pile of cheese. Amazing.
We then headed back to the campsite to hang out and get ready for the next day. More on that later.
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