2 Bikes, 5 States, 10 Trails, 14 Days – Part 1

Arkansas-Delta Heritage Trail

• Day One and Two
• Arkansas
• Delta Heritage Trail
• Trail length; 44.4 miles to date with a total length of 84.5 miles when completed

First stop, Arkansas. The Delta Heritage Trail is in a very rural part of Eastern Arkansas. It will be an 84 mile trail some day, but for now, only 44 miles are completed, with a large gap of unfinished trail in the middle. We’re tackling this trail a section at a time, riding out and back on each completed section. Because the area is very rural, we had a difficult time finding accommodations near a trail head, so we had to stay out just a bit. The night before our first day of riding was spent in Monticello, Arkansas at the Trotter House. Owned by the University of Arkansas at Monticello, the house is beautiful. Built in 1896, it offers several guest rooms at reasonable rates.

On day one, we rode the lower section of the completed trail that runs from Arkansas City to Watson. We rode through rural farmland and a few tiny towns as we made our way along the southern section. I was surprised to learn that Arkansas is the top producer of rice in the United States. The rice fields were beautiful! Rice is grown in curved rows with dirt barriers to keep water in. Once the plants get to a certain size, the fields are flooded to continue the growing process.

There were two very interesting sections of today’s trail. The first was at the Rohwer Traihead. The town of Rohwer was the site of a War Relocation Center, one of two that were built in Arkansas during World War II. Between 1942-1945, more than 8,000 Japanese Americans were interred at Rohwer in a 500 acre camp surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. George Takei, better known as Mr. Sulu in the Star Trek series, was interred at this camp with his family when he was an infant. All that is left today is a cemetery and the smokestack from the hospital that once operated on site. Today it’s just a huge field of soybeans with a small cluster of trees in the center sheltering the tombstones and a few monuments erected to those who lived here. It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like in 1942.

As we made our way down to the southern most section of the trail, the route diverted from the old railroad alignment onto a levee. We almost skipped this section, because the levee carries car traffic as well. But after driving the levee, we knew it would be safe to bike. And we’re glad we did! It was 14 miles of gorgeous scenery. We were high above the beautiful farm land on one side and the oxbow lakes from the Mississippi River on the other. Also interesting was the free range cattle along the levee. At times they roamed right onto the trail, but we were not very interesting to them. As we approached, they’d lift their heads from grazing on the slope of the levee, stop chewing, and watch us until we cycled past. There were cattle guards across the levee road in several places to keep them out of the crops of corn and soybeans. The levee road is a very low volume road. We met a couple of cars and a farm truck or two, but they were very courteous, slowing their speed down and driving past us very slowly while most offered a big wave as they passed.

At the end of the southern portion of the Delta Heritage Trail is the little town of Arkansas City, population 366. As far as we could see, there was only one little place to eat in town. Mama Carol’s. It was conveniently located one block off the trail in a red building.

We walked in and took a seat near the front. There were several other locals already seated enjoying their lunch, and everyone looked at us as we walked in. When you live in a small town, it’s easy to spot an outsider. We were obviously from out of town, dressed in our bike gear. We were sitting at our table without realizing food orders were taken at the counter. We were just about to head to the counter when a young man, who noticed we didn’t know the routine, got up from where he was eating his lunch, walked to the counter, grabbed two menus and brought them to us. He said, “I thought you’d like to take a look at the menu”. We thanked him and he said the cheeseburgers were really good. The owner then came out to the table, though that wasn’t the usual way for folks to order, she quickly realized we didn’t know what we were supposed to do. The smallest cheeseburger on the menu was a half pounder. We each ordered the burger and fries and it was well worth the ride to Arkansas City!

Practically every person in the restaurant made it a point to stop by our table, greet us on their way out, or talk to us from nearby tables. They were so friendly and each one of them welcomed us to their town, asked about our trip, asked where we were from, etc. One gentleman at a nearby table told us the history of the town and told us that all the streets in town are named after riverboats that traveled the Mississippi River.

Arkansas City was once a thriving river-port with bustling streets. There are a few old building still facing the levee, and several old foundations visible. One of the most interesting was the foundation from Palace Confectionery, because of the intricate tile flooring still in place. It is incredible that this almost intact tile floor has survived since the 1800’s, completely exposed to the elements. Palace Confectionery must have been a beautiful building at one time if the floor is any indication.

Day two of the Delta Heritage Trail was spent riding the completed northern section, which runs between Lexa and Elaine. We first stopped at the old depot in Barton, where they had a very nice gift shop and restrooms. The staff there was very informative and helpful. We were told that another good cheeseburger could be found at the Delta Grill in Elaine, so we decided to ride the 40 miles round trip to give it a try.

Most of the trail in this section is shady with a heavy tree canopy. It clears out to a wide expanse of farmland as you approach Elaine.

The cheeseburger in Elaine was just as good as the cheeseburger in Arkansas City!

After lunch we headed back to the Barton Trail-head and to our B and B in Helena, Arkansas, the Edwardian Inn. Built in 1904 as a private residence, it was converted to an inn in the 1980’s. There are 10 guest rooms and it is a beautiful old home. Eight original fireplace mantels remain intact and there is an abundance of quarter-sawn oak paneling throughout the house. The floors are beautiful and were imported from Germany during the construction of the house. The floor design is called wood carpeting. There were several types of wood used in the detail of the floors.

We ended both days in Helena with dinner at the Helena Country Club. In searching for dining options, we’d seen it mentioned by another traveler on a Google review. We checked with our host at the B&B to make sure a membership was not required, and he indicated that as far as he knew, no membership was required. It was a short drive from the B&B and we were quickly seated at a table in front of floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beautiful golf course. As we sat down, our server asked, “What is the name for your membership?” Oh no…We said, we didn’t have a membership, we were from out of town. She asked if were staying at one of the places in town, and we told her we were at the Edwardian. She assured us that was fine and gave us menus. The menu had no prices listed, so we were somewhat prepared for “sticker shock” when we got our final bill, but at this point, there wasn’t really anything we could do about it. The food was delicious, and our server did a great job. We thoroughly enjoyed it. She brought out the bill and I noticed Jimmy studying it closely. I was bracing for a ridiculous expense. Our server must have noticed the time he was taking with the bill, because she came over and asked if everything was OK. He told her he thought there might be an error or something omitted from the bill, because it seemed too low. She assured us there wasn’t. He said he had expected it to be much higher. She said, “You have to remember where you are. You’re in a little bitty town in Arkansas and we don’t charge high prices for stuff.” That was a rare treat! We ate there both nights we were in Helena. Tomorrow, we head to Kansas.