Miles Hiked 94.6
Elevation 1,492 feet
Miles Hiked Today 4.0
11/12/2025
Today is a nero day. I hiked some but not a lot. There are several things at play here. The biggest is I’m almost out of food. There are no freeze dried dinners left and only a few protein bars. If I don’t get off the trail here I have to hike another 30 miles, which is 2 to 3 days. Also, due to my slower pace than originally planned, I will not make Little Rock, Arkansas by the time my flight leaves. So I’m going to skip about 25 to 30 miles of the trail.
As I write this, I’m at the intersection of highway 270 and Brushy Road at the Big Brushy recreation area. I have been trying to hitchhike into Story, Arkansas for the last hour with no luck. The highway is not very well traveled and the few cars and trucks that have gone by have not stopped. The Bluebell Country Store in Story will give a ride to hikers if they call. Frustrated with my progress hitchhiking, I gave up and called the store. It’s 11:35 a.m. and somebody is on the way to get me. I started trying to hitchhike at 10:00 a.m. . Total waste of time.
The Bluebell Country Store has a provision package of mine, which I need. They also have food, which I also need. I’ll spend at least one night if not two in town before continuing on with my hike. For now I’m going to stick with my plan to just go shelter to shelter. There’s some rainy weather expected over the weekend, and I may have to hold up in one of the shelters, which will really screw up my schedule.
Rick, a customer of Bluebell Country Store, finally picked me up and took me into Story. I had a big lunch at the Bluebell Country Store with Rick. They did not have my provision package. I’m not panicking yet, but I will if we can’t find it at the post office tomorrow.
After lunch, Rick took me down to the Aqua Motel, so I could spend the night there. This motel is in the middle of nowhere. There are no stores to buy food and there are no restaurants. If it wasn’t for the generosity of the motel owner, I would have been eating protein bars for dinner. The motel owner came down to my room and gave me a hot fried chicken sandwich and a side of fruit. It was at no charge and the food was great.
The room itself was old and kind of worn. But the shower had hot water and the bed was comfortable. That’s all that matters.
