Mississippi River Trail ridden, written by Fort Smith cyclist
Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008
A good travel guide goes beyond helping a traveler plan his trip or find his way on the road: It tempts the comfortably ensconced reader to imagine his own life leaving his armchair, heading out the door.
Bob Robinson’s surprising new paperback, Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River Trail, can do that.
Written by a hiker and cyclist from Fort Smith with a charming, understated sense of humor, Robinson’s $ 16. 95 paperback might not be a candidate for any fancy prose prizes, but he makes a little-known travel opportunity (there’s a Mississippi River biking trail ?) sound so do-able the reader begins to imagine himself requesting vacation time and saddling up a touring bike.
Full of dry humor but never dry prose, the book makes you want to seek out and follow this Mississippi River Trail, which he describes as the nation’s newest cross-country bicycle route.
The trail is not so much a new route as a new determination (since 1996 ) to view a diverse collection of highways and trails as linked and accessible by bicycle. The Mississippi River Trail Project, led by executive director Terry Eastin, envisions this 3, 000-mile biketourism route wiggling with the mighty Mississippi down the nation’s midsection from a state park in Itasca, Minn., to a state park on the Gulf of Mexico in coastal Louisiana.
(Up in Itasca State Park, the Mississippi’s a shallow, babbling brook, and you can easily wade across it to dip your bike wheels. Can’t do that later along the way. )
About 60 percent charted, the Mississippi River some of the 10 states it crosses — notably including this one.
Arkansas’ portions are a 96-mile route from West Memphis to Helena-West Helena (involving climbing up an embankment to Interstate 55 and roads as diverse as U. S. 70, Arkansas 1 and Cherry Street in downtown Helena ) plus an optional jog from Greenville, Miss., across the southeastern corner of the state to Louisiana. The main route of the trail goes south through Mississippi.
Robinson takes the whole shebang in stages, state by state for 10 states. He packs his accounts of each segment with empowering observations, from the condition of the shoulder along highways to roadside museums worth touring. Consider this description of prospects for a good night’s rest in Crosby, Minn., which describes itself as the “Antique Capital of the Lakes Area.”
“If you are not camping [at a city campground ], and you’re ready to stop for the day, your lodging choices are limited to one. But even if there were a dozen places to stay, the Nordic Inn Medieval Brew and Bed would be at the top of the list. The converted old Methodist Church serves as an interactive theater and bed & breakfast, with your host ‘The Crazy Viking.’ As you can imagine, there is an interesting story behind the origin of the Inn. I’ll allow the host to share it with you.”
His advice for crossing two big bridges in Arkansas — “catch a ride in the back of a pickup truck” — reflects the reality of biking on roads ruled by cars, which he doesn’t minimize. In fact, the introduction includes a disclaimer to the effect that the fact that a road is designated as part of this river trail doesn’t mean it’s safe for cyclists. Robinson highlights larger than usual hazards here and there.
But he also makes hundreds and hundreds of miles of the way sound highly inviting, from pedaling beside a running raccoon to having your picture taken with a 65-foot concrete muskie. He helps you envision yourself on an adventure.
Each section includes a running account of what traveling through the area is like, noting tourist attractions, local history, places to camp or book a room, bike shops, potential hazards; a map; and a mileage chart, which can be read from north to south or south to north and is coded to provide shoulder widths, traffic ratings and references to amenities (for instance, Q stands for a place where you can grab a quick snack ).
The mileage chart and text do use a lot of abbreviations — like MRT for Mississippi River Trail, RS for recommended stop, YS for yield sign — but one of his stated aims is a guide that’s succinct enough to be carried on the road, so although ardent anti-alphabet soupers might not forgive him, weight-conscious cyclists who have to tote the book in their packs will.
Robinson and his wife, Dawna, are hikers from Fort Smith well known among Ozark Society volunteers who’ve helped maintain the Ozark Highlands Trail and other footpaths in Arkansas. Appropriately, the book made its debut in the volunteers room at the recent National Trails Symposium in Little Rock. The author’s hiking and cycling friends, many of whom wore the green shirts of symposium volunteers, eagerly grabbed it up, and then Mississippi River Trail Inc. sold it (hot off the Spirits Creek press ) at the exhibition.
Proceeds from book sales will support Mississippi River Trail Inc. More information is at www. mississippiriver trail. org.
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