Day 16. McAlester, OK to Ft. Smith, AR. 105 miles. After the 145 miles into McAlester, the thought of riding "just" 105 miles to Ft. Smith seemed like an "easy" ride. One of our riders thought the leave/load time was 8:15 instead of 8:00 am, so Greg and I waited for them to hurriedly load and get ready to ride. The first rest stop was 33 miles down the road, so we knew we could pedal together as a team and catch the group, despite their head start. This really helped all of us wake up and recover from the long ride yesterday. We didn't want to push too hard, but kept up our cadence to get some momentum. And of course, we also tried to look around and see a few things in this neighborhood. One of my favorite "sights" was a silver dumpster that had a door painted on it, and had one of those silver, revolving ventilator fans fixed to the roof. The sign painted on it says, "FEMA Approved Accommodation." In the land of the tornado, it appears FEMA is not well loved by one and all. By the time we arrived at the first rest stop, our 3 person group had caught one and all and all in the world was well. Much of the day, we rode in an 8 person pace line to buck the 10 mph headwind. Since the terrain was reasonably flat, we kept the speed at about 20 mph and arrived at the lunch stop with only 33 miles left for the day. We all spread out at the gas station, setting up our folding chairs in the shade and enjoyed our favorite turkey or ham sandwiches, pickles, apples, chips, ect. I chugged a couple of milks from the gas station store to keep my energy up and my tank full. After a healthy rest, Kari and I wandered through the town to get on the main drag, Highway 112 to Ft. Smith. We rode together for about 10 miles and then he told me to "go on, no more unmarked roads." The joke here is that yesterday, Kari took a wrong turn on a road that didn't have a sign. And like Blanche Dubois, Kari has ". . . always relied on the kindness of strangers." Two different sets of locals helped guide him to the road that led to McAlester. After he realized there were no more "unmarked roads" today, he decided he didn't need me to navigate. The last 10 miles were hot and humid, but we did dodge the rain. As always, I was relieved to get off that bike seat right after I rolled into the Aspen Inn. Since Barb and I arrived at the hotel about the same time, she and I unloaded the luggage and then I showered up. After my buddies arrived, I caught a ride to Scott's Bike Shop with Jim, our mechanic. I have been talking to the owner, Scott, for about a week in order to have him inspect my bike to ensure the integrity of my frame. I had a "creak" in the frame for some time, and it wasn't until about 3 days ago that the sound disappeared. While I was confident that my frame was okay, I got a professional opinion from Scott. He looked over my frame with a fine tooth comb and proclaimed it safe and sturdy to transport my 200+ pounds for another 1000+ miles. Jim and I then returned to the hotel where I waited for Arlene's arrival. At our Rap Meeting, Mike briefed us on the plan for arrival in Savannah and explained what we could expect. Hard to believe we are already looking ahead to 18 May and the end of this fabulous adventure. Since I had a little spare time, I pulled on my swimsuit for the first time and did a few laps in the warm water of the hotel pool. It felt great just to stretch out and relax for a few minutes. Arlene arrived about 7:15 pm and we headed over to Chili's to catch up and relax over some nachos, fajitas and baby back ribs. Arlene is really exhausted after working about 90 hours last week and supporting a DOD exercise. We all feel blessed to have made it to Ft. Smith and have a day to recover before the last 10 day push to the Atlantic. Hope you are having as much fun reading as I am writing and riding. Stay healthy, Steve