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Stuttgart → Arkansas City
Stuttgart to Arkansas City, the longest day and the finish line party.
The long one, to the river
The last day is the biggest, and the daylight is the tightest it has been all week. Roll out in the window, keep the aid station cutoffs in mind, and leave yourself the afternoon, because the finish on Main Street runs until quiet hours.
Schedule
Everything with a time on it. The start window is 7:00–7:30 AM.
| Time | What | Where | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00–8:00 AM | Coffee | Stuttgart | Pork Belly |
| 6:00–8:00 AM | Breakfast | Open Season | Open Season |
| 7:00–7:30 AM | Start window | Stuttgart | — |
| 7:30 AM | Ride forward to aid one, for anyone who wants it | Stuttgart | — |
| 11:30 AM | Finish line opens | Main Street off the levee | — |
| 2:00–9:00 PM | Finish line party | Main Street | — |
| 2:30–5:00 PM | DJ | Main Street | — |
| 3:00–7:00 PM | Dinner | Main Street | Hoot's |
| 5:30–7:00 PM | Live music, first set | Main Street | — |
| 7:00 PM | Bonfire | Mama Carol's | — |
| 7:00–9:00 PM | Karaoke | Mama Carol's | — |
| 7:30–9:00 PM | Live music, second set | Main Street | — |
| 9:00 PM | Quiet hours, camping on the courthouse lawn | — | — |
Map and profile
Markers, aid and cutoffs
| Mile | Marker | Type | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Stuttgart | Start | |
| — | Aid 1 | Aid station | 7:45 AM–11:00 AM, cutoff Location confirming. |
| 26.6 | Lumsden Farm century sign | Site | |
| 54.8 | Three Rivers RV | Store | |
| 71.3 | Aid Station 2 | Aid station | 9:00 AM–2:30 PM, cutoff. Sandwich bar. |
| — | Aid 3 | Aid station | 10:30 AM–6:00 PM, cutoff Location confirming. |
| 84.7 | Rohwer 0.1 mi off route. | Site | |
| 99.5 | Main Street off the levee | Finish |
Arkansas City
A river port the river left, where the week ends on a courthouse lawn.
What it is now
Arkansas City has been the seat of Desha County since 1879, which makes it the least populous county seat in Arkansas. Three hundred and seventy-six people, a courthouse with a clock tower, a grocery, a corner store and a grill.
The county around it is serious farming country. Desha County works two hundred and sixty thousand acres across two hundred farms, averaging thirteen hundred acres each, and sold two hundred and twelve million dollars of crops in the last agricultural census, twelfth in the state. Soybeans take a hundred and forty thousand of those acres, then cotton, corn and rice.
The town is also the southern end of the Delta Heritage Trail, and the trailhead at the finish has restrooms, water and a bicycle repair stand.
A state historical marker at Desoto and Sprague says that between 1873 and 1927 Arkansas City had one of the most important ports on the Mississippi. Boats had been landing here since 1834. By 1890 there were about forty business houses, cotton compresses, an opera house. The population peaked at 1,485 in 1910.
On April 28, 1927 the levee at Pendleton gave way and water was in town by early afternoon. The river crested at sixty feet on the gauge and the town went under. The Red Cross housed the whole population until August. When the water went down, the channel had moved about a mile east, and the port was finished.
The street names are what is left of it. Kate Adams, Delta Queen, Sadie Lee, Morning Star, Natchez, Sprague. You finish on a levee with no river behind it, in a town named for boats.
Eat and drink
- Mama Carol's, 902 Kate Adams Ave — Where the bonfire and the karaoke are.
- Dinner at the finish — It is Hoot's.
- Arkansas City Grocery on Sprague St — Along with the corner store, that is the town. The nearest full grocery and pharmacy is Walmart in McGehee. Arrive with what you need.
If you have an hour
- The Desha County Courthouse — You are camping beside it. Built in 1900 for $23,369.44 out of forty train cars of Delta brick, Romanesque Revival with a four-story clock tower, on the National Register since 1976.
- The John H. Johnson statue — At the head of the Delta Heritage Trail. Johnson was born here in 1918 and founded Ebony and Jet. Susan Holley Williams sculpted it and it went up in 2023.
- The levee — The whole story of the town in one walk.
After you finish
Everything on the schedule from the moment the finish line opens.
| Time | What | Where | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2:00–9:00 PM | Finish line party | Main Street | — |
| 2:30–5:00 PM | DJ | Main Street | — |
| 3:00–7:00 PM | Dinner | Main Street | Hoot's |
| 5:30–7:00 PM | Live music, first set | Main Street | — |
| 7:00 PM | Bonfire | Mama Carol's | — |
| 7:00–9:00 PM | Karaoke | Mama Carol's | — |
| 7:30–9:00 PM | Live music, second set | Main Street | — |
| 9:00 PM | Quiet hours, camping on the courthouse lawn | — | — |
Weather and medical
We ride in rain. If lightning is near we shelter, and every host location has a designated indoor space for weather that turns serious.
- Medical
- UAMS is on site. They can assist immediately and connect you to any local hospital or emergency services as necessary.
