4JUNE2012 @ Helena, AR - Today I awoke at the Edwardian Inn in Helena, Arkansas.  At the end of 2,730 miles of struggle, joy, cold, friendship, heat, great meals, missed meals, lost paddles, awe, muscle ache, reverence, slap water, history, wildlife, wind, sunsets, motorboats, lonliness, barges, portages, horseflies, flowers, water bottles, dirty clothes, paw prints by the tent, sand storms, cottonwood cotton, ice, sunbursts, bald eagles, catfish, reservoirs, river mile signs, riprap, mud, snow,     ... is a wonderful bed and breakfast.  To spend a night or two here is a treat ... not one that I will paddle 2,730 miles to enjoy again ... but a treat for sure.  Contact them at 870-338-9155 ... http://www.edwardianinn.com/ ... 317 Biscoe - Highway 49B, Helena, AR 72342 ... info@edwardianinn.com ... they're paddler friendly.
Violent storms passed through Arkansas last night and are continuing today.  Wilson (near where I slept Friday night) was in the national weather news ... what a difference to not be two days later.
Lannie Travis drove me around Helena in the morning.  On the same day that the Confederacy lost battles at Gettysburg and Vicksburg a 3rd loss was realized here.  Concluding that recapturing Helena would relieve some of the pressure on Vicksburg the Confederacy attacked Helena ... and failed.  This Helena has about the same number of spectacular old homes as our Helena.  Many here, though, are in states of disrepair, quite different from the west side in Montana's capital city.  This Helena's past is basically the equal of ours what with a massive number of sawmills as well as cotton business.  Both of these are longer lasting than gold mining and the city's stately houses display the reality that once many people in Helena had a lot of money.  Lannie also showed me the boat ramp where he (and I) were expecting me to arrive.  It is at river mile 664, two miles upstream from the bridge that had been my measuring mile.  Had the three not met me yesterday, the additional 8 miles would have been accomplishable. 
But now the best ... Delia Travis fixed a lunch for the three of us that rates as a top-ten meal in my lifetime.  Lannie had just finished several days of hospital food and I had finished two months of outdoor life; we both were ready for some real eating.  Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn topped with pecan pie and iced tea ... umm umm umm!  All of this was from the produce ... no frozen/canned anything.  Johnny Cash had a song with lines such as "Just look at those beans!" and "How 'bout those greens?"  I am happy to attest that those exclamations were constantly in my mind as I held back from cleaning off every serving plate/bowl.  I don't know what all that red/oniony stuff is that smothered the steak, but I could eat that straight.
Not associated with the great meal in any way, think day upon day of sun, my lower lip hurts.  It got blistered despite my efforts at applying lip balm and chap stick.  The last three days I wrapped my head in a sort of arabesque fashion and, while that helped, I'm still hurting now.  I have no skin burns.  Sleep beckons for a second night at the Edwardian Inn ... ahhhhh.