I had trouble going to sleep last night because it was so darned hot. I eventually fell asleep after the sun finally went down but I was awakened by some high winds. Looked at the clock. It was 3:33. I looked at the radar and saw nothing but the forecast was calling for rain in the afternoon and evening. I laid back down for awhile but wasn't able to go back to sleep so I went ahead and got going and make a stab at trying to get to Arkansas before the rain hit. Not too long after I started I encountered a closed road, the road was just gone, almost totally due to erosion I guess. It was right before a creek bridge. I carefully walked around it so as not to trigger another collapse. There was a lot more of the same loose gravel early on which hampered my ability to make haste of Mississippi. I finally found some water at a church after some searching, and was expecting a DG at around 30 miles in but I totally did the math wrong because it was much further at around mile 50. But it was no biggie. By now though I was riding down in the Mississippi Delta. Leaving town, I followed a levee beside the Coldwater river, which was lovely.. But after I turned off, I was on straight, flat and exposed roads, farm fields in all directions. Passed some rice fields for the first time in my life. The wind at this point had picked up considerably, about 20mph from the southwest. More loose gravel roads. I was getting tired. I stopped for a nice break at a little park in the "town" of Dundee. I was running low on water too despite having filled my 4 bottles twice. Seemed impossible but I had been riding for a long time and it was hot. Sticky humid hot. All morning thick clouds blocked the sun but now it was peeking through. And there were storm clouds gathering off to my south. When I finally got to the highway that led to the bridge I passed a motorcycle rider who has lots of stuff strapped to his bike and knobby tires. I looked back and he turned at the road I had just came from. A fellow Trans America Trail rider! The highway was in poor shape and there were huge gaps in the road. There were two workers with only a truck and safety lights to block traffic while they spread asphalt into the gaps. I yelled "Stay Safe" and they both wished me the same. I still had another 2.5 miles till I was across the river, and it was nerve wracking. I rode pretty hard so I could get it over with but it was a decent hill to get to the bridge and I had that 20mph headwind that now blew at me with full force all exposed up above the river. I took the full lane so no one would be tempted to pass into oncoming traffic. Thankfully most traffic was going to the Mississippi side. I got across with no problem and was relieved to be out of Mississippi finally. No sooner had I entered Arkansas than I had to go over another narrow bridge, a small railroad one. Had to actually quickly jump up on the tiny sidewalk when a semi from behind didn't slow down, rather barreled past me into oncoming semi traffic. Glad I was paying really close attention. I pedaled quickly from there into Helena, a nice town that had some great old buildings, a lot of history and is currently falling on hard times by the looks of things. I got some things at the DG Talked with a couple of locals there about my journey and they wished me well and safe travels. I walked out of the store to find the storms that had been chasing me all day finally had caught up. I quickly got going and headed north. I passed by a really nice park that had a covered area in the middle. I stopped there and plugged my stuff in, right before the rain began. I decided to just wait for a break and I'm glad I did. I needed to charge things anyway. After most of the rain had gone I rode the levee north into the St Francis National Forest, just outside town. It turns out to be really hilly. Very dramatic steep hollows and huge trees providing a closed canopy for maximum shade. Eventually I pulled off into a little clearing off a closed road at the top of a hill. It's still really humid and quite warm, with more rain expected but a cooler front is on it's way and I can't wait. I realized later in the morning that today is the summer solstice. So it was appropriate that I got up and began when I did before sunrise, and ultimately making this one of my most memorable Solstice adventures. In fact, I woke and looked at my clock this morning at 3:33, one minute after the official time of the Solstice this year.