Got up a bit earlier than I would have liked but I slept good. It was very quiet and I slept soundly till first light. I began without much water like usual after camping dry, with the first town 40 miles away. Thankfully I ran across a church after not too long and it had good faucet water. Even had a working plug. I took the opportunity to hand wash a pair of dirty socks and the jersey I'd been wearing this whole time. Switched to my backups and let the others dry on my bags in the sun and wind. Roads were still pancake flat but pretty rough. I'd gotten used to it by this point. Forgot what hills are like. I stopped at the Burger King in Beebe and charged my stuff while I ate an impossible burger. Got really cold inside in the AC. Left around noon, on US 64, which is the same highway I began my journey on in WNC. I turned off from the highway soon and not long after the first hills began again. First one wasn't too bad. 2nd one was silly. It was over 13%. Pretty jarring after being in the flatlands for so long. The descent was even steeper and I realized I keep forgetting to adjust my brake pads. So I awkwardly stopped in the little saddle there and went ahead and did it. My fear was that all the hills for today would be like that one but thankfully it was the only one. I barely had to brake for the others. I finally ran into my first dead end of the trip. I was climbing blackjack mountain on gravel and crossed a couple of cattle grids, the first of the trip. I came upon an open gate that led to a large clearing. Signs on the gate said only authorized personnel allowed in "blackjack drop zone" whatever that is. There were zero signs warning about anything on the way up and it was just open. I wandered out onto the road in the clearing but had a bad feeling. There was a small drab building and a large military vehicle parked next to it. My gps track was trying to lead me into the woods up the mountain. I went back and on the other side of the gate I saw a disused double track. I followed this for about a quarter mile to another gate, no signs this time. I stopped to consider what to do next. Suddenly behind me I heard a strange creaking sound. I was already on edge and didn't know if I had tripped some sort of proximity sensor or what. I had visions of being surrounded by officers and interrogated. I quickly retraced my tracks back to the road and the strange gate only to find it closed now and I looked down the hill the way I came in and saw a cloud of smoke but heard no vehicle. I was a tad weirded out. A quick glance at the map revealed I should have taken the left turn a short distance back. I got out of there quick and the turn was the correct path, it led me to the rest of my route. I tried to ration my food and water till the next town but it was a 50+ mile stretch and I only saw one church, in Romance, AR, and it didn't have a working faucet. A few miles from Quitman I finally found a church with water. I arrived in Quitman a bit tired and I had made up my mind to just pitch my tent behind their ball fields if no one was there. Sure enough it was deserted. So I sat there for awhile in the shade and rested. Grass wasn't high but it could've used a shave. 5 o'clock came, and around quarter after I decided I was good. As soon as I got some water to boil I heard a lawnmower crank up. Crap. So I grabbed my stuff and headed down the street to the DG and to rethink where else to go. I passed the high school grounds and had my eye on behind a practice field. But there was yet another worker cutting the grass at the school. He was far away with a lot of grass to cut. But with there being so much daylight left I couldn't rule out him cutting the practice field too. So I went to the store and got a few things. Rode back over to the school. There was an abandoned house next door that looked like the yard had been cut today. Back side hidden with trees and bushes. I just pitched my tent behind the house and it's not visible from the road. Actually ends up being a lot better choice than the fields anyway. Hopefully should get to camp in Ozark National Forest tomorrow. Fingers crossed.