Craigslist Score after an impromptu trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas!

Last week I spotted a Montague folding bike, like she had scored a few months back, listed on Craigslist in Eureka Springs Arkansas for a darn good price. The owner was asking less than half what the bike originally sold for with a whole bag full of accessories. On Friday I inquired with the owner if the bike was still available, he informed me it was, but that it would be going up for sale in his garage sale on Saturday. So we cussed and discussed and decided we would drive down and take a look and possibly ride some trails while we were in Arkansas. I looked up and found some trails in Bentonville that we would be going by so that was the Plan. Funny how plans change when somebody upstairs decides to dump buckets from the heavens. We drove down to Bentonville, Arkansas Friday evening and stayed overnight with the intent of driving on to Eureka Springs early in the morning. I have traveled the road to Eureka Springs before and did not want to do so at night. Our trip to Bentonville was fairly uneventful. Things changed come Saturday morning. We awoke to it lightly sprinkling. We ate a rather tasty complimentary breakfast at our hotel, and headed to our car where were met by a deluge from the sky. Little did we know our little Honda Fit was part Submarine as I motored our way about 3 miles to the Local Kum n Go where we could seek shelter under their awning, waiting out the deluge. Needless to say my Sweetie and I shared some exuberant words before she convinced me that our little FIT was not in fact a HUMMER so we could not drive through the Mountains in a torrential downpour. So there we sat for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Well it finally looked like it was letting up on the Radar(Gotta love Smartphones!) so we headed out. After about 10 miles or so it started raining again quite heavily so we pulled off in much to my surprise, the Pea Ridge Military Park. I had not noticed on the Map in my hastened planning for the trip that we would be driving right passed a key Civil War battle site! There we were sitting in the parking lot at 7:45 in the morning before it had even opened for business, waiting out a deluge of rain. So once again thanks to my trusty Iphone, I started reading about the history of Pea Ridge and also discovering that they have a road that is bicycle accessible that runs through the park. We wait there about 30 minutes and the rain finally lets up and the radar shows that things should likely clear up for awhile. So we head out towards Eureka Springs. My Sweetie is clenching the door handle and her chair as we wind through the narrow mountain roads. Suddenly after we round a curve and go over a blind hump we have no chance to stop before we are right in the middle of about 1 foot of water over the road!!!! Luckily we were on the upstream side of the road as our light little car was struggling to remain a car instead of a boat. My Sweetie's exact words were "This road is going to give me a Heartattack!" Luckily our momentum carried us across the water to clear road! Let this be a warning to ALL that after a heavy rain you MUST ALWAYS be cognizant of your surroundings when driving! We got very lucky! Luck that the Guy Upstairs didn't want us floating up to meet him yet! After that we traveled slowly along and luckily did not come across any more swollen creeks over the road. When we finally made it to our destination, we found a Gold Mine waiting for us! :)

S~~

Torrential downpours, and flash floods, and mountains -- OH MY!!!!! 

He covered it all pretty well. I'm simply going to say this Kansas girl has never been a mountain fan all the way back to my childhood. And with relatives living in Colorado I had plenty of occasion to have to be a passenger in a vehicle winding around and through the rocky devils. I'm scared of heights and I get altitude sickness. There is nothing to like about a mountain as far as I'm concerned. I realize if the goal is to ride in all 50 states, more of that crap is in my future. Perhaps we need to just plan a wide western sweep and get all of the "icky" states crossed off the list in one trip. ;)

But, all that aside, we got a hella deal on this bike and all the accessories that this guy was selling as a package deal, lock, stock, and barrel.  So, all in all, it was worth it.  And say what you want about Craigslist, but we have gotten 2 incredible bikes with lots of extras thrown in from listings on Craigslist. You  have to be careful, but you CAN find gems on there, and we have scored twice now. :)

~~H

Here is our Gold Mine:

Montague SwissBike LX Folding Bike!

Bag for Bike

Bag for Bike

Nice new helmet!

Gloves!

Riding shoes with pedal mounts

Giant Saddlebags for carrying all your stuff!

Shelf for carrying Saddlebags with taillight!

Emergency toolkit full of good stuff!

Bike Fenders

Tire Pump!

2 Bike cables w/locks & keys, Headlight, mounts for fenders, Owners Manual!

Talk about a Gold Mine!   Let's just say we got roughly $1K worth of stuff for less than half what it originally cost!  We think the trip was well worth it! :)

S~~