Notes from Dr. Sam

Good day,

I hope this note finds you well.

Most of you know that I was raised in Augusta, AR. All of us kids had bikes and we shared the streets in town with the slow-moving car traffic and work trucks. There were only a few adult-aged people who shared the streets with us. It’s fair to say that bicycle riding was not a common adult activity.

I remember one young couple who lived near downtown. He was a teller at the bank, and she worked at the drugstore behind the soda counter. When off work, they could be seen cruising down Main Street on a nice afternoon, down by the river or on the lawn at the high school. 

He had a large basket on the front of his handlebars where he carried their picnic supplies. She rode a step-through girls’ bike that allowed her to wear a skirt and not expose herself when mounting the bike. Eventually, they married, settled down, bought a car, and parked the bikes in the garage. 

One older man named Pappy rode a bike, though not at first. 

My earliest memory of Pappy is of him driving a narrow, wooden wagon pulled by an old mule. In his wagon was the produce from his garden, which he sold from early spring to late fall. 

His voice echoed down the streets and alleys of Augusta. “Taters, maters, fresh corn for sale!” If you needed something from the old man, you left a makeshift sign in your front window. After a while, his mule died and Pappy took to a bicycle. 

His was not a fancy, modern, lightweight, carbon-fiber model; it was an old discard bike reinforced with metal struts, and it probably weighed more than he did. Behind the bike he pulled a small two-wheel trailer with large baskets for his produce. 

It never would have occurred to me that at age 79, I would be riding a bicycle long distance while my perfectly good car sat in the garage. 

I got my first adult bike when I was in my twenties. I had begun running and the bike was a way of cross-training. Eventually, Ms. Annette and I took up extended bike touring in our forties and have been going at it since. 

In June of 2014, we joined Oklahoma Freewheel and made a ride across Oklahoma that year. In the spring of 2017, we set out with eight other brave souls on a bicycle journey from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida. Much to our surprise, we made it with no major mishaps. In the fall of 2025, we completed the circumference of the United States on our bicycles; and boy, was it a hoot. 

For the next few issues, I’ll be telling you a bit about the small towns and backroads we’ve traveled. You might even want to give it a try yourself.

Have a good journey,

Sam

Dr. Sam Taggart is a retired doctor/writer/marathon runner who practiced in Benton for 45 years. He recently released For Every Family, A Family Doctor: a history of the modern Family Medicine Movement in Arkansas. His other books include Country Doctors of Arkansas, The Public’s Health, With a Heavy Heart and We All Hear Voices.