Arkansas

Wednesday was a not-so-good horrible terrible bad day for an Arkansawyer or Arkansan hawk.  That’s not a species or variety of hawk, it’s just one who lives in Arkansas.  His/her/its day started great, he found a fresh but dead squirrel in the middle of the road.  However, as we approached him he grabbed the squirrel and flew to avoid a possible collision with us.  Just moments after he took off, the prey slipped from his talons and got wrapped around the middle wire of a barbed wire fence.  Too high to reach from the ground and guarded by the top wire for a fly-by grab.  Anywhere but the middle wire of a barbed wire fence!  “Woe is me,” shrieked the hawk nevermore to eat that delicacy.

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As we passed from Texas into Oklahoma several events occurred.  I (Denvy) have now set foot in all fifty states, Oklahoma being the last.   -   We were singing a line or two of songs from the area:  “Oh, come sit by my side if you love me, … But remember the Red River Valley, and the cowgirl who loved you so true,” and “Oooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.”  And have we seen sweeping winds, every day, every state.  Our goal this evening was to camp by Denby Point on Lake Ouachita in central Arkansas and enjoy the beauty of the state.  We only stepped out to plug in the electricity and turn on the propane and then only after we had donned several sweatshirts and covered our heads.  We are still enjoying the view from the shelter of our “covered wagon.”

 

As we passed from central to northern Texas we noticed a significant change in the landscape, most notable was the change from desert tans and browns polka-dotted with green shrubs and bushes to level lush green fields.  The greenery is in part due to the season, spring.  We also noticed what they called washes and draws earlier were now rivers and creeks and bayous with water in them.  We also noted that after coming out of the Red River valley, we crossed the Blue River, and then there was the Green River and finally the White River.  It was like a kindergartener coloring a map and naming the rivers.  Of course, there was also the Muddy Boggy River, or something like that, which had to be named by someone who actually saw the water.

 

One goal of the trip was to explore the back country of Arkansas and that we did.  The roads from today’s “Go” tile (think Monopoly) to tonight’s camp site was all back roads.  The painted middle line wiggled like a sidewinder sliding down the road.  At one point there was a rock near the shoulder so the edge white line swerved toward the middle of the road narrowing the pathway.  Some hairpins were marked 10mph while most often one could only get up to about 40mph before the next curve.  Fortunately there was minimal traffic.  I can’t blame them if they know the road.  The views were awesome but we were taken back by the numbers of abandoned and totally disintegrated buildings.  Several looked like the remnants of a passing tornado.  For several moments we also drove through some wildfire smoke.  Never did see the source of the smoke.

 

Google in all its glory indicated that today’s drive be just short of four hours.  We started at 9:00AM and arrived after 5:00PM; that’s eight hours.  Of course, there was a nap thrown in there and there was the matter of taking highway 28 instead of 27 at one intersection which added an extra hour of driving time but much more beautiful scenery, culture and more hairpins.

 

Tomorrow we head to Pearlington, Mississippi to see how things look 17 years after Katrina and Christ’s Church’s teams helping in the reconstruction.  A full day of driving.