Sunday, September 26, 2010

Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18

We dragged all of our stuff back down to the camper and set out driving southeast to pick up I-40 which will take us all the way to Memphis where we veer south for Atlanta. According to Google maps we had 22 hours and 40 minutes of drive time to cover 1,394 miles--IF we don’t deviate. But, of course, we did deviate…..

The route took us out of New Mexico, across the Texas panhandle, and into Oklahoma. Friday, we just drove and watched the changing scenery:
--tree covered dry hills with dark green and blue mesas and buttes against the morning sky ( wiki says a mesa has a top wider than its height, while a butte's top is narrower)
--long, flat, dry brown grasslands
--lots of Route 66 signs and small, somewhat depressed looking small towns USA
--huge mesas topped with wind farms rising out of the plains
--Texas cattle
--finally rolling hills when we hit Oklahoma
--we see a sign that says, “Use the rod on your child and save his life.” hmmmm….

Just west of Oklahoma City in Hinton, Oklahoma, Mark locates the Red Rock Canyon State Park. We trundle off the highway about 10 miles and descend to the bottom of a small, red rock canyon. Are we in Arizona again?? It is 7PM, 85 degrees and incredibly humid. Ah, but we have hookups!

Dinner and a walk follow in quick succession. On our walk we notice a sign listing more than ten nearby churches. In the night, we wake to loud, close, continual hooting of an owl…also the incessant sound of our neighbor’s air conditioned tent trailer.

By the time we got up it was already 72 degrees out. We ate, unhooked, and rumbled the truck up out of the canyon. Once again, we observe as we travel:
--huge, green, cultivated fields
--signs indicating as we enter and leave Indian nations land--Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, Potawatomi, Seminole
--more rolling green treed hills
--by noon we are in Arkansas
--we have covered more than 3,000 miles on our travels

Having never been in Arkansas and thinking it likely we never will be again, we decided to see some of the Ozarks. We turn off on the state-designated scenic highway 7. It was beautiful countryside but we are perhaps a little jaded after seeing so many beautiful places recently….weather didn’t help either…….

--drive through an area known as “Arkansas’ Grand Canyon” with views to tree covered low mountains off both sides of the ridge we are driving
--pass through the tiny hamlet of Jasper where the small stores have rocking chairs out front
--one shop is called the Museum of Junk
--eventually we are in the Buffalo National River recreation area known for canoeing, fishing, small cabin rentals
--the river is fairly low and sluggish this time of year and we nearly miss crossing it
--take a winding shortcut interestingly called Low Water Hasty Cutoff

Originally, we were thinking we would do some hiking in the Ozarks, but it is 90 degrees and very humid. We can’t even get excited about canoeing. We talk back and forth about where to camp. By 6PM, it is 95 degrees and when I tentatively suggest indulging in a hotel room, Mark jumps at the idea. With renewed energy, we consult the guide books and the GPS and find America’s Best Value Inn in Conway about 30 minutes north of Little Rock. Pulling in, we are delighted to find that our spacious $65 room, in addition to the longed for air conditioning, has a microwave, frig, and free breakfast of juice, coffee, cereal and donuts. We microwave our dinner, flop into easy chairs and veg out in the air conditioned coolness. Ahhhh…..the morning’s promised donuts were too gooey sweet for us but we are not complaining!

More state mottos/nicknames:
8. Texas--Friendship/Lone Star State

9. Oklahoma--Labor omnia vincit, Labor conquers all things/Sooner State

10. Arkansas--Regnat populus,The people rule/The Natural State

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