September 25 – “Arkansas One”

Well, here’s the hodgepodge of random and glorious sites we saw yesterday.  It was almost an overload.  Hold onto your hats …

Oh, but first, yesterday when I asked for meal suggestions in Marshall, we received a message from a college era friend who lives in Longview.  Sadly, we were heading the opposite direction. 

Mildred’s.  I’m not really sure what the purpose was, but the building looked really rustic and very cool.

Not one, but four, six-foot-tall gigantic metal chickens.  How can that not be awe-inspiring?

T-Bone Walker Day was coming in Linden, Texas.  We saw the billboard.

Here’s a grand favorite: Mr. Ed’s Trade Center.  Didn’t see the horse anywhere, though.  Or Wilbur.  Don’t understand the appeal of this one?  You’re too young.

By Faith Automotive.  Aren’t they all, really?

Wait.  Four more of those giant chickens.

Lanark.  Nope.  Nothing there.  At all.  It was just my favorite city name on the map for the day.

Speaking of city names, we passed through Washington and Nashville.  Told you Chris drives fast.

The fog and sun played a game of tug of war as we approached Domino, Texas.  The result was some pretty images of fog and brightness against a horde of trees and hills.

Chris saw some red flowers that fascinated her enough to stop in someone’s yard and take a picture.  We haven’t looked them up in the red flower database yet.  More to come on that one, I suppose.

Ozan.  Population 81.  Yep.  A real city.  Sounds like someone who can fix your foundation.  Check with Nolan Ryan.  Don’t get it?  You need to watch some more TV commercials.

Hope.  Finally.  We crossed into Arkansas and went to our first National Park site thing.  Where were we?  President Bill Clinton’s grandmother’s old house.  It’s where he lived as a baby.  We met some nice ladies from Longview there.

Next stop?  Murfreesboro, home of the Crater of Diamonds State Park.  No, it wasn’t a scheduled stop, but we were right there, and who can refuse a field of diamonds?  Next time … me.  See, it has been raining in Arkansas, a lot.  But everyone we talked to said after it rains is the best time to search for diamonds (Oh, did I mention?  The park is a huge 37 acre plowed field of mud.  And you too – yes, you – can stomp around in the mud and muck searching for that elusive diamond in the rough).  OK, I’ll hasten to say … no, we found no diamonds.  Just jasper and volcanic rock (The whole field is a gigantic volcano, just waiting to erupt.  Maybe).  Oh, but I did make a new friend – one who would choose to join us on the rest of our journey.  His name is Cyrus Scorpezius, a very large, stuffed scorpion.  An incredibly rare species, I might add.

One more giant chicken.

Oh, and in the field nearby, a whole herd of real chickens.  Or flock.  Or gaggle.  A bunch of real chickens.

Whoosh.  Another giant metal chicken.

Look.  Another giant chicken.  This one was painted carefully to resemble the real thing, but I was able to expertly discern that the six-foot-tall marvel was in fact a hoax, and not a real, breathing chicken at all.

Siri pulled her first prank of the trip on Chris.  As we got to Hot Springs, we were searching for the Visitor’s Center of the Hot Springs National Park.  Siri had very specific commands as to how to arrive … as usual.  Everything seemed normal.  Until we realized we were on a wild goose chase up in the hills in the middle of the National Forest with no humanity in sight anywhere.  And just as we made that realization, Siri declared, “You have arrived at your destination.”  That, my friends, it the Siri way of saying, “Gotcha.”  Sure enough, we put in the request a second time, and she had us backtrack to the actual center.  She even led us to our hotel with no glitches.  Good one, Siri.  You make our trips so much fun.  But be careful.  Chris wasn’t exactly charmed.

Meanwhile we got a message from some Colorado friends who saw one of my FaceBook travel tips posts.  Come to find out, they are now Hot Springs friends.  Bruce and Becky had us over for a great dinner of burgers and baked beans and lemon meringue pie (Or however you spell it).  Good stuff.

Psalms 103:1 says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”

Father, thanks for the hospitality offers from Rick and Blessed and Bruce and Becky.  Bless them for their openness.  Amen.