The RV Sabbatical Journal

written Sunday, November 30, 2008
near Texarkana, TX

If we accomplished nothing else during our stay in Texarkana it was to confirm that this “Ark-La-Tex” area (as they commonly refer to it) isn’t going to be on our short-list of places to live someday. There’s just nothing we saw that would cause us to delay leaving. A few years ago Mac Davis wrote a song about Lubbock TX that applies here, if I may paraphrase: “Happiness is Texarkana in my rear view mirror.”

Yesterday, Saturday, the weather broke and a bad case of bus-house fever drove us out on a short exploration of the area. Just south of our RV Park is the Wright Patman Dam and Lake, another COE project. There are 4 COE campgrounds around the lake, one of which is top-notch and will be on our list of places to stay if we ever break down passing through this area in the future. We also explored the Dam, as I find these massive structures amazing in their scale and the amount of effort expended to build them. They will certainly be among those enduring things that’ll survive our civilzation and give future archeologists something to study and wonder about.

The drive around Texarkana was just depressing. On the way into the central downtown area on Hwy 59 and 93, mostly the south side of town, there were more abandoned structures than inhabited ones. The lucky ones were boarded up, but all in various stages of deterioration — eroding monuments to the natural law that things tend to move from a state of order to a state of disorder.

We’d heard about the Texarkana Post Office — it’s supposed to be the only Post Office in the United States that straddles a state line and has two zip codes. Since it’s the main tourist attraction in the area we had to see it. It’s downtown, right in the middle of Stateline Blvd. — the road bends around the building, northbound lanes on one side, southbound on the other. OK, it was Saturday, but downtown was largely abandoned by everyone except questionable characters lurking about. After a few quick photos we drove up Stateline Blvd. to the north. As you make your way along this road Arkansas is on one side, Texas on the other. It was quickly apparent that the Texas side is “dry” as every liquor store we saw (and there were a lot of ‘em) was on the Arkansas side. Throughout the South there’s a patchwork of liquor laws that complicate life for people from Wisconsin and those who think a glass or two of wine in the evening is medicinal. We manage.

Anyway, the north side of town is somewhat better than the south. This is where the big shopping center is and most of the restaurant chains have located. We made a quick stop for a few supplies and headed back to the bus-house.

Today, Sunday, we’re getting ready to pull out Monday morning. Our destination is another COE campground near Waco where we’ll spend a few days on our way South. We have almost two weeks before we’re scheduled to arrive in Rockport and we’d like to spend some time along the way in Austin to visit the State Capitol and the LBJ Library & Museum on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

T

written Friday, November 28, 2008
Texarkana, TX

It’s been a quiet couple of days here in Texarkana. Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, we stayed in. Since it was cloudy and, at times, drizzly, it was a perfect day to veg, watch some football, and work on getting our big dinner ready. But the football game, Tennessee v. Detroit, was so bad I turned the sound down and used the glow from the TV only to help me see the crossword puzzle I worked on. The poor, sad Lions haven’t won a game this year, and may well go win-less through this entire season. Whether it’s business or sports Detroit doesn’t seem able to get a break these days.  Maybe the Lions can be included in the auto industry bailout?

I wonder if the financial crisis we’re going through is having an impact on professional sports? It only seems logical that it would as the support of business has to be critical to the various leagues cash-flow. It’s not individuals that keep pro-sports going… it’s business, and you can bet business has got to be cutting back on expenses that have marginal value, like pro-sports.

We whipped up a traditional Thanksgiving dinner which turned into quite a feat for such a small kitchen and very limited counter space. But we got it done and it turned out darned good if I do say so myself.

The rain is supposed to continue today so we’ll see if there’s something we can find to explore while staying dry.

T

written Tuesday, November 25, 2008
not far from Texarkana, TX.

Well, we’re another hundred miles further South and determined to keep “running this play” until we find some warm weather. The cool Midwest Fall had the “freezing line” dropping South about as fast as we were moving the last few weeks, and while I’m not complaining too much, there’s a growing need to get the shorts on and soak up some sun. Yesterday my Dad sent a copy of his own “out the window” picture from Beaver Dam. Yowzer! It looks like another early winter for Wisconsin. Last year they had record snowfall of over 100 inches. I really hope the sun comes out and it warms up for the rest of the winter — they need a break.

Meanwhile, further South, the drive down from Little Rock went well. I put 77 gallons of good old #2 diesel in bus-house today and, amazingly, paid the least per gallon since starting this endeavor in the summer of ‘07… just 2.56. I’m not celebrating too loudly as these low prices will not last long and they are really not good for our country in the long-term. The only way to stimulate development of alternative energy and wring more oil out of ever deeper places is to keep the price higher in order to make new energy projects work… to provide risk-takers with a return on their investments. Wildly swinging oil prices just add uncertainty and encourage investors to walk away. I’ll gladly pay more for fuel if it secures a better future of our kids and grand-kids.

We set up camp at a very neat and clean RV Park here in the Texarkana, TX. The weedless lawns are edged and evenly trimmed. The roads and pads are all clean crack-free concrete. In fact, it’s almost too clean and neat, and certainly a change from the natural woodsy Corps of Engineer Parks we’ve enjoyed staying at. But this is a case of “dressing up” for Thanksgiving. Variety is nice and we’ve learn to appreciate all kinds of places. It spices things up a bit. And it’s also functional in some ways. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been able to do laundry, and having full hookups makes that possible. We’ll be here through the weekend before continuing southward.

Tomorrow, Wednesday is supposed to be a little warmer and partly cloudy. I’m not planning anything.

Stay warm Mom & Dad!

T

written Monday, November 24, 2008
Maumelle COE Park near Little Rock, AR.

Monday, Dar and I loaded our bikes onto the Toad and drove about 10 miles to a trailhead for the famous Arkansas River Trail. The good citizens of the Little Rock area have built this extensive trail system over the last few years and we were itching to “give it a go”. There’s something liberating and free about riding a good trail through a natural landscape, along a river, through woods or forest, or even a good desert. We do it whenever we can.

Throughout the country local and state governments have converted old abandoned railroad rights-of-way into these marvelous trails where one can walk, run, or bike through the countryside without fear of being run down by some old vision-impaired guy driving a 45 foot motorhome. Of course, before you send me hate mail, it’s also possible to be run down by young mindless texting teenagers, or middle aged depressed drunk guys. I just don’t believe bikes and trucks/cars/campers belong on the same road, and that’s why we almost always ride on trails specifically for bikes and pedestrians.

This trail is about 20 miles in total length. It forms a loop that starts in downtown Little Rock, crosses the Arkansas River on a recycled railroad bridge to North Little Rock, proceeds upstream along the north bank through parts of town, an old abandoned rock quarry, a couple of large parks, and eventually to the site of the Corps of Engineers Murray Lock & Dam about 8 miles upstream from downtown Little Rock.

At the dam, a new bridge, opened in 2006, was built on top of the dam expressly to carry the trail over the river. Referred to as the Big Dam Bridge, it’s the longest pedestrian/bike only bridge built for that purpose in the United States. At over 4200 feet long, it rises 65 feet above the river and 30 feet above the dam and lock. When we crossed over, which we did twice — once each way, the wind was steady at 20 mph and gusting higher. Being that high in the middle of the river in those kinds of winds was a hoot. I enjoyed it thoroughly, I think Dar did too.

As the trail winds it’s way back to downtown Little Rock it shares space on city streets in some areas. We didn’t do that part, choosing instead to make a U-turn and head back over the Big Dam Bridge and back to our car downstream.

The Big Dam Bridge and the Arkansas River Trail… highly recommended! Some pictures from our day should be online in a day or so.

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After more than two weeks in the Little Rock area I’m feeling like I belong here. I know my way around town, the airport, the big shopping centers. I have a local car mechanic. I know people at a car rental agency. We have friends here. I can get my way around downtown. Isn’t it amazing how much you can learn in just two weeks?

We’ve enjoyed our stay in LR (we locals refer to Little Rock this way). I think we’ll be back soon.

T