7-29-17

We had a late start this morning because we were less than 30 minutes from Little River Canyon National Preserve and they didn't open until 10:00 so the kids enjoyed sleeping in. We drove to the park and stopped at a couple overlooks. It would be a great place to come camp and play if we were a little closer. 

We went in to the visitor center and watched the movie, Lorelei did a her junior ranger and then we went to the demonstration area where they were letting people make arrowheads the way the native Americans used to make them. Lorelei spent a lot of time making one while the rest of us watched. It was pretty cool and great to see her so proud. 

Then we grabbed some food from the trunk for lunch and hit the road. We are expecting to be home between 6 and 7 tonight. 

Things I learned from 7 weeks on the road:

-Camping was surprisingly easy. We got really good at setting up and taking down but my 2year old $50 Coleman tent was not meant for the kind of travel and abuse that we put it through. It's meant to camp in the same spot for one week once every year. Doing it in a small camper van would be even better. 

-I love waking up to the sun and going to sleep to the darkening sky every night. It really is the way we were meant to live. 

-I like being outside everyday. Despite the varying heat and cold, I would prefer to spend a little bit of everyday outside dealing with it. 

-I need very little to be extremely happy. The more you can simplify your life the greater the return.

-seven weeks did nothing to quell my desire for a hobo existence hopping from place to place as it suits me. In fact, it likely made it stronger. 

-Everything happens when it is supposed to happen so there's not a lot of point in worrying. I always make pretty rigid plans but being open to possibility enhances every experience. 

7-28-17

We left Hope, Arkansas around 8:00 after a stop at Walmart for some lunch meat for the next two days and hopefully the last bag of ice for the cooler. It was overcast and humid which could only mean we would have to see rain today. 

We drove three hours to Arkansas Post National Memorial. It's out in the middle of nowhere by today's standards but back in the 1600-1700's it was a happening place. Men from deSoto's expedition travelled here. It was a trading post maintained by French, Spanish, French and eventually American people after the Louisiana purchase. It was the site of a civil war battle (the Fort is now underwater) and today houses a herd of deer and an alligator, both of which we saw. Pretty neat to be in a place that is more interior America and holds history that doesn't follow strictly English story lines. 

We made sandwiches and began our long drive for today. It started raining near Helena, Arkansas just before we crossed the Mississippi River into Mississippi.   And when I say rain I mean torrential downpours where your wipers are going as fast as they can and it doesn't help you see at all. It rained like that for 90 minutes of driving. Of course the downpour also reflected my feelings of sadness that the adventure has to end, returning to driving kids back and forth to school and activities instead of on to the next adventure is weighing heavily on my mind. But I guess I have accepted it because in the long drive across Mississippi and through Alabama to Fort Payne, I laid out the busy end of summer schedule and start of school schedules and started to look forward to adventures I might have close to home. 

We arrived at our hotel around 8:00 and Luke went to the lobby to do homework while the rest of us watched a movie. 

7-27-17

Going to bed early resulted in me waking up at 4:30 but I was able to go back to sleep and wake again before my 6:30 alarm. I'm feeling much better today despite a croaky voice and after showering and eating, we were on our way into Little Rock to see the Capitol building. We explored but the galleries are only open to tours and we preferred not to wait until 9:00 for the tour and explored on our own. A lot of white and cream colors and marble but not as pretty as Utah or Kansas. 

We drove a mile over to the Central High school national park site and were able to join a tour that goes into the high school. The school was the all white school in Little Rock and as built to attract businesses to Little Rock as the new Capitol of the south instead of Atlanta. All of that changed with the desegregation of Little Rock schools and the integration of Central High in particular because businesses didn't want to come to a town where the racial violence was so bad the National Guard was there. The high school is still a working school and has 2500+ students. It is a beautifully built school and the auditorium is nicer than anything Cabarrus County has. The park ranger gave an incredibly thorough tour and her father had been one of the guardsmen that helped get the Little Rock nine into the school everyday. One does wonder how those normal everyday white citizens could have been spitting in the face of these kids who just wanted a better school opportunity. We are fighting the same states rights vs federal rights battles today  concerning education and I guess I just don't see why every child in America doesn't deserve to be educated the same way regardless of their socioeconomic situation. 

We finished our tour and then headed towards Hot Springs. It's so humid in Arkansas, I couldn't fathom wanting to get into a hot spring. 

7-26-17

I woke up this morning with a headache, a stuffy nose, watery eyes and a cough. Damn allergies. I don't want to go home and every day we are closer but o guess reality had to set in some time. I've learned that I enjoy sleeping in a tent, I miss hearing the birds in the morning and waking up with the light. I miss the simplicity. But I like the controllable temperatures of the inside world. But reality had to return eventually. We drove from our hotel to Pea Ridge Military park. 

Pea Ridge is the last civil war Battlefield in the NPS for us to visit. I don't know all of Scott's family history but it is possible that some of his union ancestors fought here. We watched the park film and then drove the battlefield. 

After Pea Ridge we drove a couple hours to the Buffalo River, the first National River and on of the few remaining undammed rivers in Arkansas. We went down and skimmed rocks in the river but to fully explore it, we would need canoes or kayaks. We stopped at a little town called Harrison for lunch at Wendy's. I noticed a League of the South billboard on the way in to town with #secede on it. When we sat down to eat, I also noticed that there were no people of color in the town so like most of the small towns we have been in, I Wikipedia investigated it. .3% of the population of 12,000+ is black which amounted to less than 40 people of African American ancestry. In 1904 and 1907, the town was famous for running its unemployed workers and black residents out of town. It has since tried to change its image but their is a KKK leader who lives nearby to this day. Segregation still exists. 

I slept most of the way to North Little Rock and our hotel. We ate dinner and watched TV while Luke did more French homework and I was asleep by 9:00 with Scott and the kids following around10:00. 

7-25-17

We stepped out of the hotel to a humid morning in Oklahoma about 7:55. Scott and the kids wondered if it was this humid at home. I imagine it is. I already miss the bright blue skies of California and Arizona. I miss the clear air at 5000 feet in elevation. I even miss the dry furnace of the heat at 108 degrees. It doesn't help that as the day progressed I developed a sore throat and cough. I think the humidity of the crappy hotel room coupled with the return of lower elevation pines and oaks is causing some kind of allergy reaction. I took a Claritan and the day progressed. 

We drove about 30 minutes and were early to the visitor center at Chickasaw National Recreation area so we played in the spring fed creel with the clear, cold waters. When I say we, I mean Lorelei and I. The water was too cold for the boys. We did the visitor center and hiked up to the springs. Scott and I drank from it because it is said to have healing properties. My experience is not so much. I feel crappy the day after. 

We drove from there for about 3.5 hours, stopping to get gas and make sandwiches. We arrived in Fort Smith, Akansas and had a nice visit to the fort. This was the same Fort that has been referenced in many western movies and in fact Hang'em High was on in our hotel last night. 

After the hot visit to the Fort, we stopped in Fort Smith for dinner and then drove an hour north to Fayetteville to check in about 6:00 at our hotel. We did a load of laundry to get us all home in clean clothes and Luke did his French homework while Lorelei and I lay in the bed watching TV. 

7-24-17

My alarm went off at 6:30 and we were out the door by 7:50. We stopped at Walmart for lunch and snack items for what was hopefully the last time before we get home then headed over to Cadillac Ranch to leave our spray painted mark. 

We then drove about 3 hours to Washita Battlefield. This was yet another site where peaceful native people were attacked at dawn by US Calvary soldiers, in this instance Custer. Many were killed but there were survivors who told the tale and Custer got what was coming to him at Little Bighorn 8-9 years later. 

After making sandwiches and stopping to fill up on gas and wash the windshield, we drove to Oklahoma City. Our first stop was the memorial. The kids never heard about this before and we explored the plaza but skipped the museum. The ranger on site was really great and answered some questions. Then we headed 2 miles over to the Capitol with 20 minutes left to see the building before it closed. It was actually quite plain and they are doing some renovations so a good bit of artwork was missing. 

We then stopped to eat dinner where my second pair of favorite flip flops broke. My first pair broke back on day 2 or 3 of the trip and I bought a $1 pair from Walmart but had Scott bring my second pair with him. They were both at least two years old but I found a Crocs store nearby and the kids and I stopped in while Scott handled some work calls. An hour south of OklahomaCity is a little town called Paul's Valley and we have stopped her for the night. It's a nice enough hotel but either the AC unit is faulty or the humidity in Oklahoma is really crazy because our room is just as humid as the outside air. It shall be an interesting night of sleeping. 

7-23-17

We were supposed to leave at 7:00 because we have a long driving day but I overslept my alarm which was set for weekdays only for the first time on this trip so we didn't get out of Chinle until 8:00. A short drive down to Hubbell Trading Post and we arrived at 8:25. The ranger was doing the morning chores of feeding the chickens and offered the kids to help. They gave hay to the horses and then took some to the sheep and llama. They asked her good questions and the llama even ate from Luke's hand. We then went into the visitor center and explored the exhibits. There is a loom that visitors can use to weave like the Navajo rug makers. Like loved it and the ranger taught him a good bit about it. We also got to tour the Hubbell home and learn a little about this family that was a friend of the Navajo people. The ranger also answered our questions about poverty, living on the reservation, how to get housing, what life was like. It was a very good conversation and while we look at some of their houses as being so poor they are happy which made me feel better.  We left there around 10:00 to head to Petrified Forest. 

We drove about an hour and had lunch in the shade at the visitor center. Lorelei completed her junior ranger and then we drove the 26 mile road, stopping at the overlooks, walking amongst the treerocks. It was pretty cool. Back out the same way we had come, I drove 45 minutes to the New Mexico rest area to pick up a map and make a bathroom stop. We aren't stopping to see anything in New Mexico on this trip but the map will come in handy later. Scott drove about 225 miles and we stopped for gas and a snack. I drive for the next two and a half hours while the kids watched a movie in the back seat and we arrived in Amarillo about 10:00. We lost two hours from the time at the Petrified Forest but we will be on Central time until next Saturday. New Mexico was pretty boring, empty field after empty field with the exception of Albuquerque. We only have tonight in Texas as we continue east into National park sites in Oklahoma.