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.