Arkansas You Run Deep in Me

Asked tonight why did I pick Arkansas to come to work in back in 1991.  My answer was simple…saw the ad for a Librarian in Pine Bluff, AR, and thought it was Arizona, so I applied.  Well, that part was sort of true.  Back in the late 1990’s when I was applying for placed we (first wife, mother of my children and I) decided to look in Western States.  When I saw the ad, I at first thought it was Arizona…but before I sent in the application I did know it was Arkansas.  At that point, with few Library positions available due to the hard economy of the 1990’s, I decided to expand the area to “west of the Mississippi”.  Can’t get much further east than Arkansas and still be west of the Mississippi.  Got the job, stayed because a) it is a nice state, and b) the retirement did not transfer to other locations, and c) the previous library director was asked to leave and they put me in his place, meeting my goal of being a Director of a Public Library within 4 or 5 years of leaving school.  I graduated in August of 1990, became director in August of 1993, so three years was a winner.  Also cannot rule out that Arkansas was where we were suppose to be…the rest is history.



The above song is a song which they played on the TV late at night, I think on Sunday night, when they use to shut down the transmitter for a few hours for weekly maintenance.  The song really is “catching” to those who have lived in Arkansas or have been to Arkansas for any length of time.  There are different versions, but they are all good.  There are also some good “Razorback” videos and songs too…for after all, there are many Universities in Arkansas…but there is only one Razorback University, and they (University of Arkansas) get most of the money, most of the attention, and are the premier college when it comes to sports.  So much so, they won’t play any other in state school unless it is in a after season bowl game or tournament.  But that is a full blog all to its own.  I can, and some day I probably will, write a blog about all the wonderful places you can see if you take the time to visit Arkansas....but that too will be for another day.

Entering the Ozarks in fall is a nice time…another few weeks and the hills will be full of fall colors, right now they are just starting to come out.

And there is always that “good old home feeling” as I cross of the Arkansas River.  I can remember the time I was in Colorado when I was able to “step” over the Arkansas River…but that is over a thousand miles away from where it is so wide and full here in the Fort Smith area.

       

Even Skruffy seemed to know that she was back home in Arkansas.  Well, I think if she is my lap, she is at home no matter where she is at.

As I thought…she was asleep in just a few minutes…



Besides having my yearly doctor’s check up, which I do in Arkansas because my insurance is still with the Library and is based in Arkansas, we also come to visit friends and family.  Today it was family.  This is Sophie (left) visiting with Marcia at the Independent Living Facility that Sophie lives in.  She has been here for nearly two years now, and it happens to be only 10 minutes away from the Springhill COE park that we stay at.  Sophie turns 93 years old this year, or early next next year.  She is very sharp, lives in a one bedroom apartment by herself, and needs very little help considering she is nearly 93 years old.  Can walk slowly with a cane, also walks with a walker, and also has a Jazzy brand mobility chair.  We went out to dinner with her and her son “Jimmy” (as she calls him) and his wife Pat along with two friends who were also visiting them who are also traveling in a motorhome.  Sophie drove her “Jazzy” right up to our car, got out of the chair, walked right into the front seat of the car and got in just as easy as I get into the driver’s seat!   It was sure nice seeing them again, and meeting James and Pat’s friends who are from Arizona (sorry, couldn’t remember their names, but nice people for sure!)

Tomorrow…off to Little Rock.

Fort Smith, Arkansas Area

We are back to Springhill Park, a COE park, where we stayed back in late April.  Being out of season, with the senior saver, it only cost $9 per night for electricity and water, with a dump station free to use if you camp.  This time we have a spot right along the water.

Our stay at the Cracker Barrel went real well.  Turned off the generator by 10 pm, no one else in the parking lot near us and only one other small motorhome stayed over night way off to themselves.  It rained most of the night, but it was a very light rain.  Got down to low 40’s, so at 6 am I turned on the generator and cranked up our space heater and the big heater until it got the temps up to 70, then turned the big heater off.  We paid our dues by having breakfast before we left….so this “FREE” parking at Cracker Barrel cost us dinner and breakfast…we now are officially Cracker Barreled out for awhile…but after a five month absence until we got to Albuquerque, it was needed to catch up.

    

We have grown fond of the COE parks.  This one closes down for camping at the end of the month, but the one in Little Rock is open year around.  With the National Parks Senior Pass, you get to stay for half price.  That is a real good deal!

Went to dinner with Marcia’s cousin Sophie, her son Jim and his wife Pat.  Decided to go back to Joe’s Grill and Cantina, where we ate back April.  It was real good, glad we went back.  Will spend some time with Sophie tomorrow, and on Thursday we head to Petit Jean State Park for a few days, it has been over 2 years since we have been there.

Fayetteville, Arkansas

We left Fort Smith a little after 11:00 and arrived at Fayetteville around 12:30.  Here we will visit with my youngest son Ryan and meet his girlfriend Kate.   Yesterday afternoon we had a lovely visit with Marcia’s Cousin Sophie, and then later dinner with her and her son James.  James’ wife was unable to make it due to work.  Sophie is turning 90 in a couple of months, but she has a mind as sharp as a tack, but she says her body hurts as if she is stuck with tacks all over.  It is a real pain to get old, that is for sure.

    

We are at the Southgate RV Park on the south side of Fayetteville.  This is the third time we have tried to stay here, first time we actually are able to stay.  First time was back in 2012 during the Bikes, Blues & BBQ weekend.  Oops, should have looked that one up.  Next time was last year when Ryan graduated from the UofA, but the motorhome (American Eagle) broke down in Pine Bluff and was in the Cummins Shop in Little Rock for a couple of weeks…that lead to us getting the Jayco Melbourne last year.  Today there is nothing going on in Fayetteville, and we are sitting in the RV park just a few minutes from where Ryan lives.

Looks to me like someone is anxious to go out for another walk.  Can’t blame them with all this nice weather going on around here….a stark difference to last weekends Tornadic conditions.  In fact, the owner of the park, Jerry, said that one of the campers had just bought his trailer from the RV Dealership in Mayflower which is now “history”.  Knowing what it is like to have it there one minute, and up in smoke the next….we sure feel sorry for that dealership and the town of Mayflower. 

Speaking of Tornados, we are just on the outskirts of Tornado Ally….and will be driving right through it in the near future.  With that in mind, and looking at the great forecast for the next five days, we made a major decision yesterday, one that we had been contemplating for a few days now.  I rescheduled my Doctor’s visit for late October, and we will be headed “west” after church on Sunday.  Not only will this be safer weather wise, but it will give us more time to make the drive to Salt Lake City, more time to spend with Stephanie after we get there, and enough time to get to Sacramento on Friday in time for mom’s BBQ on Saturday. 

At 4:30 we met Ryan and his girl friend Kate over at Logan’s Steakhouse for a nice, long dinner.  This was the first time I met Kate, and she is a nice, young lady.  I had met her sister a few years ago, both are very nice.  Ryan was “friends” with her sister for a number of years before he started dating Kate this past fall.  Don’t know how things are going to work out….he is headed off to Chiropractic School up in the Kansas City area in August, and she graduates from UofA in December and then plans to attend grad school at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, not too far from Fayetteville.  It was nice “finally” getting to meet Kate, I had heard much about her.  At the end of dinner I asked her if there was anything she wanted to ask me about my son.  She said, “Well, I have been waiting all night for you to say something to embarrass him….”.  Hmmm, don’t know where she would ever get the idea that I would embarrass Ryan.     I shared a few, non embarrassing items from his childhood, and left it at that.  I sure hope their relationship can last through both of their Grad Schools.