I haven’t dropped of the face of the Earth this week…Just cruised off the face of Texas for a few days. The heat and humidity of summer along with a week of vacation for the wife and the chance to go “bird watching” on the Mississippi screamed Road Trip…
A Mini Mountain Fix
We headed north out of Houston on Tuesday before the sun came up and hit Oklahoma soon after noon. I had routed our trip to take advantage of the Arkansas Mountains…We had reservations at Queen Wilhelmena State Park for the first night of our travels. Taking the Talimena Scenic Drive into the park brought back memories of the Blue Ridge Parkway just with higher temperatures.
We had reservations at the Lodge in one of the two Queen’s Rooms. The four-poster bed and the huge fireplace made the room feel comfy. As we sat on the overlook that evening watching the shadows gather in the valleys below the breeze was a welcome relief from the 95° weather we had experienced all day long.
Watching the hummingbirds feed through the window wall of the restaurant as we had supper was an added bonus.
Day Two – Arkansas and Missouri
It was leaving the Mena area that brought us into some of the nicest driving we have ever done. The interstate heading north out of Fort Smith Arkansas is one of the most picturesque Interstate traveling we have every done…I’ll grant you that that isn’t saying too much, as I hate driving on the interstate system unless I just have to cover a lot of ground in a hurry…And that isn’t the reason I travel…Usually.
Anyway, once we hit Missouri it was time to put the pedal to the metal and cross the state as we had a date with an Arch on the Mississippi for that evening.
Playing hopscotch with a few hundred 18 wheelers for the day wasn’t what I had in mind when I planned this trip, but it’s what the trip became as we crossed the breadth of Missouri in an afternoon.
The evening view of the arch was the redeeming feature of our room. Watching night fall on the Mississippi River was how we spent our first night in St. Louis.
As it’s now time to check out and hit the road, I’ll try to post our “bird watching” story tomorrow.
