Leaving our camp spot in Texola, OK, I noticed there was a minor attraction in this itty-bitty town. Marcia found it also so we had to go by it! We drove down a road like this to get there:
We ended up at the one-room jail:
We continued eastbound but this time on some actual Route 66 road top. We had not been able to divert too much from running on I-40 until now! My trip routing took us on primarily state and county highways, bypassing the bulk of Oklahoma City. Out on these roads, you get to see small towns and all kinds of things traveling along:
We spent that night in Henryetta OK at one of the worst RV parks I have ever stayed in. Almost worse than the one in Fort Stockton, TX.
Leaving the next day would get us to Arkansas. A state we have not been to with this trailer before so we can put another sticker on our map. We again got on a back highway, saw some great scenery, and ended up in…..Toad Suck!
This is just outside of Conway AR and it was an Army Corps of Engineers campground that was put in next to the dam and locks on the Arkansas River.
This campground is tremendous, with lots of grassy areas, with full hookups but it was SOOO humid! If anyone happens to go there and finds a pair of binoculars, let me know because I think I lost them there.
Conway is close to Little Rock and we were here for 2 nights so we took a day trip down to look around. We first headed to the Capitol Building:
To the north of the capital is a memorial to the “Little Rock Nine“. This was the group of nine black students that were enrolled in the all-white Central High School in Little Rock. It was very controversial. After our capitol visit, we went to the National Historical Site regarding Central High School and learned all about this incident.
As we were looking around we talked to a man that actually went to Central High about 10 years after the ‘nine’ did. He said it wasn’t any better then, which is too bad. In light of all that is going on in this country, I found a plaque and statement that I think sums up how it should be:
The next stop in Little Rock (North) was Marcia’s recommendation for a stop at the Old Mill. This building was used in the opening shots of Gone with the Wind. You can walk all through it and around the grounds. It was a great find, way to go Marcia!
The next day was the short leg to Wynne AR. This is where Roxie’s mom was born so we were going to do some research and it was where we would part ways with the Chens. They would continue on to the east coast and we would return back west. We hit Wynne right around lunch so we had to eat and found a southern food restaurant (Johnson’s Fish House and Diner). We parked in the back:
We stayed at Village Creek State Park near Wynne. A wonderful park with great amenities and scenery. We saw deer and fox from our site in a grassy area across from us.
We were there for multiple days and we did a bit of research about Roxie’s mom but there weren’t too many records, at least we got a feel for the area. We all did go around and investigate the area. One day we went to Memphis to go to the National Civil Rights Museum. We had to get tickets for an afternoon visit so decided to eat somewhere. We ended up at Gus’ World Famous Fried Chicken. Not sure how world-famous it is but it was pretty good.
The National Civil Rights Museum is on the site of the Lorraine Motel. This is where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. It was very informative as I am not old enough to remember the happenings.
Another day we took a day trip to another location of historical significance. However, on the way I found some curious train tracks that crossed each other:
The place we were heading to was the Louisiana Purchase State Park. This park marks “the initial point from which all surveys of property acquired through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 originated”. It was all swampy with an elevated boardwalk to the marker:
The happy group at the marker:
We were happy to get there but the sweating was real! And we wouldn’t be very happy soon after this picture. More about that in the next installment…
