The Good: The People
The Bad: The Roads
The Ugly: The Whole State
From the moment we entered Arkansas I knew I didn't like this state. So far, Tennessee has been my favorite. Besides the extreme number of biting bugs and high humidity, Arkansas is also known as the paving capital of the world. They suddenly noticed that their roads were horrendous, so they are now repaving ALL their Interstates... the entire length, all at once! The state motto? "A Whole Lotta Paving Goin' On" says it all.
Corey had one compelling reason to like Arkansas: one of her favorite singers, Collin Raye, has a song called Little Rock. It's the story of a man who goes away to break some bad habits but misses his honey. He takes a job in a store in Little Rock.
"I know I've disappeared a time or two
and along the way I lost me and you.
Needed a new town for my new start,
selling VCRs in Arkansas at a Wal-Mart."
So, guess where we went? Well, it wasn't quite that easy. We managed to get into downtown Little Rock but had no clue where the Wal-Mart was. So, at a traffic light I asked the man in the pick-up truck next to me. He offered to take us there! We followed around town, onto another Interstate, then a main road thru another part of town, then I just had to get gas. He was already so far ahead of me, I figured he'd think we meant the KMart behind us. While pumping gas, he reappeared! He came all the way back for us. We followed him right into the parking lot. I'd always heard about "Southern Hospitality" and this just proves its existence. I cannot imagine anyone up north offering to do this. It turned out to be about 10 miles.
The funniest thing was that when I first asked him where the Wal-Mart was he said, "it's far." I asked, "how far?" His answer, "oh, at least 4 or 5 miles." We laughed and told him we'd just driven down from Pennsylvania, so what was another 5 miles?
Little Rock Wal-Mart
After what seemed like an eternity (and served to completely wreck my well-planned itinerary), we finally entered Oklahoma. What I find so interesting is how each state designs their rest/picnic areas along I-40. In OK, they made umbrella-teepee coverings over the picnic tables. Afterall, this is Cherokee country! As a matter of fact, right after entering the state, the next sign we saw was, "Entering the Cherokee Nation."
OK is also the birthplace of Woody Guthrie (father of Arlo). The 5th annual Woody Guthrie Festival was about to be held (the next day) in Okemah. Although there was nothing to see at the festival site, we did go up main street and found a neat mural and park dedicated to Woody. We had dinner in Okemah, in honor of Woody and also because we were starving by then.
By the time we had arrived in Oklahoma, it was getting late (so what else is new for this well-planned trip?). We were just entering Oklahoma City when I realized I was beginning to hallucinate on the road. It was nearing 10 PM and I just couldn't continue driving much farther. We stopped at a convenience store on the western edge of the city (still on I-40) and learned that we'd have another 2 hours to Elk City where I had a reservation.
Some folks at the store suggested that I change the reservation to OK City. I called the 800 number for the Motel 6 reservations desk and had them change my reservation to their local property which was only about 5 minutes away. We had a great room there and, since we were staying there, Corey asked if we could go to the Memorial the next day, which was fine with me.
