WE LOVE AMERICA - ARKANSAS

We once again drove over the border into Tennessee, which welcomed us with intermittent clouds and a sky spattering drops of rain. Nevertheless, we love Tennessee, with its rich forestland and Autumn colors creeping into the leaves. We stopped at this delightful visitor center just across the state line and loved the fall decorations and its location, perched on the top of a grassy hill, a sweet morsel on a mound of green. The inside was filled with information and decorated to welcome travelers. We finished in Jackson, TN and spent the night so we could cross the Mississippi during daylight and also see some of Memphis as we passed.



In the morning, near Memphis, we located another visitor center, focused on Memphis and its surroundings. This is Elvis country, music central, fountain of rock and roll and the blues. We purchased a CD of Elvis music and enjoyed his mellow sounds as we swung over the muddy, brown Old Man River and into Arkansas. As we prepared to leave the center, which was, by the way, located a stone's throw from and beautiful, modern LDS chapel, we saw a cool little tortoise, slowly trying to sneak across the road. He had positioned himself exactly on the asphalt so that it would be easy to become road kill or a tortoise frisbee. We just had to stop and move him to safety. As soon as I touched him, the legs shot inside the shell, the neck and head retracted and a frontal shell flap slammed shut. I gently lifted him and placed him on the grass beside the road and waited for him to come out again. But he must have turned on the TV or got a good book because he didn't open the door or peer out again while we were there. I thought he was a great find!



Notice the lovely shell pattern on Mr. Tortoise.

On the other side of the Mississippi River, we rolled into the Ozark Mountains again and the clouds rolled in with us. They lowered and darkened and the wind began to blow and soon we could see lightning flashing ahead of us. At first a few drops hit the windshield and triggered the slow swishing of the wipers, but then the rain got heavier and harder until we found ourselves in a true blinding downpour. The wipers struggled, going as fast as they could, to even make it possible to see. Speed dropped to a crawl and it was literally follow taillights and a road stripe to even move and I had to turn on the flashers for safety. I told Ronda to watch the sky for it to turn greenish and the clouds to start rotating, but no such luck, just a powerful rain storm. After about 20 minutes, the curtain of rain eased and we moved on again.



This shows the lighter part of the storm.

Advancing further west, the clouds began to lift and break and we moved past the thunderous, wet front and into a beautiful day. The dark green forest began to thin and more and more farmland spread before us. Some was corn, some soybeans but much of it was cotton. At the visitor center we learned more about this long historied crop and how it is farmed. When the cotton bolls become large enough, the field is sprayed to kill the plant and as the leaves and stems dry out, the bolls burst open, bulging with fresh, white cotton. Some cotton fields were still green, but acre after acre unfolded as a brown and white blanket, laid out between verdant and colored trees, waiting for the harvester.






Starting to dry and "pop", inedible popcorn.



This is the harvester! Remember the movie "Cars" and the tractor tipping episode? Picture this beast, glaring eyes on the cab and the cutters in front snapping back and forth, rushing through the cotton, leaves and stems flying and snow white cotton puffs blowing into the catcher cage. Don't get in its way! We loved learning about and seeing the cotton fields, the fertile land and the wide open expanse of Arkansas and the American heartland. On to Fort Smith, AR for the night.