ARKANSAS

We drove south along flat farmlands of eastern Kansas then back into Missouri, visiting George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond - we had no idea who he was but turned out it was the first unit  of the National Parks Service to honour an African-American. He was born into slavery, with a desire  for knowledge, especially music, painting, flowers and the sciences. He worked and went through school finishing up at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (a normal school for colored teachers) as botanist, professor of Agriculture and scientist. A man whose whole life was dedicated to all mankind, to make men free, free from poverty, he saw how millions starved to death in a world that could live in peace and plenty on what  it throws away. An educational and enlightening afternoon.

CAMPBELL POINT CAMPGROUND CORPS OF ENGINEERS SITE

And so back to our "home" state of Arkansas, it's here we have our "address" but we hardly saw the state back in 2008 when we first arrived. So we have returned to explore some more, the Dodge milometer rolled over to 100,000 miles, we have driven 54,000 miles in it and we did about 19,000 miles in the Ford Explorer we started with in 2008. That makes 73,000 miles in 5 years touring USA and Canada and still rolling!
It's really strange seeing almost every vehicle with the Arkansas plate, we have always been the odd one out in most states.

We passed through Eureka Springs wanting to stop but they had no parking for RVs in this quaint Victorian Spa town nestled in a narrow gorge so onwards to Fort Smith.

FORT SMITH BARRACKS, JAIL AND COURTROOM

JAIL IN FORT SMITH

COURTROOM IN FORT SMITH

ROY PLAYING AT BEING IN JAIL

THE GALLOWS - SIX IN A ROW

A great day in Fort Smith, visited our UPS man to thank him and collect our mail in person for the first time in 5 years, met our new insurance lady in person sorted insurance out, then spent an interesting
afternoon at Fort Smith National Historic site.

Founded in 1817 by the US army to contain a volatile Indian feud, Fort Smith later served as a major supply depot for western military posts, and finally as headquarters of the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
For over 80 years the federal government used Fort Smith to establish and maintain law and order in the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).

BLACK MARIA AT FORT SMITH

FORT SMITH

FROM A PAINTING OF THE TRAIL OF TEARS

We stood on the edge of the Arkansas river near the fort and read these words - "All the land you can see from here was once Indian Territory. Beginning in the 1830s the US government force large numbers of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Muskogee and Seminoles from their ancestral lands to this area. The primary reason for this removal was the insatiable desire of US citizens for Indian lands. Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the US government exchanged tribal lands in the east for new ones in the west. The subsequent treaties, many of them illegal, foreced migration and horrendous Indian suffering. This removal process left a bitter legacy that is remembered today as the Trail of Tears" - sobering words.

Next day we drove part of the Trail of Tears and I tried to imagine how those tribes must have felt, what would you do and feel if someone said you have to move and leave your home?

We happened upon Mt. Magazine State Park on our journey south, a beautiful area with Arkansas's highest point at 2753ft. It's called an "Island in the Sky" due to its isolated dominance over the surrounding landscape. We had a look in the sumptous Lodge at $143 a night then hiked the short trail to Signal Hill to...... no view! There were plenty of viewpoints on the Cameron Bluff overlook drive and fall is still happening.

THE VIEWLESS SUMMIT

MY FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (WELL FIVE!) AT MT MAGAZINE VIEWPOINT

A DERELICT AMPHITHEATER BUILT BY THE CONSERVATION CORPS