Way back in March when the country shut down and my road trips got put on hold I was in the middle of a series of road trips to visit seven Churches in seven States ( Seven Churches Part One). This past weekend I picked up where I left off by heading out to Arkansas to visit Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison, AR. But I couldn't just drive there and back so I looked up a few things along the way.. and out of the way... and then on the way back since we were coming back a totally different route.
We started out early on a Friday heading West on I 40 but before we got on the highway we stopped at a Sudden Service just a few blocks before the 40 West ramp in down town Nashville. And I am glad we did! The store was very clean and the multiple coffee options were all recently brewed. Not only that but they had a full dairy selection for your coffee. You know it's the little things in life like being able to get milk instead of half and half for coffee that can really set the mood for a day. Anyway that is now my coffee stop for future road trips.
We made good time on I 40 without speeding because the stretch of I 40 between Nashville and Memphis is prone to speed traps... like a lot of them. We discovered that when we took a day trip to Memphis earlier this year. Once we entered Arkansas we started on a series of small "highways" through the state and towards the Ozarks. We were amused by the town signs that also included population counts. I think the lowest one we saw had a little under 200. We mostly passed large fields of various crops but what stood out the most was the rice fields. They had large white pipes surrounding them, which I thought were sandbags at to hold in water before I realized what it was and pumps spaced out along the fields. I never realized how big a crop rice was for Arkansas but apparently something close to 50% of US rice is grown in Arkansas. Arkansas has over 4,000 farms with most of them being family owned.
As we entered Arkansas we saw signs for a town called Marked Tree which was too far out of our way for a detour but the name was certainly interesting enough to look up some info about it. The town was named for a tree that marked a spot where Native Americans could cross the St. Francis River. The tree fell into the river in 1890 but the name remained.
So as you can imagine when driving on small roads through tiny towns and past large fields of rice, corn, soy, and wheat there weren't many places to stop. Add to that Covid 19 and the fact that some gas stations and small convenience stores/ restaurants were closed meant even less places to stop. Well I had to use the bathroom and we weren't finding any place to stop. Then we pulled into the tiny town of Oil Trough. There we found their City Hall and I pulled over to ask to use the bathroom. The kind woman inside said she drives those roads every day and totally understood and let us use the bathroom. Oil Trough was so named because the area was filled with bears and early settlers would drain the oil from the bears into troughs. The post office opened in 1832 under the name Pleasant Island but it was officially changed to Oil Trough in 1849.
Continuing out of Oil Trough we began to leave the White River Lands and approached the hills of the Ozarks and there we entered Rosie Arkansas. Rosie, again under a different name, had the first post office in Independence County when it opened December 29, 1819. One of the town's founders, John Dodd wanted to name the town Edna after his daughter but instead it was called Rosie because of all the flowers blooming.
We continued through other small towns until we reached our first stop: Gravity BrewWorks in Big Flat Arkansas. It is a Nano-brewery that opened in 2013 and has been serving up small batch brews in their tasting room and outdoor beer garden. Owned by Bill Riffle and Tony Guinn they pride themselves in the fresh ingredients of their beer and their brewing system which as the name suggests is processed using gravity. Instead of pumping the beer they use gravity flow or CO2 pressure. The brewery was very welcoming with a good sized parking lot and some absolutely beautiful flowers out front. Due to Covid-19 we needed to wear masks/cover face until we had ordered and had our beverage. Once we ordered we took our flights outside to the garden area. They have made good use of the slow period caused by Covid and did some work including fully fencing off the back which was awesome because we got to let the dogs run free and play for a bit which thrilled Gypsy and annoyed Domino :-)
We brought a growler of the red ale home with us to enjoy Saturday night or Sunday when we got home. We knew we would have to drink it quickly since they use fresh ingredients and avoid preservatives.
Next we arrived at Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison, Arkansas. Again due to Covid 19 we needed to wear masks inside and they had a map of the body of the Church showing where people could sit in order to distance during mass. In one pew they had taped the number 4 meaning a family of four could sit together then a space and then a two at the other side of the pew. My Mom lit a candle while I looked around the Church. I kneeled in one of the pews to say a prayer before leaving. More about that when I write the blog post about the second half of the Churches.
Our next stop was to continue our drive through the Ozarks until we reached the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks: far below us was the Buffalo River, our first National River according to an act of Congress in 1972. If we faced the right way we could see 40 miles away to Missouri.
Visiting in June we had a beautiful view with varied greens on the fields and trees and then mountains far in the distance. As we stood and enjoyed the view we wondered how beautiful would it also be in fall as leaves changed color and gave way to reds and orange, we had actually commented on that several times as we drove the state.
Originally we were going to stop between here and our next stop but it was early enough that I thought we can keep going so we drove back down the same winding highway to another area of the Ozarks that Meg and I had previously visited but my Mom had not. We drove to Eureka Springs to see the large Christ of the Ozarks and a piece of the Berlin Wall. The statue was built by Gerard Smith who originally saw it as the feature of a religious themed amusement park however only Christ and a large amphitheater were built. The statue was finished in 1966 and is a little over 65 feet high.
Right before you arrive at Christ of the Ozarks on your right is a 10x10 piece of the Berlin Wall. The Wall separated East and West Berlin from 1961-1989. At night artists would graffiti the wall with different works of art and messages. This slab quotes Psalm 23 "though I walk through a dark valley I am not afraid."
I was thinking we may be able to see sunset behind the Christ of the Ozarks statue but the good thang and bad thing about summer months is long days. So we decided to keep moving on to the next state and we could stop there for the night. So we turned north out of Arkansas but still in the Ozarks to Missouri.
We were on our way to Marshfield but it was too far to make it before dark and we stopped at a Laquinta in Branson, MO on Shepherd of the Hills Expwy. The road is named for the book by Harold Bell Wright which was later made in to a silent film and then a movie with John Wayne. A quick summary was that it was about a Pastor who travelled to the Ozarks and fell in love with the simple life and people of the Ozarks. The ironic thing about that is that Branson MO is basically a giant amusement park and attraction center filled with restaurants, bars, theaters, mini golf, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museums. The simple life of the Ozarks and its people are no where to be found amid the lights and marquees. That all said it looks like a fun place to visit but not with two dogs and when social distancing is the best course due to Covid 19. We placed a to go order from the Applebee's and picked it up to bring it back to the hotel room. The restaurant was open for dine in but we didn't want to leave the dogs alone and we were tired.
The next morning the hotel was not serving breakfast but did put together to-go bags which had a muffin, fruit cup, and granola bar. However we were looking for some good coffee to start the day so I looked up the best coffee in Branson and found Hurt's Donuts. We checked out and drove over. Out front was an ambulance decorated for the donut company complete with sprinkle storage areas and a jelly fill section. Inside was a variety of funny signs that kept us entertained while we waited on an appropriately social distanced line. While we waited on line one of the cashier's parents came in with balloons and flowers and began singing Happy Birthday and I want to say a little more than half the line also joined in, I mean it's one of those songs that you just need to. My Mom started a conversation and we discovered that their family was filled twins. I ordered a large coffee with just milk and a salted caramel donut.
That was the good start we needed and we began our drive to Marshfield, MO> The small town where on November 20, 1889 Edwin Hubbel was born. Hubbel is one of the most important American Astronomers. Credited with discovering both that what were at one time thought to be gas clouds are actually distant galaxies beyond the Milky Way and that the Universe is expanding. He is also the namesake of the Hubbel Telescope and standing in front of Marshfield City Hall is a replica of space telescope. As we were looking at the telescope Meg noticed that the moon was still visible in the morning sky
Next up was just going home but we had time for one last stop at the Bronze Owl Brewery in Popular Bluff, MO.
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