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The Pilgrim
Cajun Cowboy RV Park - Omaha TXWell, low-keyed is an understatement for the Cajun Cowboy Motel & RV. They have Wi-Fi and satellite TV in the motel, but there are no 21st century amenities in the RV park - without an additional fee from a third party provider who is extremely proud of his exceptional service. There also are no customers in the RV park. In the four nights we were there, about 3 or 4 rigs came in for less than twelve hours - eat, sleep and be on their way. For the most part, we’ve been staying at few-frills RV parks and have learned that counting on extras like picnic tables and shade trees is presumptuous, but the Cajun Cowboy carries no frills to the extreme. Lesson learned - we now have a checklist to use before we book the reservation.
Our drive to Hope Arkansas on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 was a short and uneventful trip that started on US 67. When we reached Texarkana TX, I guided the rig onto eastbound Interstate 30 and stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center. When we told the travel counselor of our itinerary and travel calendar, she seized the planning effort like it was her own,
supplied us with the necessary literature (as well as a carrying bag), and told us of a couple of points of interest that had been overlooked in the published materials. The short drive found us at Hope Village Inn & RV before noon. After set-up, Pilgrim cleaning and lunch; we sought out the visitor center which was the former train depot made famous as background in a photograph of President Bill Clinton.
The visitor center is mostly a museum honoring Hope’s two most famous sons - President William Jefferson Clinton and (drum roll please) Republican Presidential candidate and the 44th Governor of Arkansas Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee! In fact, both were born in Julia Chester Hospital and attended Miss Marie Purkins’ kindergarten and Brookwood Elementary School in Hope but due to the nine-year age difference they were not classmates. As a matter of fact and on good authority (my high school geometry teacher), I am told that if one were to stand at a certain point facing a certain direction one would find themselves equidistant from the Clinton boyhood home directly to the left and the Huckabee boyhood home directly to the right. Now, if one were to perform
Wall and Ceiling Cutaway
1856 Crouch House - Historic Washington State Park - Washington AR an about face… - enough already, but the irony is incredible.
The entire day on Wednesday was devoted to Historic Washington State Park some eight miles northwest of Hope. The park, which has over 30 carefully restored historic structures, actually lies within the Village of Washington AR on State Highway 195 or the old Southwest Trail which was used by Jim Bowie, Stephen Austin, Sam Houston and others to journey West. In fact, in 1831 Jim Bowie commissioned Washington resident James Black to hand-forge a weapon that would become known as the legendary "Bowie Knife" and which Colonel Bowie wielded in the defense of the Alamo. After Union troops captured Little Rock during the Civil War, Confederate officials moved the capitol to the courthouse in Washington. Washington has too much history to even attempt a brief outline in this blog, but the park is deserving of a full day.
Thirteen of the museums and homes are equipped to provide docents a foundation for an historical presentation. The selected sites vary on any given day depending on the interpretive theme of the day. The exteriors of all historic structures are accessible; however, the buildings are secured and interior access
Many Interesting Pieces
1825 BW Edwards Weapons Museum - Historic Washington State Park - Washington AR can be accomplished only with a tour guide. We purchased the “full tour” which gave us access to nine of the historic buildings. Each stop was about thirty minutes in length so, while the staff had its lunch (half) hour, we had an old-fashioned country meal at the Williams Tavern Restaurant. Our tour was diverse - a home with cut-aways to showcase period construction techniques, a farmstead interpreted by a nanny slave who told us about her mastress and showed us her kitchen and living quarters, a log cabin with construction technique cut-aways and several interpretive topics including split-rail fence construction and, finally, a blacksmith shop replica that focused on the development of the Bowie knife. Well worth a day of our time.
Everybody has heard of Texarkana. Sounds like a pretty neat town. When we began organizing our trip, we slated Texarkana for a one-week stay. Our research downgraded the visit to a single day. On Thursday we arrived in Texarkana about 10 AM and saw the stateline post office that services both Texarkana TX and AR, the Ace of Clubs House, the Scott Joplin mural, the (Ross) Perot Theater, Jim Bowie Monument and four different veterans memorials.
Unique Archtecture
Ace of Clubs House - Texarkana TX The post office was old but the interior was not remarkable save the antiquity of the furnishings. The Ace of Clubs House was quite unique architecturally and fosters an interesting story; however, the prohibition of any photography (not just flash photography) coupled with the admission fee generated a “no thanks.” All of the other sites generated a looky-see, a moment of contemplation and a photograph or two. All the attractions are within about eight blocks of each other, and our tour of Texarkana was completed in about two hours.
With so much time to spare, we decided to take our lunch to Millwood State Park a few miles north of Texarkana. I stopped at the Ranger Station, inquired about a picnic area and picked up a fishing regulations booklet for future reference (we are going to be in Arkansas a month, you’ll remember). The ranger gave me a booklet outlining a short hiking trail along the lakeshore. After lunch, we took advantage of the opportunity to burn a few calories. Along the trail, we found a bench where a pair of egrets ??? entertained us as they bushwhacked lunch. The drive back to Hope found us passing a FEMA
Early To Rise For The Milk Route
Medwestern Memories - DeQueen AR location where literally thousands of travel trailers are stored. You’ve heard the expression, “Too little, too late.” Since Hope AR is only one of several of these facilities, this might be an example of, “Too much, too late.”
TGIF We’re off to see some Arkansas countryside via a loop north of Hope. Rand McNally shows a portion of our trip as scenic and the “Wildflowers of the Arkansas Roadways” booklet we picked up shows a different part of the route as a wildflower byway. The basic route took us northwest from Hope to Nashville, west to De Queen, north to Mena, southeast to Glenwood, southwest to Dierks and southeast to Hope via Nashville. Irene, my GPS, usually routes us to the courthouse (if the town is the county seat) or to the center of town is no address is specified. I usually let Irene take me wherever she wills so I can get the flavor of the town. That’s the whole point of this journey. We usually see lots of interesting homes and commercial structures along the way.
The skies were threatening (per prediction) as we made our way to De Queen, home of country singer Collin Raye.
Marine PFC Herbert A. Littleton
Local Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient - Depot Museum & Visitor Center - Mena AR Irene took us to the Sevier County Courthouse where we found the veteran’s memorial on the courthouse lawn, saw a Native American mural directly opposite the courthouse and saw a Borden’s milk truck drive past. The Borden’s milkman lived across the street from my childhood home, and I haven’t seen Borden’s anything for years. I didn’t even know they still were in business. As Irene was taking us along US 70 to US 59/71, the highway that would take us to Mena, we found ourselves negotiating traffic on Collin Raye Drive. Collin Raye Drive is not small potatoes (or is it potatos)! US 70 is a four-lane highway with a turning lane down the center. With this kind of celebrity, I guess Collin Raye is ‘Da King in De Queen. Go ahead and moan. I can handle it.
The Mena Railroad Depot and Visitors Center is a jewel. There is memorabilia from Mena native sons Chet Lauck and Tuffy Goff - the men who created “Lum and Abner” popular radio and movie characters during the 1930’s and 40’s. Several paintings by local Americana artist Monta Black Philpot are on display as well as several vintage artifacts relevant to the
Our Lunch Stop
Ouichita National Forest AR railroad and to early electronic communication. One display case pays homage to Marine PFC Herbert A. Littleton - the only Mena native to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Littlerton was honored posthumously for throwing himself on a grenade in hostile action during the Korean Conflict.
Our picnic lunch was next on the agenda. I already had planned a stop at Little Missouri Falls in the Ouachita National Forest. As we were negotiating the forest service road off AR 8, we discovered an unnamed falls where we had lunch and watched butterflies do whatever butterflies do to wildflowers. Perhaps pollinate, perhaps consume, perhaps…. T'was very enjoyable and peaceful. Movin’ on down the road to Little Missouri Falls. As we started the short walk to the falls, we were greeted by the sounds of laughter and children playing in the pool below the falls. What fun they were having on a nice, warm, “trying-to-clear-up” spring day. I ventured out onto the rocks in the river for a better photographic vantage point. We then walked the marked trail further downstream for a short distance.
Back on AR 8, we set sail for Glenwood AR when a couple of interesting-looking
buildings caught our attention in Caddo Gap. When we pulled off the highway, we also found a monument to the Caddo Indians who once had inhabited the area and to the explorer Hernando DeSoto. Caddo Gap no longer has a high school, but in the years past the students had completed a senior walk listing the names of all the members of the senior class. Included along the walk was a memorial to all of the students who had given their life for our country. The walk was park-like, had a small, man-made waterfall and was well maintained. Back on the road, we passed through Glenwood and Dierks before directing the truck southeast on US 278 to Hope via Nashville. The drive was quite pretty but would be spectacular during fall colors. The wildflowers? There were a few places where the roadside display was dazzling, but the pickins’ were slim. Perhaps our timing was bad (not according to the wildflower driving guide), or perhaps this was just a bad year.
Overnight Friday/Saturday, we were audience to a tremendous light and sound display, so, again on Saturday morning, we awoke to threatening skies. I had purchased tickets over the phone
Senior Walk
Caddo Gap AR to the 21st Annual World Championship Steak Cook-off in Magnolia AR. The cook-off was part of the festivities held during the annual Magnolia Blossom Festival. Since festivals typically get stirred up around noonish, we decided to take a route only a drunken crow would fly. We headed to Prescott AR and discovered another railroad depot museum that happened to be closed at 9:15 on Saturday. Go figure. I guess nobody told them we were coming! After driving around Prescott, we headed south to Bluff City which lies near White Oaks Lake State Park and the Poison Spring Historic (Civil War) Battlefield Site State Park. We checked out the campground at White Oaks Lake and dropped south to Stephens on AR 57 and into Magnolia on US 79.
Not knowing where the Magnolia Blossom Festival was to be held, I merely told Irene to take us to Magnolia. Lo and behold, Irene directed us onto an arterial road that was amid a traffic jam and headed for downtown. I could see the courthouse located on a hilltop roundabout a mile or so down the street. Might the traffic be going to the festival? Or, might the congestion have been caused
That's Some Hardware
Magnolia Blossom Festival & Steak Cook-Off - Magnolia AR by the PARADE that began at 10:00 AM. Duh!!! We both forgot the parade. Who wanted to see another dumb parade anyway??? Later in the day, we learned the Budweiser Clydesdales had been parade participants. Oh well, I guess the signs of my aging processes were in full splendor. Like the Poteet Strawberry Festival, we really lucked out and got the parking space of a parade-goer about two blocks from the festival.
The cookers (who had been in the parade we understood) we setting-up - tables, bunting, lawn chairs, coolers, rubs and spices, marinades, trophies from previous competitions and 16 oz. ribeye steaks. We strolled the grounds, wiped our brow, sat in the shade, procured some midday nourishment, sat in the shade, drank some water, looked at the fancy grill wagons, and wiped our brow. Neither of us had been to a cook-off before, so we got the insider tricks from some of the locals. One, the teams that have won or placed in past years probably will do so again. Two, get in line early if you want a steak from one of those teams. We watched the people, drank some more water, told the politicians we were
Ready For The Grill
Magnolia Blossom Festival & Steak Cook-Off - Magnolia AR from New Mexico (that works), drank some lemonade, checked out the vendors’ wares, wandered through the motorcycle show, wiped our brow, looked at the incredible murals, drank some more lemonade, wiped our brow, drank some more water, wiped our brow and did the festival thing in every way possible until it was time to get in line for the steaks. By the way, it was quite warm and humid.
There were 78 cook-off teams from AR, TX, OK, LA, MO, MS, IA and WY. Thirty plus teams had not competed in Magnolia before. The entry fee was $100, but each team got eight steak meal tickets (a $120 value). Not only was the first prize in the steak category $4,000 and the prize for the 5th runner-up $250, first prize was $500 each in the rig construction and showmanship categories. I guess about $8000 in prize money was an incentive to make an appearance. We walked around to examine the trophies and looked at the program for previous results to single out our targets. Kay liked the grill that was designed like a Chevy emblem. I went with a plain Jane, but documented champion. We kept our eye on
Sizzlin' Good
Magnolia Blossom Festival & Steak Cook-Off - Magnolia AR the line-formation location closest our grillers. At about 4:00, the first of the chowhounds were hovering. By 4:30 a short line had formed. We jumped in for the 1-1/2 hour wait. It was kinda fun - watching people, listening to the woes of the boisterous, chatting with our neighbors. While waiting in line, I was told this is one of a dozen or so world championship steak cook-offs in the area. Periodically, I’d set out on a photographic mission while Kay held position. I wished we had brought chairs!!!
Finally, 6:00 arrived. We got the salad, dressing, baked potato, sour cream, butter, dinner roll and iced tea (unsweetened - surprise, surprise) before heading to the grilling team of our choice. Each team is assigned a number of steaks to prepare based on criteria such as the grill capacity. All teams have an easily visible flag on a pole. When the steaks are gone, the flag is lowered - those in line go elsewhere. We each got a steak from our targeted team. We headed for the eating tables and found seating had been reserved for extended-family-reunion-sized groups, so we had a seat on the courthouse steps. The meal was
First Home of Grandparents
Bill Clinton Childhood Home - Hope AR great, but Kay’s steak was better. So much for past performance! After dinner, we wandered down to the main stage for the awards ceremony. With so many cookers, the results were slow in arriving; however, have no fear, the politicians were available to fill the air waves - the Governor of Arkansas, one US Senator from Arkansas and a couple of Representatives were on hand as well as an army of local politicians. The emcee told us they had served 5,000 steaks in an hour and ten minutes. Quite an accomplishment. After the awards ceremony, we headed back to Hope via Lewisville.
Monday, May 17, 2010. Our last day in Hope AR. Finally, we are going to see what we came here to see - President Clinton’s childhood home. We thought we might get back from other trips to stop there, but such was not the case. Clinton’s biologic father, William Jefferson Blythe II, was killed in an auto accident three months before the President’s birth so his first home was actually the home of his maternal grandparents. Structurally, most of the home remained unaltered over the years but few of the furnishings are genuine artifacts. Although never adopted,
Second Home of Mother & Stepfather
Bill Clinton Childhood Home - Hope AR Clinton requested to take the surname of his stepfather after his younger brother, Roger, was born so everybody would know that Roger was his brother.
Hope is a great little town and its neighboring communities are special as well. These are real bread and butter people. I can understand why the 42nd President still calls it home. The Hope Village Inn & RV left a little to be desired. The Wi-Fi is undependable at best, TV reception is intermittent, the spaces are narrow and there is no shade. We’ve ended up busier than originally planned. I’m finding that most communities have offerings that never get publicized in the tourism literature. Off to Hot Springs AR on Tuesday.
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