Day 14
Sun 8th July Arkansas
Lisa meets some Californians who give us new hope - living alternately on a small boat and a Steinbeck truck without killing eachother. Stupid takes us past the great glass Ramesses (??) pyramid over the Mississippi into Arkansas and straight into a very dour trailer park where we think the truck lost a chav hub bouncing over a tourist trap.
Trucked on through Arkansas to eat some miles up on route 64, pretty much the only through route aside from the highways. Miles of veg - genetically modified soya in numbered swathes and lush green rice paddies. Big granaries by the rail lines. Truck salesparks give way to arrays of farm equipment and John Deere showrooms.
Try to stop at Bald Knob for a sandwich but found a pleasant swamp instead. Made headway and pointed to Petit Jean state park. Halfway up it we realised it was a mountain. Back to grinding the gears and pulling over for the traffic queue behind. We really are the slowest thing on the road.
At the top lovely views of the Arkansas river and weird insect life. A good site at the state park. Made a nice little fire with the wood we had carted for days and watched it smoke in the rain from inside the truck as the sun went down. We turn in early these days. Lisa rises before dawn - me a little later.
Quite a long drive today, about 200 miles, but we got on ok. Lost one of the wheel hubs, probably in the trailer park Stupid took us to. Saw lots of wildlife roadkill. All along the Arkansas plains we saw rice paddies irrigated into small strips and very green. Seems the farms along the way do soy or rice and many working on Sunday in an obviously religious area. Billboards exhort one to worship and more God graffitti - “You and me need to Talk, God”. Petit Jean’s grave a sad and magical spot with a great feeling. They say she’s still there after more than 300 years. Very hot during the day and monsoons every afternoon for the last 4 days.