Day 2 Into Arkansas

Hi again friends and family,

This was another day of driving the freeways via I-55, I-57 and I-40 from Illinois through Missouri and into Arkansas. You may say, 'well that must have been boring'! Well, it could have been except that there were helpful people along the way, the weather was gently warmer (not too quickly), "Deathly Hallows" went for four more chapters, and the scenery had a lot to offer, not to mention the wildlife.

Where do you want me to start? With the wildlife again. No , too easy. How about the crops of the area. Or looking at tornado "Alley" that we went through?

OK it's the crops. At this time of the year, the land lies fallow, and remember that from southern Illinois through SE Missouri across the Mississippi River's Alluvial Plain (we did that today) into eastern Arkansas it is VERY flat and fertile (a lot of bottom land from the Big Muddy.). So although the soil is moist and wet in places there are tracks across the cotton fields where last year's crops were harvested, and there are cotton plant stumps from some of the cotton fields where there will be other crops planted this year. The cotton crop is the number two crop in AR. Among those crops is rice, as Arkansas is the leader in rice production in the USA with 10 BILLION pounds raised per year. The straight stretches of green miniscule "grasslike" carpet, leads the eye out for miles in every direction/ This wouldbe winter wheat just starting to pop forth. yet still hidden are the tilled fields waiting for the planting of corn when the fields are dry enough for planting. Bio diesel is now another leading industry for this state from soy beans and corn, both. We did traverse the Crowley Ridge, as well, which is fertile with loess and clay

Then there was the wildlife, and the 92 hawks that Ruth counted, mostly on I-40, include five varieties of which we could identify (on the fly... no pun intended) the Kestral, the Cooper's the Northern Harrier and the Sharp Shinned hawks. The HIGHLIGHT of the day were three old rice fields where the Snow Geese numbered over 1,000 in each of the three fields. The fields were a sea of white. From a distance they would resemble Sea Gulls, but the sea gulls almost always have some birds in flight. These were just sitting and feeding with NONE in flight.This was just west of Memphis in Arkansas.

The area of last weeks tornadoes on I-55/57 was replete with damaged trees and although there were no building that we saw damaged , that storm brought more than 300 official NOAA reportings of hail, wind damage and tornadoes in TN, AR, MO, and TN. More than 60 people were killed and here in Brinkley AR, there are public notices for emergency assistance needed by the agencies.

One of the major commercial buildings that we did see, was the Walgreen's Heqdquarters in Missouri just off I-57.

Our campground tonight is behind a Day's Inn and again is very quiet (there is one other camper). The pictures shows that and our own yard the morning we left Grand Rapids.

We are watching the Texas storms move east and will stay in Nacadoches,TX on Saturday hoping the rain will be sufficient for the soil to say , "enough!"

May this find you all in good health and able to get on board the site. I understnad it is still very white in MI

Blessings,





Jim and Ruth