To Fort Smith  Sunday, August 17th
We left Hot Springs after a restful four days.  We spent most of yesterday just hanging out, reading books, and swimming in the lake.  This morning we hooked up Creme Puff and left for a 118 mile journey through the middle of the Quachita National Forest.  It was a beautiful drive with tree covered mountains on each side of the road.  I would liken it to a drive through the Smokies but with shorter mountains!

We get "off the Interstate" a lot.  One sight that caught our eyes was the scene in the photo below. It reminded me of one of those "The Far Side" cartoons.  What do you think about my caption?  Maybe you have a better one?

Wayne Earl had every intention of getting his Chevy Pick-up running the very next week when it quit running in August, 1953.

I must thank Michelle Steward for helping us to see this.  Michelle encourages us to find unusual things for photos.  Of course, the above scene could be found in rural Alabama, Florida, Georgia, etc.  Greg Martin, one of my academic colleagues is from Arkansas and we used to swap funny tales of Arkansas and Alabama.   The stories are interchangeable.

Here in Ft. Smith, we are staying in another state park run by the Army Corps of Engineers.  We again have a nice site with a reservoir off the Arkansas River in our back yard.  Very pleasant park and plenty of other RVs around.  Its also a great location because within minutes you are "in town" in Ft. Smith with 10 minutes to Lowe's, Dillards, Harp's (their grocery chain), Panera Bread and the usual fair of box stores.  One thing we've noticed in rural areas is that Dollar Stores are everywhere and, usually either next door or across the street is a Family Dollar store!

Springhill Park is right off the Arkansas River.  Libbo is walking Maggie in our backyard.

So we are off to see the people that brought us through Ft. Smith.  Cliff Scott was one of my PhD. students at LSU.  Cliff was one of the brightest students I ever had.  After graduation he taught on the east coast then the west coast and then was off doing hi-tech marketing during the Dot Com boom and traveled all over the world.  When the Dot Com boom was over, Cliff decided to go to law school.  Having blown the roof off the LSAT he decided to go to the University of Colorado Law School where he got his JD.  When he got out he decided he didn't want to practice law but to go back into academics and do research on the legal aspects of marketing.  That is exactly what he has been dong and has been turning out A+ research.  He met Tina while both were in a Little Theater production and they married last September.  Tina is the Living Section editor for the Ft. Smith newspaper, and has been in the media business for years.  They just bought a home and are going through renovations.

We visited Cliff and Tina in their new home.

We had a fun evening together reminiscing about old days and hearing new stories about their courtship.  Cliff was in 5 Little Theater plays his first year here.  We had dinner at Rolando's; great South American food and several vegetarian plates on the menu.

Dinner with Tina and Cliff Scott at Rolando's in Ft. Smith, Arkansas

Monday, August 18th
Today is another pretty day and we've decided to give Creme Puff a bath as well as Maggie. So we are off to do our chores and hopefully work in some golf later on.