Listing Through Life

Immediately after we left the Parker-Hickman Farmstead, we reached the Buffalo River. The road crossed the river on a drive-through ford. It had rained for the past three days, and the water was moving fast. My brother-in-law stopped at the edge and viewed the situation. I figured the worst that could happen was a soaking and a long, wet walk back to civilization. It was his truck, so I let him make the decision.

After about 10 minutes, he decided to go for it. The ride was uneventful even though the water came up to the doors.

Scenery in the valley.

There were several roads we could have taken. The one we chose doesn’t appear on the map — for good reason. For the next half hour we climbed steadily upward on a track that was somewhat bumpy.

We finally arrived at the top. We stopped to pick up all the stuff that had bounced onto the floor and to take a look at the view. See that valley way down there? That’s where we’d just come from.

And here’s the road we came on.

This old farm is located on National Park land near the Buffalo River. We pulled over and strolled about. Here’s the sign by the parking area.

We wandered about the outbuildings for a few minutes.

Here’s the main house. I was surprised to discover that we were allowed inside.

Several of the rooms were lined with newspapers from the 1920’s. We spent several minutes reading and laughing at the old ads.

Click on the following photos to enlarge.

For much of the day, we were on Scenic Highway 7, one of the primary tourist attractions in the state of Arkansas. The views are stunning as the road winds up, down and around the Boston Mountains, but the tourism obviously can’t sustain a lot of businesses. It is pretty cool when your trip is almost as incredible as your destination.

Notice also the sad state of the trees. A huge ice storm hit Arkansas last January, and the damage is still visible. Tree branches are broken off and short twigs from this year’s growth sprout in all directions.

At the end of the video, you can see Jasper, Arkansas. We pulled over across from a pizza place, but it was closed. We bought “lunch” at a gas station store — significant because it was the place I purchased the last Slim Jim I will ever eat. There was a small picnic area between the gas station and the Little Buffalo River that featured this sign.

We soon turned off Highway 7 onto dirt roads that led into Buffalo National River, part of the National Park Service.  Elk can sometimes be seen here. We drove slowly and kept our eyes open. We saw several White-tailed Deer, but no Elk.

On the day after Christmas, my daughter and I climbed into the pickup with my brother-in-law, my niece and my nephew.  We headed north into the Ozark Mountains in search of adventure. Our first stop was the Rotary Ann Overlook on Scenic Highway 7. The temperature was in the low 20’s, and the wind whipping across the top of the mountains put the windchill below zero. We didn’t stay long.

From there, we drove to Pedestal Rocks in the Ozark National Forest. We had a mile hike through the woods to get to our destination. The trail, when we got to the Pedestal Rocks area, ran along the edge of the bluff. There were a few places where we could climb down below and explore the erosion caves. When we saw the thousands and thousands of icicles hanging off of pretty much every surface, we were, for the first time of the day, happy that it was cold. The place was simply amazing. The following photos appear in the order I took them as we worked our way along the trail.

Here’s the first pedestal rock we came upon. There were six or seven that were separated from the bluff like this. Others were still attached at the top but had cavities or tunnels underneath.

Icicles hanging from one of the many windows in the rocks below the bluffs.

One of the more stunning areas, a large tunnel with ice hanging everywhere.

One of the many caves under the bluffs. This one had two windows separated by a pedestal-in-the-making. The “room” from which I took this photo was about as large as an average kitchen.

The view from the top of the bluffs.

Once we made it around to the sunny side of the hill, it was much warmer. So warm, in fact, that we frequently heard large chunks of ice crashing down the bluff as they melted in the sun. We climbed back down below the bluffs to explore this area.

Another pedestal, part of which can be seen in the above photo.

There was an area near here where dripping water had covered a fallen tree and a large area around it.

Looking up toward the edge of the bluff. We were very aware of the fact that we could be speared by ice at any moment.

It was much warmer as we walked the mile back to the truck. Already, the day had exceeded our expectations, and we’d only just begun.

I’d learned about Whatta-burger from the Roadfood.com site and had even driven past it several times on past visits.

The place was jammed. We gave our order to a young lady by the door, then stood in line for about 10 minutes to order drinks, get our food and pay.

The burgers were tasty, but not phenomenal — and they looked like someone had sat on them.

The onion rings were awful. For dessert, I bought three fried pies (chocolate, cherry and peach) and we split them. They didn’t taste bad, but I had a tough time getting past the grease that was dripping (really) from the crust.

If you find yourself in Russellville, Arkansas, and are in the mood for a burger a step above McDonald’s, go here, but don’t make a special trip.