We went for a hike deep into the forest of Meeman-Shelby State Park, TN and got lost. Some of the Beech and Poplar trees were gargantuan with moss covered trunks stretching six feet wide, roots spreading over the forest floor like tendrils, and branches reaching 200 feet into the canopy. Beautiful, ebullient flora in a thousand shades of green. We descended the bluff to the edge of the bayous that run into the Mississippi and and got lost due to a substandard map and my own stupidity. We wandered for over 3 and a half hours as the mist burned off the forest and we finally found our campsite.
So we cross the river on I-40 into Arkansas where the land is suddenly flat and for 120 miles we pass acre after countless acre of irrigated rice paddies stretching as far as the eye could see. Just as suddenly as the flatness and agrobusiness begins, it ends with the appearance of the Arkansas River and the city of Little Rock, which is really not a city, but more like a small town on steroids. The city is ordered and prim, well-manicured and immaculate. We find the riverfront district with about six blocks of cafes, markets, and restaurants. Young, polite hipsters share the streets with polite, elderly farm folks and a strong progressive current of green thought shows up in potato starch straws and utensils, posters calling for alternative energy, free Wi-Fi everywhere, and an army of skateboarders redefining the use of angled concrete structures.
We visit Little Rock High School, where the Little Rock Nine integrated the school with the help of Eisenhower and the 101st Airborne Division who had to stand down the Arkansas National Guard that was preventing the Black children from entering the school.
West of Arkansas we enter the Oachita Mountains and camp at Maumelle park along the river, about 15 miles outside the city. The landscape feels like Charlottesville again, with gentle, green, rolling hills. Who knew Arkansas was this beautiful?
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