28 October 2015, Wednesday
We awake before dawn today – mainly because sunrise isn’t until almost
8 am! There are deer surrounding our tent and there is a pile of
fresh dirt that both of us are sure was not there last night. Three
planets are aligned in the eastern sky. One is Venus, one is Mars,
and we are not sure what the other is. As the morning light slowly
increases we see the occupant of the dirt mound. A gopher is hard at
work digging.
Our trip across Oklahoma goes well. The terrain gradually changes from
flat fields to rolling hills as we approach eastern Oklahoma. We
cross into Arkansas around 2 pm and find Catfish Hole Restaurant. It
has rave reviews online for its fried catfish and hush puppies so we
have to check it out. We are greeted by a friendly hostess with a
thick Arkansas accent. The food – catfish, hush puppies, cole slaw
and green tomato relish is good – but ultimately, we both find it
something of a gallbladder stress test. Good thing we are eating well
before bedtime!
We are soon back on the road and heading north to the scenic Boston
Mountains of Arkansas. We take the exit to Devils Den State Park.
There are warning signs: No vehicles over 28 feet, switchbacks
ahead, use caution! I am driving. I carry on. Piece of cake!! Yeah,
there are lots of switchbacks, but the road is paved. There are no
guard rails, but there is also no steep drop-off down a cliff face. I
have not a single palpitation.
Devil’s Den State Park is beautiful. Much of it was constructed by the CCC.
The area is reminiscent of West Virginia. We both look forward to
hiking tomorrow. All is well until the young man two campsites down
finishes setting up his LED lights and turns on his rock music. I
mosey over for a conversation. He explains that this is his hobby. He
loves the outdoors, but he also loves seeing his lights and listening
to his music when it gets dark. I explain we’ve been on the road
since early this morning and we are tired. Besides, after 3 months
we’ve gotten used to starlight and crickets and owls at night. We chat
pleasantly for awhile about hiking. I think we’ve reached a
compromise. He’ll turn down (or off) the music at 8 pm. Fair enough.
We’ll see what happens.
