Van Buren to Jackson
Woke 6.30 made coffee in our Free Hawk apartment in Van Buren. Loaded the cars which we’d parked the night before in the big garage. Left at 8.15am and after cruising down to the Arkansas river for a look-see and a 10-minute wait for a huge long train to pass, we climbed back onto I-40.
Pulled into Russellville mid-morning to search for a Starbucks and ended up on the campus of Arkansas Tech University. Lovely campus; lots of young people wearing masks which is encouraging. Our midday destination was the Louisiana Purchase State park. After coming off I-40 we drove 20 miles along rural Arkansas roads with the landscape strangely resembling rural Lincolnshire. A long 5-mile section of gravel road. The state park was odd – no one on duty and basically a swamp of trees with a wooden boardwalk leading to a stone monument erected a hundred years ago to commemorate the start point of the 1815 survey of the Louisiana purchase. Beautiful. There was only one other set of visitors.
We set up our chairs behind the Outback and had our lunch with the USB fan on to drive away insects. A combination of deet and the fan seems to keep them away. Drove back to I-40 in a heavy rainstorm.
When we got to Jackson TN, because it was still raining we decided to abandon our camping plans for Getaway Camp and instead booked ourselves into the Fairfield Marriott suites. Nice room, sizable, ordered Chinese food and dropped into bed.
Didn’t realise the little Fiat was making the trip too! If the tech allows you’ll have to post a link or something to a map to show your route. Trying to follow it but am easily confused…
Yep, map is a good idea will check with our web consultant…!
Yes the brave little Fiat was great. It has now been serviced and cleaned ready for Beth to use it this semester.
Maps now added!
love the cadillac ranch! and fascinating seeing the louisiana purchase stone. So purchased from the french i think?
Purchased in 1803 by Jefferson from the French. The 1815 survey was conducted in order to allocate land grants to soldiers from the war of 1812. Later on the trip we plan to visit a lot of Lewis and Clark sites.