Day 2: Shamrock^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HArmadillo, TX
We left Little Rock just after 7:00 am, again in dense fog. We stopped by a Starbucks, then went on to the Cracker Barrel in Conway for breakfast.
Coming into Conway, we passed a sign for "Toad Suck Park". The story about it in wikipedia is interesting and fun.
I noticed that the signs along the interstate in Arkansas seemed harder to see than I'm used to, even in poor lighting conditions. I don't know whether I'm going blind or the signs just aren't as well lit there.
In the western part of Arkansas, I-40 runs along a valley between the Ozark mountains to the north and the Ouachita mountains to the south. The highest summits of the Ozarks are around 2600 feet above sea level while the high point of the Ouachitas is Mt. Magazine at 2753 feet, so they aren't all that high compared to other mountainous regions of the country. According to wikipedia, however, the Ouachitas were once as high as the Rockies are now. They've just been around long enough to have eroded down to nubs, while the Rockies are young whipper-snappers. Presumably, that would mean they are also older than the Appalachians, which (I have read, but I don't remember where) were once been as high as the Rockies and have eroded.
We also passed a sign announcing the "Ozark Pig Trail Scenic Byway". I speculated that perhaps it commemorates a trail used sometime in the 1800s by Arkansas pig farmers to drive their stock to market. However, with a little research, I learned that it is "[n]amed for its popularity as a short cut to Fayetteville for games University of Arkansas Razorbacks (also affectionately called the Hogs or Pigs)." The same page says that in its 19 miles, this road passes through some of the most scenic parts of the Arkansas Ozarks.
Driving through Oklahoma, we saw rest stops with picnic shelters shaped like teepees.
Karen wondered why Oklahoma is called the "Sooner" state. I didn't know. She asked one of her Jazzercise buddies who was born at Edmond, OK, and got a response the next day. Apparently, when Oklahoma was opened to settlers (after having been given to the Native Americans), some folks entered the territory early, illegally, and were called "sooners". Land claim disputes between sooners and later, legal, settlers were still being adjudicated in the early part of the 20th century, according to wikipedia.
Somewhere in Oklahoma, we also saw wind turbines off in the distance. Karen was driving, so I got to look and look (they were too far away for good pictures).
Following yesterday's pattern, we wound up deciding to bypass Shamrock and go on to Amarillo where we found a hotel next to a Cracker Barrel. So the day 2 drive wasn't really shortened much (at all) by extending Day 1 to Little Rock, because day 2 got extended almost 100 miles from Shamrock to Amarillo.
Coming into Conway, we passed a sign for "Toad Suck Park". The story about it in wikipedia is interesting and fun.
I noticed that the signs along the interstate in Arkansas seemed harder to see than I'm used to, even in poor lighting conditions. I don't know whether I'm going blind or the signs just aren't as well lit there.
In the western part of Arkansas, I-40 runs along a valley between the Ozark mountains to the north and the Ouachita mountains to the south. The highest summits of the Ozarks are around 2600 feet above sea level while the high point of the Ouachitas is Mt. Magazine at 2753 feet, so they aren't all that high compared to other mountainous regions of the country. According to wikipedia, however, the Ouachitas were once as high as the Rockies are now. They've just been around long enough to have eroded down to nubs, while the Rockies are young whipper-snappers. Presumably, that would mean they are also older than the Appalachians, which (I have read, but I don't remember where) were once been as high as the Rockies and have eroded.
We also passed a sign announcing the "Ozark Pig Trail Scenic Byway". I speculated that perhaps it commemorates a trail used sometime in the 1800s by Arkansas pig farmers to drive their stock to market. However, with a little research, I learned that it is "[n]amed for its popularity as a short cut to Fayetteville for games University of Arkansas Razorbacks (also affectionately called the Hogs or Pigs)." The same page says that in its 19 miles, this road passes through some of the most scenic parts of the Arkansas Ozarks.
Driving through Oklahoma, we saw rest stops with picnic shelters shaped like teepees.
Karen wondered why Oklahoma is called the "Sooner" state. I didn't know. She asked one of her Jazzercise buddies who was born at Edmond, OK, and got a response the next day. Apparently, when Oklahoma was opened to settlers (after having been given to the Native Americans), some folks entered the territory early, illegally, and were called "sooners". Land claim disputes between sooners and later, legal, settlers were still being adjudicated in the early part of the 20th century, according to wikipedia.
Somewhere in Oklahoma, we also saw wind turbines off in the distance. Karen was driving, so I got to look and look (they were too far away for good pictures).
Following yesterday's pattern, we wound up deciding to bypass Shamrock and go on to Amarillo where we found a hotel next to a Cracker Barrel. So the day 2 drive wasn't really shortened much (at all) by extending Day 1 to Little Rock, because day 2 got extended almost 100 miles from Shamrock to Amarillo.
posted by GreenSkink at 3:01 PM
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