Visit to Centerton, Arkansas

As we drove over the Missouri River early on Thursday morning, the fog had lifted and we were able to see all of Memphis' skyline and the various tugboats on the river. We had a long drive ahead of us to reach the Ozarks and Centerton, the birthplace of Jey-hu's father.

The drive up and over the Boston Mountains and into the Fayetteville area was quite lovely. As we passed the University of Arkansas, I thought about a number of Multiple Myeloma bloggers I have followed who have had their treatments here. This medical center's focus is largely due to Sam Walton, another MM'er, who started his business in Bentonville, just 5 or 10 minutes north of Fayetteville.

This part of Arkansas is referred to as the Ozark region and encompasses the upper northwest corner of the state and most of the upper two-thirds eastward from the western-most boundary. It is also a state which appears to be growing and as the roads are improved, it will probably change quite a bit from its current rural atmosphere into a more cosmopolitan state.

So, it was not too surprising to find the little town of Centerton very much as it once was, at least on the old main street. Jey-hu took a number of pictures of the buildings, one of which can be seen below:

If you look closely you can see the signs of the early construction typical of the late 1800's, when the town was settled.

We will post more pictures tomorrow when we have better internet access and have a little more time. Heading west to Kansas and - deja vue - Colorado!

We didn't stay in Bucksnout, Tenn

We headed out of Florida under rainy skies taking 75 north until we were past Atlanta, GA. I cannot recall where it was that we stopped for gas and breakfast, in that order, but we had been discussing the merits of having "someone else deliver the goods," when we pulled up next to an international "goods deliverer," and briefly pondered how much it might cost to load up the truck and the trailer with everything in it.

After a week of packing boxes and throwing stuff away, giving stuff away, selecting items to go to flea market sale and trying to squeeze one last thing into the trailer, we were feeling like

the movie characters from the old T.V. show."Beverly Hillbillies." For those who are too young, or were deprived of television during the 60's, this was the story of the Clampetts who left Arkansas for Beverly Hills, California, after discovering oil on their land.

To add to this metaphor, Jey-hu's family reunion a couple of weeks ago revealed that he comes from Arkansas stock, including a Cherokee Indian maiden who married his great-great grandfather. So we are doing a turn-about and heading west through Arkansas in order to try and locate the family farm near Bentonville. The family lived in the Weatherly house for a few years and then moved to their own home a few miles away. We will see what we discover.

Afflicted with a cold from some infected individual on the airline we took to get to Florida, yesterday was a real downer, trying to finish things up with rain everywhere. We decided a treat was in order for dinner and stopped in Chattanooga for my second meal and Jey=hu's first at "Modern Dave's." It was definitely a good meal, but lacked something this evening.

Finally, after driving for 14 hours, passing up many more appealing hotel/motel options, including one "Traveler's Inn" in Bucksnout, Tenn. (Yes, really there is such a place!!!) we reached the outskirts of Memphis, Tennessee, making it possible

to reach the Bentonville area tomorrow in daylight. Here are some shots we took of the countryside in Georgia and Tennessee along the way. And we were rewarded with this lovely pink sunset after leaving the Nashville area to really begin trekking west. (This last shot was done by Jey-hu.)