Friday, 6 March 2020
I've been noticing a real change in Gracie's share of the wrestling the dogs do. They've been wrestling since Dexter first came to live with us, but for a long time Gracie didn't initiate any part of it and was always a pretty passive participant. It's been nearly 4 years since then and, slowly but surely, I've been watching a real transition for her. As of this morning, she has started to instigate these wrestling matches, not just to look eager and ready to play as she's been doing for a while now, but actually to jump on Dexter and start the wrestling.
Also in the beginning, Dexter won every time, mostly because Gracie was so passive. But again over time, that's been changing and now she can win as often as he can. When she first started winning, Dext was really surprised, even disconcerted. But he seems to have gotten used to the idea and it's more of a give and take thing now. It's good for both of them, though hard on me because they're always doing this wrestling at the end of their leashes and jerking me all over the place as they jump around and play. But it's great to watch. It does tell me, though, how long it takes for Gracie to make a change in her behavior. I guess I've still got a lot more years to go before she stops flinching when I do something as simple as close the door.
Several times I've heard a bird that sounds like one of those dog toys that makes a noise like a duck. This morning I finally figured out it's crows that are doing it. I thought all crows did was caw, but the ones in this park can make doggie toy duck noises.
As I was leaving the campground this morning, I heard an ad on the Texarkana radio station for an insurance company, and the announcer pronounced it IN-sure-ence - emphasis on the first syllable. That's the way I grew up pronouncing it (despite my Yankee mother) and never, in all my years of living up north, adjusted to hearing folks putting the emphasis on the 2nd syllable. It was nice to hear it on such an authoritative source as a public radio station.
Back to Texarkana
This time, I stayed on Route 71 all the way into town, where it becomes State Line Avenue. That means I saw a sign saying: Texarkana, pop. 66,330. What's interesting is that this is the combined population of both the Arkansas and Texas sides. My first stop was back at the Albertson's. I'd been parked at the campground so long, I ran out of things.
Next I took a detour to see the post office. It's the only US Post Office to be physically located in 2 states, and it does this by being right in the middle of State Line Avenue, the boundary between Texas and Arkansas. State Line Ave. splits from being 4 lanes, 2 in each direction, to being two 2-lane roads that wrap around the post office and join up on the other side.
This dramatic photo isn't mine and unfortunately obscures what I found most surprising about this building. Hidden behind this sign, which is really there, is the label on the building. Carved into the stone are the words:
So for anyone like me who was thinking maybe the line was moved after the building was built or something, nope - they knew what they were doing when they built the building.
Driving back up that street, I noticed banners of the 2 states' flags on each side of the road, with the Texas ones on the Texas side and the Arkansas ones on the Arkansas side. Just in case anyone wasn't sure, I guess.
I also noticed a string of liquor stores on the Arkansas side that did not have counterparts on the Texas side. I'd never thought of Texas as having an onerous liquor tax, but there's bound to be some advantage to buying alcohol on the Arkansas side of the road.
I was headed for the vet's office. They took us early and 2 young women working together (one to hold, one to clip) took care of Lily's nails for another month and dosed her with another month's worth of flea medicine. They charged me $16, which I think is a bargain for all the trouble I don't have to go to myself.
Heading northeast
I picked up US Route 67 a couple of miles from downtown, and stayed on it all the way through Hope to Prescott - about 45 miles. Along the way I saw lots of fields, most of them with cows in them, and scattered houses.
I crossed the Red River again and by the other side of the road I saw a woman with a large backpack and a large dog. She was doing something with the backpack so I don't know if she was hiking or hitchhiking. That dog looked tired, though - it was lying down.
Hope
I passed a building labeled Hope In Action #2, and have discovered it's a homeless shelter. It's just outside of town and I wondered what folks do for transportation out there. Across the street is the Hope Livestock Auction buildings. Odd juxtaposition.
And then into Hope, pop. 10,095. Bigger than I thought it'd be; I always got the impression, when Bill Clinton was first running for president, that this was a small town. And so it is, in comparison to Little Rock. But then, Little Rock's a small town in comparison to Chicago, so I guess it's all relative. Hope is certainly bigger than most of the towns I've been driving through so far in this state.
When I stopped to feed and walk the dogs, I saw a Tyson Foods facility nearby. Tyson, the world's largest poultry packaging company, is headquartered in Springdale, which is a suburb of Fayetteville, near the Oklahoma and Missouri borders.
President William Jefferson Clinton's Birthplace Home is run by the National Park Service now as a tourist attraction. But I've discovered that Clinton's Presidential Library is in Little Rock, and I think that'd be more interesting to me than the home he lived in for a few years with his mom and grandparents. But I still wanted to drive by and take a look since it was handy.
This place was odd in one way - if you came to it from Hope's principal street, as I did, you'd find zero identifying signs for this home. It's not until I came at it from the other direction that I saw the standard Park Service signs. And there's nothing in that other direction but more tiny towns. Odd.
Back on the road
Continuing northeast on Route 67, I crossed the Terre Rouge Creek, followed by the Terre Rouge Relief, followed by Little Terre Rouge Relief, and then the Little Terre Rouge Creek. I'm glad I figured out the other day what a "relief" is, since I kept meeting them today. But for a casual boater, these names must make the waterways confusing.
I passed the Foster Farms (chicken) Emmet Feed Mill, just outside the town of Emmet, pop. 506. A road sign told me I'm now on the Heritage Trail called the Civil War Trail.
Then into Prescott, pop. 3,296. Route 67 appears to be a principal street in Prescott, and the businesses that would be on the east side of the road aren't there because a train track is. Those displaced businesses are on another road that runs along the other side of the train track. Prescott is proud of its Depot Museum, which is quite clearly the old train depot refurbished to become a museum. Because of a sign on the depot/museum, I can say that Prescott's elevation is 308'. Arkansas's lowest point is the Ouachita River on the Louisiana border at 55', so you can see we've already started climbing toward the mountains farther north.
I turned right on State Route 24 just past the depot and passed the Prescott Lodge 80, Free and Accepted Masons. Extremely old building, but I suppose it's still in use.
The Prescott First Baptist Church had a sign in front that said, "Need a Lifeguard? Ours walks on water!"
Those white-flowering trees were just glorious in the sunshine. Breathtakingly beautiful.
A good distance of this road was lined with trees, a mixed woods that was very pleasant and probably quite lovely when all the deciduous trees are green again.
And I crossed the Terre Rouge Creek again. You can tell they all wind around quite a bit. After that I crossed Caney Creek Relief, followed by Caney Creek.
I saw online that Austin's South by Southwest festival has been canceled, thanks to the continuing spread of the coronavirus. With spring coming on, I'm sure there'll be a lot of canceled traditions until they get this thing stopped. Pretty spooky.
 |
| today's route |
This time, I stayed on Route 71 all the way into town, where it becomes State Line Avenue. That means I saw a sign saying: Texarkana, pop. 66,330. What's interesting is that this is the combined population of both the Arkansas and Texas sides. My first stop was back at the Albertson's. I'd been parked at the campground so long, I ran out of things.
Next I took a detour to see the post office. It's the only US Post Office to be physically located in 2 states, and it does this by being right in the middle of State Line Avenue, the boundary between Texas and Arkansas. State Line Ave. splits from being 4 lanes, 2 in each direction, to being two 2-lane roads that wrap around the post office and join up on the other side.
This dramatic photo isn't mine and unfortunately obscures what I found most surprising about this building. Hidden behind this sign, which is really there, is the label on the building. Carved into the stone are the words:
United States Post Office
Texas Arkansas
So for anyone like me who was thinking maybe the line was moved after the building was built or something, nope - they knew what they were doing when they built the building.
Driving back up that street, I noticed banners of the 2 states' flags on each side of the road, with the Texas ones on the Texas side and the Arkansas ones on the Arkansas side. Just in case anyone wasn't sure, I guess.
I also noticed a string of liquor stores on the Arkansas side that did not have counterparts on the Texas side. I'd never thought of Texas as having an onerous liquor tax, but there's bound to be some advantage to buying alcohol on the Arkansas side of the road.
I was headed for the vet's office. They took us early and 2 young women working together (one to hold, one to clip) took care of Lily's nails for another month and dosed her with another month's worth of flea medicine. They charged me $16, which I think is a bargain for all the trouble I don't have to go to myself.
Heading northeast
I picked up US Route 67 a couple of miles from downtown, and stayed on it all the way through Hope to Prescott - about 45 miles. Along the way I saw lots of fields, most of them with cows in them, and scattered houses.
I crossed the Red River again and by the other side of the road I saw a woman with a large backpack and a large dog. She was doing something with the backpack so I don't know if she was hiking or hitchhiking. That dog looked tired, though - it was lying down.
Hope
I passed a building labeled Hope In Action #2, and have discovered it's a homeless shelter. It's just outside of town and I wondered what folks do for transportation out there. Across the street is the Hope Livestock Auction buildings. Odd juxtaposition.
And then into Hope, pop. 10,095. Bigger than I thought it'd be; I always got the impression, when Bill Clinton was first running for president, that this was a small town. And so it is, in comparison to Little Rock. But then, Little Rock's a small town in comparison to Chicago, so I guess it's all relative. Hope is certainly bigger than most of the towns I've been driving through so far in this state.
When I stopped to feed and walk the dogs, I saw a Tyson Foods facility nearby. Tyson, the world's largest poultry packaging company, is headquartered in Springdale, which is a suburb of Fayetteville, near the Oklahoma and Missouri borders.
 |
| the Clinton Birthplace Home |
This place was odd in one way - if you came to it from Hope's principal street, as I did, you'd find zero identifying signs for this home. It's not until I came at it from the other direction that I saw the standard Park Service signs. And there's nothing in that other direction but more tiny towns. Odd.
Back on the road
Continuing northeast on Route 67, I crossed the Terre Rouge Creek, followed by the Terre Rouge Relief, followed by Little Terre Rouge Relief, and then the Little Terre Rouge Creek. I'm glad I figured out the other day what a "relief" is, since I kept meeting them today. But for a casual boater, these names must make the waterways confusing.
I passed the Foster Farms (chicken) Emmet Feed Mill, just outside the town of Emmet, pop. 506. A road sign told me I'm now on the Heritage Trail called the Civil War Trail.
Then into Prescott, pop. 3,296. Route 67 appears to be a principal street in Prescott, and the businesses that would be on the east side of the road aren't there because a train track is. Those displaced businesses are on another road that runs along the other side of the train track. Prescott is proud of its Depot Museum, which is quite clearly the old train depot refurbished to become a museum. Because of a sign on the depot/museum, I can say that Prescott's elevation is 308'. Arkansas's lowest point is the Ouachita River on the Louisiana border at 55', so you can see we've already started climbing toward the mountains farther north.
I turned right on State Route 24 just past the depot and passed the Prescott Lodge 80, Free and Accepted Masons. Extremely old building, but I suppose it's still in use.
The Prescott First Baptist Church had a sign in front that said, "Need a Lifeguard? Ours walks on water!"
Those white-flowering trees were just glorious in the sunshine. Breathtakingly beautiful.
A good distance of this road was lined with trees, a mixed woods that was very pleasant and probably quite lovely when all the deciduous trees are green again.
And I crossed the Terre Rouge Creek again. You can tell they all wind around quite a bit. After that I crossed Caney Creek Relief, followed by Caney Creek.
I saw online that Austin's South by Southwest festival has been canceled, thanks to the continuing spread of the coronavirus. With spring coming on, I'm sure there'll be a lot of canceled traditions until they get this thing stopped. Pretty spooky.
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