Western Swing 2013 - 4 - Little Rock to Oklahoma City

Sunday morning in North Little Rock -- interesting.

After physically being here for a brief period we now understand the difference between Little Rock and North Little Rock. The Arkansas River runs between the two areas. The northern part of Little Rock (that part north of the river) actually includes a cluster of several communities. The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metropolitan area is about half the size of our own area of Metro Louisville-Clarksville-New Albany. By contrast, the area, except for Conway, is all contained in Pulaski County. The Louisville area is made up of Jefferson County, on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, and Clark and Floyd counties, on the Indiana shores.

Walking and biking trails? Yes, they have them here! In fact, there are many miles one can traverse on either side of the Arkansas River. In addition to the Big Dam Bridge there is the CO&G railroad bridge and another bridge further up river dedicated to pedestrian and bike traffic. The paths wind through at least six parks that line both sides of the river. The development of the paths arose simultaneously with the initiative of the mid-1990s in revitalizing the riverbank which comprises the River Market district, the lifeblood of Little Rock's downtown area.

Another thing we had never noticed was how hilly the county actually is. When traveling on from Memphis to Texarkana one may think that it's on a flat plain. I-40 is rather flat between Memphis and Little Rock but it ends in LR. Just west of Little Rock's downtown, large hills on a rock base are soon encountered. The same is true of North Little Rock. The hills on either side of the Ohio in Louisville are not as steep except for The Knobs in Floyd County. The river banks here are steep. Even then, the hills are further removed from the river making the river valley rather wide.

OK -- enough with the lesson on geography.

This is Sunday. In the life of a Christian it means the opportunity to attend worship and/or Bible study with other Christians. We took advantage of that opportunity to engage in a worship experience. There were four churches within one mile of the KOA. We selected The Summit Church because they had a service at 9:00 which would allow us to get out in time for check-out at 11 AM. At 10:20 we left as the service was beginning to come to a close. The sermon was well-delivered and appreciated. It was about the responsibility Christians have in creating peace in our relationships.

As one might expect, this church has only a “contemporary” service (the opposite of a “traditional” service). That said, we weren’t quite prepared for one subtle difference; they refer to the room for corporate worship as “The Theater”. One wonders about the theological implication with regard to that name. Sanctuary still seems appropriate regardless of cultural experience or the rock concert style of musical production.

The KOA in North Little Rock is adequate. One can tell that it is an older campground in the system because of the length of the sites. They’re short by today’s standards. Still, it meets our needs. The sites were made of gravel with at least one mature for each camping space.

We left at nearly noon for the trip to Oklahoma City. The sky was filled with billowy clouds. Martha had never been on this part of I-40 and Byron had only driven from Little Rock to Russellville in 1976, a long time ago. From there through Fort Smith and Oklahoma City was new for us. The highway generally stays within a few miles of the Arkansas River through Arkansas and into eastern Oklahoma. The gently rolling hills of the road are between the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests. Since Martha wasn’t working today, she assisted with some of the driving. During the weekdays, she sits at her computer doing dictation while Byron does the driving.

The course from Little Rock to Oklahoma City is within easy reach of the “Trail of Tears”, the course the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, and other nations took in their forced migration from the lower Appalachians and southeastern part of the USA. At the time, the Anglo-European settlers of our country thought the “civilized” natives would do well on reservations and, since Oklahoma was virgin territory, it would be suitable. After all, those non-white people had no deed for the ground they had lived on and farmed in the southeastern part of the country. More about that later.

One of the nice things about traveling by motorhome is that a good meal is always nearby. We like the meat entrees from Hormel. They always do well in the microwave. After having pork with gravy, rice, and slaw while sitting at a rest stop, we continued on our journey westward into Oklahoma.

As we traveled past Shawnee we started looking for evidence of the tornado that hit there the day before the tornado touched down in Moore. Sure enough, just west of Shawnee and south of I-40 we saw homes demolished and mature trees broken and fallen. The path of the storm was easily identifiable.

We arrived at the KOA before 6 PM after pausing for dinner at a rest stop. Mileage covered was 315. We were in time to watch the community memorial service that was hosted by the state’s governor at the First Baptist Church in Moore and broadcast on all the local stations.

When the tornado was ripping across Moore, Byron noticed that it was starting to lift just before Choctaw where we had a reservation at the Oklahoma City East KOA. He had checked with them before our arrival and found that they only had minor damage caused by the stiff wind and baseball-sized hail. Once parked and setup, we could see no evidence of any of the storm’s destruction from the previous week except on our walk around a hiking trail on the periphery of the campground. We saw some bits of insulation in a couple of places but that was all. We also saw a tremendous amount of poison ivy among the trees but it wasn't blown in from a storm. It was growing there just waiting for us to avoid.

The KOA is very nice. Each space is clearly defined with several live oak trees at each site. Though on the peak of a hill, the sites are flat with terracing between each one where necessary. After the hike, doing a load of laundry, and watching a bit of TV we turned in for the night. Tomorrow we plan to go to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in the morning then head to the home of Martha’s uncle and aunt for a cookout.

One other thing to notice about traveling west; one sees more trailers and fifth-wheel units than motorhomes. The reason is that a significant part of the population have trucks. Or, as a salesman at an RV dealership put it, “motorhomes are for the city slickers.”