Courthouse to Schoolhouse through a Cave

The namesake of Indian Cave State Park only recently re-opened, after having been closed for repairs for a couple of years.  Flooding badly damaged walkways and access to those areas near the river.  A forecast of clear and 30°C day encouraged a wandering to the local.  It is impossible to say how many times it was passed on the way here or there.

A 1920's Richardson County Courthouse stood gleaming in the mid-morning sun of Falls City, encouraging the first small break from the road.   Contrary to the forecast, weather made the journey soggier than expected.  Gray skies shrouded the city, and passing through Weston, the clouds unleashed their fury.  Crossing into Kansas improved the situation incrementally, until arriving to full sunshine in Nebraska.

Google indicated a seemingly random gravel road would prove a more expedient path and it turned out relatively well.  Blue skies and wide open space unfurl above a sea of corn in every direction.  Harvest is coming soon, and it looked to be bountiful in these parts. 

The GoPro picked up the journey down to the cave site.  Meandering through an extra bit leading down to the restored schoolhouse and general store from the old river town of St. Deroin proved too much for the device though.  It decided to nap only a short distance from the cave.  A couple of short hikes later, it had recharged enough to make most of the return trip.

Heading south  back along the route Google had recommended, just enough battery power remained to capture the long, empty gravel road.  The device gasped a final lithium breath in much shorter time, forcing the remainder of the journey to stills. 

Historic structures abound in the little river town of Rulo, once an important crossing point of the Missouri River.  Some stand firm and well kept, while others appear as though they might be soon swallowed by the landscape.  The camp site of the Lewis & Clark Expedition stands pristine at the corner of the highway, just in front of an overgrown brush spot between the trees.  I am sure things were quite different this yesterday, 218 years ago.

Avoiding the chaos of the interstate, the old river road invited much more inspiring views.  At the confluence of the Big Nemaha River and the Missouri, sparrows dove and soared in a swarm, snacking on the bountiful insect life emerging from all around the waterway.

A little further along, the Point of Beginning of the Public Land Surveys of the Sixth Principal Meridian lingered at the corner of two fields and a dirt road leading towards the river.  It was here that someone hammered an iron monument in the ground and began systematically measuring all of Kansas and Nebraska, most of Colorado and Wyoming, and a portion of South Dakota.

Atchison promised a few amusements, though the entire town was readying for Amelia Earhart Days and digging deeper into the distraction did not seem quite as inviting as originally imagined.  Avoiding traffic enabled pause for a corner statement, and an opportunity to catalog another historic schoolhouse.

Weston stood as if no rain had ever passed. Old tobacco barns silently decay among rolling hills covered in corn.  The day had turned nicely for wandering among the bluffs and fields surrounding the Missouri River.

. . .

Further Reading

Richardson County Courthouse

Wikipedia

Indian Cave State Park

Nebraska Games and Parks Commission

Nebraska Historical Marker: Lewis and Clark Campsite

Nebraska State Historical Society

Lincoln School

The Historical Marker Database

Schoolhouses

A Google Earth collection of visited historic school sites.

Bison and Wildflowers

Cruising southward on a whim, Prairie State Park promised bison wandering about the eastern Missouri prairie.  Hiking along Drover's Trail offered the opportunity to scout out that little fact.  While it is likely true, only one lone soul drifted across the horizon throughout the journey through the tall grass and wildflowers.  It paused a few times, seeming to examine our position, but ultimately headed for the shade of a nearby grove.

Minus that beast, there is not much else to fix eyes on in this landscape.  The prairie extends in all directions, rolling and waving over the hills, broken only by the occasional stand of trees, ditch or creek.

Other distractions appear in the foreground with varying intensity, when the greater landscape fails to consume all the attention.  While not in abundance, the wildflowers littered the prairie, adding a splash of color here and there, without overstimulating the pallet.

The only other bison acquaintance of the day assured visitors that they would see at least one of the furry critters on their visit.  The "Saunter" hosted by the park in May might be the best time to see more and a return trip is planned.  Even that could prove a bust though.  The ranger on duty said that previous scheduled stomp through the field had turned up nothing after 2 hours.  They will be seen when they want to be soon.

. . .

Further Reading

Prairie State Park

Missouri State Parks

Beatles and Ice Cream

It turns out the little town of Walnut Ridge had quite a little interesting history.  It had a minor involvement with The Beatles back in 1964, at the height of Beatlemania.  The band only appeared in this out of the way spot twice, and performed neither time, but the situation left a lasting impression.  They would have been disappointed had they stayed longer anyway.  A real breakfast was nowhere to found that morning, making departure more pressing than that of the Fab Four.  

A few miles west in Black Rock, Renee's coffee and standard fare slowed the urge to get back down the road.  Since the jump from Pensacola had been much longer the day before, the mostly clear day offered up a bit more time to linger here and there The road did not look a lot different from the endless forest of Mississippi, but it remained better than the monotony of the interstate.

Life stands out better on these roads and it is easier to pause and consider the world that came before.  In this case, a site associated with a Confederate victory.  A junk shop and produce stand of sorts continues to hold the line here at Morgan's Mill, which is otherwise mostly abandoned and forgotten.

A little further along, the expedition paused for a morning hike after crossing the state line into Missouri.  Grand Gulf State Park had been on the project list for a couple of years.  This was the first opportunity to have a look around.  Temperatures had not gone too far out of hand, and having recently suffered the humidity of Mississippi, the morning seemed mostly pleasant.  The trailhead warned of 40 minutes to cover the Natural Bridge Trail.  The density of the foliage blocked most things from view, and danger of tick infestation discouraged attempting to modify the situation, reducing that time to about 20 minutes.

Temperatures rose considerably during the brief hour or so at the park.  Slipping back into air conditioned transport proved immensely gratifying.  Nothing else remained of the day, except to got on the path of discovery, the preferred recreation for most of the remainder of the day.  

Back roads remained the preferred route.  The four-lane, and interstate could wait.  It would take just as much time to get to navigate to that end and leverage it from this part of Missouri. A pause here and there to admire an old pony truss bridge enabled some amusement, as well as the random road sign confirming the status of the temperature.

The trail crossed into much more familiar territory, after a good lunch at a new spot Lebanon.  Some confusion about the name of the last spot visited placed the expedition at the doorstep of The Lunch Box Cafe.  They were still 15 minutes from opening, but offered to let us come on in out of the scorching heat and enjoy a little lunch.  Appreciating the consideration and enjoying conversation with those locals, it turned out a fortunate series of events to not have remembered Clifton's West Side Cafe.

Drake Harbor in Warsaw was almost the last place to pause and further delay surrendering to the reality of the high-speed four lane return to home base.  A plan was then hatched, under the shade of an oak tree, lazily watching the Osage River drift  slowly by, to delay that return only a little more.  A final stop on the north side of Clinton seemed more interesting.  They had locally grown ice cream there.

. . .

Further Reading

Stopover of the Beatles

Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Skirmish at Morgan's Mill

Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Grand Gulf State Park

Missouri State Parks

Delivering Happiness in a Cone

MFA Oil.com

Mississippi Embayment Art Encounter

It was difficult to leave the comfort of the shores of the Gulf behind, but it had to be done.  No time remained to linger. Eight and half hours of driving demanded attention to an early departure, with very little time afforded for distractions along the way.  Indeed, the first photographic opportunity of the day occurred over 700 km away from the point of beginning, at the Tennessee Welcome Center in Memphis.  Focus on reaching the intended destination before dark was that sincere.  The interstate proved unavoidable in this quest, but was only offered limited interest.

Perfectly aligned to schedule, dinner at the Blue City Cafe on Beale Street followed shortly thereafter.  Ribs and catfish rewarded a growing appetite that had only quieted earlier through small snacks and a couple of light meals.  With time on our side, a bit of wandering Beale Street offered a welcome.  Littering the district were a variety of guitar replicas from Gibson, each painted by a Memphis artist and signed by a Memphis celebrity, celebrating the unique art and music contributions in the city.  It is a trend across the nation these days.  The first instance of this from memory were the Kansas City cows, but there might have been some before that.  Regardless, it enabled the perfect, if only momentary, distraction from the road.

Only a short hour or so from Memphis., along the southern edge of the Ozark plateau, Walnut Ridge hosted arrangements for the evening.  Arrival worked out as planned, with enough remaining light to have a glance around the immediate vicinity. The litter of graffiti that welcomed our crew had peaked a certain level of curiosity, in spite of hours on the road.  Eventually, that and the heat that lingered in the air encouraged plush lounging about in quarters for the remainder of the evening.

The hotel has a reputation for determinations such as that.  The original purpose was to make the location famous for service and hospitality, offering hot and cold running water, steam heat, electric lights, and two water closets!  Completed in 1904, Hotel Rhea became the centerpiece of the town.  The original burned to the ground in 1914 and only small remnant stands today, but it continues to honor the original character of the establishment.

. . .

Further Reading

I-40 Welcome Center Memphis/Shelby

TNVacation.com

The Home of the Blues - A history of Delta Blues preserved on Beale Street

jusTodd on Medium

Gibson GuitarTown Public Art Display on Beale Street

SPGFan.com

The Hotel Rhea

Walnut Ridge, Arkansas

The Fort and the Beach

The day had no particular plan, with only two objectives.  When researching this area of the world for potential exploration, an old military fort presented itself as an intriguing situation. The other goal was nothing more than time on that beach made of sugar, splashing around in the crystal clear water, enjoying a little sun, watching the later fade into starlight.

A quick journey to the Seville Historic District of Pensacola for breakfast found things frozen in time.  The architecture mirrored much of what is usually seen in New Orleans, without the appearance or stench of decay.  It all appeared rather well maintained.  Bodacious Brew lived up to its namesake with a fantastic fare.  There was not much time to linger, but a quick glance at a nearby park found a memorial to one of the founding fathers of Pensacola, William Dudley Chipley, squarely in Plaza Ferdinand VII.

Fort Pickens area of Gulf Islands National Seashore loomed as the primary mission of the day.  In the climbing temperatures, the excursion encouraged an early start.  It proved an impressive tour through the history of this particular end of the barrier island, Santa Rosa Island.  While defenses at this fortification are certainly impressive, nature is winning the war, gently and quietly reclaiming land and relocating everything else.

Reservations for sunset reservations on the beach rendered just enough time to run back to East Hill and pick up another of our crew that had stayed in for the day.  Traffic lights enabled one chance to capture The Crystal Ice House, a vintage ice station from 1932.  With a green light, it faded into the rearview mirror as the urgency grew to collect fare for the evening and escort the food truck prize quickly back to the beach.  

The daylight held on long enough to stake a solid claim on a relatively empty stretch of beach.  Some color remained and lingered quite a good while. One by one, stars arrived on duty, slowly cascading into the darkening sky, and the galaxy slowly swam into view.  It is no wonder so many abandon themselves to life near the surf.  

. . .

Further Reading

Bodacious Brew Café

Pensacola, FL

Plaza Ferdinand VII

National Park Service

William Dudley Chipley

Wikipedia

Fort Pickens Area

Gulf Islands National Seashore

National Park Service

Crystal Ice House

RoadsideAmerica

Pensacola Beach

VisitPensacola.com

Reaching the Beachhead

It took very little effort to achieve the intended goal for the day.  Skies were clear, then stormy, then clear again; typical coastal weather for this time of year.  It was still hot, but Gulf breezes began to push some of that away.  The journey proved mostly uneventful through the billion acre forest of Mississippi, then Alabama to Mobile.

Mobile offered up the George Wallace Tunnel for amusement, diving 12 meters under the Mobile River, emerging nearly 1,000 meters on Blakeley Island.  Opened in 1973, it is named after the infamous Democratic senator from Alabama, a staunch segregationist, populist politician and two time presidential contender.  A new name has not yet been chosen for the tunnel,  but given his record and the state of affairs, it is likely in the works.

Señor GoPro unknowingly went on break just before the Alabama/Florida line, likely out of boredom induced by the interstate monotony.  Traffic crawled in west bound lanes, as the beaches emptied from the revelry of the 4th of July.  East bound proved to be the usual interstate game of push or be pushed down the road.

Arriving in Pensacola in no time at all, Señor GoPro rose from his siesta in time to catch the Bay Bridge crossing and down to accommodations for the next several days and nights.  Google completely mucked up the directions though, believing it more interesting to scale a 10 meter wall to access Gulf Coast Inn than to simply enter off the parkway.  It all worked out, with a little meandering, and the little roadside spot proved an excellent find for this occasion.

Connecting with friends, sustenance became the first order of business and they quickly identified the ideal location.  Shaggy's served up a delicious fare.  Had there not been a hurricane a few years ago, the original location in Christian Pass might have been our first encounter, but this was just as well, and well worth the wait.

A full belly sent us further east along the beach in search of less populated areas. As luck would have it, the first stop proved to be the perfect location for lounging about and catching up further with friends.  Toes were dipped, sand was put under construction and a good time had by all.

A need for relief led back to the parking lot, at some point. This led to the discovery of of something the Chinese first noted in the 9th century.  Marco Polo also reference the phenomenon in his crossing of the Gobi Desert, indicating the dunes filled the air "with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments ... ," In these times, the best label society can conjure is "squeaky sand."

The conversation continued from there, listening and watching the gentle surf along the eastern end of Pensacola Beach.  The wind lightly made it s presence known every so often and the sun sank lower and lower on the horizon behind us.

The position of things, along with other necessities, prompted another visit to view that horizon on the other side of the dunes.  One of our posse passed around between the dunes, to capture the view without interference, while the position among the tall grass seemed sufficient for this particular evening.

As if on queue, the wind kicked up a steady pace, and the surrounding world turned blue. Conversation continued on into the darkness for a moment or three.  Weird tiny biting bugs came out to play on the beach, and earlier memories of random crabs popping out of holes encouraged departure before long.

The last moments of the day were s pent enjoying a fire.  At first, it seemed a little ridiculous in the 32°C temperatures.  Someone explained the effectiveness of its chasing away mosquitoes though, and suddenly, the proposition did not seem all that preposterous after all.  It had been an eventful day, and their company stood undesirable.

. . .

Further Reading

George Wallace Tunnel

Wikipedia

Shaggy's

Penscaola Beach, FL

Pensacola Beach

VisitPensacola.com

Of Granular Material and Singing Sands

Scientific American

Crossing the Mississippi Delta

Wandering down out of the Ozark Highlands on a southeasterly bearing, it might have been easy enough to just slide over to Memphis and follow the interstate system.  A particular loathing has grown significantly for that route though.  It is as homogenized as it gets, at a high speed.

The expedition headed immediately southeast towards a little known spot in Arkansas relevant to the history of the state before it was a state.  Indeed, relevant to many the western states before they were even states.

Little more than a marker in a swamp, Louisiana Purchase State Park commemorates the planting of a survey marker.  It is not just any survey marker though.  This boulder in a swamp preserves the initial point of beginning for surveys of all land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.  It is puzzling why such a location was chosen, when plenty of wide open solid land surrounds the area.

Continuing across the massive floodplain of the Mississippi River into a state by the same name, the remainder of the day moved lazily down the road, like the the barges on the Mississippi River.   The seven and a half driving hours for the day bypassed all the major metropolitan areas.  Indeed, US-49 seemed to bypass pretty much everything, except the heat.  The radio confirmed that it was 44°C near Webb, mockingly following that up with news that there would be a low of 42°C overnight.

Skies became increasingly cloudy near Greenwood, just as the journey turns into the southern pine belt. It proved a little cooler there too; a chilly 38°C.  Humidity in both of these instances stood at the precipice of raining, without ever going there.  Stepping out of air conditioning into this pea soup equal  only to being slammed in the chest with a sledgehammer, while trying to swallow a gallon of water.

Pine forest consumes much of the landscape after that point. Two-lane highways begin to twist and wind their way through this land mass.  It is amazing that this far south, even after all the years, this part of the world maintains one of the highest percentages of forest cover in the nation.  Then again, with the heat they experience regularly, maybe not so surprising.  Storm never quite caught up, though made a gallant effort, apparently raging everywhere around.  The most witnessed firsthand on this outing amounted to little more than a few splatters here and there.

Arriving at camp for the night unscathed, accommodations were found satisfactory, and a quick journey into Laurel for sustenance proved successful.  Some friendly folks dining nearby at the bar asked if we had come to see the related to the HGTV series "Home Town."  They appeared amused and somewhat relieved that we had no idea what that was all about and immediately offered a few interesting alternatives.  Though a few suggestions seemed interesting enough, our destination was the beach though.  The only real purpose for stopping in this town was to enable a three hour journey to attain that goal.

The journey back to camp seemed much longer than the dusk travel into Laurel.  Everything grows right up to the side of the two-lane blacktop here.  Additionally, a settling fog and shadows challenged  expedient navigation.  At camp, the night stood blissfully absent of human intervention.  Frogs and crickets set the tone for the night.  One little tree frog came inside for a brief visit, but had to be evicted after attempting to scale the walls. 

. . .

Further Reading

Louisiana Purchase State Park
Arkansas State Parks

The forest cover of the United States mapped

Vivid Maps

"Home Town"

HGTV

First Jim Kress Mission

Beyond Big Creek Natural Area (above), an excellent little hike down through the bluffline along and down to that feature is contained within a larger space known as Jim Kress Wildlife Management Area.  While mostly ignored, it recently sparked some curiosity, where it was resolved to return and dive down many of the other paths it offers on the next encounter.

Following a logging road one afternoon led roughly 1.6 kilometers down to Big Creek.  There was no surprise there, though access to the same did not seem a wise choice at the time. After passing a gate that seemed to have a primarily purpose of blocking road traffic, nearing the creek found a settler.  A lone pickup shrouded with a variety of blankets, towels, and the sort did not encourage much more than a solitary hiker back the way he had come.  

Warren Mountain Logging Road 1a, as it was dubbed for this occasion, is not a particularly challenging  path, but a pleasant stroll overall, with any sound of humanity completely erased from the landscape. Numerous similar roads  criss-cross the landscape in this area, which appears little more than a huge pine tree farm for the state of Arkansas.   It is likely a great place to hunt also, so care will need taken on future intrusions into this land.

. . .

Further Reading

Big Creek Natural Area

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Jim Kress WMA

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Setting Tone for the Beach

Heading south late in the afternoon, a rocket ride across Missouri and into north central Arkansas proved mostly uneventful.  A minor diversion uncovered very little beyond beautifully empty roads, crops and livestock.  Skies were charitably clear, though temperatures remained around 32 °C, and surprisingly dry.

Much of the same sort of weather followed the next day, to include an abundance of clouds, but not so many as to spoil the view of the blue.  Adventures in hiking the usual local haunts throughout the morning gave way naps in the afternoon for one, while more hiking followed for the other.  An enjoyable performance by a couple of folks that previously appeared on the television show "The Voice" topped off a perfectly unplanned day.

Cardboard boat races, swimming at Sandy Beach, more hiking about, and yet more swimming rounded things out another day.  Spiderman seemed to be the star in an event otherwise circus-themed event. It was good to finally return to this fun little fiasco.  More photos and video from this even can be found at the link below.

. . .

Further Reading

country, cardboard, & fireworks

phocas.net