July 18th, 2018

We drove to Arkansas in one straight shot from Austin and it was a long one. Our A/C has been failing again because it seems to need more freon every hundred miles to function, so a lot of the time to save freon, as well as gas, we drive with the windows down. This may sound idyllic, like a movie road trip montage with fresh air and cheerful music spilling through the car as we pass the pretty countryside— but this is the south in July, and we’ve been sweater-wearing San Franciscans for years. It is so hot, and the humidity is like nothing either of us has ever experienced before. There is so much moisture in the air that I’m not convinced I’m not physically damp. Actually, I know I am, because real talk- we are always sweaty these days. We have cooling towels and a squirt bottle intended for a succulent garden that we now use to spray our faces during drives instead. It seems to evaporate in mere seconds, however, and there is no real relief from the wet, smothering blanket that is the Southern summer heat. Brian jokes that we’ve discovered the lost city of Atlantis- right here in Arkansas.

Anyway, it’s not all bad, because we arrive in Little Rock with a little light left in the day to see what we came for. The passenger window won’t roll up at first and I’m having visions of having to duct tape cardboard over it tonight, but luckily it’s just a loose connection and Brian gets it fixed. We’ve taken a slight detour to see the Old Mill at T.R. Pugh Memorial Park. Its claim to fame is that it was featured in the opening scene of Gone With the Wind, and we’re already driving through on our way to Memphis so it makes sense to stop. The windmill is whimsical looking, built-in stone and garnished with twisted branches, and we spend half an hour or so wandering around to see it all. It isn’t exactly elegant, but it is a very interesting structure, made more cinematic by the pale light of the sun setting. Afterward, we drive out to a free camping spot advertised as an old archery range on the edge of town for the night. It’s hard to see where the actual camping is in the dark, but our dim headlights illuminate scraggly trees marked with paint and rusted targets swaying on chains so we kind of know we’re in the right place. We’re worried about bugs getting in because there are so many here so we don’t get out, we just shove all the junk off the bed and onto the front seats so we can go to sleep. It’s been another one of those days that gets mostly chalked up to a travel day. There are a lot of those, but we can’t complain because we are getting to see so much!