The day started early when I made a trip to the restroom at 4 am and I came back to my tent and Buddha was gone! I called for her softly and used my head lamp to look around. Finally my brain started to work, and I started the car. She will always come when she hears the car start because she doesn't want to be left behind. Sure enough, she showed up momentarily.
I broke camp today and headed to Clarksdale. MS. I was originally planning to stay in Helena-West Helena, AR because the civil war sites, bike trail, and sweet potato distillery are there. Sadly, the Arkanasas tourism books did a great job of selling the city, but there are no decent accommodations there. All got very low reviews--even the casino--so I opted for Clarksdale which is about 30 minutes south-- Chateau Debris air bnb. I mean, they totally had me with the name!!!
My Drive started on I40 with two lanes of heavy truck traffic. The terrain changed drastically as I moved east from the glacier shaved mountains of Little Rock to flat, delta lands with swamps and rivers. Enroute I stopped at the Louisiana Purchase state park. From this marker all surveys for the Louisiana Purchase land were made. The land passed back and forth from the Spanish to the French. Napoleon promised the Spanish he would not sell it to the Americans. But shortly after he made that promise, he did sell it to us. Politicians!!!
Funny to think that the anyone thought they "owned" this land that belonged to Native Americans. Jefferson's goal was to buy this land and push the Natives to it, thus allowing whites to inhabit the existing states. It was another kick the can down the road move similar to how the founding fathers refused to deal with slavery lest they lose the southern states.
Of course native Americans were then pushed further west during the Trail of Tears. Andrew Jackson ignored the Supreme Court ruling and used state laws to evict native Americans. To this day, many natives refuse to use $20 bills.
The roads I have been traveling are both routes taken by the Confederate army as they moved east from Little Rock to Helena-West Helena, a strong hold on the Mississippi River as well as for the Natives who were pushed west from their homes in Georgia, Florida, etc.
The Louisiana Purchase park is one of the few headwater swamps remaining as most have been cleared of trees to be used as farmland. A headwater swamp is saturated during wet times of the year and drier during at other times. They provide natural pollution filtration to downstream rivers and a sanctuary for amphibians and reptiles. Cypress and Tueplo trees grow here also, and create cypress knees.
I saw my first cotton fields today and round bales of cotton similar to the round bales of hay of the Midwest. I also saw on old Minneapolis Moline harvester (?) in a field. They are still bringing in harveat here as they were in Nebraska when my mom and i passed through there two weeks ago.
I'm turning in early tonight and enjoying a bed after sleeping on the ground the last three nights. Buddha hs staked her claim. I have a heavy work day but hope to get out late afternoon. It supposed to be 81 here today!!!
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