Arkansas is a study in contrasts. Its thickly wooded rolling hills
in the north combined with the flowing rice fields and duck blinds in the south
make a stark contrast in both physicality and lifestyles.
Northern Arkansas is covered with dense
ground foliage and large trees. The ground rises and falls like an annoyed
sea that is being driven by a stiff breeze. The blacktopped roads bending
to meet the contours of its rolling backdrop. Whitetail deer are in
abundance as are the predatory birds circling overhead looking for its next
meal.
Small village like towns dot the horizon.
Its inhabitants are close knit and keep visitors at bay. Their Main streets are
littered with boarded up windows. Its store owners having thrown in the towel
in defeat. It's a place where pickup trucks and camouflage are the norm. Handguns
and firearms are like a religion. Southern Baptist churches are
where they find their Gods on Sunday mornings.
Mobile homes are the constant choice of
dwelling. Usually nestled up against sprawling mansion like homes. Poverty is
everywhere. EBT a more common form of payment than cash or credit cards.
Fiercely independent and prideful of both
their heritage and the University of Arkansas Football team the
people of the north live simple and unencumbered lives. Libertarian
cities like New York and LA are viewed with both a loathing and a plague like
disdain.
Whiskey and beer are for men and wine is
for pussies. The word Democrat is viewed as not only a filthy word, but a
compromised mental state.
They are not progressive. Color and sexual
orientation are not abstract ideas, but a blight on the human condition.
Like the southern part of the state low
end and dead end jobs are the norm rather than the exception.
Hillbilly heroin and pot the 2 leading choices
of pharmacological pursuits. One of those places where the 21st century
passed by and kept right on moving. So stuck they are in the mire of low
paying jobs and vacant aspirations that the very idea of moving upwards
and onward is so far removed from possibility as to not even to be
considered in the first place.
When you think of rednecks and hillbillies
think Arkansas. And because it's the home to Walmart you can find one virtually
every mile.
It's depressing and gut wrenching.
The one high spot is the Mexican food.
Northern Arkansas is home to some of the best south of the border food I have
ever had the pleasure of eating. Almost every town has at least one. And all of
them are family owned and operated. The chips and salsa are home made. The menus,
although typical are filled with mouth watering portions portions. Each platter
made on the spot and never pre-cooked or pre-packaged.
Little Rock is considered a liberal stronghold.
Even though it's not. Crime, drugs and gangs is what both the north and the
south think of when Little Rock is mentioned.
But Little Rock is a large little town. In
Arkansas all roads lead to Little Rock. And although its plagued by the same
issues other cities face, it's no different than a thousand other cities all
across this land.
Ironically the Clinton library looks a lot
like a mobile home. Set back off the highway, it sets up on
what appears to be stilts. And although you can see it from the road
only small and inconsequential signs point the way.
Southern Arkansas however, is wildly
different than its neighbors to the north.
South of Little Rock is the home of the world's
largest supply of rice and duck hunting. Outside of Stuttgart you will find
large road side billboards proclaiming its dominance in both rice
production and duck population.
And I must say they are not telling a lie.
All over the southern part of the state vast oceans of rice rise up. Its
stagnant water, giving both a home and a birthplace to the large mosquito
population in the world. During the summer months you can't drive without your
windshield getting pummeled by these blood sucking creatures. So bad are the mosquitoes
at night that if you're running low on windshield cleaner you're going to have
severe visibility issues.
It's also the home of some of the largest
bird population. They sit up high and soar overhead feeding on insects and
small rodents.
Large mounds of earthen dams are created
to hold the water. The fields of rice go for miles. And in the winter months
those same rice fields are drained and used as duck blinds.
Down south the towns are more vibrant the
unemployment rate falling off sharply due to the large rice producing
factories. Housing is more expensive and where in the north vast numbers
of trailer parks and dilapidated mobile homes are common.
The south has large sprawling horse ranches.
The one thing both have in common are the long stretches of
highway. Giving me the quiet solitude I desire. My podcast and
music pouring from the speakers giving my mind time to just wander or shut
down. I do love that about Arkansas.
The endless miles falling away from my
tires. The next horizon coming up quick. Feeding my need to see the other side.
This is when I am most at home. And while I have a destination I am heading to
it still gives me that endless fascination of where the road may take me.
Happy in the knowledge there are miles to go. Roads I've never seen and
horizons I still chase.
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