On The Road, By The Numbers, Day 14

Still On The Road, Now The Numbers

Number of Highways Traveled: 16

Arkansas 7
27
155
154
40
30
530
65
425
114
165
278
82
Mississippi 7
51
35

Number of Nuclear Cooling Towers Seen: 3

Number of Construction Zones: 7

Number of Rain Showers Driven Through: 3

Number of Bottles of Water Consumed: 5

Number of Road Kill Seen: 6

Number of Cops Seen: 8

Number of Casinos Seen: 6

Number of Casinos Stopped At: 0

Number of Crop Duster Planes Seen: 2

Number of Tractors On The Road Seen: 5

Number of Red Foxes Seen Crossing The Road: 3, Mom and 2 pups

Number of Miles Driven: 407

Number of Dollars Spent on Petrol: $52.75

Number of the Price Per Gallon: $3.99

Number of Gallons Purchased: 13.19

Number of Average MPG: 23.4

Number of Hours On The Road: 8h35m.

Number of Round Fender Ford Falcon Rancheros Seen: 3

Number of Ford Fairlane Rancheros Seen: 1

Now, On The Road.

If you have been counting along with me, you know I spent last night in Russelville, Arkansas without any idea where I would be headed today. As I was checking into the hotel last night, I noticed there was a car museum located about a 30* minute drive, to the southeast, from The Numbers starting point this morning. As I am, generally, heading southeast, I thought I might check it out. Why not? That is what this trip is all about.

As I mentioned, using my College Educated Geographic Skills, I calculated the trip to that museum would take about 30* minutes in the ole 850*. Of course, even if I had a GPS or knew how to work one, neither I nor that GPS could calculate what is pictured in the following photo into our travel times.

Well, I can tell you I followed this paint rig and this wanna be cop car for, well as long as it took me to realize it wasn't a cop car, then I blew by, Wet Paint be damned. Never in my life have I been able to drive across these lines and pick up paint to leave a tire mark in the other lane. Today was no different.

So, here I am, tooling down Highway 154* and enjoying the great peaks and valleys that are northwest Arkansas, and I pass through Petit Jean, not Petit Jane, State Park. As I am maintaining the suggested, radar enforced, speed of 45* mph, I see a sign for Cedar Falls Overlook. Well, once again, the Patsy Cline and the Aluminum Cove Natural Bridge calculations came into play. I whipped a Uee and headed to Cedar Falls.

It was awesome and relaxing at the same time. The following pic is shot with no zoom. The falls are on the right with the washout on the left.

This is a zoom shot of the falls and a portion of the washout.

See the little speck of white down at the bottom of the face of the cliff. Those are human beings. It was pretty impressive. If I were a helluva lot younger, I may have attempted that hike down there. But then there is always the hike back up.

Petit Jean State Park is a natural beauty with camping, fishing, boating, swimming and hiking all available. If I were ending up my day, instead of starting it out, I would have stayed there. East of Arkansas 7* on Highway 154*.

So, enough of this nature crap, on to the cars.

I headed a couple miles to the east of Cedar Falls and there was that museum. I have forgotten the name and left the flyer in the 850* and I'm not going to go get it. If you want to google it, google Winthrop Rockefeller and check on museum links. He moved to Arkansas in 1935 and ran for Governor sometime later. Got elected and was, apparently, well liked. While in office, he bestowed the land in this state park for this museum. He also kicked in several automobiles and, probably, some state funding. Thanks.

In this museum, I saw only a couple rare vehicles. Some had celebrity status such as this

Ford Fairlane Ranchero that came with the Circle G Ranch Elvis bought for Priscilla back in the day. The odometer shows just over 10,000* miles and it looked good. I can't believe someone would restore it just to show it in this museum. I believe the mileage and condition to be original. Another vintage truck I would like to have in my livery.

Others, such as this old Model T truck and old Bantam were pretty cool.

The following limo belonged to Winnie when he was Governor.

Complete with jumpseats in the rear.

This hood ornament was on a 66 limo, also belonging to Winnie Rockefeller.

This is a pretty rare old Mercedes, especially in those Ozark Hills.

This is Bill Clinton's '67* Mustang. There was a letter from him dated from '93* stating he was happy his car was being taken car of while he was in Washington. I doubt Bill gets to drive it ever again. By the way, this car is a daily driver, nothing museum quality about it, except its owner. Also, take note of the Lincoln convertible in the background. Pristine, Original and Museum Quality.

With a Nod of The Head to Jack Lord, "Book Em, Danno."

After these adventures in the Ozark Mountains, I figured I was less than a 5* hour drive to the Queen City of the Ozarks and I needed to get on down the road.

I jumped on I-40*, then I-30* through Little Rock, then I-530* through Pine Bluff down to Highway 65*. As you can note, the countryside in southeastern Arkansas is much like the countryside in the Missouri Bootheel.

With the exception of this field. This is rice growing in southeast Arkansas. I would not have believed it if I did not see it myself.

As I was contemplating my crossing of the Big Muddy, I spotted, off in the distance, these towers. As there are several bridges in the Sunshine State built with the same technology, I was excited about not having to cross the Bid Muddy on an old 2 lane bridge.

As it turns out, I was 2* years to early as this bridge had yet to be completed. Here I am on that narrow roadway

heading for that narrow bridge.

The future is just over there.

As I pulled into Mississippi, I saw this welcome center, reminding me of what I had seen here, just 2* weeks ago.

A little further along, I saw this old Ford longroof in the same parking lot

as this old suicide doored Lincoln. I prefer the one I saw earlier.

One of the notable things today, except for at the hotel this morning, and about 30* minutes around Little Rock, my Nextel has given me the cold shoulder. No Service, including here.

I then motored on down to the Campbell Family Inn in Kosciusko, Mississippi, the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey. Yep, that is correct, I have visited the birthplace of two female icons of my generation, in just two short weeks. No statue of Oprah in the town square, though.

The only bummer is, the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey is in a dry county. Luckily, thefoamguy and I did not drink my whole stash of the old blue bottle on my last night in the Queen City of the Ozarks and I have enough for 2* cocktails, enough to publish this blog and head to the sack.

That's it for now. Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring and know I will share it with you as soon as feasible.