Arkansas

We've been in Arkansas all day today. We started our day in Fort Smith, which is just over the western border of the state, and we've ended the day in West Memphis, which is right before the Mississippi River and Tennessee. Last night Nadia did end up sharing the king size bed with me. She thought we'd bump in to each other, but as I had assured her, that never happened. Oliver slept on the sofa bed in the boys' room while Paul and Ian shared a queen size bed. Paul said Ian did bump into him during the night. Tonight our rooms are they usually are on this trip - two queen size beds in each room which means the only two sharing a bed are Ian and Oliver. The Marriot last night and the Radisson tonight are definitely the fanciest hotels we've stayed in so far on this trip. Some of the other places we stayed seemed worthy of the description "a hole in the wall." Unfortunately the hotel we stayed in last night didn't offer a free breakfast. We stopped at McDonald's this morning on our way to Fort Smith. We have been skipping lunch on this trip which meant we really need to eat breakfast. Thankfully the hotel we're staying in tonight does have a free breakfast, and today is the 5th night in a row that I have had access to an office chair with wheels in the room! Last night they had me in a handicap room, which meant I had a much easier time taking a shower this morning as the shower had many solid bars to hold on to and even a chair in the shower. Usually I love taking a nice hot shower, but when you're standing on one leg, holding on to something with one hand, and shampooing with the other hand, let's just say I've been taking as short of a shower as possible. I was able to have a longer shower this morning. 

Our first stop was Fort Smith. The kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. Paul was interested in driving to the Pea Ridge Battlefield, but that would have added quite a bit of driving time to our trip. He said he hopes we go there whenever we visit Kansas. Missouri, and Nebraska. Thankfully it wasn't too hot for me as I stayed in the van. Next we drove to Little Rock. We skipped Clinton's Presidential Library. The science museum was on a street named for him. We would have attended the Little Rock Central High School site, but it was closed due to COVID. The kids enjoyed the science museum although it wasn't nearly as impressive as the one in Oklahoma City. After the science museum we had dinner at Denny's and streamed our church's service while we drove the West Memphis. We drove 295 miles today. 

I had chosen to spend the night here because I thought our first stop would be a science museum in Memphis, Tennessee tomorrow morning, but they have recently changed what days they are open, and they aren't open on Mondays. Graceland is probably the most famous place to visit in Memphis, but we haven't ever been fascinated by Elvis. I also considered visiting the National Civil Rights Museum which is located at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered. However on their website they mentioned that materials in the museum might be frightening to children so I decided we'd skip it. So it seems we're not actually going to do anything in Memphis tomorrow morning. Paul doesn't mind because it means we have more time to spend at Shiloh, which was the place he was most looking forward to visiting on the whole trip. As of today, the kids have done something in 33 states. In the next few days the total should be 36 as we'll add Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi to the list! I think that will be all the progress we'll make in 2021. Hopefully in 2022 we'll add at least two more states to their list - Delaware and Georgia. 

One of the bitter pills for me to swallow the past two weeks it that I've barely taken any pictures. I brought my camera, lenses, cell phone, and stabilizer. The stabilizer hasn't been used at all. My good camera has only been used for a few pictures since I fractured my ankle. I usually give Paul my cell phone when he's off with the kids, but he often forgets to take any, and he has almost no experience with taking pictures. The kids have said things to me like "Daddy doesn't understand about not having us looking into the sun." I really, really love taking pictures so it's been painful to give that up, especially as we'll probably never visit these places together again. When they kids are about to get back in the van and I find out they have taken zero pictures, they sometimes head back and Paul will snap a couple with my phone. I am even more grateful however that we upgraded my cell phone in April. Whew. It would be much worse if all we had were our old cell phone cameras. Hopefully when we go on a family vacation next year I will be able to resume my role as photographer. I knew we'd be in the van more than usual on this trip due to how many miles we were traveling. I didn't picture I'd spend most of the day in the van because I'd be unable to visit the sites the kids and Paul were visiting. We'll be home in six days. There is light at the end of the tunnel!