We started the day in Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the "Razorbacks," pictured here in our Great Western motel pool area. They can also be seen on many Arkansas license plates.
As we started out, it was 72 degrees at an elevation of 1,268 feet, and sunny with a few clouds. Today's journey began through the Boston Mountains on Interstate 40 toward Memphis, where we saw bright pink waves of "Showy Evening Primrose" in large drifts along the highway. These flowers are a major part of Arkansas's "Operation Wildflower" plantings. Traveling along with us through the mountains for a bit was a group of Harley-Davidson motorcyclists who quickly moved on ahead of us.
The Boston Mountains have a light green tone as the new leaves are well developed at this date. We saw a sign for an exit to "Devil's Den State Park" along the highway. Known for caves, crevices, waterfalls, and its Civil Conservation Corps-built stone structures dating from 1933 to 1944. Too far of a detour for us on this journey, but it sounded interesting.
The road feels like a tunnel in long stretches along Highway 40, with trees lining both sides consistently. Luckily, we get fuel and food stops at "Love's Truck Stops" as we travel the interstate, which is a welcome relief from the mesmerizing highway. The price of unleaded gas ranges from $3.19 to $3.50 per gallon, which is also very welcome.
We passed Lake Dardanelle and the Arkansas River on I-40, but I was never able to get a good photo of either due to the trees along the road. We did spy a swampy area along the highway and our first roadkill armadillo. I didn't realize they were this far north, but we have always seen them along Florida roads.
Reaching Little Rock, the temperature had risen to 82 degrees, and our elevation was down to 278 feet above sea level. Here, we captured a glimpse of a L'Oréal factory or distribution warehouse, a branch of the Lancôme corporation. In 2012, I was a counter manager for Lancôme at Dillard's in Casa Grande, Arizona. Of interest to Jim, we saw a Remington Sporting Ammunition factory here. A huge First Pentecostal Church was situated on the interstate in North Little Rock.
Snoopy has really turned into a good traveler. He's gotten used to the car and hotel rooms. The only thing he hates is the transition between them in the carrier. He didn't realize he crossed the Mississippi River today in the photo below!
In Memphis, Tennessee, there's a large facility for transferring shipping containers from truck to truck. It is called "Memphis Intermodal Facility," and it has multiple cranes to lift and shift these heavy containers. It was amazing!
As we traveled today through Arkansas and Tennessee, we noticed the pine trees were dying or falling down along the road in numbers too numerous to ignore. What was happening? Some research informed us that they are browning, thinning, or dying from "brown spot needle blight", a fast-spreading fungal disease that has surged in the region over the past few years. It is affecting mature loblolly pines, not just longleaf seedlings, according to AI Copilot. One photo can't show the magnitude of this issue for mile after mile of travel today.
We made it to Alabama today and stopped in Jasper. This was the longest we've traveled in a day, and we're both tired. We ate at "Jim 'N Nick's Community BBQ" tonight, and it was absolutely delicious! Put this in your "someday to visit" memos. We expect to reach Florida tomorrow. Jim and Snoopy have figured out the route already this evening.
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