Arkansas

I just opened my Rand McNally United States Road Atlas to Arkansas. I do not exactly remember being sad when driving through eastern Arkansas almost a decade ago, but just today, a feeling of sadness came over me when thinking about the lonely nights in the car.

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In my early 20s, I would drive from Minnesota to Mississippi, a total distance of 1,156 miles, alone.

Arkansas is when I started to get tired late into the night.

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The Blytheville, Arkansas, Holiday Inn was always my sleeping spot. No, not inside in a comfy bed…in my car. I slept in the hotel parking lot. I usually arrived to the area after midnight and did not want to spend the money on a hotel room for a couple hours.

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Most of my journeys to the South were during colder months, and I remember waking up in the mornings being very cold.

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I recall my sleep being disturbed only once in that parking lot.

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Around 3 or 4 a.m., a car pulled in next to mine and the owner beeped the security button on his keychain twice. I perked up immediately, and I remember him giving me a curious look.

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At that time, I walked across a grassy field to an open gas station because I had to use the restroom. I do not remember what I bought, but I remember the clerk behind the counter wondering what I was doing that early in the morning.

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***

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West Memphis, Arkansas, has to be one of the loudest and dirtiest cities in America. It is a collection of 18-wheeler semi-trucks, crappy motels, truck stops with torn up parking lots, and everything else included with trucking culture.

 

I have nothing against truckers, just saying the city is constantly noisy with the sound of revving semi-trucks and the roads are filled with potholes.

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However, nothing can beat a buffet meal at the area truck stops.

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A friend and I once rented a room from the Motel 6 in West Memphis. Back then rooms at the budget motel chain were as low as $39 USD per night. “You get what you pay for” is an accurate phrase. One hard, scratchy towel, an uncomfortable bed, and a television remote that does not work.

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The sound of trucks passing by was the soundtrack of the night.

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We slept in a little the next morning and the cleaning staff promptly burst into our room. It was probably only around 8 a.m. when this happened. I jolted out of bed with my eyes wide open.

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“Sorry, sorry,” said a young African-American woman.

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Half an hour later, I could hear her outside our room say loudly, “They are still in there!”

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Maybe she wanted to get the cleaning done extra fast that morning.

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***

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I think of all the places in Arkansas that I have never explored: Pea Ridge National Military Park, Hot Springs National Park, Buffalo National River, and parts of the Ozarks.

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All of them wait for me.

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I wonder if I will ever make it back to The Natural State.

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I now realize that I have only been on two roads in the entire state: Interstates 55 and 40.

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Maybe a feeling of sadness came over me not because I was sleeping in my car alone during cold nights, but because there is so much in the state still to see.

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When I think back, I do not remember being unhappy sleeping by myself in the car. I enjoyed it. It was an adventure that I made regularly.

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I was free.