Ana and Isa’s blog

5/16/08

Dear friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful week.  Ana and I are driving north on the I-29 from the Ozarks in Arkansas to Missouri, onward to Omaha, Nebraska!

 

We have had an eventful few days in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas!  We wanted to see the Ozarks ever since we were kids, when we read the book, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” about two dogs and their boy master in the Ozarks.  From the book we imagined lush green forests, raccoons and the distant barks of coonhounds like Rupie! We know Rupie would’ve loved to roam freely through these woods… After 4 weeks without her, we are in serious withdrawal.  Only her little photos on the steering wheel ease our missing of her.

 

On Monday, 5/12, Ana and I drove across the bridge in Memphis, over the Mississippi River, and entered Arkansas.  As usual, it was a rush with our cameras to capture the “Welcome to Arkansas” sign, as we’ve done for each state we’ve entered.  Arkansas is our 20^th state!  We were greeted at the Arkansas Welcome Center with a free light lunch, hot dogs and chips, and were given free packets of Arkansas rice! This was enough to charm us into liking this state!  Plus, I proudly wore my Hillary t-shirt across the border!  Well, Ana already covered in our blog our adventures in Arkansas on our second day here.  While driving, as Ana mentioned, we listened to a radio talk show.  A lady called in about her invasive Johnson weeds.  The DJ explained that Johnson weeds have special root systems, and “they get everywhere, they’re kind of like Hillary, you just can’t get rid of them.”  Needless to say, I zipped my jacket up to hide my Hillary shirt as we entered the deep Ozark woods. 

 

After our hike in the rain, rather than staying at a romantic and beautiful Buffalo River cabin, we drove north looking for better rates.  I wish we could’ve camped!  But by Monday, I had a full-blown cold, and sleeping in a tent didn’t sound healing.  The night before, Ana and I slept head to toe with masks on in the tent, and it was a rough night…

 

We passed more rolling green hills, dense forests, run down barns and vast farmland.  We stopped at antique stores and bought a few Arkansian souvenirs.  The quilts, jams and homegrown honey were the specialties of the region.  The storekeepers were quite friendly, especially Nellie at Nellie’s Ozark Crafts. She said tourism in these remote areas has suffered because of the price of gas.

 

We ended up in unattractive Harrison, Arkansas, for another cheap hotel night.  When we got gas in Garfield, AR, people literally stopped across the street to look at us.  Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was taking a photo of the Trail of Tears sign off the highway.  But the staring persisted with people turning their necks until I thought they’d break off.  After intense staring I finally waved and smiled and people waved back.  Simple curiosity! 

 

In Harrison, we slept well.  I needed to rest and heal from this cold.  Miraculously, Ana did not catch anything.  On Wednesday, May 14, we relaxed until noon, and then head west on Highway 62, the Arkansas Scenic Byway to Eureka Springs.  Eureka Springs is famous for healing spring waters that attracted many sick people in the 1800s.  One spring supposedly cured a woman of blindness!  The town is nestled against a rocky hillside and there are a dozen springs that come out of those hills.  The city did a great job of creating parks around each spring, with flowers and benches and lots of historical signs.  There are also blocks and blocks of nicely kept up historic Victorian homes, many of which are bed and breakfasts.  This was a delightful quaint touristy town with many old-fashioned buildings.  It reminded me of a mix between Santa Fe and a European Alps village.  There were high-end shops with tevas, nalgenes and hemp clothing for sale and rainbow flags in front.  People spoke without an accent, and mostly came from elsewhere.  This town is famous for attracting many artists and writers, and the galleries were gorgeous.  Next week is a “Festival of the Arts,”- wish we could stay!  Ana and I shopped a bit and bought some divinity (to die for!) and fudge.  Prices were cheaper but our car couldn’t carry more souvenirs!  Needless to say, we fell in love with this little oasis in the Ozarks, a seemingly liberal bastion in the middle of conservative northwest Arkansas!

 

Ana and I then rushed west on Highway 62, eager to find cheaper accommodations.  We also wanted to see Pea Ridge Military Park and the Trail of Tears.  We drove along the gorgeous Beaver Lake and arrived at Pea Ridge at 5:05pm and the park had just closed.  The unfriendly ranger was unsympathetic so we decided to come back the next day.  So we drove onward to Rogers, Arkansas, and went to the Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area.  I was itching to hike because I needed to open my lungs up to combat the cold I had, that was fortunately already going away.  We found a delightful trail, a 1.5-mile hike through new growth trees called Shadow Hollow.  It touched a muddy arm of Beaver Lake but otherwise provided no lake view.  Ana did great hiking on her cast!  We saw many squirrels and a hawk swooped right above us.  I jogged ahead of Ana.  In the middle of her hike, a loud screech scared the crap out of Ana- it must’ve been a screech owl!  After this short hike, we remained unfulfilled and went up highway 303 toward Beaver Lake.  We ended up at a US Army Corps of Engineers Rocky Branch Park and paid $4 to enter for a 6:30pm hike.  The ranger told us, “the boy scouts built the trail a few years back.”  Once on the underused trail, we walked over piles and piles of last falls’ leaves, dried on the floor.  The trees were larger and the path darker.  We followed the orange ties on the trees for the trail and went up and down hills.  Still, no lake view to be found!  Finally, the trail ended at an abandoned bathroom hut littered with beer bottles, and covered in graffiti.  We were so disappointed.  On our way back, however, we saw a family of 4 armadillos scavenging in the dried leaves.  They were pink/gray and intensely hunting for insects.  They were the size of small rabbits and I wonder if they were babies.  We watched for a while and walked quietly towards them for photos.  We’ve never seen armadillos in the wild before!  Well, when Ana had enough she just started marching on the leaves and the armadillos panicked and raced away to their hut, a little pile of trees and twigs.  That alone was worth $4!

 

We drove around Beaver Lake looking for a scenic cabin or motel, overlooking the water.  Many places were abandoned. Motel offices were closed by 8pm.  There was a fishing tournament so many places were filled. Finally, we head to Rogers, Arkansas, a town of fast food, strip malls, and chain stores and stayed in the cheezy America’s Best Value Inn for $49 that night. We ate leftover curry and salad, and went to bed quickly.

 

Yesterday, Thursday, 5/15, we woke late and missed breakfast.  We had boiled eggs (thanks to our hot pot), yogurt, bananas and bagels with peanut butter from our stashes in the car.  We headed straight to Pea Ridge Military Park and got our National Parks Passports stamped.  Ana and I are on a mission to fill up this booklet.  I have had mine since the late 90’s and it’s amazing that I’ve already seen more than several dozen national parks and monuments.  Everytime we see a brown-and-white sign, we get excited to get another stamp in our book!  At this visitor center, we saw an interesting video about this battle, where over 1000 Union soldiers and 2000 Confederate soldiers died in March 7-8, 1862.  This battle determined that Missouri became a Union state. It was the tipping point for Union victory, because once MO became Union they had control of the waterways of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.  The park also included 2.5 miles of the infamous Trail of Tears, where in 1830’s the federal government forced Indian tribes such as the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Chicksaw and Seminoles to leave their lands and settle in Oklahoma Territory.  Thousands died on the long hard road where they had to walk 15-20 miles a day.  It was only in late 1990’s that an official Trail of Tears designated national landmark commemorating this path was created. 

 

Earlier that morning, Andrew had called me and told me I was accepted to play the bagpipe at the US Transplant Games Donor Recognition Ceremony.  I felt honored but serious performance anxiety has already kicked in.  I panicked that I hadn’t played my pipes in several weeks and therefore I carried my pipes and played them on the Trail of Tears.  This was meant purely out of respect and reverance.  I played Amazing Grace for about a mile as well as other songs.  I imagined all the graves along the way, and the heartaches and pain as people left their homes to go to an unknown place.  In mid-May, this was the most beautiful path we’ve witnessed.  It was wet and muddy, so Ana wore several plastic bags over her foot and they swooshed when she walked.  On the path, we were surrounded by fresh green trees, blooming blackberry bushes, wildflowers, a rushing creek along the trail, and lush lawn in between dense forest.  We saw bright blue, yellow and red tiny birds, like none I’ve ever seen in California.  Ana spotted a grayish turtle on the ground, with yellow and black marks on its face.  It posed for our camera.  I saw deer jumping in the distant brush.  I wondered if these Indian people found any pleasure in their walk through nature, given their circumstances?  Granted, the Trail of Tears strategically was started in December, 1836, and so many died in the harsh winter.  If they had walked in the spring, could there be any joy to be in these surroundings at all? 

 

Our walk through the Trail of Tears was interrupted occasionally by Civil War signs to show where battles occurred, where the injured were cared for, where General Curtis (North) fought against General Van Dorn (South).  Confederate Generals McIntosh and McCullough both were shot dead by guerrilla yankees on open meadows here.  The Indians fought on the side of the Confederacy here!  There was so much more information about the Civil War than there was on the Trail of Tears… typical.  But both tragedies made us think how many bodies are resting under the soil here? How many ghosts are watching us walk along this historic route, hearing my pipes echo through the woods?

 

We felt so honored to be walking on this historic path.  Our lives are just specks in times as were those of the people who walked on this land before us- the Indians, the explorers, the settlers, and the Civil War soldiers.  Some stories are unknown, some are known and passed along, so we can remember and respect.  Again, our travels remind us that our lives are insignificant in the vast spectrum of time and space.  We are just part of one big continuum.

 

We finished our 2.5-mile gorgeous hike- the best yet- and returned to the car to change out of our muddy clothes.  Then we got back onto the highway, and head north from Rogers to the Missouri border.  It was mid-day and we ate sandwiches in the car.  We are still sticking to our daily $30 food budget!  We passed Carthage, the home of Precious Moments dust collectors, and we saw the signs to President Truman’s home.  Near Neosho, MO, we impulsively decided to stop at George Washington Carver’s National Monument, the place of his birth and upbringing.  We got our National Parks passport stamped again!  This was a fantastic stop. G.W. Carver is well known as the black scientist who found many uses for the peanut, but he also did so much more. He worked with Booker T Washington at Tuskegee and mentored many black and white colleagues.  The monument paid tribute to his philosophical and spiritual approach to science and life, and race relations.  I left there overwhelmed at how this man lived such a good, humble, righteous life; he truly was such a prophet. 

 

We drove onward after that great detour.  The skies opened up and we really wanted to camp, but because of my fragile health state, we decided to do motels again.  I looked up in a tourbook places to eat in Kansas City, MO, and we made a side trip at 7:30pm to enjoy a sit-down meal at Arthur Bryant’s famous Bar-b-que, on 18^th and Brooklyn.  This humble place opened in the 1920’s.opened in the 1920’s and was packed with people of all different colors who came here, like us, for extremely large portions and award-winning BBQ.  It boasts being a finalist in national BBQ sauce contests each year!  I ordered my meal at the counter from an old African American man with no teeth who talked in BBQ lingo- half slap, short end, long end, and I confused the order.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed a huge plate of ribs, coleslaw, and God-forbid, my nemeses, french fries and –dare I admit- Wonder bread.  Ana enjoye a massive plate of pulled pork, four pieces of Wonder Bread, and really intense baked beans.  These local foods are the best part of our trip!  The BBQ here was definitely worthy of awards.

 

From Kansas City, we tried to go further north for cheaper motels, and wento another 45 miles or so to St. Joseph, MO, the town where the Pony Express started and where Jesse James was killed.  Every little town we pass has a claim to fame!  St. Joseph is also home to the National Psychiatric Museum which boasts lobotomy instruments and the history of mental illness from the Middle Ages until now. Darn, we missed that one!  We settled at the Days Inn there and slept deeply. 

 

The next day, Friday, May 16, we woke late and got onto the I-29 north toward Omaha.  We drove on the border of Missouri, and we were so close to Kansas!  We were just a day’s drive from so many great places- Winterset, Iowa, with their covered bridges, even South Dakota and the Black Hills, Tallgrass Prairie in Kansas—Oh, the places to go!  Ana wants to see buffalo and I want to skim my fingers along prairie grass.  BUT…I must instead take care of this body.  My cold had pretty much disappeared, but my lungs felt irritated, and I decided to make a trip to the hospital to be checked for nasty viruses.  We wanted to get to the University of Nebraska Omaha Medical Center by the afternoon.  However, we saw yet another brown and white sign on the highway that beckoned us and we stopped at the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge for a stamp in our passports and some exercise.  The weather was perfect- in the mid-70’s and sunny.  We admired the red-winged blackbirds, ducks, eagle, other waterfowl and muskrat dens in the marshland.  I took a short jog along their autotour route while Ana walked.  Ana reminded me that one year ago, she was listed for her second lung transplant.  How amazing we were here together!! As I saw Ana in the distance, I felt in complete awe of Ana’s strength.  Her cast, though wet and cracked from our hikes, does not stop her.  She hikes and walks at my pace; she sleeps later than me and wakes earlier, and she has not caught my cold.  She goes and goes!  My cold is a sign that I cannot push myself to her level; I have limits!

 

The Missouri/Nebraska/Kansas blue sky was marvelous- speckled with distant clouds just like the pictures I’ve seen of the plains.  The land is getting flatter and there are fewer trees.  Onward, we went and crossed into Iowa, our 21^st state!  This state boasts being 98% white.  Near Council Bluffs, IA, we re-entered Nebraska at the Missouri River, and went to UNMC.  Ana dropped me off at the ER to get an xray and my nose swabbed for parainfluenza, and she went instead to the Wildlife Safari Park halfway to Lincoln.  When I called her later, she was 25 feet away from a buffalo, oohing and ahhing, while I sat on a gurney in the ER getting checked.  Well, I guess she deserves it!

 

I ended up having a clear chest xray but elevated white blood cell count, so I received one dose of IV Avelox and was sent home on antibiotics.  I also am waiting for the results of my nose swab and sputum culture.  I hope it’s nothing serious.  This four hour visit to the ER is a minor detour on our ambitious trip, and I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.  The service was fabulous at UNMC and completed my siteseeing of Omaha!  Ana went ahead to a restaurant to meet John D., the last of her first lung donor James’ siblings that we haven’t met yet, who lives here in Omaha, Nebraska.  James’ other siblings flew from Oregon to join us for this gathering.  I was finally discharged and took a cab to meet everyone at Perkins Family Restaurant.  What a gift to meet James’ entire family and personally say thanks to John for his brother’s gift of life.

 

I will sign off for now and thank you for reading all my details.  Ana says I write too much, but this blog is for my memory as much as it is for your perusal.

 

I wish you all wellness and health. How I wish you were with me here! The Great Plains are beautiful!  Travel opens the mind and restores the soul, making home even more special in the end.  Yes, it also tests the body when not done in moderation… I hope you can experience some of this adventure as well.

 My hugs and love to you all, Isa

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 12:33 am and is filed under Life Status. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.