Drive to New Orleans

For many people Friday night and the phrase "complete abandonment" means excitement and wild activity. Along the main drag of Stuttgart, in the Springtime at least, it means the opposite. Absence of life; stillness and solitude; storefronts closed and shuttered; not a neon sign to be seen. It was mainly a drag... at least as how I saw it at the time. My phone yodeled at me as I walked, it was my brother calling. a man made of tractor tires

"Hey, I'm going to be in New Orleans for a volleyball tournament next week. Come on down, we can spend some time together."

It was a good enough excuse for me. I hadn't seen my brother for a few years and New Orleans was only four-hundred-something miles away—the closest we have been for a few years. Though my intent was to mosey North, out of the heat, any other place sounded better than Stuttgart at the moment. The next morning I waived farewell to the rice paddies and headed south. jumping fish sign

I broke all protocol on the drive: I drove straight through (8.5 hours!) at speeds over 55 miles per hour (Yikes, how the scenery flashed past!) and between Baton Rouge and New Orleans I even drove on an interstate! *Gasp!* But along the way I stopped for a few snapshots. On an isolated stretch of highway 165 between Dewitt and Gillett, Arkansas, you will pass Charlie's Service. Charlie built a man out of tires. It stands something over twenty-feet tall. Wave back as you pass. Mammys Cupboard Sign

There are a few lake communities. The lakes were formed by the Great Mississippi clipping short one of her bends and isolating a pocket of water allowing the mud to settle and the water to become a clear blue. Lake Village, Arkansas nestles up against one of these. What a lovey sign that some might think has seen better days, others might consider it coming into the prime of it patina.

At Natchez I crossed from Louisiana into Mississippi. Natchez is situated on a bluff overlooking the river on the Mississippi side. Immediately the folia changed, I saw my first kudzu. The air even smelled different—like Jasmine and Pine. About five miles beyond Natchez, Mississippi, I passed by Mammy's Cupboard. I took the next opportunity to turn around and go back for photos. Mammys cupboard folk art architecture

Unfortunately, I was too late to have lunch under her skirts, but what a wonderful building. The dress part is made, igloo fashion, out of bricks; her upper torso of Ferro-cement. She is a wonderful bit of folk-architecture of a class not to be attempted again.

Music
Photography
Travel
      Bits of VA
      Wiggling the Adirondacks
      Washington
      Hey, Let's hit Idaho
      A Drive About (series)
          And We're Off
          more...
      West Highway 162
      A Jaunt to Nevada
      Coffee and Pie (series)
          Branson to Fayetteville
          more...
Misc

Travel Posts
My Brothers! Welcome to New Orleans - USA Open Volleyball Championship
May 30, 2006
"Ah, my brothers! Welcome to New Orleans!" The greeting almost overpowered the room. I thought I heard the wine glasses behind the bar clinking together.
  Drive to New Orleans
Fooling About in Arkansas
May 25, 2006
One of the problems with bonking about in Smalltown is that eventually you will need something that is not available in the local Walmart nor in the businesses that managed to survive the economic scouring that a new Walmart tends to give a community. I came  upon such a moment when one of my external hard drives took a data dump to that big supercomputer in the sky....
Stuttgart Arkansas
May 23, 2006
Imagine yourself amongst the rice fields of Arkansas. Wide, open spaces, precisely leveled and flattened with an Ausburgian attention to detail. The carefully planted rice is short, looking like a bad hair transplant/
Ouachita to Stuttgart
May 21, 2006
Let's just say you have been spending the last few days by a gigantic Ozark Lake. It is lovely there, you've been sunning, swimming and hiking. You might decide that you've had enough of that and it's time to move on. But where, where, where would you go? The woods of the Arkansas Ozarks are calling you to just lay back and rest a while, a little bit more, the same way the Appalachian Mountains called Rip van Winkle to close his eyes and take a nap.
Mountain Valley Arkansas
May 18, 2006
So there I was, right outside of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. The map showed the Lake Ouachita State Park campground was a blip over to the left but it showed no roads between....
Fayetteville to Lake Ouachita
May 17, 2006
When you leave Fayetteville you have a choice once again. I was heading south and had the choice of the interstate
Branson to Fayetteville
May 16, 2006
From Branson, Mo to Fayetteville, Arkansas you have a multitude of different routes to choose from. Your choice depends upon your personal tolerance of winding roads and possible delays. The back highways of any hilly region are necessarily winding and can be quite remote....
  Contact
  About Us
- - - - -
Keywords in This Article

Arkansas
Mississippi
New Orleans
Folk Art

Unless otherwise credited, all content on TheYodel.com is
Copyright © 1999 - 2024 Grant Groberg
All rights reserved.
yup