The next morning we find out that the campsites are actually all booked for the weekend so we can't stay any more days there and have to move on. We decide to go to the Ozarks in Arkansas because they're close and we can see the showtown of Branson on the way.
It takes Alex 2 hours to drive to Branson, about 1 hour longer than we thought it would. When we get there we're not feeling good and we're getting dangerously short with each other about everything. When we're there I keep asking Alex what he wants to do and he doesn't give me an answer and asks me what I want to do but I don't give an answer because I don't know if he wants to do what I want to do and I don't want to hear him sighing at me. Plus I'm tired and sick and really just want to get in the car and find a place to camp for two days and rest. After checking out Old Downtown Branson, home of 200 theaters we head for the Ozarks. Alex drives for 3 hours into Arkansas before we get to a campsite in the Ozarks. This is about 2 hours longer than we though it would take. When we get to the campsite everything around us is wet. We're both exhausted and sick and can't go any further so we set up camp. Then we check the weather and find out that it's going to rain. As the sun is going down Alex tries to light a fire and as the small thing dwindles and dies in its infancy all hope leaves me and I fall into despair: everything we have is going to get wet, I can barely do anything because my body is so tired, the weather just won't let us be, we're running out of food, I'm fucking cold, in short everything is horrible. I totally break down in the tent and Alex consoles me, "It's not so bad, everything's going to be fine. We'll dry everything out. And we'll stay here for a couple days so we can rest." Bad idea us.
After the first night half of everything is wet. All day long it rains off and on but not nice rain. It's big droplets and the humidity is about 96% so everything is wet if it's outside. To cheer us up we read our books and play with the hamster. We let her run over everything in the tent and she makes us both feel a lot better. We make our food in the tent that night and after dinner we assess the wetness and listen to really really conservative radio. Since basically everything below our knees is wet we decide to use our one dry sleeping bag to cover our legs and use the damp comforter to cover our upper halves. This works pretty well until the rain starts dumping down in the middle of the night soaking everything under and around us except a little part of ground under Alex. I stay as long as I can in the tent but soon my knees and ankles start to ache from the wetness and the cold so I go to the car at about 3:00 AM. I can't go back to sleep after 7 so I listen to NPR to see what's happening in the world. Healthcare was the big issue that morning. At about 8:30 Alex starts toward the car with some things from the tent. I jump out and start helping him bring stuff in, everything is totally soaked. It is so wet outside that I take off my jacket and wear as little as possible because it's all getting drenched. We squeeze out as much water as we can from the stuff and throw it all in the car hoping to dry it at a laundry sometime soon.
From the Ozarks we head to Little Rock to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. The library is huge and includes two of Clinton's cars plus recreations of his Oval Office and Cabinet Room. It also chronicles everything that he did during his presidency, which is just so much it's amazing, and it has letters between the president, first lady and many famous and interesting people. One of my favorites was from Mother Theresa to the First Lady. It was still pouring rain when we leave the library and go to a laundromat. At the laundromat I am being argumentative because I'm sick of this whole trip and Alex and I have a big fight over coffee. I know, coffee. We go get the damn coffee and then make up while the stuff is going through its second cycle. I'm being argumentative. You're being pessimistic. . . I'm sorry.
From there, since we know it's going to rain again, we pay for a hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas the boyhood home of Bill Clinton.
That night I'm feeling really sick and we find out that the quickest way to New Orleans is by going through Memphis, Tennessee.
About Alex and Candice
- Alex and Candice
- Bay Area, California, United States
- Alex was born in London, England and has been living in the States for about 5 years. He has had many jobs in his life including being in the British Army, being a promoter in London and bartending.
Candice was born in Los Angeles, California and has been living in San Francisco for almost five years. She has also had many jobs in her life including being an archaeologist, an ESL teacher and a Director of Studies at and ESL summer camp. Her current hobby is learning to fix ailments using essential oils.
Pebble is a female dwarf tuxedo hamster who has recently found much joy in escaping from her cage and running about! She is always a rambunctious barrel of laughs!
Peanut was a standard dwarf hamster. He was a lover of his bed and enjoyed sleeping most of the day. He died peacefully in Southern Oregon and is buried near a river there.
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