De Witt, AR

After unloading on Thursday in Pendleton, we drove north about 15 miles to De Witt, AR, stopping at a little truck stop until we heard from Mark about our load. He had lined up a load from West Memphis, AR to Buhl, ID for a Monday delivery, but was waiting for confirmation.

By 5:00 he still hadn't heard anything definite, but felt he "had it in the bag." We waited to hear something in the morning. He was going to be out of the office, but his assistant would let us know. So we spent Friday evening in De Witt. For dinner we walked across the street to a little Mexican joint, and for after dinner entertainment, we browsed through the Dollar General store next door, then walked on over to Sonic for an ice cream cone.

We were tired so we turned in early and slept like the dead for almost 12 hours!

Friday morning around 8:00 Malcolm called into the office. Chas, the assistant, hadn't heard anything yet. Malcolm went back to bed, and I proceeded to get online and play my stupid face book farm game that I'm now addicted to (thank you Angela!). I pretty much played it all day long. Around noon, we started to consider lunch options: walk to the Mexican joint across the road or to Sonic across the road. Malcolm asked a couple guys at the gas station we were parked at if there was any BBQ restaurants around. We get a hankerin' for it when we're down south! And they directed us to one down the road that had room to park the truck in the old hotel across the street (which turned out to be currently used as a church, the Praise and Grace Tabernacle). I didn't get a picture of the little BBQ place because of all the cars in the parking lot, a good sign actually. It was, lets say, a hole in the wall, but I've found they hold treasures, and this one did. Real sweet tea and yummy food. I had the sandwich and Malcolm had the plate.

Pretty good for cell phone pictures!

Back to our little truck stop and more farm game. We let the girls run around in the yard. Eventually dinner time rolled around and we found ourselves back at Sonic.

It is so muggy and sticky down here! Pretty miserable if you move any faster than a turtle. Here's the little truck stop we parked at, as seen from the Sonic.

Discussing our options for the weekend, realizing this was just Friday evening and Monday was a long way away, and really not relishing having every meal at Sonic or the Mexican joint, we asked the little girl working there if the next town west had a Walmart. She enthusiastically answered, "yes, and its open all night!" Oh dear!

Pondered browsing the Dollar General again, but opted not to. Instead we walked back to the truck and admitted we'd pretty much exhausted our entertainment resources in DeWitt, AR. We, instead, drove to Stattgart, AR, the "rice and duck capital of the world" where the all night Walmart is. We went in and walked around a bit, talked to the photo development guy who apparently also works for the town newspaper, and then went back to the truck. We stayed there about an hour while Malcolm talked to his parents on the phone about something we were considering doing. And after a little Google Earth work, we decided to go for it. So we pulled back out on the road and drove 30 miles further west to Pine Bluff, AR where we parked at yet another all night Walmart, this one much bigger, and with other trucks.

In the morning we hope to rent a car and we're going to drive about 200 miles south to Longstreet, LA. Malcolm's grandfather grew up there, and he's mentioned wanting to see it off and on over the years. When he mentioned it this afternoon, I told him we ought to do it. We may never have the opportunity again. So we're packing us and the girls up, plan to spend the day down there tomorrow, and stop at a hotel on our way back to Pine Bluff. I am excited about it, and glad we're getting to go, even if we should be working. Might as well make use of the time instead of sitting in De Witt eating at the Sonic over and over again, sleeping the weekend away and playing farm town.

Interesting observation: I never really considered Arkansas to be that southern, but you shoudl hear these people talk! They accents are STRONG, and I don't mean that as an insult. I love it! Funny thing is, and I find this really funny. They are having an aweful time understanding Malcolm. Just about everyone asks him to repeat half of what he says. But they are so polite about it. "Hun, I didn't understand. I'm so sorry. Can you repeat that, hun?"

I'll have the scoop about Longstreet on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Parting shot: My co-pilot/navigator hard at work. A lot of help she is!