On any southern US interstate, travelers often see huge billboards advertising "adult superstores", huge stores devoted to one-stop porn shopping: books, magazines, videos, toys, novelties, lingerie: they're all here for your shopping convenience. Inevitably, on the opposite side of the road, or just a mile or two beyond, billboards preach bible passages and urge sinners not to commit adultery, or not to covet, or to begin to prepare for eternity. God and the Devil are at war in the US, and it's not clear who's winning.
We left Memphis in the early morning and crossed the wide Mississippi River into Arkansas. The river is a monster, truly magnificent, and more than a mile wide at the Memphis crossing. It is indeed a boundary, between the east and west, and between affluence and, well .... something else.
Eastern Arkansas was an eye opener for us. It is wide and flat, full of swamps, farms, trailer parks, broken billboards, and run-down towns. The soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou?" seemed so appropriate as we passed run down trailers and huge churches. I felt as though I'd left a comfortable world behind we we motored west. Around Little Rock, things looked up. The land became less fetid and more clean and natural. Large pine forests looked happier and healthier. Then, as we neared Texarkana, beef farms appeared.
Instantly in Te
xas, things looked prosperous. Texarkana was going through something of a building boom as new interstate overpasses churned up the red soil and towered overhead. We drove through more pine forests, driving alongside more pick-up trucks than anything else. Then, the pine forests gave way to flat, open rangelands, lush in the spring gree and wildflowers. The outside temperature flirted with 30 degrees celsius and we needed the air conditioner ( in March! ) . Huge ranch homes, each resembling South Fork, nestled alongside modest homes and trailers that, we assume, provided quarters for migrant farm workers.
xas, things looked prosperous. Texarkana was going through something of a building boom as new interstate overpasses churned up the red soil and towered overhead. We drove through more pine forests, driving alongside more pick-up trucks than anything else. Then, the pine forests gave way to flat, open rangelands, lush in the spring gree and wildflowers. The outside temperature flirted with 30 degrees celsius and we needed the air conditioner ( in March! ) . Huge ranch homes, each resembling South Fork, nestled alongside modest homes and trailers that, we assume, provided quarters for migrant farm workers.We pushed our way through to Mesquite, a bustling, modern prosperous suburb of Dallas. In true Texas style, everything is big. There are sprawling subdivisions, gigantic malls, huge schools complete with professional-looking football stadiums. After another 8 hour day, we collapsed in our hotel, had a celebratory beer and congratulated ourselved for actually making it to Texas. We've set up a relatively easy day tomorrow ( we hope ) to get to Austin. Let's hope the ubiquitous God of the US continues to help us !!
See why we loved our winters in TX?
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