Moving to Alaska: Day Three

This morning started out with a little later start because I had to wait for the U-haul office closest to where I was staying to open. Luckily I was correct about being able to just swap out the jumper cable on the lights so it only took a couple minutes before I was able to get on the road.

Today was part of why my route to Alaska is going in a non-logical direction; at the start of this drive I have been to 47 states. One of those missing ones is Arkansas so figured I might as well see the sites, as much as possible when mostly driving, towing a trailer and not stopping a lot...

In Little Rock I struggled mainly because I had a trailer so could not park anywhere and ended up having to basically skip the entire riverfront, which was on my to do list for the day. I was able to visit a couple of parks further away from downtown, including T.R Pugh Memorial Park which I recommend. Some of it was actually designed by the same man who did the Crystal Grotto in Memphis. It was weird when I was there. For the first 10 minutes there were probably 100 kids of various ages then suddenly, they were all gone. There were no buses so it is not like it was a field trip, and it was a weekday when they should have been in school so I maybe there was a school nearby and that was recess?!?

After Little Rock I went down to Hot Springs. Contrary to what most people think, Yellowstone, which was established in 1872, is not the oldest national park in the US (on a technicality). Hot Springs was created by an act of Congress in 1832 but it was not officially a "National Park" until 1921. However, schedule and cat dictated my time here so I did not get to do and see much. I have this on my return list. I also might expand on that and make a new hobby; visit the 59 official "National Parks". There are something like 400 "National Something" but most are historical sites or preserves but I figure 59, of which really only one is a total pain to visit (American Samoa), is doable. Especially when you consider that 8 of them are in Alaska.

The other fun thing I did in Hot Springs was take the cat on a hike. I have a shoulder carrying bag for him and it was just too hot to leave him in the car, so he went along. Nothing like adding an extra 15+ pounds for a hot, humid hike.

I finished the day with a late, after dark, arrival at Crater of Diamonds State Park where we would be camping for the first time on this trip. But wouldn't you know that Murphy's Law visited Murfreesboro and the tent pole strings had disintegrated?!? So I had no way to assemble the tent!!! This is the "spare" tent so not used often but really, they just fall apart while stored in the basement with all the OTHER camping stuff, including another tent?!? So we car camped unexpectedly. It was hot and muggy but since the cat was there, I would only crack the windows and I did not let in a lot of air. It is going to be a long night...

Start: Memphis, Tennessee

Stop: Murfreesboro, Arkansas

~285 Miles Driven

~7.3 Miles Walked
8 Letterboxes Found

6 Letterboxes Not Found

0 Letterboxes Planted

Pictures will be posted on Facebook in this album (and the link will be included in all future posts for this trip):

Moving to Alaska Photos