Springdale / Jasper / Hotsprings

February 14: Springdale, Arkansas

Welcome to today's blog! The weather report was not very promising as it predicted heavy rain and high winds. It was definitely not the best day for outdoor activities, so I made the decision to seek refuge at the Springdale Public Library, which was conveniently located nearby. Let's explore what the library has to offer and what I discovered during my visit.

During my visit to the Springdale Public Library, I was pleasantly surprised by the excellent bandwidth and spacious open tables, which made my time there very productive. However, what really caught my attention was the vast photography section. To my delight, there were many recently published books, and I spent a considerable amount of time browsing through them. The library provided an excellent opportunity to learn and explore my passion for photography.

I decided to spend the night in the Cracker Barrel parking lot once again, and while there, I opted for a salad and baked potato, as they were the least likely items on the menu to cause a spike in my blood pressure. I enjoy looking at the old photographs they have on the walls. I had a strange feeling like someone was starring at me and this photography looking directly at me.

February 15: Jasper, Arkansas

My goal for the morning was to do a hike in the Ozark mountains before heading to Hot Springs in the afternoon. I stopped at Starbucks before heading out. A man and woman were discussing some issue at work in a nearby hospital. Some process they were trying to implement wasn’t being followed. I notice a lot of drinks on the counter and it made for an interesting image. I took a photo and then went back to waiting for my drink. The two people that were talking were packing up to leave and walked over to get the drinks I just photographed. There were probably 15 drinks in the order. They picked up the drinks and were trying to balance them on top of their computers, papers and brief cases. I was sure the drinks were going to fall. They declined my offer of help. I then saw one of their trays of drinks starting to slide and I grab the tray. I helped them to their car and they thanked me. I told them I was just trying to get my “random act of kindness out of the way for the day”.

I set google maps to take me to a trail head from a hike in AllTrails. As often happens with AllTrails, I was taken to a location where there was no trail. At this point I had no cell coverage and had to drive until I could reconnect. In addition, periodically, the Outback / Apple interface kept dropping out. Enough detail, suffice it to say that after several attempts I was getting frustrated. At some point I saw a sign for Jasper which was originally on my route to Hotsprings. Hoping to have better cell coverage, I headed to Jasper.

Jasper was laid out like many town I’ve seen recently, with the government building in the center and four streets delineating the center of town. There was plenty of street parking which I assumed wasn’t the norm during high season. I parked in front of a “Cafe” with the hope of having a good coffee, but the shop was closed. I notice on another street, someone coming out of the Ozark Cafe. They were open!!!

There were two people in the cafe, both seemed to be locals. One was reading the newspaper and the other was starring straight ahead as if nothing was there. The staff was very friendly and said “Welcome in!” when I came in. This is a standard greeting in most restaurants in the south. We had a discussion about the coffee. They only had drip coffee. I asked when it was brewed and the one woman said it was about 45 minutes old. I decided to take a chance and order a cup of coffee and peach cobbler. She told the woman preparing the coffee to “avoid the pot on the left. It is really old.” I paid and then she asked me if I wanted ice cream on the peach cobbler. You can have the peach cobbler anyway you want she said.

The atmosphere in the cafe was fun and the walls were covered with photos of locals and famous people that have visited the cafe, including Elvis. The cobbler was better than some but not homemade. They didn’t have wi-fi but I did have one bar cell coverage. It turns out that driving two blocks in any direction, the cell coverage would drop.

I walked around the town for twenty minutes and saw various historic plaques. The following plaque interested me because it mentions the Arkansas Cavalry (U.S.). I have read that Arkansas seceded from the Union in 1861 and that some fought with the north. I don’t know how the division happened. Was there a clear dividing line?

I had given up on any hope of getting a hike in and setup my route to Hot Springs.