Arkansas - State No. 31

When reading Pics of Me in Front of Stuff, it may be hard to believe I have a graduate degree in chemistry and I am working on a second.  I am not sure if you question my graduate degree because of my amazing writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you wander why I am wasting my time as a chemist (unlikely) or the poor writing skill on Pics of Me in Front of Stuff makes you question my intelligence (possibly) and how the Hell I have any degree.  In spite of your questioning my writing or chemistry skills, I did manage to go to graduate school and the year before I started this happened.

This had little to do with my choice, but I did attend the little, orange school that could.  That was not their only One Shining Moment. The spring of my first year at graduate school this happened.

'Ray Bucknell!
You may be asking "Is there a point to this little anecdote that applies to more recent history?"
You may also be asking "This guy really has a graduate degree in chemistry?!"
The answer to both is yes.  Whilst I was gallivanting around the southern United States this past winter I was forced to visit some states that are not known for being exciting.  Alabama and Mississippi were both little more than notches on my US Travel belt.  Like the Bison and their second One Shining Moment, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff had to deal with Arkansas before moving onto bigger and better things.

I had very low expectations for Arkansas for a couple of reasons.  The first was a lack of creativity in the state's name.  Bucknell beat Kansas one season then Arkansas the next.  If there had been a Lekansas the Bison may have been invited back to the Tournament for a Kansas trifecta.  Did the founders of Arkansas not notice that West Virginia was Virginia's red-headed step child?  Virginia is a pretty nice state with the beaches and the proximity to the nation's capital.  Arkansas decided to name itself after Kansas with its....Rock, Chalk, and Jayhawk?
Advantage: West Virginia.
How many times has that ever been said,
The second reason was, like Alabama, there is a dearth of worthwhile stops in Arkansas that were on the Official Route of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.  There are diamond mines and hot springs in Arkansas but both were too far out of the way to make the trip worthwhile.  Since the next stop was New Orleans, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff wanted to stick to the eastern portion of the Natural State.
That's where the Great River Road entered the picture. 

The Great River Road follows the Mississippi River from its northern most reaches in Minnesota to where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed this National Scenic Byway from West Memphis to Lake Village, Arkansas in search of adventure and excitement.  You probably won't be surprised that Pics of Me in Front of Stuff found little of either. 

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This was one of the more exciting moments of the trip.

Yeah, Arkansas!
There were more high points, but not many.  Aside from the Millennial Mile Mark, there was also the Louisiana Purchase State Park which memorializes the first surveying expedition of the Louisiana Purchase.

Without the Louisiana Purchase there is no Lewis and Clark.  Without Lewis and Clark there is no Oregon Trail.  Without Oregon Trail  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff would never have gotten to go wild game hunting or ford a river in elementary school. 

If you look closely, you can also see the Fifth Principal Meridian. 

You might see the imaginary line known as the Fifth Principal Meridian if you look at those trees hard enough.

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff  killed a buffalo that weighed 998 pounds, but was only able to carry 100 pounds. Continuing the historical theme of the trip, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff also visited the site of the first night flight by an airplane in the United States.  Since he did many of the other firsts in American aviation history it should be no surprise that the pilot was Charles Lindbergh and that there is a monument commemorating the event in Lake Village, Arkansa

Finally, there was history in between these two historical markers in the form of the Lakeport Plantation, the last remaining antebellum mansion in Arkansas.  The Lakeport Plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been rebuilt over 5 years by Arkansas State University.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited on the day of the Christmas Open House and met some wonderfully friendly people who had put significant effort in restoring this house to its current state.  

And the excitement did not stop there...but it got pretty close to being done.  Aside from the occasional historical landmark, there was certainly not much going on in eastern Arkansas. There was a whole lot of cotton fields. Driving down the Great River Road gave a surprisingly few glimpses of the Great River. There were quite a few views of cotton fields.

 And there was one of these, too.

And that was Arkansas.