Arkansas Pictures

[huntermoon]

I went swimming near this bridge. This picture is several years old. Now, the bridge is destroyed, and only juts out about five feet into the water from either bank. Bob told me the bridge used to flood over every year, so the gov't built a new one, much higher over the river. I could see the new bridge from the old one. In fact, I swam upstream until I reached the shadow of the new bridge. The water was about three feet deep, with smooth round rocks at the bottom, silty, and very slow moving. I got a leach on my finger swimming here. It was tiny, and I pulled it right off.

this picture was taken in the winter. It looks really different in July.

http://www.simsarkansas.com/bridge.jpg

The tiny post office in Sims, Arkansas. I picked up Chris and Larry's mail here one day. There are only about a hundred boxes at the post office, and nearly everyone in Sims has a box. It's a very rural area. The only paved roads are the highways.

http://www.simsarkansas.com/postoffice.jpg

In this picture it's really easy to see how the layered shale looks. It's grey here, but in most places it's streaked with red and blue. Some shale almost looks painted. People build walls and fences and house facades with pieces that are small enough to pick up and move (but still heavy--two feet across and half a foot thick!)

http://www.cloudland.net/2002calendargallery/images/MAY2002.jpg

In the next few pictures, I didn't see these particular places, but I'm showing them because they are very much like the places I did see. You can see why Arkansas reminded me of Oregon.

http://www.msdriscoll.com/hsv/kayak/Current_River_021030/Dscn4564.jpg

http://www.cloudland.net/AWbookgallery/images/AW119.jpg

http://www.msdriscoll.com/hsv/kayak/remmel_dam_020713/Dscn3127.jpg

http://www.cloudland.net/AWbookgallery/images/AW106.jpg

http://www.msdriscoll.com/hsv/hike/02-04-20/Dscn2187.jpg

http://www.cloudland.net/AWbookgallery/images/AW110.jpg