ARKANSAS TRAVELS, Day 1, June 1, 2012

This morning, at about 5:30 a.m., I received a text message from Dempsey stating that her hip was hurting and that she was not going to be leaving for my place until about 8:00 a.m. She arrived at about 8:30 and we set sail--gorgeous, cool morning as we motored our way to northern Oklahoma and into Arkansas. On the way, we stopped in the Oklahoma town of Kiowa, at a roadside stop. Since both of us had packed picnic provisions, we stopped and unpacked salmon salad, apricots, green salad, and Ghirardelli chocolates. Fortified, we pressed on towards Arkansas and specifically Bentonville, north of Fayetteville and close to the Arkansas-Missouri border. In all, the trip was almost six hours long, or about 360 miles. We found the Hampton Inn, our headquarters for the next few nights, without incident, in the neighboring town of Rogers. We arrived in rain, to a temperature of about 65 degrees--a nice switch from the sweltering Dallas temperatures. After checking in, we went out to eat at the Whole Hog Cafe. The restaurant is listed in Fodor's, and features barbeque. I had a baked potato containing shredded pork, which was very good. After that, we decided to drive to downtown Bentonville,home of the Walton dynasty, head of Walmart. We first drove around to the Crystal Bridges Museum, which we will tour tomorrow. Then we were off to the downtown square, and along the way we viewed some absolutely beautifully restored Victorian homes with stately wrap-around porches. We parked at a church and noticed that the entire main square was blocked off for an Art Fair--booths of arts and crafts, music performances, face painting, funnel-cake eating, and strolling in general were part of the scene. We stayed until almost nightfall, stopping at the Visitor Info center to corroborate my itinerary for tomorrow's activities and finding out that my plans were quite on target. And now we are back at the hotel, where we plan to take advantage of the hot tub on the premises before turning in. Big day! Until tomorrow! A goodnight to all! As ever, Sylvia