November 8, 2023 Day 32 West Helena Arkansas to Malvern Arkansas 148 miles
The tires and tubes are supposed to arrive today by 5:00 pm. That will be too late to go further so we are pretty sure we will be spending another night here. At about 10:00 am the front desk clerk knocked to say our package had arrived. Rob jumped into action. He got the tires in place and the new tubes blown up. I packed the room and carried our things to near the car.
The car was ready to go by about 12:20. Then it was across the street to fill up and decide the target town. We were on the road again about 12:45. The wind has been quiet the last five days but today it is very windy again. Rob really has to work at keeping the car in our lane.
The terrain is very flat. Lots of cotton fields again. Many of the fields are lined with trees. Some have finally started to change colors. Some have lost their leaves.
We stopped in Clarendon Arkansas for some lunch at a little drive in called the Lion’s Den. What a great little place. We had pulled pork sandwiches that were cooked right there. The owner made her own sauce as well. Another of her specialties is pork skins. She sells them all over. She also sells homemade cookies. Since we were new she gave us our choice of a bag of skins or one cookie each. Difficult choice but we took the pork skins. Later Connie saw the sign that said they sell for $5.95 for a gallon zip lock full. We tried some later in the day and thought they were quite tasty. Several people stopped to take pictures or ask about the car. One young black man kept going on and on about the car and the fact that was a piece of American history. Rob noted he wasn’t wearing shoes. Across the street was an interesting old house in major need of repairs. Rob thought we could get a cheap room there but we really need to get some more miles.
Just out of town we had to wait about 15 minutes for the pilot car past some construction on the bridge over the White River. The bridge is much longer than the river is wide so there must be other water there too.
When we arrived in Stuttgart Arkansas there were lots and lots of big silos. The fields must have changed to grain. Actually they are for rice. Turns out this area is a large producer of rice. It is considered the Rice and Duck Center of the World. It is an international destination for hunting waterfowl. Duck season is about to open.
A bit further we come to Pine Bluff Arkansas. This is home to a huge mill that uses logs. Just not sure what they do with them because they are not very big in diameter. Tyson Foods also has a very large plant of some kind here.
We did see a Model A coupe sitting in a yard. Then as we got into Malvern Connie saw Tanner Autos which also had at least one Model A as well as other vintage and classic vehicles. We made it to the hotel about 5:00 so we didn’t have to use the headlights. Well, that is the one that is working. The headlight switch is being temperamental.
Spoffords Travel 