AR, MO – Jun 2024

This is where the exploration of this leg of my journey begins – Riverfront Park in downtown Little Rock.  A beautiful park with river-side walking trails, a playground and splash park for the kids, and an amphitheater – all in 33 acres stretching eleven blocks on the south bank of the Arkansas River.  It also features lots of Roadside America entries that were on my list to see.  So off I go!

Little Rock, AR

The last time I was in Arkansas back in 2019, I actually stayed in Hot Springs which is about an hour south west, and did most of my exploring in that area.  This time, I’m focusing on Little Rock and the surrounding area where there is plenty of things to see.

My first stop was down to Riverfront Park which sits along the banks of the Arkansas River.  There, I would find another Trails of the Whispering Giants series sculpture by Peter Toth (at left, left).  I’ve written about this series many times, where Peter has created these works of art – one in every state of the country.  This would be my 11th sighting in this series, so I’m just over 20% through the list.  You may also recall that my brother Dick and I went to visit and meet Peter at his Florida home and gallery back in Feb of 2023.  I’ve been fortunate to maintain Peter as a “text buddy”, and will always send him a message with a picture of his works that I am visiting.  He seems to be appreciative.  This particular piece was from 1975, and is extremely well preserved and in great shape.  Its safe harbor location within the corner of some brick walls and covered overhead to keep it out of the elements is a likely contributor to its terrific condition.  This one should last for many, many more years to come.  Also at the Riverfront Park is the town of Little Rock’s namesake – a little rock.  Dedicated in 1932, this piece of rock is reportedly the top of the larger rock formation located along the Arkansas River, and first seen by French explorers who named it La Petite Roche in 1722.  The name stuck, and Little Rock was formed.  Across the river is the USS Razorback Submarine.  A WWII diesel submarine commissioned in 1940 and was one of a dozen or so in Tokyo harbor when Japan surrendered the war.  It was sold to the Turkish Navy in 1970 and actively used by them for the next 30 years.  It was then purchased back by the US and now serves as a floating exhibit here in the Arkansas River.

Just down the street from Riverfront Park was a restaurant with an interesting Roadside America story.  Back in the late 1990s thru early 2000s, an animatronic singing bass fish mounted on a faux wooden plaque was a popular novelty gift.  Known as Big Mouth Billy Bass, this crazy singing fish reached sales of $100 million in its first year.  But it wasn’t long before you’d find them at yard sales and flea markets for $1 or less as the novelty soon wore off.  To help find sanctuary for these forgotten and no longer desired creatures, several adoption centers sprung up to take them in.  Flying Fish, a downtown Little Rock restaurant, claims to be the first in the world to offer adoption services.  Today, the walls of the restaurant are filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of these silly fish.  Their adoption process is quite simple – bring in the Billy Bass, fill out Adoption Papers, and kiss him goodbye.  In return, you receive a tasty basket of their delicious catfish to enjoy.  What a deal!  I did go there for lunch, and did enjoy a catfish basket – though I had to pay for mine as I had no Billy Bass for them to adopt.  Fortunately, none of the fish have batteries, so you are not bombarded with hundreds of singing fish during your meal.  Too cool!

There were a couple other Roadside items to chase down in the area.  First up in Sherwood, AR is this really cool Roundtop Gas Station (at left, top left).  This recently restored 1936 filling station along old highway 67 was in operation until 1972.  It was restored around 2014, and was reportedly going to be a police substation.  I’m not sure if it ever had that role, but when I visited, it was visibly empty and abandoned.  But, it was a very cool looking building!

Last up, Roadside would take me to a place called the Old Mill.  It has a few claims to fame.  First, all the structures that appear to be wood are actually cement that is processed in a way to resemble real wood.  Second, this place was actually in the opening credits of the 1939 film Gone With the Wind.  You can clearly see the Old Mill house water wheel spinning away at roughly the 1:30 minute mark of the movie intro – which you can see HERE.  Lastly, when I saw the pictures on Roadside, and even more so when I arrived and saw this place in person, it looked all too familiar to me.  After dusting off the cobwebs of my brain, it came to me that I had been here before – back in the early 1980s when I was stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base.  The truth is, I was here on a date with one of the cute girls that worked at the same movie theater as I.  Ah, the memories.  I wonder what ever happened with her?

But, the most important reason for me making my way through Little Rock on my way to this year’s western adventure, was to reconnect with this guy.  Doug was one of my best friends when I was stationed in Japan in the mid 1980s.  He and I went on lots of adventures together, and I relied on Doug, who had really good game when it came to girls, to be the honey to attract the bees.  This was over 40 years ago, and I just recently reconnected with him via FaceBook, and discovered that he lived in Little Rock.  This top picture is of us (yea, both a bit younger, and a few pounds lighter), and my little Honda Z car loaded with gear, preparing to head out to Shimoda Beach on the Izu peninsula of Japan for a weekend camping trip.  There were many adventures he and I took back in those days – Sunday morning breakfast runs to an iHop we found in the middle of nowhere Japan, to trips into downtown Tokyo to the discos where we would teach the locals all the latest country line dance moves – pretending they were popular disco dances straight from NY.  Anyway, we had a great lunch together, and sat and chatted and reminisced for several hours recounting all the fun we had back in the day.  We had over four decades to catch up on, and it was a really great time doing so.  Great to see you again Doug after all these years.  Let’s stay in touch and hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.

Branson/Springfield, MO

So my drive to Branson was uneventful, and the campground had a nice deluxe pull thru site waiting for me.  I arrived just past 1pm, got setup, then chilled for a bit.  It wasn’t long before hunger got the better of me, so I decided to head on into downtown Branson to check out an Italian place that had good reviews, and also happened to have a Roadside America entry as well.

Driving into Branson reminded me a lot of Pigeon Forge, TN.  Same mountainous terrain, same over abundance of traffic, and same lame touristy venues lining both sides of the Main Street.  I was quick to realize that downtown Branson was not for me.  So I collected a few cute Roadside items, had a nice meal at the Italian place, and this will likely be my last foray in downtown Branson.  So, at the Italian place was this large tall fork sticking into a walk thru 15 foot diameter meatball at its entrance. That was kinda unique.  Next was this giant rooster that sits at the entrance to the Great American Steak and Chicken House.  Claimed to be the worlds largest rooster at 43 feet tall, it was originally planned to be 35 feet, but was increased to 43 when it was learned that France had the tallest at the time at 37 feet.  Nothing like a bit of one-up-manship!  Next up was this giant camera and hands gracing the entrance to yet another tourist trap called Beyond the Lens.  This one was a must see as Roadside had no pictures for their entry.  So, I of course snapped off a few and have since submitted them for their use.  Check off another Roadside save.  Last up was this giant chair located in the parking lot of what now seems to be a defunct business that once rented Slingshot vehicles.  The chair itself was definitely showing signs of wear and tear, and is in need of a bit of restoration.  I’m certainly not climbing up on that thing for a photo op.

So, I gave up exploring Branson any further, and rather focused my attention on other nearby areas.  Once such interesting place to visit was a bit south of me to the Ralph Foster Museum – located on the campus of the College of the Ozarks.  The museum was attended to, and run by students of the college.  This museum features a vast collection of guns, as well as many stuffed animals that are native to the surrounding mountains.  But, the most important and popular item found in this museum is the original car used and driven by the Beverly Hillbillies TV show.  If you know your hillbillies trivia, you will know that before moving to Beverly Hills, this poor mountaineer family lived in Silver Dollar City, MO – right in the heart of the Ozarks.  So, it certainly is fitting that this historic car lives here in the Ozarks for everyone to see and enjoy.  It was certainly cool to see this!  I chatted with some of the college kids during my museum tour, and found them all to be very pleasant and helpful.  I was curious why the museum was run by the kids, and upon a bit of research, I found out that the College of the Ozarks, a conservative Christian school with an enrollment of about 1,400 and also known as Hard Work U, does not charge tuition – but rather has their students work off their fees at one of many on campus student work programs.   This entails a commitment to working 15 hours a week and two 40-hour work weeks during breaks.  Certainly seems like a wonderful opportunity to me!

Next, I aimed about 40 miles north to the city of Springfield.  There, I would find lots of interesting places to explore.  So I loaded up my Google map with about a half dozen places to check out, and off I went.  First up was a trip to the Bass Pro store.  But this is no ordinary Bass Pro.  This outdoor retailer got its start right here in Springfield, MO.  In fact, this particular Bass Pro is known as the Grandaddy of them all.  At upwards of 500,000 square-feet (or just over 11 acres) it’s the largest Bass Pro store in the world.  It was massive!  There was even a 2nd floor museum filled with all sorts of Bass Pro memorabilia.  This included the original underground gas storage tank that was converted to a fish tank that adorned the original Bass Pro store – which back then was a small converted liquor store that also sold fishing gear.  They also had a collection of over a dozen race cars as Bass Pro is a large sponsor of the NASCAR Cup Series.  Lastly, a custom made Bass Pro chopper motorcycle was on display – built in 2007 by the famed Orange County Chopper (OCC) folks over at the American Chopper TV series.  This place is a must see if in the Springfield, MO area!

Next I started chasing down a few interesting Roadside oddities.  First up was a visit to what had been the world’s tallest fork.  This 35 foot high ground impaled utensil held the title of tallest for over 30 years – that is until apparently a 37-foot version showed up in Oregon in 2022 (something for me to try to go see when I’m in that area next year).  It does however retain the largest fork title with regard to weight or mass. At 11,000 pounds, this is certainly no lightweight.  Next up was a visit to a residential neighborhood that features a fence made entirely of bikes.  Reportedly, the owner needed a fence to keep his young kids at bay, and opted to use old bicycles to do the job.  Definately not something you see every day!

Through my travels I’ve come to appreciate the many “muffler man’ fiberglass sculptures that are located throughout the country.  This one, a Chef, stands within a one-time food truck court that sadly seems to have not survived.  With a little research, I learned that the first Muffler Man produced, a Paul Bunyan figure holding an ax, came out in 1962 and was to promote the Lumberjack Cafe on Route 66.  These things were produced by Internaltional Fiberglass of Venice, CA.  They apparently created and sold thousands of these things at between $1,000-$2,800 each, until the company closed down in 1976.  Wiki even maintains a complete list of Muffler Man locations throughout the country HERE.  Guess I gotta get moving if I’m going to see them all!

Well, I guess it was just a matter of time.  As I was off to visit the next Springfield attraction, out of nowhere my truck began making a horrible knocking sound.  I pulled over to the side, and checked Google maps to locate the nearest Ford dealership.  Thankfully, there was one there in Springfield just a few miles from where I was.  So, I nursed the truck there, and handed it over to the service department.  Unfortunately, I was scheduled to leave this campground the following morning, but was able to extend one additional night to give time to have the truck diagnosed and hopefully fixed.  Turns out it was my injectors.  Honestly, I was told back in 2021 when I was visiting with friends in Deleware and had the major engine blow out, that I needed to replace all my injectors.  Supply chain issues at the time only allowed me to get two of them replaced.  When I returned to Florida a couple months later, I did take the truck to my local Ford service department and they suggested if I was not having any issues with the truck as is, it was probably ok to go ahead and not get them replaced.  Well, here I am 2.5 years later and it’s time to pay the piper.  If you are curious what a bad injector engine knock sounds like, here’s mine that I recorded on my way to the dealership.

So it was Wednesday early afternoon when the problem came up.  I spent a few hours at the dealership, working on trying to get a rental car so that I could go back to Branson, some 40 miles south where my RV was, to live and sleep until the truck was fixed.  I must have checked with close to 20 different car rental places, including several that were at the nearby airport, and not a single one had a car available. I had no idea if something special was going on in town, or if there is just an overall shortage of cars.  But not a single one was to be found.  The alternative was for me to stay in Springfield in a nearby hotel – which I really did not want to do.  I had no extra clothes with me, and would much rather sleep in my own bed.  Once the truck issue was diagnosed and I signed off on the just over $5k in repairs, the dealership was kind enough to give me a loaner car so that I could return to Branson.  Very nice of them!

Now it becomes a waiting game.  I was only able to extend my RV site stay by one additional day, and I had to be out of that site by Friday morning.  It was unlikely that I’d have my truck back by then, so I reserved a different style site in the same campground that just happened to be available – but only for two nights.  But that would mean that I needed to find a kind soul to hook up to my RV and move it down a bit to the new site.  I found such an individual, and was very thankful for his gracious assistance.  In all, I actually needed a total of four extra nights since I had decided to cancel the trip to St. Louis, and stay here until my next scheduled stay which was near Kansas City, MO.  So, I booked another site, here in the same campground, for that additional night.  But once again, I’ll have to move the RV on Sunday morning to clear out of the site that has someone else arriving.  What a bunch of crazy hop scotch!

I got my truck back on Friday late afternoon.  It’s running great now and I certainly hope it stays that way.  Kudos to Corwin Ford of Springfield!  Despite only having one diesel mechanic, who undoubtedly already had plenty of booked work, they wedged me in somehow and got me back on the road as quickly as they could and seemingly in record time.  They also provided me with the loaner car so that I didn’t have to have the added expense of a hotel.  I really do appreciate them.

On the way back to the campground from picking up the truck, I stopped at this Roadside item that I had on my list to visit before the truck broke down.  Located just off route US-65 a few miles north of Branson is the Branson Cross.  Erected in 2019 and at 218 feet tall, it is the largest cross in America.  No other cross previously reached 200 feet due to the FAA requirement to attach aircraft warning beacons to the top when a structure is that tall, and that was considered sacrilegious to many cross builders. Apparently, the folks building this cross did not agree.  While it is the tallest in the U.S., it is 9th tallest in the world, and seems tiny when compared to the 490 foot Cruz de los Caidos located in Spain.

Oak Grove, MO

Well, one positive note is that I made it the roughly 200 miles north from Branson to Oak Grove , just east of Kansas City, without a single truck issue.  Wahoo!  I do have to admit though that in retrospect I have been extremely fortunate.  As I look back to all the breakdowns, the flat tires, and even run ins with suicidal deer, each and every one of those past incidents has occurred when I was not towing.  So, there must be some higher being that certainly has my back.

My first exploration of the area would take me to Liberty, MO.  One of its claim to fame is that it is home to a bank that would succumb to being the first successful daylight bank robbery.  It was Feb of 1866 when the Jesse James Gang would steal upwards of $60,000 – approximately $20k in gold, silver and coin, and some $40k in bearer bonds – which were later recovered as those were difficult to liquidate.  There is some question as to whether Jesse was actually present during the robbery, while many believe his brother Frank James was the gang leader for this heist.  Pretty cool place that has been fullly restored to its original mid 1800’s look.  Next up in town is a nicely done bronze from 2018 that recognizes Lawrence “China” Slaughter.  For 32 years, he was a janitor and crossing guard for the local school.  He was adored by the kids and others, and has been honored by this statue located exactly where he would safely escort the kids across the street.  Now that’s job commitment and certainly worthy of this nicely done remembrance.

The last item to see here in Liberty would take me to the town cemetery.  There I located the unique gravesite of an 8 year old boy named Ryan Vanden Broeder.  His nickname was Ryan the Rhino.  The story goes he wanted to play football, but was apparently a bit overweight.  So he took it upon himself to workout in the garage to get in shape.  It was a hot day in August when he was running on a treadmill, became overheated and suffered a heat stroke and passed away.  A truly sad and tragic story for this little guy, but wonderful that his family went out of their way to make his final resting place something special.

Next I drove to Independence, MO where there were a couple items of interest to see.  First up was the Community of Christ Temple – a spiral shaped building that is truly spectacular.   Though it has the extravagance and architectural elements of a Mormon temple, it is in fact not Mormon, but rather the Community of Christ Church – a sect that split from the Mormons some years ago.  Built in the 1990’s at a cool $35 million, this place was absolutely incredible.  It is said that from the inside, the spiral goes up so high and twisty, that it is recommended that you sit down before looking up.  Wish I could have seen the inside!

Independence is home to the Harry S Truman Presidential Library, and the local for my next stop.  Though born in Lamar, MO, he spent most of his early life here in Independance.  I’ve been to a few other Presidential Libraries in my RV travels, and this one certainly did not disappoint.  It had the typical bronze statues, recreated Oval Office, Presidential vehicles, and is home to their final resting place.  But this library had more of an information giving and sharing vibe as apposed to a collection of presidential memorabilia.  There were countless displays covering aspects of World War I in which he served, as well as World War II which he dealt with as President.  Other post WW II Cold War conflicts that he was involved with including the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War were also represented.  Of course, there was an original newspaper featuring the premature headline Dewey Defeats Truman.

When Truman left office in 1953, he immediately began work building his library.  It was here that he had an office (at right, middle right) where he spent his remaining years writing his memoirs and developing the library to become the research and educational facility it is today.  Of the many artifacts found in the library, I found these to be of particular interest.  First, the Bible on which he was sworn in as President following the sudden death of FDR is on display.  In the Oval Office mock up, there is an old TV – in itself may not be particularly interesting.  But it would be Truman who gave the first televised Presidential address in 1947, and would be the first President to ever have a television in the Oval Office – represented here by this DuMont Sussex model.  Pretty cool!  Also on display was the actual letter written to President Truman by Henry Stimson – who was Secretary of War at the time.  This letter talks about a “highly secret matter” that needed to be discussed.  This letter was the introduction to President Truman’s having for the first time been read in on the super secret Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb.  The final item I found interesting was this plug – which was actually the safety plug from “Fat Man”  or aka the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.  This plug, when inserted, prevented the bomb’s accidental detonation.  When on its way, this green plug was replaced with a red activating plug to enable the bomb for its mission.  Wow – now that’s a true piece of history!

On my way back to the campground from Independance, I stopped in the town of Blue Springs.  Though it is the 10th largest city in the state of Missouri with a population of over 58,000, it holds the record for the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  This parade route begins at 1112 W. Main Street and goes across the street to 1123 W. Main Street  a whopping 66 feet.  This is an annual event, and has been going on for something like 40 years.  Apparently, short St. Patrick’s Day Parades is a thing as there are several that are held across the country – others also claiming to be the shortest.  Anyway, it’s a silly tradition but fun for the locals.  I actually found a video of this year’s parade which you can view HERE.  Too funny!

Final Thoughts

Well, a very adventurous and productive couple of weeks.  As noted herein, there is so much to see and explore around this country – albeit some of it is a bit silly but fun none the less.  I head into Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming next, and looking forward to connecting with friends and family along the way.  As for the meme, I saw this on FB and actually had to read it several times before it truly sunk in.  Very strange, but at the same time, very true.  So, for my generation of readers, give this a read and some contemplative thought.  Till next time, be well and safe travels.

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!