Closing the Loop/Returning Home

Sunday and Monday, Aug. 5 & 6, 2012—Arkadelphia to Hope to Texarkana to Boxelder to San Antonio

I knew that Bob and Judy Maroney would be at church in the morning, and I didn’t want them to have to worry about lunch for me, so I told them I would be at their home in Boxelder in the early afternoon.  I stayed at the motel for a while and read the newspapers on the computer.  Then I slowly drove their direction.  I pulled off the expressway in Hope, Arkansas and drove downtown.  I walked up and down their major streets just to get some exercise.

I arrived in Texarkana just before lunch.  I drove downtown to look for a hardware store I had tried to tell Bob and Judy about before.  Unfortunately, it is now out of business, but I got the name of it, Burhman Pharr, to mention to them.  Arne and I had stopped there about 9 years ago and had really enjoyed going through the store—the kind of hardware store that not only sold hardware but also sold kitchen items, decorative items for the home, etc.  Unfortunately, it isn’t the only business that has disappeared downtown.  I think that Texarkana has the most abandoned and decayed downtown of any city I have visited.  It is quite sad.  Buildings are just falling apart.  Roofs have caved in, windows have fallen out or been knocked out, etc.  It’s worse than downtown Detroit.  The best building downtown is the restored Perot Theater, but it must be depressing to go to a production there among all the decaying buildings.

To get more exercise and delay my arrival further, I went to the local Central Mall and walked up and down its pathways.  It’s a small mall, but quite adequate for the size city Texarkana is and for the poor income level that the city apparently has on a per capita basis.  From there, I drove to Sam’s Club across the street to buy gasoline and to get some flowers to take to Judy.  I already had some bottles of wine from the wineries near Altus, Arkansas, to take to Bob.

I got to Boxelder about 13:30.  We visited inside because of the heat, talking about books, politics, the university in Corpus Christi, mutual friends, etc.  Later, Bob took me out to see his new drip irrigation system for his vineyard, to see the vegetables in his garden, and on a ride over to the old vineyard to show me his new solar electrical fence to try to keep the deer out.  Around 16:30, Bob made some guacamole and some caipirinhas (a Brazilian drink made with rum made from sugar cane).  We had chips with that and continued to visit at their indoor bar area.  After that, we had chicken enchiladas which Judy made with a chunky version of guacamole. 

In the evening, we sat outside on their patio.  There was lightning in the distance, but it never rained.  Finally, a small breeze developed which made it more comfortable.  We could hear the sounds of an owl in the distance, frogs near to us at the pond, etc.

Monday morning, Bob and I sat outside having coffee and watching the hummingbirds, the herons, the turtles, etc., until Judy was up.  She made us a breakfast of bacon, eggs, zucchini bread, melon, and jams.  It was delicious. 

After that, I excused myself.  I knew they had chores that needed doing, and I had a long ride home.  I left there at 10:00.  With a quick stop for a kolache in West around 13:30 and another one for gasoline in Waco a few minutes later, I arrived in San Antonio at 17:00.  I stopped at Costco and Sam’s Club on the way home to buy gasoline and staples that I knew I would need immediately—eggs, cheese, milk, bread, etc.

I tried to get onto the computer, but couldn’t connect to the Internet.  When I tried calling ATT, there was an announcement that they had a major DSL outage that was affecting service.  Therefore, I wrote this up on the computer and saved it.  I’ll probably go to a nearby McDonald’s to see if their wifi (also ATT) is working or not so I can post it.

Steps Walked:  9330 (2 days)

Miles Driven:  583 (2 days)

Trip Expenses/Distances:  I was gone on the trip for 6 weeks and 1 day—43 days.  During that time, I spent a total of $3282.33 for an average of $76.33 per day.  I drove a total of 7414 miles (11,929 km) for an average of 172 miles (277 km) per day.