What's a Dollarway?
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Day 11: May 6, 2015 What's a Dollarway? Comment via blog |
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One of the country's earliest concrete roads was constructed in Arkansas.
Completed in October of 1914, the twenty-three mile long road was given
the name Dollarway because the estimated cost was to be a dollar per
linear foot. Like most road construction estimates, this was a little low
but the actual $1.36 per foot wasn't enough of an overrun to invalidate
the name. When I first read about the road several years ago, I thought
I'd like to drive it someday. Today it finally happened. There is a good
article on the Dollarway
here. The picture is of the northern end of the
Dollarway at the Jefferson-Pulaski county line.
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The beginning of the Dollaway was not particularly exciting. Roadside
America helped out by alerting me to the
Mammoth
Orange Drink Stand. I probably should have sat down for breakfast but
I instead ordered an ice tea to go. I did purchase one additional item
that will show up about three panels down.
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This is Reynolds Road where the article I linked to said "the road
was visible" as of 1999. It looked pretty much like all gravel to me
but in hindsight I probably should have looked harder for some concrete
remnants. It appears to be signed Old Dollarway rather than Reynolds.
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There is another half mile of signed Old Dollarway Road a little further
south but it is all asphalt.
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I went about a block off of Dollarway to enjoy my Mammoth Orange purchase
in White Hall City Park. As I stood by the register in the Mammoth Orange
Drink Stand, I noticed some brown half circles on a nearby plate. It was
my nose, I think, that actually noticed them first. I soon learned that
they were miniature apple pies fresh out of the oven and I soon owned one.
The woman who had baked them came out of the kitchen to put it and a fork
in a styrofoam box. It was still warm when I sat at a table in the park
and made it a sort of late breakfast.
Most of the old Dollarway is now signed AR-365 except for inside White Hall where it is still Dollarway. |
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I checked into a motel in West Memphis then almost immediately headed
across the bridge to Memphis proper. I stopped first at Rum Boogie Cafe
not so much because it's all that special but because I'm somewhat
familiar with it.
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I next headed up to the Blues Hall of Fame even though its official opening
was two days away on Friday. For one thing, I wanted to at least get a
peek while I was in town but I also wanted to get that third picture.
Lisa Biales, who I've
mentioned on this site, was in town for the Blues Music Awards and was
posting a few of her activities on Facebook. One of her posts was a
picture of her sitting next to Little Milton in front of the Blues Hall of
Fame. When I posted my own Little Milton picture I claimed to have just
missed Lisa by a hour but checking timestamps shows it was closer to
three.
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Then it was back to Beale for dinner at
Dyer's. That's
just one of the ways I maintain the physique on display in the previous
panel.
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When I first saw some motorcycles parked on the street I was pretty
surprised. I'd never seen that before but learned that it is an every
Wednesday event. Harleys were in the majority but there were plenty of
BMWs, Japanese bikes, and three wheelers of both configurations plus at
least one Norton, one Vincent, and one Vespa.
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I did see some music but I didn't get many names. The guys who seem to be
glowing were at Jerry Lee's Club, the duo was at the Rum Boogie, and the
last group was at the Blues City Band Box. The guy fronting the group is
Brad Birkedahl and I'll admit that the only reason I have it spelled right
is because it was on the marquee but he's the only guy that impressed me
enough to ask about.
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