Day 12: June 25, 2003
Arkansas Travelers
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Yes, this picture of the two cars was taken in Oklahoma. The Ohio car is, of course, mine. The car with Michigan plates belongs to Pat & Harv who moved from Michigan to Tucson not long ago. They will be including visits to Michigan friends and relatives in this trip east. Cars staged for the morning departure much as they had for the previous evening's run down town. But the police assistance was not there this morning and the third picture shows how "normal" things were on the morning drive. In addition to the SUV immediately in front of me, a school bus is in the line of Corvettes, and the railroad crossing gates are on the way down.
The high school in Alma was opened to provide a place for lunch. As lunch was ending, the Arkansas Flash, John Rupp, let us know what was in store on the next leg.
What was waiting on that afternoon drive were about 100 miles of delightful Arkansas roads and lots of Arkansas residents watching and waving as a few hundred Corvettes passed. Police blocked intersections to help us get through and, in one town, directed the cars up and down the main street. At another point, the cars made a loop through a park area. In the town of Ozark, the Red Hat Society was out in force with hats and banners. If anyone reading this knows these ladies, please pass on my appreciation.

There was fair weather at each end of the run but some fairly heavy rain fell on the middle. I held out during the early drizzle but was eventually forced to raise the top.

Driving alone, I depended a lot more on following cars than on reading instructions and fortunately fell in with a friendly group who I trailed to our destination in Petit Jean State Park. This was the Museum of Automobiles where we received discounted admission to view the sizable collection of very nice looking vehicles. These included a Bantam Speedster similar to one that Jack Rittenhouse used while writing his Route 66 guide and a Whizzer which was the first vehicle that I owned which I did not power myself.
One of the Australians rode with me from the museum to Bales Chevrolet in Little Rock. Aside from Gary on then first day, an Aussie named Garth road with me one afternoon but I've yet to get a picture. I'll try to make up for that. But I had no problem getting a photo of today's passenger, John Smith, and the reigning Miss Petit Jean. Yes she really is a beauty queen and he really is named John Smith. No, really. I put John to work on the camera and the last two photos were taken by him on our way down the mountain.
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