Day 164 Hot Springs Arkansa - Sallisaw - Oklahoma
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
174
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Sallisaw,
Oklahoma,
United States
Friday, October 17, 2008
Today we set out to have the oil changed with the service, completed before we moved on westward.
Into Hot springs township and eventually find an Oil change service, it is opposite a Wal Mart and just down the road of a Starbucks. We left the Castle in the hands of the service people and the party split, with 2 heading to the Wal Mart down and across the road, the other headed to the Starbucks.
Service done in about 15 mins and the Castle moved to the Wal Mart, with the team together, Mandy set and away we go.
The route took us through the main street of Hot Springs, passing the bath house we used yesterday.
Then on through a scenic route to take us North West, towards the I40, through the Ozark mountains.
The drive took us through some beautiful picturesque mountainside country, with the fall colours beginning to dominate the colour schemes.
A winding but interesting drive, we picked a picnic spot for morning tea that was beside a small stream, surrounded by trees and had a small bridge crossing over a little higher up than the picnic area. Small fish being themselves within the water and the quietness of the surrounding woods with the water falling gently over the built rock weir, simply created a magic atmosphere to relax and enjoy the cuppa. Part of the journey that will be recalled we are sure, simply because it is a part in the mountains in Arkansas a tour would not take you to visit.
We loaded up again and continued our journey through this scenic route, came across a road side smaller store selling Gemstones and Indian Artefacts. A wonderful small stop to learn to understand this is a Gem stone area of this country, and a much sort after site for rock hounds to fossick to discover the crystal or gem stone they have spent their life to discover.
The prices of these stones and the colours, coupled with the vibrations, are something that creates a big question in our minds as to the cost of the purchase of similar items in Australia.
We travelled on to find a Wal Mart for our lunch stop over (certainly not as relaxing spot as the woods and stream) then onwards to catch up with the I40.
This route took us to the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma, before we crossed the border we chose to divert our direction towards Fort Smith. The decision was made simply because we had time and a question as to what is Fort Smith and why is it here?
Well what a wonderful surprise, we drove into Fort Smith to eventually find our way to the National historic site of the Fort. This was the Main Fort and guiding place for the trek west for the majority of the settlement of the Wild West.
The Fort was originally built for the US Calvary to have a base to enable the US to handle a possible conflict and war between the Native Americans.
The Native Americans displaced from the South Eastern area (collectively called the Cherokee, but in fact a combination of four tribes/group and the original native inhabitants of the area .
The fact the Europeans settlers had pushed the Native tenants out towards the west thus causing the conflict, was lost on the Army or controlling politicians.
The dispute between the Natives was settled with a peace agreement penned by the Army, this land then became the Indian Territories. The lawlessness created by the whites and the broken treaties created further conflict and the Wild West and the Indian wars are now history. Also the area is part of the Trail of Tears, where upon the Native Americans were forcibly removed from their lands and relocated to this area.Many dyeing along the route from European disease's and hunger.
The fact we came across this Fort by Chance and to absorb this information as well as learn and view the platform the condemned were hung from (up to 6 at a time) and to learn that a lot of the films and wild west movies were based, around sometimes partially true stories and most times fictional books, written about the wild west, was just a great discovery for the travellers.
We left this State and city with a KOA planned for the overnight stop. We moved into Oklahoma and before long we settled into the KOA Park.
Just great days travelling over this part of the country and enjoying the journey as we discover more places to possibly rediscover on a return trip.
