Vacation, Day 7

This morning we broke camp which always takes longer than I think it will. We went back to War Eagle mill for a late breakfast. I had the biscuits and gravy, made with their own flour of course, and Lynn had a buckwheat waffle, and then we decided to try the cobbler. It was awesome! The biscuits and waffle were excellent and the cobbler warm and tasty with real vanilla ice cream to boot. After leaving War Eagle we headed toward Rogers and realizing we were too late for worship at a local church we had our own impromptu worship service in a park in downtown Rogers. We both read scripture, sang a hymn and then prayed together. It was wonderful! We left Rogers and made our way to Bentonville to the Crystal bridges museum which is now located on the square in the Massey building. (www.massey.crystalbridges.org). We arrived an hour early so we found a shady place to park and take a short nap, then explored the square. The square was a typical small town square surrounding a park. Lynn was quite amazed that everything was closed. I told her this was typical of most small towns in the region. We decided to check back after touring the museum to see if anything would be open, particularly the diner, since I had a hankering for some good home cooked food.
The museum was very nice. They had a traveling exhibit of fiber art on display as well as a model of the permanent facility being constructed nearby. The docent was very helpful, even giving us an explanation of the new facility using the model. She was surprised that a man actually wanted to come to the museum. I guess in the south, museums are not considered a manly pursuit. What can I say, I’m a renaissance man. Anyway, the exhibit was incredible. I would never have dreamed you could make such a variety of art, from quilts to sculptures, with a needle and thread. Lynn was particularly excited as she is learning to knit, crochet, and quilt with hopes of combining them to create artwork.
The new museum facility will be incredibly beautiful when completed. It will be situated in a wooded ravine and the museum building itself will dam a small spring fed stream to create two pools, which the museum will surround. There will be several galleries as well as outdoor areas and event space on the grounds. It probably won’t be finished for a couple of years, but when it is, Lynn and I plan to go back see it. We asked the docent about the diner and she told us it had good hamburgers and recommended a different restaurant for us to try.
We walked back over to the diner, only to discover that it was still closed. However, the Sam Walton/WalMart museum was open so we stepped inside. The museum is located in the five and dime store Walton bought in 1950, out of which the WalMart empire was born I suppose. The local history on display was interesting, as was the display of strange returns, including a thermos returned to a WalMart store that was manufactured well before WalMart opened its doors. I’m pretty sure their return policy is no longer so liberal. Lynn labeled the rest of the museum propaganda and I’m pretty sure she was right. As we walked back to the car we had a good discussion about the pros—lots of jobs, inexpensive prices—and cons—labor issues, wage discrimination, and effects on local businesses—of WalMart.
Upon reaching the car we set out to find the restaurant the docent had told us about. We arrived a little after 2 to discover that the restaurant closed at 2:30 and charged $15 a head, so we decided to look elsewhere for a meal. We headed north out of Bentonville with Lynn determined to find me a local diner where I could get a burger and fries. We got off the highway in Neosho, MO thinking it was a likely spot, but didn’t find anything. We headed north again, this time on the back roads and found ourselves in Seneca, MO where we got a little turned around and took a brief detour into Oklahoma. After finding nothing open in that area we continued north until we reached Joplin where we drove all the way through town before finding Babe’s, a local diner advertising burgers, shakes, and suzy q fries. By this time we had actually reached Airport Drive, MO which boasted a population in the 300’s. Babe’s was all I could have wished for, a great cheeseburger—not the Bubba Cheese which was their signature sandwich— a mountain of suzy q’s and a hand mixed chocolate shake. Lynn even enjoyed her burger, which is saying something, and a pineapple shake.
Having satisfied our hunger, we headed north and made our way back to 71 highway to head home. The rest of the trip was uneventful, except for a couple of swerves as Lynn go tired, so we pulled off in Irwin, MO and parked by the Irwin Community Church, so she could take a nap. After 20 minutes or so, we headed north again, arriving home about 6:30, unloaded the car and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Now all that remains is to unpack and develop the pictures, and hope some of them turn out ok. If they do, who knows, maybe I’ll post some here and on facebook.