Day Twenty
Day Twenty

Devil's Den, AR to Petit Jean, AR
July 2nd, 2004

High Point of the Day....
Low Point of the Day......
Brian - Waking up in a holler
Theresa - Petit Jean State Park
Brian - Mostly interstate driving
Theresa - None at all
Miles Traveled Today
Total Miles Traveled
Miles Theresa Drove
Weather
199
5966
0 (1451 Total)
Amazingly rainy, rainy, overcast, in the high 70s
Price of Gas 
(average per gallon)
Wildlife
Night's Lodging
Where this Page was Uploaded
1.80
Cows, racoon, vultures, fireflies
Petite Jean State Park
Little Rock, AR

Daily Didactic
We began, after another night of thunder and lightning, in the extraordiarily wet Devil's Den State Park in Northwest Arkansas. If it really rained two inches the night before last, it rained another two last night. The nice thing for us is that it has been pouring at night and clearing up in the day. For the most part that was the case again today. It rained heavy as we left Devil's Den, but was simply overcast by the time we reached to very pleasant Petit Jean State Park a little Northwest of Little Rock. We deployed camp and then were able to sit under the Quick Shade® as an early afternoon shower passed over. From an Alaskan perspective, it's pretty cool in that it keeps the heat and humidity down and the temperature is very reasonable to be out in.

We headed down to Morrilton to do a little "to do list" shopping and returned to our campsite for the rest of the day, Brian catching up on a few newspapers and Theresa finishing her book. Theresa cooked some wonderful "hot dog in crescent roll" concoction over the campfire and we generally enjoyed a short day of driving and a nice afternoon and evening around the campsite.

So, a couple of thoughts. First, if you were from the north and thought "Petit Jean" might be pronounced "petite John", with a subtle French accent, Theresa says technically you'd be right. However, pronouncing it like that brought the conversation with the Park Ranger in Devil's Den to a standstill. Brian began to repeat the same pronunciation slower, which is always a good tactic, when the ranger came back to life and said, "Oh, you mean Petty Jeen!" This is, of course, exactly what Brian meant.

Secondly, if we've learned anything from spending a few summers on the road, it is to find yourself somewhere nice to park on the fourth of July weekend and hunker down. We've realized too late a few times and fought to find somewhere to sleep. Not this time, no sir. We ponied up three nights worth of rent and fully deployed Camp Roadtrip. Really, here's your chance to visit.


Daily Pictures (Slide Show)

An amazingly wet morning in Devil's Den Outside of Winslow
I-40 toward Russellville The bridge over Lake Dardenelle
Looking up the Arkansas River As the boomers age, apparently we'll now be seeing AARP Disco...
Arkansas 154 to Petit Jean State Park Petit Jean more or less welcomes us
Arkansas countryside from Petit Jean's grave site The Arkansas River from Petit Jean's grave site
Our intrepid travelers Theresa does a little housekeeping
Brian does a little sitting A Brian's eye view
Petit Jean State Park, where they ask whether you'd like hot dogs or bacon with your site. Seriously.



Road Trip YesterdayRoad Trip HomeRoad Trip Tomorrow