Mt. Pleasant, Texas

Good morning, my friends. Take a good long look around because this will be our last morning to wake up in Texas. We'll be crossing the state line into Arkansas today. And I know y'all are as excited as I am to be adding a new state to the side of the RV. I'll warn you before I do it, so you'll have time to buckle your seatbelt. You'll be completely safe, my friends. 

Sadie had some time for one last morning sunbath before we left Grapevine yesterday morning.

The traffic heading out of Dallas was horrendous. It wasn't even rush hour, but we were significantly delayed as four lanes merged down to two crossing over Lake Ray Hubbard in Garland, Texas.

I took a screen shot of this section of the map. You can see the lake there in the middle. To cross the lake by car, one must cross a series of two bridges on I-30. You can see there's a small peninsula that extends into the lake. There is construction going on there just before reaching the second bridge. It was good to be able to get rolling along once we cleared the traffic jam.

After crossing, the first town we came to was Rockwall.

It's been my habit to look up small towns as we pass through. This used to be done with AAA guide books. It was the biggest reason we stuck with AAA for so many years. Now, with cell coverage extending through most of the country, coast to coast, I can inquire of The Google when we pass through these small towns. As it turns out Rockwall was the birth place of Travis Tedford. If you're old enough, you might remember him as "Spanky" of Spanky and our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals. I'm barely old enough to remember Spanky.

(Image credit: By Gordon Douglas - Our Gang Follies of 1938 at archive.org, Public Domain, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4446664)

And, as you might guess, Rockwall is the county seat of Rockwall County. It has a courthouse! I barely caught it out the back window as we drove by. Sorry about the pole.

There wasn't a whole lot to say about yesterday's drive. I saw a few barns, but none I could photograph. And, Texas, you've done a good job with your roadside rest areas. They are among the most beautiful in the country. This one happened to have lots of flowers. So let's go take a look. Tread carefully, my friends.

Mike was all finished with his "business" there, and I was still taking pictures. These were large like sunflowers, but growing close to the ground like a ground cover.

And there were some beautiful and fragrant roses.

I don't know what this is, but it looks as if it hasn't bloomed yet.

Pretty yellow lilies.

If I'm remembering the names of the Texas wildflowers, I recall this one being Blue-eyed Grass.

So that was a nice little interlude. But just to give you a final attaboy, Texas, the restrooms have all been clean and well-supplied. Good job on those rest areas. I hope Arkansas does as well.

So, on we went until we reached our final destination of Mt. Pleasant. And what did I learn about Mt. Pleasant? Well, it happens to be the birthplace of Jerry Scoggins. If you, like me, have no idea who Jerry Scoggins is, he was an American country/western singer, guitarist, and band leader. He performed on radio, in movies, and on television from the 1930s thru the 1980s. He was noted for his work with Gene Autry and Bing Crosby and especially for singing "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme song to the 1960s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. And if you're not old enough to remember The Beverly Hillbillies, then first of all...shut up. And secondly, I present you with your ear worm for the day. This is the song as it played originally as the show's theme. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

And if you want to hear the man singing it along with his band, you can see that right here.

And here's something else. Just as I sat down here to write, a cardinal landed on the picnic table outside. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, but here's one I found in the public domain. I offer this up to anyone who's never seen a cardinal. I expect we'll see more as we travel east from here.

(Image credit: "Where Have All The Cardinals Gone?" 

by DaPuglet is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)

So we'll be on our way in an hour or two. When we reach our final destination tonight, we'll be in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We'll have two nights there, and we'll spend one day visiting Hot Springs National Park. I visited Hot Springs when I was a very little girl, and I have almost no memories of it. I do have one distinct memory that involves my brother. To be clear, I'm not exactly sure where my flash of memory took place, but I'm pretty sure it was at Hot Springs NP. When I see it, I'll know.

Our drive today will be about three hours, so fill up your water bottles, grab a little snack, and we'll be on our way soon.