Home / Travel / The Magical Mystery Tour / MMT Day 1: Austin To Arkansas 29
Post date / 2002 / Week 33 / Saturday
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Shout out to Delia Location: This is Leslie...somewhere. Oh yes! In nowhere, TX, in front of a sign for Lupe's Mexican Restaurant, in honor of the Boone family, who frequents the place in Marshall and Longview.
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the descent Location: Maumelle Park, Arkansas After the man at our campsite scoffed at the difficulty of the climb, it didn't even occur to Leslie to change shoes. Our adventurers chose, however, to climb up the rock slide rather than the easy trail, and Leslie's creativity was tested when descending the slope in slippery sandals (Bryan bounded down like a billy goat).
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the pinnacle Location: Pinnacle Mountain State Park, AR Having scaled said mountain, a friendly native Arkansan snapped our picture. It was a beautiful view, and an excellent way to spend the last few hours before sunset.
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Arrival Location: Maumelle Park, Arkansas After a long and lovely drive through various east Texan towns (we opted for the backroads rather than I-30) and various Arkansan hamlets (ah, Arkedelphia, ye city on a hill), we arrived at our campsite not far out of Little Rock. Only slightly dismayed by the prevalence of the over-65 set, we pitched the tent and set off to the nearby Pinnacle State Park, to scale the largest mountain...within...half an hour of Little Rock...
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Location: Pinnacle State Park It's Leslie! On a mountain!
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The Road Location: East Texas road
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Bryan drives Location: Most of Saturday involved driving through little-traveled east Texas towns. Note the trees in the background. Must be nearing Arkansas.
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Location: Texarkana This is as close as we could get to a shot of the state line. Welcome to Arkansas (state #2).
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The Road Location: Texarkana Notice how the road map is reflected on the windshield. The idea was cooler than the picture turned out. Where's Clare when you need her?
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The Top Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK I swear on the sword of my father, Domingo Montoya: You will reach the top alive.
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El Fin Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK It's Leslie! Climbing down a mountain (pile of rocks)!
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Mr. Frog Man Location: We have many friends along for the ride. The most useful (Killer Jr just makes us sad; Pip usually sits in time-out) is Mr. Frog Man, who holds the computer open while it's playing music.
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Climbing Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK We have yet to run across any real climbing, but Bryan was lured to the face of the rock, where he made the first ascent of the climb we dubbed "Water Product."
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Creative Driving Location: the road This is, oh yes, Leslie steering with her foot. Yes, Dad, I'm a hazard to myself and others. Really, though, it was only for a minute.
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Ascent Location: Pinnacle State Park Bryan, when it was more like a pile of rocks (see? still lovely).
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Our Noble Steed Location: Maumelle Park, AK The faithful Jetta.
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Roughing it Location: Technology makes road trips much easier. In addition to hosting all our pictures and allowing us to check email every time we see a phone jack, Bryan's laptop provides us with endless hours of music, books on tape, and a program to teach Leslie how to type in Dvorak (constant self-improvement, yes). That wad of grass in the cup-holder is Killer Jr, the plant we're bringing to George. Sadly, it's now far closer to dead.
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Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK So we made it. And took each other's picture.
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Pip Location: This is Pip. He's a marble painted like a hippo. He's been riding around on the dashboard for several months now (since we adopted him at the Pecan St Festival), so it was only natural that he make the cross-country trip with us. We inflict all of our aggression and abusive tendencies on him since Buddy the kite died. He takes it like a champ.
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An Ant Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK Bryan's National Geographic shot of a bug.
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Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK You've seen this one. It's us! On a mountain!
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Location:![IMG 2156](users/overt/_data/i/users/overt/menalto_albums/travel/mmt/20020615/IMG_2156-sm.jpg "IMG 2156 (1642 visits) Pitchin'
Location: Maumelle Park, AK
Our campsite in the wilderness (if by "wilderness" yo...")
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Pitchin' Location: Maumelle Park, AK Our campsite in the wilderness (if by "wilderness" you mean "trailer park full of old people"). We apologize for being too lazy to rotate these pictures. There are just so many...
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Packing Location: Austin, TX Since Bryan takes pictures like a scientist, all stages of a trip merit careful documentation. While it may not be very interesting to you, our faithful viewers, bear with us for the packing pictures. (The highlight reel is over.)
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Ascent Location: Pinnacle State Park, AK A few shots of Leslie on the lovely trail up the mountain. This was before it became nothing but a pile of rocks (but even then, it was lovely).