And we made it. Surprisingly all at the same time, too, since we all left ahead of when we planned (which — again — this is very unlike us) and I didn’t actually know how long my scenic drive would take. But let’s revisit how much better this was than motoring on I-35 and I-30 for 7 hours…
More or less Austin to Tyler to where Texas shares borders with both Oklahoma and Arkansas northwest of Texarkana. From there, a farm road up through the foothills of the Ouachitas to Mena (near-ish where we stayted on OAT East) and then a highway straight through the middle of them over to Mount Ida.
Our AirBnb, aptly named “Escape The City,” is outside Mount Ida, Arkansas. We haven’t yet made a plan for tomorrow, but it may be our only hike-friendly day here, given a potential snow storm. We’ll see. In the meantime, there’s beer and burgers, and George has borrowed a small telescope from a friend and 3D-printed an adapter to it for his camera.
And for kicks, and to continue the tradition, here’s how to get here without Google Maps:
