Texarkana is in two states and the post office building is right on the line between the states. Mrs Ram called a friend so she could say, “I’m calling from Texas, now I’m in Arkansas, now I’m in Texas…”
I guess we looked liked tourist when we walked in because the postal worker, Lashanda, immediately asked where were visiting from. She filled us in on the details of the building.
Ther were two museums we were interested in, one on trains , another on autos. Both are closed during the week. We did stop at the art gallery which is housed in the old court house.
Despite having some financial support from Ross Perot and his family, much of the center is neglected and there were a number of empty store fronts.
Pine Bluff was another town we passed through with a neglected downtown.
Turns out the rice and duck capital is in Arkansas, at least according to the signs we saw entering Stuttgart. You could smell the rice in the fields as we passed through. Riceland might be a better name.
High point of our day in Arkansas was El Dorado (pronounced el- door-ray-doe.) The revitalized downtown had shops and restaurants. Money from Murphy Oil funded their new MAD area (Murphy Art District)
Several of their monuments were combined with new plaques describing the town’s wildcat history.
We bid Arkansas adieu, passing many trees, grass and rice and lots of water as we travel it’s flat roads heading to Tennessee.