It all started over dinner in our first apartment. John was cooking, and we were talking about the future, as young people in love are prone to doing. We were both bemoaning the fact that Stars Hollow, Connecticut, the fictional town from the television show Gilmore Girls, was indeed fictional. Wasn’t there any place in America that was similar? That’s where we wanted to move, to raise our kids.
A few vague Google searches later, we found a website that allowed us to take an in-depth questionnaire about what we wanted from life, and in return gave us a list of towns we might enjoy living in. I’m not sure where they got their data, but it seemed pretty thorough, so we decided to give it a shot.
Upon completion of this quiz, we discovered that we were apparently meant to live somewhere in Arkansas. Our top ten results were all in this state that neither of us had ever been to, nor, frankly, knew much about.
Shortly after, John had to leave town for about three months for his work. It meant three months of not seeing each other much, and neither of us was thrilled about it. So, we began to plan a trip. We planned a road trip, through Arkansas, that would allow us to check out a couple of the towns on our list. We decided to keep it low budget, being of limited means, and opted to camp at state parks and public campgrounds, only staying at one bed and breakfast along the way.
We departed at the beginning of August. We had to go north before we went south, as my cousin was getting married in Wooster, Ohio, about a three hour drive from where we lived. We had fun at the wedding, danced and drank – and the next day started our adventure.
From Wooster, it was about a six hour drive to our first stop: Lincoln City, Indiana. We stayed at Lincoln State Park. We arrived in the late afternoon, and set up our campsite before cooking dinner over the fire. It had rained earlier that day, so the skies were a little gray, but thankfully our first night in the tent was warm and dry.
The next morning, we woke early to eat breakfast and break down our campsite. There was a shower house just a quick walk away, so we got ourselves washed up.
For the next seven hours, we drove, through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and finally, we arrived in Arkansas, at Bull Shoals-White River State Park. From the moment we arrived, we were struck by the beauty we had never known was so close to us. The beauty of the Ozarks, the swells of green trees that changed to open fields – Arkansas truly felt like home.
Everything we experienced while in Arkansas was magical – and who would have thought it? When we told our friends and family about our adventure, the response was always, “Why Arkansas?” And before going there, we didn’t really have an answer. Now, if asked, I tell them it’s because of the entire town of Eureka Springs being on the national historic register, and having trolleys instead of buses. I tell them it’s because of Thorncrown Chapel, just outside of Eureka Springs, a tiny glass chapel nestled in amongst mountain and trees, made only of windows so you can soak the beauty in.
Why Arkansas? Because Lake Leatherwood City Park, a charming and quaint campground that we almost couldn’t find; because of the Wildflower Bed and Breakfast in Mountain View, a beautiful inn with a huge porch and rocking chairs located just a short walk from the town square, where local musicians converge each evening to play some good ol’ bluegrass. It’s because of the Ozark Folk Center, full of wonderful people who are working hard to conserve and remember the arts of days gone by. It’s because even driving down backroads in the middle of nowhere, each time we rounded a curve, we gasped because it got more beautiful than we had thought possible.
The drive back was bittersweet. We stayed in a hotel in Illinois, visited family there, visited friends in Louisville. We were happy to be home, in our little apartment, but Ohio seemed less like home, and more like a stepping stone. We had officially decided, without having to speak, that our hearts were in the Ozarks, and that’s where we wanted to be as well.
Hopefully someday, we will make our way back there. Or maybe in our travels, we’ll find our home in a different place, and look fondly back at our adventure in Arkansas as a trip that crystallized our priorities, and the direction that our life together will take.
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