Well, it’s been a while since we have traveled for an extended period. This trip is a bit more “spur of the moment” for us, we’re working hard to not overplan everything and wing it a little more. Of course this is double-edged, we’ve always found planning allows us to enjoy each area more and find the nifty stuff. One of my favorite quotes:
Plans are useless, but the act of planning is indispensable.
General Eisenhower
In other words, dear reader, you won’t ever get it right and Life will alter your course, but the fact that you tried to think it through will give you a rational foundation to work with and ease the worry of change.
Where was I? Oh yeah, we’re heading out West. We had planned on taking the trusty Prius, but there are so many dirt tracks out there! We briefly considered the 2005 Jeep Wrangler but as much as I love that thing it would be a brutal trip! So, in the spirit of non-planning, I asked Trey on Tuesday if he could put me in a new Ranger by Saturday. And he did! So early on November 1st, we headed toward Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The 8-hour drive to Hot Springs was pretty uneventful and the truck rode quite comfortably.
| Road Trip Note: All of the vehicles we’ve ever owned have been pretty basic, our ‘options’ list has consisted of mainly cruise control and power windows (the Jeep has neither). So the new Ranger will take some getting used to. The number of standard safety features is pretty amazing, and the 8-inch touch screen with CarPlay will be interesting to explore (We hope! Technology is great when it works…). I enabled the Ford lane-keeping system on the way to Arkansas. The truck will track the lanes and with the electric steering gear gently nudge you back toward the center of your lane if you stray too far. I found this feature to be a bit annoying on the interstate when passing and changing lanes. This was until I realized that if I bump the turn signal it disables the nudge until you move into the new lane, pretty nifty! So now the truck is training me to be a good citizen and to always use my turn signals! |
Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs Arkansas
You can read about the fascinating history of Hot Springs on the National Park Service site, https://www.nps.gov/hosp/index.htm. The Springs were used by the Native Americans until they were displaced, and then there was a bit of a free-for-all as the lands were bought and the Springs capped for money-making because of reported health benefits. Since the poor had no access, they just moved up the hill and dug their own hot spring pools out of the hillside! Finally, the government stepped in and Captain Stevens, over the course of several years, built much of what we see today.
Crater of Diamonds State Park
From Hot Springs, it was a pretty short and scenic drive over to Crater of Diamonds. What is Crater of Diamonds you say? As it turns out, many moons ago continents collided, fissures were created, and magma carrying diamonds and other gemstones erupted through what geologists call the Prairie Creek Volcano. After the explosion formed the crater, all of the ash and rock fell back in, forming a ‘dirty martini’ with an 80-acre rim. Within this giant martini glass are just random bits and pieces that, through the erosion of eons, are just now being exposed. The largest so far is the ‘Uncle Sam’, a 40 carat diamond found in 1924. A 16-carat was found in 1975 and a 9 carat found just this year! And it is rumored that a 13 carat was found the day we were there. The Strawn Wagner diamond was found in 1990 and cut to just over a carat. It’s considered one-in-a-billion and is rated as ‘perfect.’
So after the man at Murfreesboro Hardware gave us an excellent (and unsolicited) tutorial on the process, we rented our buckets and strainers and dug in!
After several hours of digging and sifting, we ended up with about 3/4 gallon of sifted material. Our man at the hardware store said most diamonds were found after people returned home and spread them out. So we’ll make this a winter project, haha. We got a tad sunburned, I’m thinking it’s from the reflection from all those diamonds, but I could be wrong. Maybe we’ll find a big one…
If I had it to do over again, I’d go with larger strainers I think. I mean, I just want to find the big ones, right?
| Roadtrip Note: Coming out of Hot Springs there was a big wreck and suddenly all the traffic had stopped dead! I’ve been getting used to the extended foot travel on the Ranger brakes. But supposedly there is a safety feature that senses obstacles ahead and pre-charges the brakes. Apparently this happened, and along with the anti-lock brakes chirping rubber on the pavement we came to a very abrupt stop. Whew! |