Hills to prairie and back to the Great River.

We have officially left the Ozarks of north western Arkansas to head through a prairie like area reminiscent of Iowa and our own prairies. Our weather app says we were in Skunk Hollow overnight. We thought we were in a Walmart in Conway. Road signs for places like Pickle Gap, Skunk Hollow and Toad Suck make you question just where you are.
We were having a lazy morning not planning on making a lot of miles. Bob was checking the oil, I was closing slides and bringing out the iPads and cords....normal leaving routine when I asked Bob if the oil was OK as Bertha was doing a bit of sputtering when first started. He said she was good but we have a different problem...what?  Somehow the doors locked and our other set was already in the truck, oops:(....into Walmart to use their phone as everything was already in the truck ready to leave. It took about 1/2 hour for the locksmith to get here.....a young fellow who had also attended the Camden Arkansas fire academy. He was wearing an academy baseball cap. He attended 5 years ago and also said there were Canadians in his class. The way we are going we will meet someone soon who was in the same class as Josh:)
$45 later we are on the road. Flat straight roads! So strange after our 2 1/2 weeks in the hills. Even saw logging trucks but with skinny logs, nothing like the west coast. I don't know what kind trees they log but they sure don't cut down the huge majestic maples and oaks.
There are so many churches with so many different faiths. Some are small little buildings but others are huge church buildings with several other buildings attached...schools, gathering places? I wonder how they are supported, government subsidies? or all from their congregations.
Same with banks, so many stand alone names. Like I said previously, banks, churches, flea markets and Dollaramas.
Noticing the difference in temperature, it's getting warmer and also more humid as we get closer to the "Great River" again. They call it the delta area even though we are still a long way from the gulf. Both sides of the River claim to be the home of the Delta Blues.....Helena-West
Helena, Arkansas and Clarksdale, Mississippi, also known as the Crossroads of the blues.
We are staying in Helena tonight and hope to explore this area on the River with a history of slave traffic, the underground railway, civil war battles and River traffic.
What we do over the next couple of days is weather dependent as Thursday is predicted to have rain and thunderstorms. We have to be aware and have a place to wait out the weather if it is severe.
We have now traveled over 6000 miles since leaving home in mid August. A lot of travel and so
many new and different places that we have seen. But everywhere it's really just people living their lives, some better off than others, some more beautiful than others but around every corner something different appears.
I am excited every morning to be on the road, ready for what is ahead of us.