A New Way To Clarksville

As we had a bit of extra time on Thursday, Gary decided to take a new route to Clarksville.  Usually we have been taking the State road 22 as I have mentioned before.  And that is how we started off which worked for me since I wanted to take a nap on the way.  Then, Gary makes an unexpected turn--first into a parking lot because he had missed his desired turn on to Kalamazoo Street--then he circled back, turned north on Kalamazoo.  It was a pretty road going by pretty, big houses, farms, and fields.  Gary said he had mapped it out and would still get us to Clarksville in plenty of time.....

..that was before we hit the dirt road.  And then we started a fun adventure of seeing places we had never traveled by before.  It was a delightful trip from beginning to end, but I didn't get my nap in because it had "not to be missed" views---

hitting the dirt road--again.  It has happened even WHILE
following our car's mapping.  Gary promised it wasn't shown
when he planned the route earlier in the day.

Field corn lined one or both sides of the road much of the time.

There was another crop which looked like it was planned in fields that may have had corn last year.  We didn't figure out what crop it is...maybe peanuts???

I loved this large wooden water tower, but not sure the purpose of the red building in front

Close-up of the other crop...

It was a humid and very hot day and there were areas that even the sky looked dull and heavy.  Here is a row of the rows of baled hay.....

At one point very near the Arkansas River, the dirt road headed up on the top of a berm.  While driving their, this yellow grasshopper jumped on for a ride.  There were hundreds of bright yellow grasshoppers jumping from both sides of the road as we drove along this road--which apparently didn't have much traffic.

A view of the river from on top of the berm....

The growth in the middle of the road brushed the bottom of our car on most of this part of the trip.

Our grasshopper was still with us about 5 minutes later, but then he got brushed off by the grasses on the side of the road.  Bugs and birds of all kinds were flying around before us and behind us as we brushed the bushes and grasses.

This is a small branch of the Arkansas and this is a gate that they can open and close to control water.  This part of the road is called Pump House road for that reason.  However, I am not sure if this gate is still in use or not.

The Pump House.....

This was the highlight of the trip--especially for Gary who loved covered roadways and this one was gorgeous!  Pictures (with my phone camera) don't do it justice with the balance of the light and the dark, the greens, yellows, and blues, and the calmness of the place.

I hoped you enjoyed your trip through our little tree tunnel.

I forgot to take a picture when we arrived in Clarksville when our car was really covered in dust from our trip, but you know it is bad when you have to use the window shield wipers to see out the back.  We have dust in all of our door frames and inside the car as well.

 It was a wonderful drive.