When A Friend Is Passing Through Ft. Smith....

you definitely have time for lunch.  And as we said, one Thiot is better than no Thiot.  We missed his wife, Robynn, but we loved being with Dick and sharing a brief moment with him in Mulberry, Arkansas yesterday.

Dick was heading to Kansas City from their home in Plano, Texas, so he reached out to see if we could meet for lunch. He mentioned that he wanted to also stop in Mulberry, Arkansas, as his mother was born there in 1909 and lived there for a few years at least before moving to Texas.  The young missionaries had told us about a fun diner in Mulberry so we decided to eat lunch there--The Dairy Dip Diner.  It was a cute retro place with great food and huge onion rings.  We had a fun waitress who we enjoyed as well.  (Ignore our BYU shirts--that comes in a later post!)

The waitress had told Dick that there was an old hospital on Main street.  We assumed it would be a standard rebuilt hospital but decided to drive that way out of town.  Dick was following us in his car.

As soon as we passed the sign, I told Gary that we had to go back to take pictures with Dick.  This wasn't a rebuilt hospital.  This was a maternity hospital--opened in 1900 that is now on the American historic registry. Clearly, very likely the place his mother was born!!!

How sweet to share this brief moment of connection with Dick?  His mom, Jetta, died a long time ago but I know she was smiling today as her only child walked in Mulberry!

Our favorite "Silver Bridge" i near Mulberry so we headed up to share it with Dick as well.  There were signs saying that the bridge was closed which didn't make sense to us since we had just been there a month or so ago.....imagine our surprise to discover that serious work is being done on both sides of the rives, removing many trees, and that the bridge had been stripped of its green paint entirely.  And although the bridge is "closed", we saw several vehicles still crossing it.  It appears that they are preparing to replace the bridge.  We will keep you updated on the process.

So we said goodbye to Dick who was taking the more direct route to Fayetteville and points beyond while we headed through the hills on dirt roads and paved ones until catching I-49 around Mountainberg.

This cool hat "sits" perched on the fence at the gate into a ranch.  It was perfect.  I would want one if I ever have a ranch.

Still beautiful green tree tunnels--a few more weeks until season changing colors should start according to the Fall Colors Watch on google.

The things you see in the front yards in the country.....

this deer is getting ready to be carted somewhere but we aren't sure where yet!

Once on the freeway and getting closer to Fayetteville, you knew it was GAME DAY for the Razorbacks!!! Flags flying--good thing we had a blue car between us and the one with the flags!

Next post--BYU vs Arkansas Football!!!