My wife Ellie, our friend Joyce and I went to the Buffalo National River area of Arkansas in the spring of 2005. The first morning there Ellie fell down the steps fracturing several ribs, Joyce and I rolled a canoe twice in the river in water that was 48 degrees Fahrenheit and each acquired several ticks from lying on the ground photographing wildflowers. But believe it or not we had a great time.

This part of Arkansas has a lot of gravel roads. They are the best gravel roads I have ever traveled. They are clean, pretty smooth and there are very few potholes. We could do with some of these in Indianapolis.