October 27 - 30, 2024 - Lafe and Faith's Odyssey

A Mound and an Arch

The following morning, we bid Mike and Susan a fond farewell and hit the road east and south towards Poverty Point National Monument in northeastern Louisiana. Neither of us had a clue what was there, but we’re always down to bag another National Park or Monument. The drive was nice: the landscape was pretty and the trees beautiful. Faith drove while I clocked a couple hours of work before we switched off so she could get a break. We made our way across northern Louisiana and found it to be surprisingly rural and void of large towns, save for Shreveport. We got to Poverty Point in the early afternoon and started poking around the grounds. Similar to many other monuments, Poverty Point has a fee, so I whipped out my National Parks pass and was promptly dismissed by the lady at the desk. “We take senior and military parks passes but not that one.” That is, every park pass except the one that most people can buy. A few dollars wasn’t going to break the bank, so we begrudgingly paid and spent some time poking around the visitor center before deciding to take a walk through the rest of the monument. The area protects some mounds and other dirt structures built by peoples many years ago, most of which are now too subtle to distinguish from the ground. As we began our walk, we ran into two employees who offered to teach us how to use an atl-atl, the hunting weapon of choice for many native tribes. We both got a few throws of the 6-foot long darts in before another group arrived. We made it most of the way around the area before we called it quits and bee-lined for the van: it was a rather hot and humid day, and we didn’t really want to get all sweaty. We set the A/C to max and hit the road again. We were thinking of spending the next day exploring Memphis, so we crossed the Mississippi into Mississippi and followed it north through the Delta region of the state. The area is historically quite poor, and that hasn’t changed a bit. We found ourselves on the most uncomfortable drive we have been on through town after town of roadside garbage, broken windows, barred doors, burnt-out buildings, and street walkers. We made exactly one stop to fill up on gas, and I was as tense as I’ve ever been. We neared Memphis as the sun set, and our surroundings didn’t improve in quality. So, we elected to keep driving and crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas. As we meandered our way northwards, we kept an eye out for places to sleep. Low and behold, a sign appeared that I never expected to see: “Lafe 4”. There is exactly one place in the US named “Lafe”, and it just so happens to be in Arkansas. We entered town a few minutes later and drove around it a bit before stopping in their park for the night to get some sleep. I’ve never been somewhere that my name is plastered all over, and it proved to be quite a strange experience. We slept peacefully in the park without disruption.

The next morning, we paused so I could get a picture with the sign at the park before continuing on a few miles up the road to a rest area where we could freshen up. Our next scheduled activity was in St.Louis the next day, so we took a minute to choose a route and selected Poplar Bluff, MO as the day’s activity. We rolled into town a little while later, and Faith dropped me off at a coffee shop before spending the rest of the morning poking around the various thrift and consignment stores in town. Unfortunately, this coffee shop closed at 2PM, so Faith returned to pick me up, and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring town together. As evening approached, we rolled north into St. Francois State Park to make some dinner and find a spot to sleep. Our propane tanks for our stove were nearing empty, so it was going to be close. Indeed it was, as the remainders of both tanks were expended to get our food cooked just right. With our appetites satiated, we found a lovely pull off to sleep at and passed out for our last night in the van.

The next morning, we got up early so we could meet up with Shane and Jessica, Faith’s uncle and aunt, at a breakfast place in St. Louis. We spent the morning chatting with them before heading downtown to see the Gateway Arch we had tickets to tour. We had some time to kill before our ride up, so we grabbed a couple postcards then hopped in line. Soon enough, we boarded a small elevator that slowly took us to the top of Arch, where we had a great view of the city and a lovely swaying motion from the day’s wind. Although a bit pricey, going up the Arch is a neat experience. We spent the next while in the surprisingly good museum before heading back to the van. Shane, Jessica, and their kids had work and school, so we hung out at a park for the next few hours to work and wait. Once they arrived, we spent the next few hours chatting while walking aimlessly around the park until the sun set and it was time to hit the road. Our next stop was my parents’ house in Cedar Rapids four hours away; we weren’t sure if we were going to make it that evening, but we wanted to get as far as we could. Faith drifted in and out of sleep as I drove us northwards, pushed by a strong tailwind for one of the first times during our entire trip. A few podcasts later, we rolled into the driveway at 1 AM on October 30th; we said hello to my parents then promptly fell asleep, now at the end of a summer of adventure.