Day 1 - A Long Winding Road

Day 1 – A Long, Winding Road to Arkansas

The annual Fincher Family vacation started today, July 1. With our ultimate destination Crown Point Resort (http://www.crownpoint-resort.com) in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, we planned to leave by 9:00 for what was supposed to be a 6.5 hour trip (according to Google). Unfortunately, we didn’t leave Moberly until 9:45. Fortunately, the trip was only 5.5 hours, and we arrived in plenty of time (3:45 pm, with three stops along the way).

We’re vacationing with the Worstell family this year and we were interested to see how the trip would go with seven children and four adults. But we didn’t have any problems. The Worstell van was playing Sponge Bob videos, while the Fincher van passengers watched two Stitch movies (Leroy & Stitch, and Stitch! the Movie). Most of the journey was pretty comfortable, as we followed Highway 63 all the way to West Plains, MO. Then we turned on Missouri 17 and headed for the Arkansas Border, about 18 miles away. That leg of the journey was curvier than we had seen thus far, but it was about to get worse. At the Arkansas state line, the road becomes Arkansas 395. I’m not sure whether the road was curved more like the 3, 9, or 5, but it was fairly nauseating. Twelve miles away, we made it to Salem, AR and stopped to catch our breath and settle our stomachs. The rest of the way was pretty smooth!

Twelve miles away from Salem, we pulled into Horseshoe Bend, and were somewhat underwhelmed. The town has a little bit of everything, with the emphasis on a little. There are a few churches, a couple of small parks, one grocery store, a little strip mall, three restaurants, and a very tiny airport. The largest signs in town point to the Crown Point Resort, which must be a large tourist draw in this area. They are completely booked for the week, and there are lots of different rooms, cabins, and condominiums here.

It took a little while to get checked in, but the kids enjoyed checking out the pool and the playground. Looks like a lot to do, which we’ll slowly discover this week.

The rooms are spacious, but nothing special. It reminds me a lot of living in the Urbandale Apartment for 6 weeks, only we have an extra bathroom here. And we’re on the third floor. Oh yeah, and the apartment is full of doors! I counted thirteen different doors in a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath apartment. The kids love running around in circles and exploring. The Worstells have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath unit right below us, and it is also very roomy.

One of the reasons we picked this place to vacation is that the pace is just a little slower down here. Dr. Oakes’ family has come here for several years and they told us it is a great place to relax. We got a taste of the slower pace in the restaurant and grocery store, neither of which were in much of a hurry to serve us. Back to the resort for an after dinner swim, some of the kids checked out the beach on site, while a few went to the outdoor pool. It was just quiet and calm. We had the whole beach to ourselves. The water was clear and warm, with pretty white sand.

Customer service here leaves a bit to be desired, but I’ll talk about that more later. Or you can read what Mike has to say about it (candleonchina.blogspot.com).

After getting cleaned up and dressed, we were invited by Dezi for chocolate pudding before bed. The Worstell family eats their chocolate pudding hot with whipped cream on top. What a treat! Kind of like a blend of hot chocolate and chocolate pie.

Well, I’m off to the recreation center to post this blog. That’s the only place where we can get Internet here. In fact, that feels like my only connection to the outside world: no cell phone reception, no Internet. Maybe that’s the point . . . getting away from the pressure of always feeling connected and on call. It almost feels like a different world here. Hopefully the locals won’t appear too Alien. However, I’m not sure. We are, after all in “Izard” county. No joke. Do you know what an Izard is? I sure don’t. The Oxford English Dictionary says that it is a chamois, an agile goat-antelope with short-hooked horns that is found in the mountains between Spain and France. That’s with one z. Izzard (with two z’s) is a dialectical name for the letter Z. Or maybe they meant to call it gizzard but they left off the g. We are in Arkansas, after all. So this county is either named for agile goats, the letter z, or the edible innards of a bird. Which option do you think makes more sense? I didn’t know either, but when I showed up to blog, I looked it up and found the answer. It's named for Ralph Izard or his son George. Why are they named Izard? Seeing that Ralph Izard was a somewhat famous politician from France, I'll bet that his family once raised, killed, or discovered the agile goat-antelopes. And most people here in the Ozarks probably have no clue about that.

Tomorrow morning we’re up bright and early to drive to church. Hope you will be too!