Arkansas, Fayetteville: Birthday Cookies and Mexican Food

Flying to Arkansas from Australia was a last-minute thing that Kyle decided to do. His grandfather (Bob) passed away a few weeks ago, and his mum (Judy) was having a hard time taking care of his grandmother (aka MeeMaw, or Jenny), who has Alzheimer's to the stage where she cannot take care of herself. Judy had to take time off work until January to provide 24-hour care to Jenny, until she could decide upon a good nursing home where she could be placed. A couple of week's after Bob's passing, Kyle received an email from his stepdad (Marc), who was planning a surprise 60th birthday party for Judy on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and was wondering if he had any names to add to the invite list. When the email was received, Kyle decided that his name should be added to the list, and that a trip back home would be good for him to be able to pass some hugs around, so he booked a flight. A couple of days later, another tragedy occurred...

This time, the tragedy was on the other side of Kyle's family. His dad (Leon) and stepmum (Linda) received a call letting them know that their house was engulfed in flames, and they ended up losing a lot of things in the house by the time the fire was extinguished. Kyle received a text from his sister (Kelli) with the news and Kyle called Leon to let him know that he would be going to Fort Smith for Thanksgiving. They spoke on the night of the tragedy, and Kyle knew his dad was happy to not only hear from him, but also be coming home a week later to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone. To get to Arkansas, Kyle had to wait until he and Dan arrived in Australia, since we had been travelling around New Zealand in a campervan and it wouldn't have been easy to change travel plans there.

Kelli drove Kyle back to their house where he was greeted warmly by Clay and Samantha

After discussing several options with Dan, Kyle booked a flight from Brisbane International Airport (Australia) to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (United States). The flight consisted of layovers in Los Angeles and Dallas, and the total travel time was just over 26 hours, but Kyle felt it was worth it, to be able to pop back home for a few days and see his family. Kelli knew that he was coming; Kyle had arranged his flight so that he could arrive at an airport close to her house, and then planned on riding with Kelli, her husband (Clay) and daughter (Samantha) around Arkansas to various familial homes. Tired and dazed, Kyle saw Kelli waiting outside the security section of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and was happy to be with family again when he finally arrived.

Everyone knew about the travel plans except Judy. Kyle and Kelli decided to keep his coming to Arkansas a surprise from her, so she would receive a double whammy with his guest appearance on one day, and then a surprise birthday party the next. Kelli decided to keep her family's appearance in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Judy and Marc lived, a secret, too. The secrets worked out brilliantly and Judy was very, very happy to see everyone - you can read about that more in the upcoming Hot Springs travel journal entry.

Kelli drove Kyle back to their house where he was greeted warmly by Clay and Samantha. It was really good to see them all, and they took Kyle out for Mexican food for his birthday, which had passed a couple of days earlier. Kelli had also baked a lot of cookies for him to take back and enjoy with Dan as we travelled up the eastern coast of Australia once Kyle returned to the country after his unplanned and newly interjected US trip. Dinner that evening was at Acambaro's, a favourite of Kyle's, and was as good as it always was during previous visits.

After dinner, everyone went back to Kelli's house and Kyle took Samantha to see a movie, one of their favourite pastimes together. They saw "Enchanted", the new Disney film, and both liked it very much. It was late when they got home and everyone went to bed for the night. The next morning, Kelli was already up when Kyle woke up; she was busy finishing her preparations on the dishes she cooked for Thanksgiving lunch. Traditionally, Leon and Linda had as many members of the family as possible over at their house for Thanksgiving lunch, but this year it wasn't possible because of the fire. Instead, Kyle's stepsister (Danielle) arranged for the family to have lunch at a restaurant where she worked part-time, when she wasn't busy teaching first grade at an elementary school in Fort Smith.

After Kelli had gotten everything ready, and Kyle, Clay and Samantha were packed up and ready to leave, Fort Smith was on the horizon. The drive there was a short 45 minutes and we arrived in time to see Kyle's grandmother (Ruth) at her house. Kelli and Clay had arranged to leave their two beagles (Sassy and Leila) in Ruth's backyard since they weren't allowed in the restaurant whilst everyone was eating. Once they were deposited there, we chatted for a little while and headed to the restaurant. Click to the next travel journal entry to find out more about the special and memorable 2007 Thanksgiving dinner in Fort Smith, Arkansas.