Arkansas, Fort Smith: Chiggers Hanging Outside

Fort Smith was our third stop in Arkansas during the "US and A" portion of our 2007 journey. The Arkansas city was located on the state border with Oklahoma and was Kyle's hometown growing up. Many of Kyle's relatives still lived there, including his dad (Leon), stepmum (Linda), grandmother (Ruth), stepsister (Danielle), cousin (Rachael), uncle (Paul) and his uncle's new wife (Debbie). Kyle's brother, Craig, was also in town and was staying at the house when we went to visit.

The plan in Fort Smith was to spend the first couple of days with Leon and Linda, as well as the other family members, and then visit some other people in town on the third day, because Kyle's dad and stepmum had to work then. Fortunately, Leon and Linda both got off work on the third day and we ended up spending the day with them, visiting a couple of places outside Fort Smith, which you can read about further down in this journal entry.

Who would have thought that the largest and creepiest spider we have seen this year would be in Arkansas

The drive from Hot Springs to Fort Smith took us through some mountains between the small towns of Mt. Ida and Y City. However, the entire journey offered us beautiful scenery, with many green rolling hills and thick forests running along the sides of the road; there were also many farms with cows idly grazing in pastures and horses galloping across the land. We were not able to take a major highway to get to Fort Smith; instead we drove along small country roads. Even though it was slightly cloudy, there were points of the drive where the blue sky opened up and we could feel heat blazing through the windows, something we both really enjoyed.

We arrived in Fort Smith in the early afternoon and went to pick up Ruth before heading to the abode of Leon and Linda. She lived on the other side of town when we arrived, but Fort Smith was not a huge city, so it only took us around 15 minutes to get to her house. Ruth wanted to take her dog with us, so we put a leash on Bo and he happily hopped into the car with us. We drove Judy's (Kyle's mum) car to Fort Smith and we had recently cleaned it, washing the outside and vacuuming the inside. It was spotless until little Bo hopped in and his short hairs started flying around the inside of the car; he was still shedding his winter fur.

Our arrival at Leon's and Linda's house was warmly welcomed, or at least as good as it could have been since Leon and Linda were both finishing up some yard work they had been doing all morning. Kyle was given brief (sweaty) hugs and then his dad and stepmum went to clean up while we hung out with Ruth, enjoying the warm weather and nice setting outside the house.

While we were waiting outside, more of Kyle's family turned up. Kelli, his sister, and Clay, his brother-in-law, came walking up the long driveway outside the house with their daughter, Samantha, in tow. We were all very excited to see each other and hugs were granted freely whilst they made themselves comfortable in the chairs next to us. Samantha had just gotten braces a week before and we both thought she looked really cute with them. What 9 year old doesn't look cute with braces?

Once Leon and Linda were cleaned up, they started preparing food for a late lunch that we were scheduled to have. For lunch, Paul and Debbie showed up, and we all enjoyed visiting with them whilst eating BBQ chicken and ribs, BBQ corn on the cob and other vegetables. The food was really good, but the ribs reminded us a little of some of the food we saw in Asia, whereby the ligaments, cartilage and tendons (as well as other bits) were still attached to the meat. Needless to say, we couldn't have seconds because the meat looked too much like an animal and also like some of the slabs of meat we saw hanging off dirty tables in Asian markets earlier this year. There was plenty of other food to go around and we both had several helpings of the potato casserole and ranch-dipped bread that Linda made.

Before we ate, and before Paul and Debbie arrived, we decided to teach Clay, Kelli and Samantha the card game "poophead" (we decided not to use the real name for this journal entry, as it was a bit more vulgar). It was a big hit and even Linda and Leon joined us for a few games the next day. Kyle couldn't remember the last time his dad and stepmum played a game with the kids so the next day was a a fun and memorable one.

After dinner, it was still daylight outside and we all continued to play games of poophead while our food digested. When we grew tired of the card game, we moved inside to play "Cranium Hoopla", which was a board game that everyone enjoyed. Debbie joined us to play that game and we had a blast watching her try to act out the clue "rainforest" using only motions and sounds. Samantha still amazes both of us at her uncanny ability to play board games.

A ride in Leon's golf cart was mandatory for anyone that visited his house, so Dan was rushed on board with Ruth, Paul, Samantha and Bo so that Leon could drive them around Spring Mountain, the area in Fort Smith where he lived. There were many large, gorgeous houses in the neighbourhood, so the ride for Dan was quite nice. During the trip, they passed several million dollar homes with large ponds and many beautiful trees adorning the lawns. Leon drove first and Samantha was nagging him the entire time to let her drive. He finally gave in and she was the chauffeur for the rest of the evening. There was no chance for Dan to drive with her taking over the wheel - maybe next time!

When the golf cart rides were finished, the sun had set and Grandma had grown tired, so Paul volunteered to take her and Bo home. When Grandma had left, we had some beers whilst listening to music and shooting baskets on Leon's mini basketball game that was set up in the game room building next to the house. Linda and Craig played with us and we shot many hoops that evening. Whilst playing, Leon challenged us to name the artist for the songs that were played on the radio; that was fun but neither of us did well as we apparently needed to brush up on 80's pop music.

Once everyone tired of the song artist guessing game and basketball, the youngest people at the house (Kyle, Dan, Kelli and Clay) went to a local gas station to buy some candy (that's the same as sweets for the British people reading this). Samantha stayed behind, knowing that we would bring something good back for her to enjoy. When we returned to the house, Craig had left and it was getting late, so everyone decided to call it a night and get some much needed rest after a fun-filled day.

The next morning, Linda served everyone breakfast that consisted of muffins and cantaloupe and, of course, coffee. Everyone chatted and caught up during the morning and we showed them some of our photos and videos from our trip to Asia during the first half of this year. Danielle showed up around mid-morning and it was good to see her, since she was not able to come over the previous day.

A late lunch was in store for us, so we passed the time by playing "poophead". We normally played the game with four or less people, but with Leon and Linda playing, we had to use two decks of cards to accommodate everyone. Playing that way was really enjoyable because the games lasted longer and everyone had a good chance of winning. Even though Leon and Linda had deep reservations about playing the game, we both know that they really enjoyed it and that they will be more than willing to play it again sometime.

Lunch on our second day in Fort Smith was really nice. Leon barbecued some beef brisket that was superbly tender with lots of flavour. To accompany the meat, Linda prepared baked asparagus and Kelli made a very yummy salad with lots of veggies and walnuts, as well as with a homemade ranch dressing. Add in the green beans, black eyed peas (NOT the pop group), fried potatoes and croissants, and everyone stuffed themselves full of great food, once again.

"Poophead" was played at the tables outside when everyone finished their lunch. Leon and Linda joined in again and we taught Danielle how to play. During the third game, Leon shouted for everyone to look down on the ground. We were sitting on raised chairs and no one's feet touched the ground, as they were resting on the seats' lower bars. When we looked down on the ground, we spotted a huge tarantula crawling around! Tarantulas had been seen on his property on a few occasions, but this was the first time one had been spotted so close to his house.

There was a hole next to the sidewalk (that's the same as a path for the British people reading this) that served as a home for the tarantula. We assumed that the large, grotesque spider crawled out of its home while we were playing cards and made its way to the area where we were sitting. Leon captured the tarantula and put it inside a large tin bucket so we could all look more closely at the arachnid. Kyle threw a playing card inside the bucket so we could compare the size of it with the tarantula and you can see from our photos for this journal entry that the creature was pretty large. Who would have thought that the largest and creepiest spider we have seen this year would be in Kyle's hometown in Arkansas and not in Asia?

In addition to spiders, we saw a lot of wildlife outside Leon's and Linda's house and in the neighbourhood where they lived. Whilst driving in and out of Spring Mountain, we saw a couple of deer, a skunk (luckily, it didn't spray our car!), a possum, a couple of rabbits and many squirrels and birds. When we were gone one evening to see a movie, Leon fed a raccoon and captured it on video, so Dan would be able to see the little creature up close, even though it was on a TV screen. The animals were really cute and all we had seen before that was many squished raccoons on the road, during our drive from Hot Springs to Fort Smith.

We mentioned that we went to see a movie. Fort Smith had a dollar movie theatre located inside Central Mall. The movie theatre was actually $2.50, but the concept was the same, whereby movies that were released a couple or few months previously were shown instead of new releases. We offered to take Samantha to see "Are We Done Yet" and Kelli, Clay and Danielle saw "Blades of Glory". Everyone enjoyed the films and, afterwards, Clay and Danielle went to visit a friend of theirs before heading to Danielle's apartment. During that time, we went to eat at Taco Bell with Kelli and Samantha.

Kelli and Kyle reminisced about the late night Taco Bell meals that were enjoyed after Friday night football games when they were in Junior High; the Taco Bell we visited that evening was the one that everyone went to when the games were finished. Dan and Samantha smiled and nodded at the stories that were being told; they really just wanted to enjoy their food. When everyone had finished eating, we took some food back to Danielle's new apartment for Clay to eat. Her apartment building was very nice; it used to be an elementary school. In fact, Danielle's father attended school in the very building when he was in first, second and third grade (age 6-8)!

Have you ever heard of "chiggers"? Dan had not heard of them until he came to Arkansas in the heat of the summer. Kyle grew up with them and didn't think about warning Dan about the nasty little insects. Boy, was he wrong... The name chigger is an informal name for harvest mites, which can be found all over warm areas of the US and UK. In their larval stage, they attach to various animals, including humans, and feed on skin, often causing itching. When Dan saw this definition from Wikipedia, he said, "Often causes itching? The annoying things never stopped itching once they were inside my skin!"

Also according to Wikipedia, Chiggers are nearly microscopic and are related to spiders. Since they are nearly impossible to see with the naked eye, you never know when you are under attack. The insects tend to live in grass and hop onto human feet and ankles whenever people walk by them. The larval chiggers feed on skin cells and, after crawling onto their "host", they inject digestive enzymes into the skin that break down skin cells. They don't actually bite; instead, they form a hole in the skin (gross!) and chew up tiny parts of the inner skin (grosser!), thus causing severe irritation and swelling (ouch!). Dan had at least twenty chigger "holes" in his feet and ankles and had trouble sleeping for a few nights due to the pain and itchiness. He tended to scratch them quite a bit, which was a big no-no, so the infections in his skin got worse and caused the itchiness and pain to increase.

That's enough writing about chiggers for Dan to always remember them; you'll be happy to know that the sores eventually went away. Now, we will switch to another topic - our last full day in Fort Smith before heading back to Hot Springs. As mentioned at the start of this journal entry, both Leon and Linda were able to take the day off from work and they took us on a small road trip outside of Fort Smith to see a place called Natural Dam and a historic Arkansas town called Van Buren.

Natural Dam was our first stop and was located 30 miles from Fort Smith. The drive there was another beautiful one through the Arkansas countryside and, when we arrived, we saw the beautiful stone ridge that gives the area its name. A small swimming hole was created by the "natural dam" and several people were enjoying the cool water. Leon and Linda took us on a walk along the stream leading away from the dam and we saw some people fishing, a couple of stray dogs and a creepy wolf spider (you can see it in the photo album!).

After leaving Natural Dam, we stopped at the historic town of Van Buren before crossing the bridge over the Arkansas River to get back into Fort Smith. Leon drove us down Main Street in Van Buren where we saw many old buildings that were interesting to see. When we left Van Buren and arrived back in Fort Smith, we picked up Ruth and took her to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse, a nice steak restaurant. We both tried the beer braised sirloin, which was cooked just right and covered with fried onion strings; we also got to choose a couple of veggies to eat with our meal.

After dinner, when Leon and Linda took us and Ruth back to their house, we left to drive Ruth home and to see a couple of movies. We saw "Blades of Glory" and "Knocked Up" and enjoyed both comedies. It was late after that so we went straight to sleep when we got back to the house.

The next morning, before we left for Hot Springs, we were interviewed by a reporter for the Fort Smith newspaper (Southwest Times Record). Leon had let them know what we were doing this year, travelling around Asia, the US, South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. The newspaper was very interested in our story and travels, and also in the fact that we were documenting everything online. The reporter asked us a lot of questions and took some photos; they also planned on using excerpts from our travel journal and photos that we have taken on our trip. At the time of writing this journal entry, the article had already been published and our story was a two-page spread that started on the first page of the Lifestyle section of the paper!