We passed through Arkansas after leaving New Orleans. We took a left turn at Ozark. Arkansas and stopped downtown to peek at the old town square. I used to go to Ozark with my family when I was a kid. Standing there looking around brought back old memories. We parked on the North street in front of Adams Abstract.
The old man who owned that years ago was Dad's insurance agent. We would stop in about every month to see him, as Dad transacted business (probably paid his bill). The first thing that old gray haired man did was to come around the counter and greet us. After a minute of chit chat he would say, "Have you boys had your ice cream today?" We would say, "No". He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, brown, change purse, painstakingly open it in front of us while 6 or 8 little anxious eyes carefully watched, then hand each of us boys a bright, shiny Dime. Back then a dime bought ice cream! We will never forget that old man. He will never know to what extent his generous kindness impacted our lives!
The town square was in the center of town; A square block that contained the City Hall building. The park benches out front were always occupied with old men sitting around talking and people watching.
Across he street to the south, on the corner, used to be a Cafe that had a large swamp cooler in back that blew out cool air into the seating area. We never had the money to eat there but I remember we would drop in during the heat of summer and stand in front of the cool air and let it blow inside our shirts! Ha Ha!
On the corner to the West still resides THE SPECTATOR, the local newspaper. It's still there and still printing. Brought back old memories of going in there with Dad.
The second building from the corner to the East used to be an Rx store. The special thing about that was that Mom would sometimes find a way to sneak away from us (I'm sure with Dad's help because he would sometimes sneak off to the beer joint). Anyway, Mom would go into the Rx where they had an old fashion Soda Fountain and order her favorite, an ice cold Cherry Coke! We found her in there one time and she let us have a sip of her Coke! Mom was so nice to us kids.
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In front of City Hall are memorials of all the wars, Civil, WWI, WWII. Korea, and Vietnam.
We left there and drove out of town to visit our cousin. She still lives in the same place we remember as kids. Dad and Dennis were first cousins so we visited often and played with their kids. We always liked going there. Janet now lives in Atlanta and I was blessed to spend a couple of hours with her recently in Atlanta. We had a great visit in Ozark and plan to go back (hopefully) next Spring!
Driving North on the old highway we passed by my old grade school and on in to Mulberry where we used to go. The town seems to be dying out.
The old 5 & Dime Store is vacant; the old bank building is empty.
Gene and Shorty's Barber has been remodeled and taken over by another business. The old produce house is gone. We used to take Strawberries there to sell.
We headed to Ron and Nancy's in Springdale to pick up some of our things that we had mailed from Europe. We spent the night, as it was late before heading North.
We are now in Branson, Missouri staying with Debby's Mom. Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner and some of our family will be together on Marvin's place at Lake of the Ozarks. For us, the down time is welcomed! We will be here for a couple of weeks before hitting the road towards Oregon.
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