Vol. I, No. 3                                               Conway, Arkansas, Feb. 12, 2005                                             Next Edition:  Mar. 25, 2005

In Every Issue...
Adventures in Fact
Adventures in Fiction
Archived Issues
Day Trip Arkansas
Good Gear
Good Food

Good Gear
Yippee!  I finally got a backpack!  It's a Go-Lite SilLite weighing 1 lb. 14 oz.  It comes with a very basic zipper-type Platypus water reservoir, very easy to clean.   Two things make this an ultra-light pack:  the materials it's made of (the Go-Lite fabric) and straps instead of pockets for stuff.  This pack does not waste one iota of space:   the hip belts even have zippered pockets inside them.  It's made for 25-30 lbs., but I intend to keep it to 20-25 lbs.  I had been trying children's sized packs before finding the SilLite.   This was one of the few adult-sized packs that I think will be comfortable and accommodating.

Good Food
As promised, here is my recipe for a fusion salad incorporating Vietnamese ingredients.  Pumelos, a grapefuit-like citrus native to Southeast Asia, are entering their seasonal decline, so you'll have to hurry to find them or substitute grapefruit or orange sections if you can't find pumelos.  You can also substitute the meat.  I've used pork, but you could use chicken or beef.  If you're vegetarian, you can substitute tofu. 

Vietnamese Roasted Pork Salad

For the marinade
1/4 c chopped shallots
1/2 T garlic, coarsely chopped
1 T fish sauce
1 1/2 t caramel sauce
1/2 T soy sauce
1/2 t salt
1 t sugar
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 pork loin

For the dressing
ground ginger
garlic
1/4 c miso
1/3 c rice wine vinegar
1/4 c cream sherry
2 T soy sauce
2 T honey
2 T peanut butter
pinch cayenne
2/3 c peanut oil
2 T sesame oil

For the complete recipe in print-friendly format, follow this link. 

Two and a half hours.

That's a long time for this 37-year-old body to stay curled up on a wooden bench, backpack for a pillow, in the tiny hours of the morning.  I had been the first to break all pretense and get comfortable.  Then, it was the Greek-born truck driver from Toronto.   Then the children, a few adults.  The last holdouts were two older women, wearing elegant hats, quietly discussing family business.  As I finally fell asleep, their muffled conversation, echoing through the train station, sounded like prayer.

The Amtrak train bound to Chicago is supposed to arrive in Little Rock at 11:54 each night, but it's often late, a victim of the freight trains, which get first priority because Union Pacific owns the tracks.  As passengers arrived and were told of the delayed departure, not a single one complained.  No one wondered aloud when the !@#$ train would arrive.  No one really seemed to care.  I like to think, though this may be a bit of whimsy on my part, that the scene would have been drastically different at the airport:  people would be complaining, angry-faced, impatient. 

I like to think this because I believe rail travelers are a different breed:   we're not in a hurry to get anywhere. Time for us is a nebulous and malleable construct; we shape it to fit.  See, I can fly to Indianapolis in 4 hours and drive in 11.  Still, I won't have much to show for it.  In four hours of sitting still, I might be able to knock off some pulp fiction, if I can distract myself from my discomfort long enough.  My choice of food:  peanuts.  If I drive, about all I can do is listen to music or a book on tape.   The dining experience?  McDonald's and more McDonald's.

Now, if I take the train, I will arrive in Indianapolis in 24 hours.  You may think that's too long, but in that time, I will have had a good night's sleep; showered; eaten an excellent breakfast, lunch, and dinner, walked around Chicago for a bit, written an article with my laptop, read the newspaper, met a few people I didn't know before, made arrangements by cell phone to visit various family members, taken a few pictures of St. Louis...well, the list goes on.  Time passes so much more quickly in those 24 hours than in the alternative 4 or 11.

But it's not only that.  There's something to be said for making a slow transition between one world and the next, letting the changes unfold gently.  In my car, as I approach the St. Francis River, which forms the boot heel border between Missouri and Arkansas, I always get teary-eyed: "Goodbye swamp, goodbye alligators, goodbye magnolias!  I hope I see you again real soon."  It's too abrupt to be foisted into the North like that.  Better to take it easy, let the rhythmic rocking of the train cradle you into the difference.

In the end, it's not about getting somewhere; it's about enjoying the ride, the perfect metaphor for life.   

Adventures in Fiction:  Shooting Azimuth
Jan. 22, 2005

I have recurring dreams about maps.  In my dreaming hands, I've held maps of the Sahara Desert, the extreme north of Canada, Russia, and even Atlantis, long gone, whose ruins have sunk into the ocean never to be found except by me.  

In these dreams I have traveled to Hawaii, the Florida keys, the jungles of Mexico.  I've been to the North Pole twice.  The first time, I remember that it took almost forever to get to my destination. The second time, I knew my way around—as if that were possible in the constantly shifting, landless territory of the Arctic.  My journey magically traced itself on the map as I walked through the white expanse.  I was there in no time.  Aha, yes, no...time. 

They seem disparate, from tropics to tundra, but in fact, all the places I've been in these dreams have one thing in common:  they are outposts, last stops before the void.  I'm always alone and, therefore, lonely.  My first trip to the Arctic, I sat atop an iceberg, surveying all around me and realized that for the only time in my life, I was truly and completely alone.  I was frightened. 

Despite the isolation, I feel strangely in control in these dreams, deciphering the signs and symbols, a geographic cryptography, that tell me where I am and where I want to go.  Exploring not just the landscape, but the possibilities.   I shoot the next azimuth:  I know where I'm going, but I don't know.  I can't wait to see what I'll find, but I'm afraid of what can happen.  Is there a name for this strange admixture—fear of the unknown, love of the unknown?

Archived Issues

November 28, 2004
October 16, 2004

Day Trip Arkansas
In early January, my husband and I drove to the Ozark National Forest to see two different falls.  Winter is a good time to visit because there are no leaves to obscure the view and water is plentiful.  Lichen Falls is along the Ozark Highlands Trail off Hwy. 16.  Look for the dirt road about 3 miles down from Fallsville marked "To Patterson Springs." The Glory Hole is about 5.7 miles from Hwy. 16 on Hwy. 21.  About 1/2 mile past the red barn with the big "E," you'll see a shingle-sided house on a hill to your left.  The Hole is down a four-wheeler road to the right.  Park carefully. 

Once archived, thumbnails will no longer link to the larger version of the picture.

Lichen Falls

Lichen Falls

Into the Glory Hole

Ozone Burger Barn
Ozone, Arkansas (pop. 573, deep in the Boston Mountains of the Ozark Plateau) is about as much out in the middle of nowhere as you can get (at least in the South).  Still, you can have a decent, hot meal here by driving up to the Burger Barn, a red shed on the left side of the road as you're heading north on Highway 21 toward the Glory Hole.   I had the fried mushrooms and the bacon burger (Look out coronary, here I come!), which was tender and juicy, living up to its claim of being a "three-napkin burger."  My husband had the catfish, which was crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.  It came with plank fries and homemade coleslaw.  We enjoyed our meal and intend to go back soon.

Here's the menu:

As the sign says, The Burger Barn is open 7 days, unless the proprietor decides otherwise!

All images and text copyright © 2004-2008 by Jennifer Deering.  All rights reserved.