One Year on the Road

My mom grew up in St. Louis and moved back there (to Webster Groves) after she and my dad divorced. I was grown then, so I never actually lived there, but it was home base, where all we kids returned…

In the late 1800s, Hot Springs was a hot-bed of health-craving tourism. Luxury bathhouses lined the main street, backing the steaming hot natural springs at the base of the area’s largest hill. People paid good money to come for a…

Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murphreesburough, Arkansas, includes an active diamond field. This is the only public land in the country where you can actually search for diamonds and keep whatever you find. Kate is a big rock hound…

When I tell people I was born in Arkansas, they often do a subtle double-take, raise an eyebrow, and scrutinize me with this new information in mind, as if I’d just revealed I was really a different race or had…

We had been in Texas for over a month – visiting my sister in Sugarland, seeing a cousin in Dripping Springs, flying our goddaughter in for a weeklong visit in Austin, then meeting up with our friend Marsha for a…

It was early afternoon before we peeled ourselves away from Inks Lake and hit the road, soaking in the wildflower views as we drove out of Hill Country. Marsha was flying out of Dallas at 10:00 in the morning, which…