Chuck’s Blog – “Exploring Arkansas: January 2019”
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Fiddling around in Mountain View; going back to the “Three R’s” in a restored, one-room school house; taking an autumn drive; mountain biking at Illinois Bayou Park and enjoying a nice, big juicy burger at A&A City Café in Parkin – it’s all coming up during a brand new episode of “Exploring Arkansas,” Wednesday, Jan. 2.
Fifteen-year-old Rebecca Pool of Mountain View has been making fiddles since she was 12. Her parents own the Mountain View music shop and, after school and on weekends, you can find Becca in the shop fiddling around in one way or another. When she’s not making fiddles, she’s repairing them; and when she’s not repairing them, she’s playing them. This is a perfect example of a family that plays together, stays together.
The old, one-room schoolhouse – there aren’t too many of them left. When the Northern Ohio Cooperage and Lumber Company began operation in Parkin during the early 1900s, they built a one-room school house for the children of the company’s African-American workers. Years later, the building was almost demolished, until a blackboard was discovered behind some wood paneling. So, lo and behold, the “Northern Ohio School” came back to life!
Taking an autumn drive is always fun to do. One of my favorites is Rockhouse Road south of Eureka Springs to Highway 221. It’s not quite eight miles so, if you don’t have a lot of time, this is the perfect route to take. Trust me, you’ll get more bang for your mile as far as colorful scenes go than on many of the longer routes.
For mountain biking or hiking, the trails at Illinois Bayou Park along the shores of Lake Dardanelle in Russellville will surprise you! There’s the Ouita Coal Company Mountain Bike Trail, named after an old mining company of the late 1800s, and the paved Wildlife Observation Trail with side spurs that’ll take you down to the shoreline. This is the perfect place to get away for a quick workout, especially for those of you living in the Russellville area.
And finally – ahhh, yes – A&A City Café in Parkin, where a big ol’ juicy burger hit the spot for us after a long day of exploring. This is a really cool place with good food and good people, and it all started out as a gas station during the 1940s! Good eats and then some are on the way in a new edition of “Exploring Arkansas,” Wednesday, Jan. 2, at 6:30 p.m.!
TUNE IN:
Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019
"Exploring Arkansas," 6:30 p.m.
