One of Jill's primary goals on this trip was to help me understand her better through exploring various aspects of Arkansan life. This of course includes food...and in the south, all roads lead to Waffle House. We started the day at the "nice" Waffle House in Cabot, Arkansas - Jill insisting on cheesy eggs with raisin toast. I ordered up a waffle on the side, a no-brainer based on the name. It was a pretty genius breakfast, truth be told, and I see the appeal - especially as a 24-hour joint that has helped many-a-southerner avoid vicious hangovers (in Ohio, we called it "Denny's" when I was in college). :)After, we set out to visit her former college English teacher, Becky, and her family, in Mountain View, Arkansas - home of Beanfest & Outhouse Races 2008 this weekend. Nestled in in the Ozarks, this quaint old town sports a lot of natural beauty, and the festival brought about some serious people watchin'. On our way into town, we stopped off at the festival on its less-busy day. It was a typical small-town festival, but with a serious regional following - lots of people from all over, loads of biker folks who chase festivals like this around, and of course, those on deck to cook up their best beans in an effort to win first place tomorrow. We found a guy who let Jill sit on his commode, and I was left to sidecar duty; placed in the clawfoot bathtub behind. Also, we were delighted to find the centrally-placed office of Stone County Democratic Women - who were sadly a bit lonely in there, and very happy for Jill and I to pop in and chat. They said "there are more of us here than you'd think..." And interesting tidbit about Arkansas: They have Democratic everything - governor, senators, representatives, mayors, etc. - but despite that, they oddly always end up a red state for President.
We arrived at Becky's and visited with her and her 13-year-old son, Weldon. Later, her super-sweet uber-liberal *and* pretty traditional southern farmer husband, Eddie, and their high-spirited little 5-year-old, Bryce, joined us. Becky & Eddie met in junior high, got married around 19 and had a baby girl at 20. Then another girl 4 years later, at 24. Then, at 37, Becky found herself pregnant with Weldon - while unexpected, they were delighted. Then, at 45 she again found herself unexpectedly pregnant again! (She says, "I was 45 and on the pill...I have no idea how this happened...) So, in the end, she and her husband of over 30 years now have effectively raised two separate families - first girls in their 20's, and now at 50, they're raising their boys, ages 13 & 5.
Another super interesting aspect of their life is that they life nearly off the grid. Other than a roughly $50 electric bill, they pay no utilities. Eddie had engineered their house to utilize solar power in many places; they have 8 cows and a small batch of chickens for milk, eggs, beef & poultry; well water (reminding me of the lucky kids in my howetown who had super-yummy well water) and they produce their own biodiesel and have even made one of their cars run totally on veggie oil, in the summer anyhow. They are super smart, liberal and cool to observe as they teach and parent their kids. Eddie is proud to be 1 of 2 people in Stone County who voted for Obama in the primary (he said, "Well, there were two votes, and one was mine...so at least one other person voted for him!") Many were Hillary supporters as a fellow Arkansan. Their land is gorgeous, with little ponds and fields (sustainably "mowed" by the cows) and trees. Becky is a professor at the local college, and Eddie works for Arkansas Natural Gas - it's so cool to see non-hippie, normal people choosing to live this way simply put, "because it makes sense."
Oh, and how about that gas price? $2.09!
