We woke up relatively early, though Kyle was up before me, got ready for the day, and headed out to Little Rock. It was pretty cold last night, so the sleeping bags will likely be in use from here on out. The rest area was really nice though, and even had big touchscreens in the main lobby for you to use to Google things!
It was only about an hour to Little Rock, so we got there just after 9am. It was rainy and I could definitely tell the storm had come through here as well, as there were downed trees and branches all over, though the roads were clear.
Our first stop was the Arkansas State Capitol building, of course. It had convenient parking right next to the building so it was a short walk to the front steps. There were a couple of large branches across the path which we dragged off into the grass. It was pretty cold and still pretty wet, but since it was a Sunday it was a really quiet spot, so we were able to get the photo quickly and get back on our way.
Our next stop was breakfast at a Waffle House, somewhere I haven’t been before (though I’ve experienced similar). It was pretty busy but we got a seat within 10 minutes. I already knew about this, but it was funny to see in person: they have a 50 cent surcharge for each egg in your meal, which is basically all of them! Eggs are still cheap in Canada (relatively), so this “eggpocalypse” thing is a little entertaining to me. Our server also asked if we had power at home (assuming we lived in Little Rock), which makes me think they’re still dealing with power outages around the city.
We finished up our breakfast and headed to a laundromat about 10 minutes away. Even though it was open on Google Maps, it was very much closed in real life. I didn’t put the pieces together until later that it was likely closed due to a power outage.
We found another one a few minutes away and headed there, and while it was very busy (presumably because the others had no power) we were able to find a machine to use. While the laundry was running, we got a few DoorDash orders done to keep our reserves up.
We finished up the laundry and got back on the road towards Oklahoma City. On our way there we stopped to get gas, and while I filled up a truck and trailer pulled in with the license plate “BEEF” and a trailer full of cows! I suspect they’re not destined for a happy place, but for now lets pretend they’re going to a farm upstate.
A couple of hours later we arrived at the Oklahoma State Capitol in the aptly named Oklahoma City, where we saw a bunch of metal towers that looked like oil wells. But no, they can’t be oil wells in the core of a big city, right? Wrong! This is America, oil is king baby. We read all about them on a plaque in front of the one that was directly in front of the capitol building.
We then headed south to a small town of about 15,000 people named Ardmore, where we did some more DoorDash for a few hours until just after midnight, where we then went another 30 minutes south the the Oklahoma Welcome Center rest area, right on the border with Texas.