Ouachita Mountains

Running east to west in Southeast Oklahoma and into Arkansas are the ancient Ouachita Mountains. We miss the mountains and the pine trees, and a trip to the Ouachitas allowed us a brief opportunity to spend some time outdoors and make us a feel a bit more at home. It was also Carter's first trip outside of Tulsa, and his first (of many to come) rides on a dirt road. Day 1 saw us leave Tulsa, head south on Highway 75 all the way to McAlester (which has a beautiful downtown, someday we'll have to go back and do some urban exploration) and then made our way to Talihina. Talihina marks the beginning of the Talimena Scenic Byway, which runs from Talihina to Mena, Arkansas for a little over 50 miles through the mountains. We ran half of the byway on Friday and then took a side trip north and stayed the night in Poteau.



  Day 2, Saturday, saw us leave Poteau with lingering rain showers. As we got back on the Talimena byway and begin to ascend, the fog became thicker, to the point where we couldn't see more than 20 or 30 yards in either direction. Needless to say we missed many of the vistas and views along the byway that morning, but it was kind of nice to get out and just enjoy the silence. We only saw several other vehicles on the drive and at times it felt we had the whole mountain to ourselves. That's not something we get to experience much in Oklahoma; just another thing I miss about the West - the ability to find isolation.

Once we descended off the byway and out of the mountains, the fog cleared and we made our way to the Poteau Mountain Road, which is just north of Waldron, Arkansas. This dirt road runs along the spine of Poteau Mountain for 22 miles.

 The Talimena Scenic Byway and the Poteau Mountain Road were beautiful drives, and it was good to see new areas that neither one of us had seen before. It was so nice to get out of Tulsa, and we didn't want to come back. We're tired of city life and wish we could have spent some more time in this beautiful part of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Our first trip with Carter was a success and we think he'll be just as good of a traveler as Lilly (we hope). He'll certainly get more opportunities in the future.