What we saw is not what we expected - Arkansas Delta backroads

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]I have a cool shirt on. My pants don't match, but I have two layers on and they're warm and it's soft for driving, so I'm not about to change just to be fashionable, so it is what it is. This campground fashion.

[00:00:10]>> That's right. Top half looks good.

[00:00:11]Together, not so much.

[00:00:16]>> [music] >> This year we're going small [music] in a big way. We're taking the back roads to find some of the coolest small towns in Arkansas. We're chasing scenic views, local hot spots, and the stories you won't find on a map. From hidden gems to hometown legends, from quiet main streets and historic landmarks [music] to unforgettable food and the people who call these towns home. Every stop has a story to tell. [music] This isn't just a road trip. It's a journey into the heart of Arkansas.

[00:00:53]Welcome to the Arkansas Small Town Tour.

[00:00:57]The GPS is taking us down some highways where we've never been. Honestly, this ends up being a bit of a shocking ride.

[00:01:06]If you missed our last two videos, we've been at Willow Beach Campground on the Arkansas River and it has been fantastic. We are headed on down the Arkansas River now and we're headed to Tar Camp. Our truck is never that clean. Let's be real. We don't take the time, but there is pollen, tree seeds, and bird poo all over. It looks horrible right now. I know, I can't even put a camera here because it's just so gross.

[00:01:37]This is where we were camped for the first 3 days. Now there's an A-class parked there that is bigger than our truck and trailer combined.

[00:01:47]>> Warming up. Have to lose the awesome plaid shirt for now.

[00:01:53]Did you got a beach shirt underneath?

[00:01:55]Yeah, warmer weather. Let me put it in the camper.

[00:01:58]Yeah, I'll just leave it here.

[00:02:00]Um it was so cold this morning we had to have two layers of pants, two or three layers of shirt and jacket, and a toboggan, but it's warming up a little bit now, so time for a drive, good weather.

[00:02:13]I know, I had on my awesome camping vest and that had to go.

[00:02:17]It's my Okay, it's his awesome camping vest.

[00:02:21]>> I I got the vest for me and she's commandeered it.

[00:02:24]It's a good vest, but we just conquered the dump station and we're ready to hit the road. It's very overcast today. We woke up it was 49°.

[00:02:34]And I can tell you Did you What it is now? 50.

[00:02:38]Okay. Did you check that there's nothing left sitting out after our dump station escapade?

[00:02:45]Yeah, but I'll go look again.

[00:02:46]>> Make sure we didn't leave anything.

[00:02:47]>> Hang on.

[00:02:51]It's 50° right now is what it says, but it's definitely more humid or something. Anyway, onward.

[00:03:16]Slow down for a school zone sign, flashing lights. A car passed on double yellow through the school zone on a curve.

[00:03:25]It's pretty hefty fine, I think. And extremely dangerous for everyone.

[00:03:29]>> Yeah.

[00:03:30]I just It's It's shocking when people don't think about why you're slowing down. It could have been like a wreck in front of us.

[00:03:37]>> I just have no tolerance for reckless, selfish people who want to endanger everyone else.

[00:03:44]Here's the ramp, bud.

[00:03:47]See the See the blue See the blue line?

[00:04:13]Did somebody stop me or not?

[00:04:15]Mhm. Stop or not?

[00:04:15]>> Now stop? Stop. Slow. He turned it around. Go. He's turning the stop sign around.

[00:04:21]>> Why did he turn the sign? Mhm.

[00:04:24]Am I hitting the cones? I can't tell.

[00:04:26]Mhm. Maybe you're not over here. You can wag everyone.

[00:04:31]They're going to hold. Am I hitting the cones? I can't tell. No. Right. Have you ever wondered how many guys it takes to dig a hole?

[00:04:37]How many were there? I I was looking at the cone >> Okay, there was 10. It was a tight tight squeeze with this trailer.

[00:04:44]>> I'm sure they're doing more than just that, but it was just funny.

[00:04:47]I think you just about knocked every one of the road cones down to your fender well. But I didn't. Well, you didn't.

[00:04:52]No, but it was so tight through there.

[00:04:54]Like they're not expecting a camper.

[00:04:56]>> I have my fender well stick out past the box. That's about 8 ft between the tires. I don't wouldn't much room. It's official that we have no idea where we are. I mean, we know we're in College Station, but we like the county maintenance just ended on this road. And what does that mean?

[00:05:13]Maybe that means that city maintenance started. I don't know. We We're going through like some town roads that we didn't realize we were going to be going through.

[00:05:24]It said turn left. I thought it was this horrible gravel road that said turn left on. I was getting scared, but it wasn't.

[00:05:29]It's the next road. I think it's this one here. 3M.

[00:05:32]Right off.

[00:05:33]Okay.

[00:05:33]>> So like 3M like sticky stuff. I do not know. I do not claim to know. Hey, maybe we can get some We use some sticky hooks for the camper.

[00:05:43]I'm having flashbacks.

[00:05:46]We went somewhere similar to this before.

[00:05:49]Oh, we've done things like this before.

[00:05:52]Like getting to Malvern, trying to go the back way, and realizing that it's not a good idea.

[00:06:17]Wow, look at this porch.

[00:06:21]Jeez, a whole porch fell off. Yeah.

[00:06:23]This is not what I expected Sweet Home Arkansas to look like. I was envisioning cuz I saw on the map they have like a community park and stuff like that, so um I don't know. I had something else in my head. Not this. I mean, like >> part of it.

[00:06:38]>> This part. I don't know if there's more, but from the road we're on, which is what, 365?

[00:06:43]>> Yeah. Um yeah, just stuff boarded up and falling down. Like an entire roof of a porch was laying in the yard. Didn't expect that.

[00:07:08]We are now in Wrightsville.

[00:07:10]And I saw that they had a [music] um pretty big public library.

[00:07:19]Look at the bicycles. Wow. In the world.

[00:07:22]And bicycles and wagons. And chairs.

[00:07:25]Just a field of rows and rows of bi- bicycles, old bikes parked one in front of the other. Is it cemetery?

[00:07:34]Yep. And a old church.

[00:07:35]>> An old church.

[00:07:41]I drive like this.

[00:07:43]Cemetery.

[00:07:46]One thing I've noticed driving through these communities is there are little churches all along this little highway.

[00:07:54]Department of Corrections, Wrightsville Unit. There's a So there's a prison or a jail over here. It's down there? Yep.

[00:07:59]Yep, I see it.

[00:08:00]What's the water tower?

[00:08:02]Water tower.

[00:08:06]What's the tower?

[00:08:09]What is it?

[00:08:10]>> Yeah, what is it?

[00:08:11]I think it's a old grain tower cuz it looks similar to the concrete silos our friend had, um but metal.

[00:08:22]He does not have time for you.

[00:08:24]I go slow when pulling a trailer, so if you're ever behind us, sorry, but just wait for a safe time to pass, please.

[00:08:30]Other than that, that's just how we roll.

[00:08:32]So, 365 heading south is not what I expected.

[00:08:38]Uh there's like some scenic country and wood sections and there's some towns along the way. So far, most of the towns and not all the town, but lots of the parts of the towns have been pretty neglected looking. A lot of abandoned buildings, boarded up buildings, falling down stuff, and just kind of in disrepair. Um it's just not what I thought was going on down here, so I guess that's part of the story and then I don't know what else is going on, but that's what we've seen so far. We just passed a goat.

[00:09:08]Someone had a a dog in the yard running loose and a goat staked out in the driveway.

[00:09:15]Eating grass?

[00:09:16]>> A goat. No, I mean, I don't know if he's eating grass, but that's a pretty field.

[00:09:21]They're spraying. No, they're spraying.

[00:09:23]Oh, that's Oh, it smells like >> Smell it? It smells like dog flea dip.

[00:09:28]Yes, that's not good.

[00:09:30]Oh.

[00:09:31]Feels like spraying a dog.

[00:09:33]Can't be good to breathe, either.

[00:09:36]No, I don't know if I was able to turn the camera fast enough. There was a huge, beautiful green field over there with a John Deere tractor and they're spraying yellow liquid out of the big barrel all over it. It just smells like that flea dip that people put dogs in.

[00:09:50]Okay.

[00:09:54]This is Woodson, Arkansas.

[00:09:56]>> Why does it switch changing at the railroad track? Maybe you go right there next to the railroad track. Don't go straight?

[00:10:02]>> Nope. Okay. Look to the right.

[00:10:05]No train.

[00:10:20]I think I'm up to like nine railroad crossings and some of these tracks aren't the smooth drive over but like have big gaps between and so it just beats up the truck and trailer and sometimes I don't realize until it's too late and then I apologize to the trailer. I hope everything back there isn't shaking around.

[00:10:36]We apparently just drove through Hensley, Arkansas which did not have a town sign. They have a community park though.

[00:10:45]Actually, it's actually a pretty nice community park.

[00:10:48]We've had the same van behind us forever.

[00:10:54]Apparently they're not in a hurry cuz they could have passed us back there. I gave them a chance so they're happy.

[00:10:59]They're just hanging. They're probably on the clock. They're not worried about it. They'll just tell their boss they got stuck in traffic. Behind this old dude in the trailer?

[00:11:05]>> Oh, there's a sign. There was a very small rodeo arena on the left side of 365.

[00:11:11]Um not sure what town we're in what were you just saying? Passed through Hensley.

[00:11:14]Yeah.

[00:11:16]Like how big rodeo arena we talking about? Did they have bleachers?

[00:11:20]I didn't I'm trying to pull a trailer. I didn't get a good look but it was small type fencing arena. If there was a if there was bleachers it would have been small.

[00:11:28]But I've seen them like that before in little towns with just enough to have some events.

[00:11:33]Okay, speaking of little rodeo arenas, we went to a rodeo when we were at Leslie homecoming last summer. It was awesome.

[00:11:42]I think one of the one of the smallest rodeo arenas I've ever been to. Back in the day I went to a rodeo in Mount Vernon and it was small. I don't know what it is now. But we had the best time. Remember? We were right up I mean Right up on there. We were right up on the action. You were just I mean there was horses 4 ft in front of you from the fence. It was great.

[00:12:01]I mean it wasn't like when you go to the PBR in Little Rock and you're sitting like up on concrete bleachers out of the way. You were down there. I mean you were getting you could get mud thrown on you. It was awesome. Like little gourd bunches of gourd birdhouses.

[00:12:19]Turn left.

[00:12:36]Well, that was eventful.

[00:12:38]Watch the bridge. Turn left. Getting nervous around old bridges.

[00:12:44]Left on Brody.

[00:12:48]Brody.

[00:12:53]It's cute. I like that little house.

[00:12:57]>> [laughter] >> That's how you get blowed up. There was again eight guys working on a hole but this time the smell of propane or natural gas, I guess that's whatever they rotten egg smell they put in natural gas. The smell was insane. There must be a dangerous amount of gas leak in the air right now.

[00:13:17]Anybody lights a match, it's done for.

[00:13:21]It was stinky.

[00:13:22]Ooh.

[00:13:23]I got to taste something else or just salt. Mhm.

[00:13:27]A row of mailboxes. You know how they do? Multiple people down one road put all their mailboxes together.

[00:13:33]Except for Matt's mailbox and I am not kidding you was 30 ft in the air.

[00:13:40]>> [laughter] >> It was on a pole. So no one can get to it? No.

[00:13:46]How did I miss this? I don't know. It was on my side. I'm you're going to drive this trailer so I can look. Four four mailboxes, the one on the end is on a pole 30 ft in the air.

[00:13:57]I am not kidding you. It was one not 30.

[00:14:00]10 ft?

[00:14:00]>> No. She was up there. So so you don't get a mail at 20?

[00:14:05]So you don't He can't reach it.

[00:14:08]He don't want to walk up there.

[00:14:09]>> just using it as a flag. Like here are the mailboxes.

[00:14:14]Did it say Matt on it? I believe it said Matt.

[00:14:17]That's why the post office has regulations for the For height. For height cuz they >> The mailman doesn't want to bring a ladder.

[00:14:24]Ooh boy.

[00:14:33]Speed bumps.

[00:14:34]I don't like getting them.

[00:14:36]If people would just not be stupid then I wouldn't have to go over speed bumps but people can't behave.

[00:14:42]So I have to drive them all the time.

[00:14:43]I'm not hot rodding around the park but somebody is. Hot rod.

[00:14:48]You need a truck. I'm just serious.

[00:14:49]Speed bumps is because people cannot act right. That's all it is. You don't have to have those on the earth if it's not people being dumb. Sorry. It's true.

[00:14:55]It's true.

[00:14:57]Can't have nice things cuz some people cannot understand how they should act.

[00:15:00]They can't. In the next episode we're exploring a new campground, learning to cook fresh crappie and all sorts of other shenanigans. If you watched until the end put code word goat in the comment section. Thank you so much for [music] watching and we'll see you next time.