The Mena weekly star., 1911-08-10
FROM ARKANSAS TO
 ILLINOIS BY AUTO
|. M Davis Writes Of Long Trip Rain Accompanied Them Most of the Way-sias Return by
 Another Route.

I. M. Davis who, with Mrs. Davis, their three children and Mrs. c. L.. Talbot, left Mena for Decatur, H., on July 5, have arrived. MT. Davis writes as follows of the long trip:
 Automobile tours are getting so frequent in certain parts of the country and have been written up so often that they cease to attract the attention they once did, but there are still good many places and many persons to whom they are a novelty.
 This particular tour will be of in terest because of the fact that 1t has extended over an unfrequented route a good portion of the way, di- agonally across the states of Ar kansas from southwest to north- east.
 We left Mena, Arkansas, on the afternoon of July 5, with a com |plete camping outfit of tents, cots, cooking utensils, etc, for six per- sons, the car being loaded until the springs almost touched the axles, and the old saying of always room for one more" seemed to have reached it's limit in this case, the ear being almost out Of sight under the baggage piled on the hood, foot boards and lenders, and right here | is a good time to offer some advice | to automobilists about to take their first tour. Don't overload. You can | get along on good roads, but you | are sure to find bad roads some where that will tax your car to the 1 utmost.
 The first evening we only drove about g miles, to Abernathy's big spring, where we made our. first camp. We had not been on the road l a half hour until it began raining and we seemed to just keep right along with the rainy weather, foI | we had but one days running ir (which it either did not rain on us or had rained a few hours before so the roads that would otherwise
 have been good were very bad going
 for a car. The morning of July 9th we loaded up and ran into Hot
 Springs by the middle of the after Inoon. After going to some of tho
 parks and doing other sight seeing
 we drove cut couple of miles anc
 camped for the night. Next morn ling July ? we ran to Little Rock by way of Benton, finding gooC lroads most al telh way. We passet
 several gangs of convicts working lthese roads. We took dinner 1T
 Little Rock and spent three enjoy
 able days in and around the capi-
 tal city, visiting friends and sight seeing.
 On the afternoon of the 10th W, started northeast, going through lMeAlmont, Cabot and Beebee, ar irving in Searcy about sundown We found very bad roads througi Cypress Bayou bottoms. Tuesda. morning, July fl, it was raining, an,
 continued to rain until if o'clock
 but as soon as it stopped we got in. to the car and started for Newport A few miles out of Searcy we wer' l ferried across Little Red river, an, | the ferryman volunteered the in Iformation that man lived on thu lother side who had a good team o
 horses, who would pull us up tn lopposite bank. Well, that banl did look bad, but our trusty For, lclimbed right out like scared rab bit. After passing through Jud isonia, Bald Knob, Russelville an,
 Bradford, over roads so muddy a | to be almost impossible, our sturd. little car, whose engine never fal- ltered, brought us to near 0lyphant on the White river, where WI Icamped for the night. Next morn ling (July i2) we continued on t l Newport, right along the bank O
 White river, going through som, l frightful mudholes and over som'
 of the healthiest corduroy road lever constructed.
 From Newport we started acros towards Jonesboro, by way O lGrubbs. Pitts and Cash. Just aftel leaving Pitts we had our first an, lonly accident on the whole trip lbreaking a driving shaft. Fortu-
 nately it was a good camping plac' and only a short distance from thu Cash tor Cache) river winch WI found to be literally alive with fish
 and we stayed there six days iishin;
 and squirrel hunting. In the mean
 time. we had gotten the broker
 shaft repaired by the local black smith.
 On July is about noon, the wea-
 ther appearing to have settled, W,
 started out and passed through lJonesboro, and camped that nigh ijust north of paragould We att dinner at St. Francis on the 18th
 passing through Marmaduke, Rec.
 tor and piggott. After dinner VI crossed the Arkansas Missouri lin, over toll bridge across a mndd.
 looking stream, and camped neal Aquilla that night.
 July 20 1t was raining before Vt could get packed Up, but we pullet out and soon found some of ths lslipperiest red clay hills we had vel found. On one hill we skidded intt the ditch and had to back down t the bottom and take new start