| A Trip to the Southwest and the Plains November/December 2007 Little Rock — Page 5 |
Burns Park and Concert Day
Our day began slowly because our main activity today is to attend a Keith
Urban concert tonight. However, it was decided that we would use the day to
do some shopping to replenish our supplies in preparation for our trip to
California.
In our exploration of Little Rock, on previous days, we found no big shopping centers. So I talked to the campground host and learned that there are several big shopping areas in North Little Rock off of I-40 east of I-30 — about the only area we hadn't explored. Using instructions given to us, we headed east on I-40.
Just beyond the I-30 junction we saw two big and beautiful churches. Both looked somewhat colonial with tall white steeples. One church was much bigger than the other. Due to the traffic around us I was unable to get a photo of these beautiful houses of worship.
We found our way to a Wal-Mart Super Store where we found everything we needed. I think we even picked up a few items we didn't know we needed. After leaving behind a nice sized chunk of California money, we headed home to our house on wheels.
I wanted to see more of Burns Park so we took a short side trip to check out what was available at this huge municipal park. This park, located next to the Arkansas River has 17 soccer fields, two 18-hole golf courses, 5 softball diamonds, 6 indoor and outdoor tennis courts, rugby courts and the list goes on and on.
Click on image below to view larger version A map of the very large Burns Park |
After taking a drive around the park I wanted to spend some time at an old log cabin located just up the road from the RV campground. For some reason I've always found log structures to be fascinating. The old log cabin in Burns Park is said to have been built before the American Civil War.
 This old log cabin was built before the American Civil War |
The cabin has one room with an entrance on each end of the building. Looking outside, the cabin has a nice view of trees showing autumn colors. I can only imagine what it must be like for a family to live in such a small home. The rafters inside are very low by today's standards and there is no ceiling. The underside of the roof is all that is between the people inside and the weather outside.
 One room cabin would be tight quarters for a family |
The cabin is supported above grade by simple stone supports at the corners of the structure as well as at mid-points between the corners. Long flat stones are used to make simple steps in front of each door. I took a close-up picture of the way the logs connect with each other at the corners of the cabin.
 Close up view of corner joinery of the logs |
From the log cabin we returned to our motorhome to find that Christmas decorations had been set up behind our motorhome which gives people entering the campground a view of the lighted displays. Once in the motorhome all we had to do was have our evening meal and get ready for the concert.
 Lighted decorations have been set up behind our motorhome |
When it came time to go to the concert we found our way to the Alltel Arena a little bit early. Our parking place was only four rows from the entrance where a small crowd had already gathered. We walked up to the entrance thirty minutes before the doors opened. That thirty minute wait seemed much longer due to the cold wind blowing across the area.
Once inside the arena, we learned that our seats were located on the other side of the arena up in the high-altitude section. The seats weren't very good, but we knew that the music would make up for the seating. Both Kay and I feel that Keith Urban always puts on a good concert. The other thing that made almost any seat in the house a good seat was the use of the largest video screen used on any tour. The screen was the same size as a large movie theater screen.
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The concert on this tour has a runway that goes nearly the full length of the floor area. With the main stage at one end of the runway there is a smaller round stage at the far end of the runway. A short set is performed on the small circular stage giving those in the back seats a close-up view.
 This was our normal view — Even so, the music was worth it |
 The lighting was quite colorful at times — Our view with binoculars |
 Even the seats in the back became close-up seating |
After three hours of music we had to make a rush for the RV campground. The concert was over at about 11:00pm and a gate closes Burns Park at midnight. It took 15 minutes just to get from our seat in the arena to our car. Being close to the entrance meant that we had a short trip in the cold wind to get to our car. Unfortunately, our close-in location meant that we had a lot more traffic to get through to get to the freeway.
Traffic control was almost nonexistent. Intersections had cars backed up so that the red-yellow-green light pattern was nearly meaningless. I saw two police cars parked on the sidewalk thinking that there would be some sort of traffic control at the next intersection — wrong, the police were simply observing the chaos. I was becoming concerned that we may not get back before the park was closed for the night.
We finally made it to the freeway underpass where we needed to turn to go toward the on-ramp. The traffic was flowing more smoothly because two civilians took it unto themselves to direct traffic. We made it to the Interstate at about 11:35. Fortunately traffic was moving quite nicely on the freeway, so it took us only about 10 minutes to reach the off-ramp that would take us to the entrance to Burns Park. We passed through the park entrance-gate with 10 minutes to spare.
It was good to get home where I watched the weather report on TV while getting ready for bed. The next day would be the beginning of our return trip to California.
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