October 23, 1995

Mandy:

If you’ve tried to call us, you’ll have discovered that we’ve moved on and away. We moved earlier than November 1 for two reasons–Dad needed to come to where we are right now–near Gasville Arkansas so he could take his ham-radio test. He did and passed with leaps and wonderfulness. But on the way here, we detoured to Springfield to begin another toot(that’s actually root) canal on one of my teeth. In a way toot is appropriate because my tooth was so sensitive that one night when a train whistled, I could feel it in my tooth. It became a protest toothache with all the teeth in the neighborhood( right side of my face) marching and yelling. I go back next Wednesday from here(Cedar Hollow Campground) for the second stage; then we plan to go to Roaring River until the next Monday when hopefully the thing will be done.

In the meantime, we’ve accomplished things and experienced other things. We bought a cellular phone which our friends and children call only in an emergency or at least a really important need. The number is 417-830-4450.

Here’s the other news:

On the way here we passed a place called Whippoorwill Ridge and saw a field of hay bailed in circles; they looked like huge, round buns of shredded wheat. Hay always reminds me of shredded wheat and on the rare occasion when I taste shredded wheat it reminds me of hay. A sign on a cafe said “Amish to Goodness Food,” and another shop was called the “Creative Gift Studio” which might lure you in but it’s probably just another craft shop. We ate lunch in an old institution in these parts called Gaston’s. It’s a restaurant on stilts over a river and the ceilings are hung with old bikes(heavy things, one speed just like Dad and I had) and trikes and farm tools and outboard motors and other old things. And the food is ordinary except a specialty of theirs–Bailey’s Irish Cream Pie. Delicious! We drove across Bull Shoal’s Dam and I decided that even a man-made lake that’s blue enough can lift the heart–if we’re not too natural- world snobbish and let it. This part of Arkansas is not like the Buffalo River Country. It’s more resort and private planes and retirees and concrete and tourists but the State Parks are beautiful and the campsites in them pleasant and the scenery lush, and the town of Bull Shoals with 1500 people has two funeral homes, a taxidermist, a car wash, and a United Methodist Church–so, counting the Bailey’s Irish Cream Pie(my taste buds tremble), our needs are covered.

This letter is short, lite, sugar free, and no fat.

Love, Mom.  P.S. My spell check would like to change your name to “Mangy.”