Toad Suck, Arkansas

 I tried to come up with a catchy title for this post, but the name of the area is sufficient. Nuff said.

We left Branson feeling a bit like the the End of Trail sculpture in the Bass Pro Shop: sad and exhausted, but still on the horse!

Heading south on US 65, we crossed into Arkansas. Our destination didn’t allow checkin until 4 pm, so we spent an hour in the warm and humid afternoon. It had been raining all morning and we found ourselves in the middle of a southern sticky day.

The landscape continues to be rolling hills completely covered with deciduous trees that are super green right now, and will no doubt be a color riot in the fall. In Searcy County, Arkansas, we stopped at the South Mountain Overlook. Not only is the valley spread out before us extraordinary, but the geological formation on the opposing side of the road is typical of rock outcroppings in the Ozarks.

Known as The Devils Cut, the road was cut through many layers of overlapping layers of shale and limestone. The geology is beyond me, other than to note that this area was underwater at some point, and as the water ebbed and flowed and volcanoes sputtered and spit, layers were laid down.

Leaving the viewpoint near Marshall, Arkansas, we continue on highway 65 and dropped into Conway, Arkansas, just in time to find out about the 600 year old tree that had fallen on a house in the storm of the morning.

Oops.

Donna has family in the Conway area, so we wanted to visit them. The go-to campground is Toad Suck park, a Corps of Engineers park on the Arkansas River adjacent to a lock and dam.

The camping sites are a bit difficult to access, but the water and power hookups made up for any problems getting in.

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with cousins from near and far, spouses and daughters, catching up on old times and new. Sadly, we didn’t have more time to share stories as the various families had end of the week commitments and we needed to prepare for the next leg of out journey. 

For what it’s worth, the name Toad Suck is generally thought to be a corruption of a french phrase meaning “a narrow channel in the river.” The locals think the name came from river boatmen who stopped at a local tavern and “sucked so much beer that they puffed up like a toad”. 

Your choice.