Day trips

Foodie’s Delight: Roadside Treasures and Unexpected Destinations

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

I am apt to brake quickly when driving along the byways of this country.

I’m always on the lookout for distinctive photo ops, and I can’t resist interesting signs (especially unique place names like Toad Suck and Smackover in Arkansas,) decaying fences, old churches and cemeteries, or American flags painted on the sides of old barns and brick buildings. As my husband notes, I am sometimes a pain in the neck, but I try not to be too demanding about those stops.

Most of the time, at least.

However, I also have been known to request, if not demand, a “slow down and turn around” when I spy a roadside vegetable stand or come upon a weekend farmers market. There’s something appealing about buying produce direct from the source. It’s gratifying to meet the people who grow our food. That food, whether just-ripened berries, plump tomatoes, or recently-picked apples and pears, always tastes better somehow.

At times, as I willingly admit, I can be insistent.

What’s better than cutting into a fresh peach and tasting it as its proud grower looks on approvingly? Typically, I don’t mind when the juice drips down my chin and onto my shirt! It’s all about the flavor, the freshness, and the fun.

Seasonal specialties like fresh melons and sweet corn, pumpkins and apples or the products made from a fresh harvest — pickles, preserves and jams, sauces, or homemade breads — often seem irresistible. In states where it’s possible to buy fresh pecans and freshly roasted peanuts, we brake for those too. And, occasionally, for just-picked bouquets of daffodils, tulips, or chrysanthemums.

On an impromptu weekend excursion with friends the last weekend of July — destination: the 41st Annual Grape Festival in Altus, Arkansas — we happened upon a farmstand, and it was the prospect of fresh peaches that clinched our decision to stop.

Farm Stands and Festivals

Luckily, everyone was willing, even though this became one of those turn-around-and-go-back moments. It didn’t take long. Nor did it take long to fill several plastic bags with juicy peaches, plump red tomatoes, and vine-ripened sweet grapes. We chatted a bit with the owners of the farm stand. Then, satisfied that we had made a good decision, we loaded our treasures into the back of the SUV and hastened on down the road, eager to get to the festival.

Truth be told, I’m a huge fan of quirky local festivals all across America. It helps to have a willing partner, and my husband and I have made special efforts to visit more than a few of them, including The Goat Festival in Perryville, AR, held annually on the first Saturday of October. We plan to be there again this year and have already ordered our t-shirts. Who can resist the prospect of a fashion show that features young kids in pajamas? The second weekend, on October 12, we plan to attend the 15th annual Sorghum Festival in nearby Mt. Ida, AR, sponsored by Heritage House Museum.

In Arkansas, it seems there are enough festivals and small town celebrations to keep me on the road all year long.

Following the grape festival, we planned to stop for a picnic on the way home. We opted for Paris.

Arkansas, not France.

Small Town Discoveries

The Olympic Games were slated to begin that very day in the “real” Paris across the pond. We had heard that the townspeople of Paris, Arkansas had decorated the 25-foot-tall replica Eiffel Tower that stands in the town square with iconic colored rings, symbol of the Games. It seemed only fitting that we stop there.

We had packed a picnic basket with bread, crackers and cheese, chicken salad, sliced ham, olives and pickles, cookies, fudge, and lemonade. And we had peaches from the farmstand, a bonus. Leaving Altus, we made a brief stop at Wiederkehr Village, which now also includes a tasting room and restaurant. Johann Andreas Wiederkehr, who arrived in the area in late 1880 from Switzerland, founded the family winery that is now the oldest continually operated winery in the state.

We planned to drink a small toast to the start of the Games. By the time we reached Paris, the air had cooled a bit and we found a picnic table in a city park. Large trees offered shade as we unpacked our picnic basket.

Small Town Delights

Traveling the back roads to Paris took us across rolling hills and along picturesque fields and pastures in this Ozark Mountain valley. It is rural, to be sure. Although I acknowledge that there are valid reasons to travel Interstate routes across the United States, country roads just seem more interesting.

That was the certainly the case for our drive to Paris, and I now have a full handful of reasons to return. In addition to finding the Eiffel Tower, we were intrigued by the adjacent Love Lock Fence, and spent a fair amount of time reading the names and dates on the locks.

There are well-maintained public buildings, stately old homes, towering shade trees, and flowers seemingly everywhere in Paris. I savored the sight of vintage automobiles resting aside old buildings as much as the flower-filled baskets hanging from the light posts.

I longed to visit the charming shops in the downtown area, and to walk through gardens filled with colorful flowers. I vowed I would return to visit the “Old Jail” Museum, the Coal Miners Museum, a wine museum, and Subiaco Abbey, a “working” Benedictine monastery founded in 1878. The monks there produce a hot sauce known as Monk Sauce, made from Habanero Peppers grown in the Abbey gardens.

And the murals! The street art and murals in this small town are exceptionally varied and striking, as unexpected as they are enchanting.

Paris is a small town with a population just slightly over 3,200 and a distinctive history. The city was incorporated in 1879, but a settlement had been established there five years earlier. Once the heart of an agricultural area, it has also been a railroad town and a coal mining center. We had too little time to explore fully, but I would like to learn more about life there, for it seems to “live larger” and have a more intriguing story than one would expect.

Just For the Fun of It . . .

~ adriennecohen221 ~ Leave a comment

Stoby’s, known as the home of a much-loved cheese dip known well by residents of Russellville, Arkansas, was the destination for a caravan of approximately 15 convertibles on Thursday, April 11.

The lovingly polished convertibles, all with tops down, arrived for lunch in Russellville after a scenic drive along “steep and curvy” Arkansas scenic byways. At times, workers, residents, and forestry crews along the route stopped what they were doing to wave as the caravan passed, and vehicles traveling on intersecting roadways usually did the same. It was the first “Escape the Gate” excursion of 2024 for a loosely organized group of convertible owners from Hot Springs Village, a planned community approximately 50 miles south of Russellville.

Many of the convertibles gathered at the designated meeting place outside the Village’s West gate at 10 a.m. with their tops up, drivers and passengers wearing fleece hoodies or quilted vests over sweaters and sweatshirts. Even though the day had dawned clear with a bright sun shining, the temperature was still a breezy 49 degrees as the time neared for departure. But depart we did, most of the vehicles with tops down, windows rolled up, and heat on. However, spirits were high, spring was in the air, and the fun of an hour-long drive through rural Arkansas was on the agenda.

No Age Limit on Good Times

This is a purely social group, with no regularly-scheduled meetings, no dues, and no participation requirements. There is little planning involved in scheduling an outing away from our gated community, and there are no regularly scheduled events. It is more a “looks like Thursday might be a good day for a road trip” kind of effort — the word for this excursion was spread by telephone with only four days’ notice. Excursions over the past couple of years typically include lunch at a destination not more than a couple of hours from the Village. After lunch, participants may continue to explore a new area or find their own way home via a route and on a timetable that is theirs alone.

Lunch is “Dutch treat,” and sometimes it’s as simple and old-fashioned as a picnic in a park.

Highways in the area are typically two-lane paved roads with little traffic. The routes are invariably scenic, sometimes winding through national forest land, skirting nearby streams and rivers, passing former CCC-improved picnic areas and campgrounds, or with views of local dams, locks, and spillways. Last year, the convertible club made two well-attended trips to nearby state parks. Once, the group made a scheduled stop at the Rockefeller Museum of Automobiles on the way, before proceeding on to Petit Jean State Park for lunch in a rustic lodge with a view of the surrounding valley beyond. Another time, the destination was a distinctive diner with the unlikely name of Toad Suck Buck’s, situated along the shore of the Arkansas River. The eatery is renowned for its steaks, and the owner, Ted Buck, had agreed to open his establishment to specially accommodate our group!

Let’s be clear, this is not a road rally or a race. Drivers are not off-road enthusiasts or backwoods explorers. Most are middle-aged or older gentlemen and their partners who simply like to put the tops down on their well-kept BMWs, Mustangs, Corvettes, or beloved motorized “toys” that run the gamut from aging Chevys and Toyotas to classic European sports cars.

And, yes, there are female owners and drivers in the group. With tops down and hair flying, women are perfectly able to put the pedal to the metal with skill and purpose.

It’s all for fun — did I already say that?

The most common comment when the group arrives at each destination is “What fun! We ought to do this more often.”

Now, About Stoby’s

The history of this eatery reads somewhat like fiction. But it’s all true!

This time, the attraction was a diner that started out in a single rail car. It has now grown to encompass a new “train station-sized” compound with several dining rooms the size of the original rail car. Stoby’s story is unique, and the hometown sensation celebrates its 40th anniversary in business this year! David Stobaugh (nickname Stoby) has a history, to be sure!

Retro decor and old photographs lend period charm to the eatery, and patrons are invited to sound a train whistle as they arrive at the diner. The food is worth the drive, both for quality and price! And the story is worth repeating!

Stoby’s is known for its Cheese Dip. It was sold at Walmart between 1992 and 2012. The diner is acclaimed for its sandwiches, made with a choice of breads, an option to choose two or three meats, and to select two cheeses from six options, all served with lettuce and tomato, and Stoby’s special sauce.

The menu also offers extensive additional food options, and all portions are more than amply-sized. There are salads and soups, burgers and fries, quesadillas, chicken tenders, a variety of pastas, and a month’s worth selection of cold and grilled sandwiches. To-go boxes are readily provided along with each order, and most diners happily take leftovers home for another meal from this legendary diner. We certainly did!

Stoby’s serves lunch from 11 – 9, but opens for breakfast at 6 a.m. daily

The appeal of Stoby’s goes beyond its good food, its prompt and friendly service, and its “small town boy made good” success story, however. Did we mention the desserts?

Although we had no room for pie or cake after our meal, we noted that others skipped the sandwiches and went straight for the sweets. Maybe next time. The display case certainly makes desserts look tempting.

On the road to Toad Suck

~ adriennecohen221 ~ 1 Comment

A string of convertibles – all with tops down — left last Saturday morning for a leisurely road trip from Hot Springs Village to Toad Suck, a little town in Arkansas with a name that invariably makes people laugh or shake their heads in disbelief. The excursion was a fall event for members of the loosely organized convertible-owners group “Escape the Gate.”

There may be a few “wannabe convertible owners” among the 190 names on the email list of this group, but on this day 52 people gathered in a parking lot just outside this planned, gated community. We departed in 26 shiny automobiles on an hour-long drive through scenic byways and fall foliage.

The planned destination was lunch at Toad Suck Bucks, a riverfront steakhouse with its own unique story, situated on a bluff overlooking the Arkansas River not far from the lock and dam that share the name.

The eatery is a lively place from Thursday through Sunday, featuring comfort food and good service, cold beer and good bourbon, as well as pool tables and shuffleboard inside and live music on the patio Friday and Saturday evenings. It’s lively and informal, and everyone there seems to know their neighbors.

Toad Suck Bucks has been drawing a crowd for 23 years. Except for a few more dollar bills stapled to the walls and columns today, it probably hasn’t changed much since it first opened. Toads – what else? – are a décor element.

The owner doesn’t normally fire up the grill until 2 p.m. on Saturday and at 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

However, owner Ted Buck agreed to be there early to accommodate the convertible crowd on this Saturday. He was in the kitchen turning out burgers and fries, catfish sandwiches and fried bologna sliders, grilled shrimp and pork tamale bites, assisted by his wife and regular crew who pitched in to assure that the people-pleasing quality of this country-favorite diner was intact. Buck still found time to shake hands and explain the history of this quirky Arkansas treasure.

It’s a unique find, but it’s not at all unknown. Toad Suck Bucks boasts a Facebook following of 7.4K, with nearly as many likes! The interior is as quirky as the name, filled with mismatched tables and chairs that can be reconfigured at will to fill any need. There is a sign that proclaims: “No profanity, please,” and another hand-lettered sign hangs from the ceiling near the kitchen as the dessert menu. I’ll bet it changes often, based on what’s in season, or maybe just at the whim of the baker.

Parking isn’t a problem, and it’s obvious that when the weather allows, the “party” naturally spills onto a patio that’s filled with picnic tables and comfortable lawn chairs! Open bulbs are strung for evening illumination and there are no posted closing hours!

Buck returned to his native Arkansas following military service in both the U.S. Navy and Air Force – he laughingly agrees that’s unusual, and he eventually settled on this quiet spot in this peaceful part of the state. A couple of homes and several outbuildings exist on the property today, and a single sign at the head of a long driveway leads newcomers to the site.

He says he operated a flea market in the building that now houses the restaurant, then he bought a pool table to pass the time with friends. One pool table wasn’t enough, so he bought several more, and more friends arrived. Buck once served simple snacks, with BYOB get-togethers the norm. Then, he adds, “Someone suggested we grill some steaks.”

Toad Suck Bucks was born.

Getting there isn’t always easy. No billboards proclaim its existence. There was a several-mile stretch of dirt road that had drivers wondering if we had all taken a wrong turn. Our colorful convoy prompted other drivers to stop, wave, and let us pass as we made our way through small towns and turned across lanes of traffic. I’ll wager we could have asked directions from any one of the residents had we actually thought to do so. Despite the dust, our group arrived intact, and later Buck shared the “easy way” to keep us all on pavement on the way home.

All in all, it was a perfect autumn day for a top-down drive along country roads, an excursion that makes for fond memories. Ken Buck has surely been doing something right for the past couple of decades, and many of our group vowed to return. Add 52 more “likes” to the total!

Goats — and fun — galore!

~ adriennecohen221 ~ 1 Comment

The population of Perryville, AR, swelled by several thousand October 1 for the first Arkansas Goat Festival held since the Coronavirus pandemic was declared in 2020. The quirky event, a long-standing tradition in this tiny central Arkansas community located only about an hour from the state capital of Little Rock, was expected to attract up to 8,000 visitors, according to organizers.

Seemingly, there is something for everyone at the Goat Festival — goat parades, of course — with animals “au natural, in costume, baby goats, and “big guys” — milking booths, goat playgrounds, and petting pens. A “Nannies at Night” lingerie show was also on the schedule! Goats are required to be leashed or tethered, but “mingling” is encouraged.

It was a perfect day for an outing. With scores of vendor booths, live music, and dozens of food trucks, it’s the kind of local folk festival that we love, one of the great American traditions that we hope never disappears from America. You can bet we’ll have it on our calendar for next year! There are other events like this, in Arkansas and elsewhere around the country, and they’re all worth visiting! Check out other Arkansas festivals planned for the rest of 2022.

There’s nothing like a day trip to a unique local celebration to add flavor to life and open your mind and your heart to new fun and adventure!