For the next 10 months we are living about an hour and a half from home during the week. We took the Jeep home last trip and took a “short cut” on the trip back. The road we took was a gravel road between Hilltop and Osage in Arkansas. It looks as if it is normally fairly well maintained but given the recent flooding there were some interesting parts to it. It was a beautiful drive and that is half the fun for us, going off the beaten path and avoiding the tourists that are starting to take over NW Arkansas. I am not a patient driver and getting caught behind someone going 35 in a 55 with no way to pass really ticks me off. I don’t mind tourists taking their time and having a look around, it is gorgeous here this time of year. I do mind tourists that do not pull out and let the line of 10 cars behind them they are holding up get by.

Now that my 19 month old can repeat anything she hears I really have to watch what I say when driving and not being able to swear at idiot drivers ticks me off even more. Tourists add about half an hour to what was a short quick little trip. Driving the Jeep adds an additional half hour, she doesn’t zoom around the corners or fly up the hills at the same pace our Yukon with the V8 does.

Here are a few pictures from the road.

This is a groomed part of the road, I was driving so my husband was probably holding on for dear life with his eyes closed over the rocky bits.

There were a few low water crossings

Here’s an old barn right before coming into Osage

Its a short cut I’m sure we’ll take again.