Sunday, June 25

Sunday dawned another bright sunshiny day.  We knew that nothing was going to happen with the bus today so we might as well settle in and try to find something to make this experience more enjoyable.

After some searching and exploring, we found Fort Smith National Historic Site right down the road from us.  And since it was a National Historic Site, Katie actually got to use her Park Pass!!!  So we loaded up the Corolla and headed over.

Fort Smith, Arkansas was the fort at the end of the Trail of Tears.  It was the place that all the Native Americans passed through before entering their new homes.  It had a history before that but that was the part that stood out the most to me.  It was so interesting to see the marker on the land saying this is Arkansas and this is Indian Territory.  (The actual marker was inside the museum, don't think anybody got a picture of it.)

The other piece of history from Fort Smith was that it was the location of the Hanging Judge.  The Judge was assigned this post for many years.  His job was to bring law to the Indian Nations.  Surprisingly, it wasn't the Native Americans that he hung, it was mostly white men who took advantage of the Native Americans on their land.  Fort Smith actually had a gallows that could hang up to 12 men.  It was fascinating.  The more I read about this judge, the more fascinated I was.  He didn't like hanging people, but he knew that is what had to be done to establish the law.  For a science person to actually be interested in the history part of this, took some doing, but it got my attention.  If you are bored and need something to read about, look up Fort Smith, Arkansas.

After several hours at Fort Smith, we decided it was time for some ice cream.  Then we headed back to the hotel for another night and hopes and prayers that Daisy would be fixed in the morning.