Southern Road Trip
Interview With an Arkansas “Redneck”
From the bright skies and glowing energy of Tulsa, I needed to take just a jaunt southeast into Arkansas to get to my next destination.
I was on my way to Hot Springs. Here I’d stay with hosts I’d never met, dig for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, and marvel at the hot springs flowing out of the mountain in the center of this town.
But on the way, I first got to meet Bill Jones.
Of all highways, I found myself on US highway 71 in Arkansas, the road my hometown Blackduck, MN — almost 1000 miles straight north — also happens to be on.
I was enjoying the rolling, green terrain on this narrow, windy section of 71, when I glanced to my left to see a property that reminded me of a few I know along this road in rural Minnesota. Seemingly random items were strewn all over the front yard: bed, outdoors cooker, deer skulls. Several pieces collected underneath a pole shelter, and a flag pole flew one key distinction between good ‘ole boys in Minnesota and those from here: the Confederate flag.
I turned my car around, returned to this rural residence, and snapped a few pictures from across the road. Then out he came from his trailer to ask what I was doing. I wasn’t sure what to think as the lanky man walked toward me. I simply introduced myself, Bill Jones did the same, and then the self-proclaimed redneck opened up to me about his life in rural Arkansas and outlook on the world:
This unplanned interaction was nonetheless just the kind of experience I was hoping for. I kept my eyes open for future opportunities. Many more would enter my line of vision during this road trip through the South.
Next time, we arrive to the picturesque, energetic community of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
This work is excerpted from the original published at theperiphery.areavoices.com on August 19, 2016.
