2025 Road Trip: Part 5 (AR-TX)

Arkansas to Dallas, TX

Day 5
5.26.25

It seems that every time I visit Arkansas, I end up trying to avoid getting soaked by rain. Thankfully there was no downpour overnight, but after the previous day's storms, and I suppose with the humidity, everything was just as wet outside in the morning as it was when we arrived the night before. This was our second night using the tent on the trip, since Benny was kind enough to let us sleep inside the house during our visit :) and although the water drips from nearby trees were loud, we stayed nice and dry inside the tent.

By mid-morning, we reluctantly exited the tent and packed up, trying to shake off water as best we could.  Lacking any sort of campsite amenities (read: picnic table), we opted to stop by a rest area close by off I-40. This was one thing I was going back and forth on in the prep phase - should I get a small folding table for cooking on? I didn't get one, and honestly this would have been one of the more helpful items to have considering our campsite choices at times.

Leaving Watensaw WMA

Driving out of Watensaw WMA was very colorful, as green flora always seems more vibrant after rain despite other colors appearing more muted. We had a few miles of green tunnel along a gravel road before turning onto paved roads that led us quickly back to I-40. I did stop once to clear a rather large tree branch that was partially blocking the road...all I can say is the working trail crew at Baxter State Park has forever changed me, and I can't see a branch blocking the way without stopping to clear it.

Our chosen rest area was perfect, featuring a multitude of covered picnic tables. The only downside of stops like this is the road noise, which I try to avoid by going to other places to enjoy meals, but on a day that we expected some rain throughout the day, I'll take the roof over a picnic table, thanks.

I was excited for breakfast, which was going to feature some sausage and eggs cooked on my cherished cast iron pan - a big upgrade for this road trip compared to a cheap "non-stick" pan. Even cheesy eggs clean up pretty easy if you fry some sausage or other meat first, and we were both happy to enjoy a hot breakfast in the drizzly morning.

Tasty breakfast of eggs and sausage

The fun and games ends here however, as I made an unlucky move trying to load our kitchen tote back into the car while wearing my hooded raincoat. I smashed my forehead into the hatchback pretty badly because I was loading from the curb, meaning I no longer fit underneath unless I duck. Many expletives followed, as this hurt so badly, and I was convinced I was going to have a goose egg on my head for a few days. At least it wasn't bleeding, though Yilin tells me the red mark was quite visible nonetheless.

Sealed tightly inside the car after breakfast, we decided to stop at the next CVS in Little Rock for some arnica gel to ease my swelling. I can't believe how well this worked, as I've only used this on occasion before for muscle pain, but it seemed to do the trick for this as well.

From here, it was a straight shot along I-30 down to Dallas, where we'd be meeting Emilia for some BBQ in the evening. Seems like it's true that everyone drives faster in Texas, even the truckers, and that means you gotta rush so you don't get run over. The weather dried out as we made our way west, though it was still cloudy (the best conditions for a road trip honestly, otherwise you bake in the car).

I was not prepared for just how far things are in Texas, and I had it in my mind that Dallas was just past the state line in Texarkana, but I was wrong. It's another few hours further before we started to see signs of the Dallas metro area. Emilia texted us as we neared saying it was pouring rain again, which we could see on the radar map I'd been monitoring all day in case something crazy developed on our route. Also, the sky was a very strange shade of gray and weirdly smooth yet dynamic for storm clouds, but I figured that must have been the system she was talking about since it was dead ahead of us.

It was about 4:20 when we made into town, where Yilin had found us an AirBnB to stay at close to downtown Dallas, and we managed to miss the rain (for now). We were staying in this quaint green house just northeast of downtown that had an alligator sculpture on the table outside, and a shy cat hanging out on the porch, but most importantly for us, a place to shower and get cleaned up, and a fridge to store our cold food for a couple days while we explore the area.

The welcoming scene at our Dallas AirBnB

We planned to meet Emilia at Ten50 Barbeque, about halfway between us and where she was in Plano, and we were all excited to get some food there! The format of this place is you walk up to the meat station outside and order what you want there, and take your tray indoors to get your sides, desserts, drinks, and any sauces you want. We decided to get an assortment of things to share, including some pulled pork, beef brisket, jalapeño sausage, onion rings, and a few side orders. Yilin tried a peach mule to accompany her dinner, which looked quite fancy, though I can't comment on the taste as the designated driver for the trip. Right next to where we sat down was a Chevy split-windshield truck, with a flat bed hauling wooden barrels on display among the tables. Pretty cool to see it even if it's not drivable.

Ten50 BBQ centerpiece

Peabody Reunion, Dallas 2025

It was fun to catch up with Emilia and hear how her time at UNT has been for the last few years, and also congrats on graduating this spring if you're reading! Sadly we didn't get to spend more time together since she's a busy music teacher and had a bunch of lessons to teach the next day, so we Yilin and I were on our own for the next couple days. I had left this portion up to her for planning what we should do and see, since I'm notoriously bad at visiting cities.

In her research as we approached Dallas, Yilin made us a great itinerary of things to do, including visiting Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, about 80 miles southwest of the city, and then hang out by the stockyards in Fort Worth for the afternoon. On our second day, we would check out the Dallas Museum of Art, the Giant Eyeball, and the Chapel at Thanks-Giving Square. And one doesn't leave Texas without visiting Buc-ee's, so that was on our list as well.

Neighborhood cat on our porch

Our eyes set on hopefully seeing and feeding a giraffe (among other animals) at Fossil Rim the next morning, we got some well-earned rest after a couple long days on the road.

Day 5 Route map: 363 miles
Total mileage: 1692