I'm in Northern Arkansas this evening, just below the Missouri border about to begin a two day fishing trip with some guys at work. I'm very homesick for my sweetheart tonight.

The drive up here was very interesting. As I've already written, I've never been to this part of the country before. It's pretty, rural, very green with rolling hills. It's much like the country around the Brasher lodge in Missouri, but with even more trees. We stopped at a store in one of the towns for some fishing stuff and I noticed there were no blacks in the store. Northern AR, I'm told, is almost all white folk.

I listened to talk radio as I drove, and was entertained by the host's comments about all the junk coming out of Hollywood. He said "people on the East and West coasts just think we're just 'fly over' country. They have no idea, nor do they care what we think in the heartland." Later, I heard a commercial about a "Christian HMO". Send in a monthly fee and if you get sick, payments will be sent to you in behalf of all the other Christians who send in fees. Plus you'll get cards and letters from other Christians all over the country wishing you well. Never heard of anything like that before. I was also surprised at how many Christian talk shows were on the air (along with Rush Limbaugh and Paul Harvey).

I love you all.