Bragg Family South

Kenny is standing next to one of the largest train engines ever built. This is a Union Pacific steam engine that travels the country in promotional venues. Weighing almost 1 million pounds, this engine was built just as the steam-powered trains were being replaced by diesel-electric engines. This particular engine (Union Pacific actually has two of them) stopped in North Little Rock a couple days ago, and since I had a meeting in Little Rock that day, Hope and the kids tagged along. They got to check the engine out closely, and I think Kenny was very impressed. We are trying to firm up the dates of our June/July trip up north, but we now plan to only briefly stop in Madison on our way up to Rhinelander. John and Jim will actually be in Rhinelander that first weekend, and since Laurie and Mark have to work the whole weekend, we figured it would be easier just to have a quick visit. We will be in Rhinelander just under a week before driving down to Whitmore Lake where we'll vis...

It is the time of year where just about every little town and village in Arkansas has some theme-based festival. Monticello just had its "Rough-and-Ready Days", which celebrates one of the older precursor settlements to what eventually became Monticello (there was also a Civil War skirmish in Monticello associated with the village once called Rough-and-Ready). Kenny is "driving" the train in the small carnival that accompanied the festivities (Beth is still too small for the rides). The highlight for Hope and me is the barbeque chicken contest. Local teams compete for the title as champion, and roast up various recipes of chicken. They make enough to sell a barbeque chicken dinner complete with a quarter chicken, beans, potato salad, and a roll for $5. We also indulge ourselves in a funnel cake, which is doughnut batter spread in a circular pattern in hot oil, then covered in powdered sugar. MMMMMMM!! Almost as good as a deep-fried Twinkie!! For those that ar...

Last Friday I came across a neat piece of history--I was taking a walk through one of the parcels of land on the UAM campus when I spotted this point lying on the surface of a road cut. I had walked past this spot dozens of times over the last few years, and never saw this point, so it must have washed out following recent rains. I asked Dr. Marvin Jeter, UAM Station archeologist, and he identified it as a "Gary Point" typical of the Late Archaic period--or about 3 to 5 thousand years old! The point is almost 4 inches long and about 1.5 inches at its widest, and it still surprisingly sharp. Note how I have not called this an "arrowhead", as true arrow points are much smaller than this, and of much more recent vintage. This point would have been on a spear or dart, and Dr. Jeter thinks that because of its quality, it may never have been used to hunt, but rather may have been produced for a more ceremonial purpose (perhaps even a burial!). I hope to return to th...