TWO PEAS AND THE POD: VILLAGE CREEK STATE PARK (AR)

TUESDAY - Our Walmart "campsite" was only 13-miles from the Mississippi River bridge that would have us crossing the Tennessee/Missouri border.

This crossing would be our 87th such crossing between states that we haven't done before, that only leaves 20 more to do to have the complete series.

This is not the first, or even the last time that we'll be driving across the Missipssippi River...

..., but it is the first time we've done it between the states of Tennessee and Missouri.

WARNING: If you're not at least a little bit interested in U.S. geography and history you might want to skip this post and rejoin us on the next one!

The area inside the purple outline is called the Missouri Bootheel.

The only reason this border between Tennessee and Missouri exists is because of one man, John Hardeman Walker. Walker was the prominent landowner of the current boot heel region and apparently had enough clout in Washington DC to have his request that his land be part of the new state of Missouri and not that of Arkansas.

In 1820 the State of Missouri was created and the only part of the state that is located south of 36 degrees 30 minutes latitude is the "bootheel" in the southeast corner of the state.

Why do I find this interesting?

If John Hardeman Walker had not had his request approved, we would have had a second "4-corners" location in the United States.

Presently, only the states of UT/CO/AZ/NM meet in one location.

If you move the bottom of the boot heel up to the latitude with the rest of the state, where it was first chosen to be, the states of MO/KY/AR/TN would all meet in the center of the Mississippi River.

Granted, it wouldn't have made such a great tourist location to visit if you wanted just to stand in four states at the same time, which is what the location out west offers to it's visitors.

If you're still reading this I have one more tidbit of geographical oddities to share.

The "Kentucky Bend" is located right in the same general area that we've been looking at.

When the borders of the states of Tennessee and Kentucky were established, the western border of Kentucky was designated as the Mississippi River and it's southwestern border with Tennessee is that same 36 degrees 30 minutes latitude that Arkansas and Missouri used.

Tennessee of course challenged the inclusion of the bend region being part of Kentucky, but in 1848 they eventually dropped their claim.

What do I find interesting about this?

If you want to drive to this bend area of Kentucky, you can't get there from anywhere else in Kentucky, unless you first drive through Tennessee!

If you haven't already guessed it's been a pretty slow "news day" for us.

We're just spending two days here at Village Creek State Park in Arkansas enjoying some down time in this nearly empty campground.

Here are a few campsite photos to hold you over until our next stop.