Back In The USSR

Along Hwy. 65, deep in the Arkansas Delta, is the small community of Moscow.



Luckily there is no Putin here. Just a few houses and a large collection of farm equipment.



Dark storm clouds lingered above Moscow, and the nearby fields that all the farm equipment will soon be taking over.

Grady

Most people drive right past the small town of Grady as the hurry by on Hwy. 65. In fact a lot of people might remember Grady since it used to be a pretty notorious speed trap. I got caught there too, way back when I was in college heading down to New Orleans for Spring Break. 

Grady sits within the Arkansas Delta, and is surrounded by flat fields that are dotted with grain silos. I pulled off of Hwy. 65 and made a quick stop at this one, which was reflected in a large puddle. It was a stormy day and dark clouds were overhead.



Spring is almost here, and the barren fields will soon be growing soybean and rice and cotton.



The old high school in Grady was built in 1915, and was used until the school district was consolidated with Star City.



And just down the road is this old house:



And just outside of town was this abandoned farmhouse:



Also nearby is this old church, almost hidden amongst the trees and overgrown brush:



And a quick peek inside. It looks like the floor is about to fully collapse (I wasn't brave enough to step inside):



And one last shot, of another abandoned house that stood out thanks to its bright paint:

School's Out

In the flat and verdant lands of the Arkansas Delta sits an abandoned school. The rusty metal doors were probably once locked up tight, but they had been pushed open at some point. It's hard to tell how long it has been abandoned. There are still some library books on shelves and assorted toys scattered about. But also parts of the roof are gone, and chunks of ceiling tiles and insulation sit in soggy heaps on the ground.





It had stormed the day before, and rainwater had percolated throughout the building. The long hallway in the middle of school was interspersed with puddles, and the floors were still wet.



I'm not sure of the history of the building. It was once an elementary school, but it probably closed when the school district was consolidated. It then served as a daycare/learning center. In one room, there were some old teddy bears left behind.



In one room there were desks set up, as if a teacher would stroll in at anytime to start a lesson. But most of the chairs were filled with debris or water. Many of the desks had water damage, the fake wood peeling up like sunburned skin.



Like all abandoned and forgotten places, there was that sense of both sadness and foreboding. This building must have seen decades worth of kids passing through, running down the halls and trying to sit still during math lessons. Now the only movement was water dripping down through the gaps in the ceiling.





Although the students are long gone, there are a few reminders of them. Like this stuffed animal, sitting on a book shelf that's covered with fallen debris from the ceiling.



The screams and laughs of kids at recess are nothing but memories. Now the building is quiet, the only noise being the sounds of the occasional car driving down the nearby road. 

Under The Bridge

The newly rebuilt I-30 bridge, which cost 634 million dollars and took four years to complete, recently opened up. And along with it, large swaths of Riverfront Park which had previously been home to construction equipment. I had some free time so I headed to the park, and set up the camera under the bridge for a few pictures.



The bridge is nice, I guess. I mean it accomplishes the goal of getting cars across the river. But it's a bit boring, though. For all the money they spent on it, could it have hurt them to make it look nicer? When the Golden Gate Bridge was built, it cost $35 million (which was the equivalent of $610 million in today's money). But for the same amount this looks like the basic and cheapest bridge option from the first Sim City game.

Pettaway

Last weekend was the Mardi Gras parade along Main Street in the SOMA area of Little Rock. We were actually able to participate this time, riding along on the float for the Paper Hearts Bookstore (the kids seemed to love it). Before the start of the parade, all the floats had to line up and wait. We were parked along a side street in the Pettaway neighborhood, and as we waited I saw something that looked like it might make for a decent picture. So I returned a few days later, when hopefully the street wouldn't be so crowded with parade floats and marching bands.

When I got there it was still busy. There were a bunch of construction workers and trucks around - the city was redoing the sidewalks. I parked and managed to get a few quick pictures without hopefully getting too much in their way. But what caught my attention was this quaint old house, sitting in front of the hulking edifice of the old VA hospital. The hospital closed a long time ago, and the building had been empty for awhile. It's currently being turned into apartments.



Not too far away is a wooden carving of the Lorax, from the Dr. Seuss book. Carved below is the word "UNLESS," which is from a famous quote in the book: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Which seems really fitting in this bizarre new world we see ourselves in now, as National Park rangers are being cruelly and needlessly fired and millions of acres of National Forest lands are being offered up for destruction. It's really heartbreaking.