American Roadtrip: Day One - Certainly, it's Uncertain!

So, starting this roadtrip with some uncertainty... with a visit to Uncertain, TX!

Uncertain is a city in Harrison County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 150. The City of Uncertain was incorporated in 1961 as a Type B, General Law City with a mayor and five aldermen on an at large basis. Uncertain is located on the shore of Caddo Lake and derives its name from surveyors who were attempting to delineate the border between Texas and Louisiana and discovered that they were "uncertain" as to which side of the line they were on as they began surveying that particular part of Caddo Lake.

I learned a valuable lesson, while in Uncertain... NEVER make fun of the house of the Lord. Even if it is called Church of Uncertain. After taking the photo above, I promptly drove into a ditch. My driver side back wheel was completely up in the air. No matter how much grass and soil I tried to displace, I could not get out.

In the end I had to flag down a very nice local young man, who happen to have a chain in his truck and he had to tow me out. Very embarrassing, esp after he greeted me with a 'You're not from around here, huh...'

After skirting Caddo Lake I headed north to Little Rock, Arkansas. Caddo Lake is an internationally protected wetland under the RAMSAR treaty and features the largest Cypress forest in the world. Caddo is one of Texas' few non-oxbow natural lakes and is the 2nd largest in the South; however, it was artificially altered by the addition of a dam in the 1900s. Most trees are eerily draped with Spanish moss (see below) and I am promising myself a return trip to spend a long weekend here.

After making it to North Little Rock, I checked into my motel for the night, I was a bit nervous as on the drive in I realized I might be in the ghetto part of town. It was confirmed a while later when I drove to a local pizza place to pick up dinner and there was a sign in the door advising patrons that they will be closing at 9 pm for a safety meeting!!!! The rest of the evening was spent listening to drunken screaming and running footsteps. About 11 pm there was a volley of gunshots and I checked out. High tailing it out of town on the I-40 I stopped a while later in Carlisle, AR to spend a very peaceful night in rural Arkansas!