Inital Post

Let’s get to the “Aux Arcs” – Ozark relationship right now. The words in French relate to the “northern-most bend” in the Arkansas River – the reference from the early French explorers and cartographers of the Arkansas River, years before the Louisiana Purchase made the area a part of the United States of America. The best description I have found is at a great little web site by the merchants of Ozark, Arkansas, at this location (see story and map): http://www.ozarkmerchants.com/aux_arcs.html

Ozark is located south of I-40 east of Fort Smith, in Arkansas, and on the north side of the Arkansas River, of course. Wikipedia has a nice article on Ozark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark,_Arkansas), including some interesting information about their relationship with Craig Ferguson, the late night TV host and comedian.

* * * * *

Our family has visited the Ozarks (southern Missouri – northern Arkansas) at least once every year since 1970 – while living in Iowa, Arizona, and Kansas during that period. We have also visited most of the other states of the USA, as well, and continue to do so. In June 2009 we shifted our permanent residence to the Ozarks - Hollister, MO, near Branson, MO - to be specific, and now travel from there. Entries will generally be weekly in 2009; perhaps more frequent as we move into 2010.

If you haven’t visited the Ozarks region, yet, you should, soon!

Dr. Bill ;-)