(DEAR READER: it rips my heart out to do this but this week I am repeating parts of two (2) related columns from May of 2018. I promise you’ll love re-visiting them with the obvious changes.)
=—-= — =
AN ARKIE ROAD TRIP.
It’s been awhile, but [blurred nickname] and I hit the road again this past weekend to see a rumored semi-local attraction with our own doubting eyes.
It was during a visit with my mother a few weeks earlier that I first heard about the ‘Pyramid City’ somewhere up in the REAL boonies in Montgomery County. Years ago she and my father had once driven there with friends who had property nearby.
As she recalled, the place included seven or eight houses that looked like pyramids, and a big one which was supposedly a ‘town hall.’
The place had been built by a mysterious cult. They were reportedly only there for awhile, and then suddenly — poof! — they were gone.
Gone, except for one pointy house that still had occupants at the time of my parents’ visit.
I asked around on Facebook and got a modest description of how to find this place, and we set off to find it.
The [blurred nickname] had an explanation about the disappearance of the Pyramid City residents. She has explanations for many things.
“I’ll bet aliens landed and took those people away,” [blurred nickname] said. “Either that, or they were really aliens themselves returning to the mother ship.”
She believes that aliens were involved because this place is close to Mena as the crow flies, and she believes that lots of people in Mena are actually from outer space.
I have learned never to argue with [blurred nickname].
To get to the pyramids we drove through Murfreesboro, Glenwood, and Norman, and stayed a ways on Highway 8 past Black Springs. Then we took a paved turnoff marked ‘Sulphur Springs’ and went to the first fork which was Sulphur Springs Road.
All roads turned to bad gravel at this point.
Then to Big Fork Road, and another mile or so down a dusty, dusty, dusty narrow trail.
About the time we were beginning to think we were on a wild goose chase, we spotted the pyramid houses.
They were close to the road, easily seen. There were seven or eight structures, each covered with metal siding painted different colors. They looked more like teepees than pyramids. (Cue the outerspace mystery music: They also looked like a collection of rocket nosecones pointed skyward, but that’s just my opinion.)
Sure enough there was a large pyramid which we figgered was the town hall.
The grounds showed signs of recent mowing. And behind one house there appeared to be an alien working in his garden. Makes me wonder if aliens grow what they eat.
We were too fearful to ask if we could look closer at the place. Instead, we drove back toward Planet Earth.
Once back on the paved Sulphur Springs road I noticed that we crossed over a little bitty creek on a very narrow bridge. A green sign on the bridge announced Caddo River. Wow! It was not even three feet wide at that point, and it was maybe two inches of clear water tumbling over mossy rocks. You could literally step across the river.
It wasn’t much of a bridge; really more of a short, shallow culvert.
When we got back to State Highway 8 we didn’t sensibly turn back toward home. We went on a ways because I wanted to see the community known as Board Camp. We never got there — or maybe we went thru it and didn’t know. At any rate, we were afraid to get much closer to Mena just in case the town’s ‘human being detectors’ were engaged.
We reversed course back toward Norman. And spotted a small sign that pointed to a narrow road. Shady Lake 15 miles, it announced.
The afternoon was still young and we still had most of a box of Triscuits, so we dared to take the road. It was very rough and narrow and dusty. And lonely. Somehow I got confused and took a fork that turned out to be a hiking trail. Man, it was REALLY rough and narrow. But the upside was that there was no oncoming traffic.
By the time we drove the 15 miles to Shady Lake, we had seen only two hikers and a hen turkey. It took us most of an hour to cover that short distance.
Next time I go to Pyramid City I’ll ask the alien if I can look around. He’ll have to promise not to beam me up to the mother ship. Or ask for any of the Triscuits.
=—-= — =
And here is the second week’s part of the repeat. You’ll see why.
=—-= — =
AN UPDATE ON ‘Pyramid City’ which was a part of this column last week.
My mother remembers walking through the abandoned larger ‘City Hall’ pyramid. She recalls that among the items abandoned inside by the cult were objects representing many religions or denominations.
She recalls a Christian cross, a Jewish Menorah, a Catholic crucifix. There were other items but she’s not real sure what they were, except some were exotic.
I suggested that there might have been a Baptist casserole dish, but she just raised her eyebrows and gave me that look that told me no matter how old I was I could still get a whipping.
Some of you may be familiar with that look. It wasn’t limited to Catholic mothers. Jewish moms have been doing it since Old Testament days.
=—-= — =
SWEET DREAMS, Baby
