Erifnus waited patiently beside old hotels and farmhouses, chapels and prisons, diners and greasy spoons, graveyards, museums, creeks and canyons and unsavory encounters. She always escaped with a story. She won an Emmy. I just went along for the ride.
Nature’s Canvas
The Great Impressionist has turned expansive soybean fields to green and gold palettes worthy of Monet or Van Gogh, framed by hardwoods who slowly dress for autumn.
When the Big One Washes Us Away
OK, this wasn’t our boat. But the same Hurricane Omar chased us from St. Barts to a hurricane hole in St. Martin. Photo above is on Anguilla, just north of St. Martin/St. Maarten. On a spit island just north of … Read More
12,000 Poles Down
The storm spread a path of destruction through northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. In two Bootheel counties alone, the ice toppled 12,000 telephone poles.
SOS
See this and you know you’re headed into hell. From a dozen states a bucket truck convoy as far as the eye could see.
Nature Rocks the Bootheel
Seven years ago this weekend the Ice Storm of 2009 rolled across northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, thick as Dusty’s beard.
Looney Creek
It’s now a sanctuary for animals, this old church at Looney Creek Cemetery. Erifnus doesn’t mind. Buried here, my great great grandfather was shot by a Union firing squad, along with nine other young men, in a terrifying event that … Read More
Rafting the Mississippi
The days were getting warmer when I got a call from a good friend alerting me that an adventurous soul was about to experience the dream of every American river rat. He’d built a raft, and was looking for crew … Read More
Kingdom Come
It was 10 p.m. when I reached Kingdom City. Fresh water filled a labyrinth of potholes in the parking lot of the Iron Skillet Truck Stop. The depositor, a monstrous thunderstorm, fled the scene, churning east down the highway, framing … Read More
Erifnus Caitnop
So I set out to feel every crack in Missouri’s pavement. As with all stories – and symphonies and carnal acts – it was an uneven ride. Although a dozen friends and a handful of reporters rode with me on … Read More