Thursday July 20 I go to Osceola, Arkansas. I find and go up an inlet waterway. Barges are parked along the narrow passage up to dike that holds Lake Neark. Fishermen are here in abundance.
I find a waterway blocking my passage over the levee. After a brief search I return to ask one of the fisherman for directions into town. I follow a dirt path that comes to a hay field. I go over a barbwire fence that is heavily sagged with use. I pop out of the woods and weeds into a dumping ground where I find some black teenagers standing around their car drinking beer. I ask them where the town is and they point and I follow the gravel road into town.
A grocery store and restaurant lay right in my path. The restaurant was called Sarrelli's Deli. The deli and grocery store was in a black neighborhood. The owner of the store was white with a mostly white dining clientele who were driving into the neighborhood to eat. Mr. Sarrelli gave me a hat printed by the Vernon Company from my home town. He let me fill up on water in the kitchen. I was really happy to have some great food to eat, other than my usual 4 packets of oatmeal.
The people in Osceola were really wonderful and nice to me. I carry a heavy load of water and food back to my boat. It rains as I do so. The trip back was shorter, now that I knew the route. A large group of kids fishing watched me pack my boat and paddle out of the inlet.
Once out of the inlet the light rain has turned into a full storm. I hold next to a mud bank and wait out the storm, as well as letting two barges pass by.
The willows dominate the forest, they have a fur like appearance. The bark has a cork like softness. The mud banks are a multi colored Crayola.
Diary entry from the book {Prometheus Lives} by Artist Troy Richard Thomas
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