Day 8 - Gangsters Paradise

 Hot Springs, AR

The first part of this journey has always been with family in mind. For several years now we've been unable to visit family for leisure because planning for it was so difficult, so when the thought of the Healing Road came about, I wanted to begin the journey seeing loved ones and doing whatever I can to make up for that lost time. And while I recognize it's not much - a day here, 2 days there - it's a start. As well, it's a safe place. A place to land while rumbling through the country. In that sense, I'm fortunate that we have family living in other States. Which is ironic when you think about the first part of this statement - we've not been able to visit because they're so far away.

Ten years ago my Dad and his wife, Sarah, retired from the Chicagoland area to Hot Springs Village, AR. Hot Springs Village is a 50 square mile community that includes all its own amenities including nine public golf courses, one private golf course and country club, four large lakes and a number of small lakes, shopping, schools, gas stations, and all situated along the edge of the Ozark Mountains. When they told me they were considering this place for retirement, I was a bit surprised. Arkansas, I thought, is not exactly a destination state, right? Wrong...

Outside of Hot Springs Village is the town of Hot Springs. Ever heard of it? Until Dad and Sarah committed to moving here, me either. Of course I'd heard of Little Rock. Anybody who's ever been through the 5th grade has at least heard the names of each State Capital, but outside of Little Rock I couldn't have told you the name of another place in this State. But let me tell you now, Hot Springs Arkansas is as good a town to tour as any in this country! This place has an amazing, extraordinarily unique history unlike any I've ever heard. Gambling, liquor, prostitution, gangsters, high power politicos, professional athletes... I'm not talking about Las Vegas! I'm talking about Hot Springs, AR.

The town gets its name from the natural hot springs that come up out of the ground on the mountain ridges at about 135 degrees and then make their way down the rock into small pools where the water temperature is about 105 degrees. It was about 150 years ago that, along this ridge, the locals began to build bath houses. These bath houses were considered to have healing properties, and so in those days, chronically ill folks would show up to "bathe" in the Hot Springs bath houses as a sort of medical treatment. Tourism wasn't exactly an industry in those days, but the town's folk recognized that people were coming here from far away places, and that meant they were coming with money. Before long there were casinos, or "clubs". With casinos came entertainment. With entertainment came prostitution. And with all of those things together came the BIG money players. All of this would mean it needed management, but at one point everything was made illegal. Booze, gambling, ladies of the night, were all outlawed and yet, the band played on. So who else to manage an entire town built on leisure and tourism? Gangsters.

I'm not talking about people you've never heard of. I'm talking about infamous, ruthless, cut throat gangsters whos names precede them. Owney Madden, Al Capone, Pretty-Boy Floyd, Frank Costello, and Lucky Luciano to name a few. And with that kind of money coming to town, other interests would follow. If you're a baseball fan you've heard of the Grapefruit Leagues of Florida and the Cactus Leagues of Arizona professional ball clubs use for Spring Training? Well in those days, Spring Training was held in Hot Springs, and names like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Lou Gehrig, would see this town once a year and co-mingle together in the various clubs.

Given the town was being run by gangsters, it became a haven for outlaws, too. Outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger. In those days, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI was a fledgling idea and despite their best efforts, they couldn't penetrate the town because the town's folks would see the FBI coming from miles away and would set off a series of bells, alerting all the gangsters and all the outlaws enabling them plenty of time to go into hiding. After all, the town's folks didn't want their money to dry up! And where was all the money coming from? Gangsters and outlaws.

Absolutely fascinating history and certainly worth exploring in spite of the soaring 100 degree temperatures. As we finished touring the town and enjoyed lunch in one of the now converted bathhouses made into a brewery, we pressed on into the mountains and up to the Mid-America Science Museum - right up Conor's alley. There was a massive dinosaur walk through the woods that would explain each creature, when it lived, what it ate, etc., and all indigenous to the region, too. Inside was a number of interesting and unique experiments and creations. Certainly a worthwhile stop.

Once back to Mimi and Pop-Pop's house, Mimi (Sarah) took Conor and my brother, Billy, down to a beach on one of the afore mentioned lakes and left me with some time to clean up Ms. Sylvia as well as spend a little time with my Dad. A kind of reprieve and an opportunity to reflect.  

In that reflection came a solace that I've been able to share this day not only with Conor, but also with my estranged brother, Billy. Billy and I haven't been close in years, where we once were very close. But life has a way of writing its story for you, and in Billy's case he's fallen on hard times and struggled mightily with addiction. He's on his own healing road, in fact. He's working through the challenges of becoming sober, accepting divorce, reentering the workforce, and beginning his life again with eyes wide open; seeing the World through a completely different lens. Addiction can be among the greatest hurdles anyone can overcome. It's a lifetime of daily struggle and acceptance. But he's putting everything he's got into it, and for that I'm proud of him and of course, will always support him and his many trials to come. For all of those reasons, I'm grateful we had the opportunity to just hang out. It felt like home, so to speak. Comfortable. And for that matter, I loved watching Conor and Billy and their interactions, too. That's as important as anything for me.

Appreciating the journey to this point has been all destination specific, and always with family in mind, we're now stepping off the ledge. The abyss of the open road with no family to land safely on. For the next 21 days, it's just me and Conor On the Healing Road. Today we leave Arkansas for Texas as we continue to move West through the country with little more than an idea of where we wanna be. Next up? Fort Worth. Because this Healing Road runs through America's heartland. And what lives in America's heartland? Cattle. Thousands of head of cattle! 

The Stockyards await.