Walnut Ridge

So we focus on Randolph, Lawrence, Clay, and Sharp counties.

So we have county memberships, and then we also have cities that contribute as members, and that's Pocahontas, Walnut Ridge, Corning, and Ash Flat.

So typically you see industrial parks.

Those also become member cities.

And we travel between all four counties.

So one month it'll be in Ash Flat.

The next month it'll be in Walnut Ridge, Corning, Pocahontas.

And so we shift regularly.

When she's little, the Johnsons pack up and they head south to Lawrence County, Arkansas, a small town where traditions repeat like favorite songs and no one strays away from what they know and feel comfortable with.

Eventually, they settled in Walnut Ridge and the Pocahontas area.

This is the kind of place where the same church pew is yours, even if no one ever assigned it, and where most people can point to a map and say, "Our family's been here forever." By the time Karen got to Walnut Ridge High School, she liked to stay busy.

She loved being social and enjoyed singing.

She wasn't just content with joining things.

She loved staying fit, and running was woven into her daily routine.

She would get up early, train for local races and 5Ks, and really anything that just kept her moving.

And life in a town like Walnut Ridge is small, but it didn't mean that it was empty.

Here's another great example.

Shiree Bay Raining Break Wildlife Management Area near Walnut Ridge.

It's a great historic area.

A lot of good duck hunting there.

What did you say?

Shiree Bay Rainy Break.

It's the name of one of our wildlife management areas near Walnut Ridge.

The normal level of Lake Charles, which is the water used to flood that, is 12 1⁄2 feet.

Truman's hosting Gosnell.

Piggott's at Walnut Ridge.

Rector is at Brinkley.

Tomorrow, Haytai is at Carothersville.

And I was like, "Nope.

I don't know anybody that would go to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, and coach right now." And, uh, that was in November.

And then just went about my day.

I was at Webber International University in Babson Park, Florida.

Very similar, uh, area.

Yeah, just like Walnut Ridge-

But, it's-

...

I pretty well see him consistently every time now, you know, Depending on how their route is and whatever, you know, their little pad tells them to go.

Most of the time we get the same drivers, but, you know, periodically you do have some swap up during if his truck gets overloaded and they send another one, they'll swap another truck from saying they may have had a path through Walnut Ridge or somewhere else and they'll bring them over here to try to help out.

We've even had trucks in the parking lot shuffling boxes between them so one could get back to the warehouse.

Oh my goodness.

I made a reference a couple of weeks ago on the show where this came up and people that aren't in that part of the world outside of duck season, they're going to be shocked when they drive through that.

whether it's Walnut Ridge, whether it's, you know, where Cason is at McCrory Hunter area, you get to Stuttgart, they're going to be shocked at the number of fields that don't have a stitch of crop in them that were, that were left out because farmers just could not make it pencil.

And yeah, They left the fields out.

And you're right.

Yes.

And if Johnny from Walnut Ridge School decides his family moves to Siloam Springs, then...

he can be assured that he is still going to be on grade-level materials, you know, entering the fourth or fifth grade over at Siloam like he was, you know, at Walnut Ridge Schools.

And so that is a part of all that.

Several years ago, we were involved.

And I remember this.

I'm in the high school office and there is a GT job that was available at Walnut Ridge.

And so I remember being scared to death that high school principal was going to hear me talking to the superintendent of Walnut Ridge School District while I already had a job at Valley View about coming over there and being their GT administrator back in like 89 or something like this by now.