And I took the road less travelled, and that has made all the difference

DS and I have a new hobby. On football game days while Daddy is at the game, we head out in the opposite direction of the University and go on an adventure. We go on a road we know, then turn on a road we've never been on before. This week we traveled 21 miles on a curvy, hilly narrow road and only pased one motor vehicle. And I say motor vehicle because that was an ATV and not even a car. We ended up in Morrow, AR which has a post office, car wash and a little store complete with two old men in overalls drinking coffee on the park bench out front. We went into the store, used the restroom and bought an ice cream bar for the ride home. As we followed the roads back out in a different direction, we came acros this old waterwheel. I had been there before, but forgotten about it. It is the only remaining all steel waterwheel left in the US. During the war, they were all dismantled and melted for war efforts.

I just love the old architecture of it and the lines of the wheel and all the old stone work. I don't know who it belongs to anymore. It on the side of the road where there are no houses or people. Sadly, as you can see, kids have put graffiti all over it professing their undying love for one another.
Here's DS in an old stone doorway. He wasn't quite done with that ice cream bar I mentioned.
Don't you love that old round wheel? It looks like a ferris wheel sitting out in the woods.

I love this picture of DS looking out the old window into the mechanics of the wheel. He had to pull himself onto the ledge to look out. After I got home, I realized I should have taken a picture from the other side with his feet sticking in the air.
This old stone window is really interesting. If you go into the "building" per say, you can look out the old window and see an occassional car go up the highway.
Here DS is looking down off about a 100 ft. drop off to the stream that runs beneath the waterwheel.

Even though I think it's sad that people have written graffiti on it and even shot at it (see the bullet holes?) - I think it does add character to it. It's like a huge piece of folk art witting out in the middle of nowhere.
Here's what you see when you drive by. It's the stopping and getting out that reveals the true beauty hidden there. And, isn't that really what life is all about?