06-Jul-2025 -- After spending the weekend in Arkansas with friends for Independence Day, I departed for a lengthy 10-hour trip to Ohio. While the shortest route would have led me to I-40 through Memphis and Nashville, I was informed of an easily accessible confluence immediately adjacent to I-57 northeast of Little Rock by a future visitor to the site. Since it would add a mere 20 minutes to the journey and was accessible from an interstate frontage road, I figured I would appreciate a momentary yet exhilarating adventure on my otherwise mundane drive. Given its accessibility and proximity to I-57, I was surprised to discover this would be the first visit to this confluence in more than 14 years!

While I had accompanied more experienced confluence visitors Michael G and Jack S on a couple sites in Oklahoma and Colorado within the past year (34°N 95°W and 37°N 104°W), this less scenic site was my first solo confluence visit.

From the brief drive on the interstate frontage road adjacent to I-57, Willie Ray Dr (named after the longtime former mayor of Cabot, a nearby city), the trek to the confluence site itself was straightforward and unremarkable. Prepared with a GPS app on my phone, I parked on a gravel opening alongside N Willie Ray Dr before venturing south through benign knee-deep grasses and shrubs. This variety of shallow and inconsistent vegetation appeared to be the kind that quickly follows the clearing of a field. In the absence of thick or thorny vegetation, the walk to the site was rather easy. Though I spotted a couple dragonflies flying around, the ground was also fairly dry. There was some minor elevation gain from the site to the road, but it was quite flat overall.

Arriving shortly after 10 AM, the visit was characterized by fairly warm, humid, sunny, and calm conditions typical for that of an Arkansas morning in early July, with temperatures in the upper 80s (°F; 30-32°C), dewpoints in the lower 70s (°F; 21-22°C), and sustained winds <10 mph (<5 m/s) at the time of the visit.

After reaching the site and taking some photos, I returned to my car with less than five minutes elapsed. Fueled by a coconut caramel mocha from a nearby 7 Brew, a relatively new, highly rated national coffee chain that has exploded in growth recently (which I now learned is based in Arkansas and explains the unusually high concentration of locations I noticed there), I carried on my way toward Ohio satisfied with my first solo confluence visit.