cherryzard
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2021
- Messages
- 53
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- 149
I don't have anything to offer as far as possible matches, but I am intimately familiar with central Arkansas. Something bothered me and would bother anyone who knew the area. In 1984, there was really only one place to get breakfast in Benton, Brown's Country Store. It was (COVID killed Brown's) right on I-30 south bound, very clearly marked for miles ahead. So if they stopped for breakfast "near" Benton it would have been Brown's. I think there were two Waffle Houses in Benton but only one was easily accessible from I-30. It's not that much further than the Brown's. I've gone through all of this to say that Malvern is only about 30 minutes down the highway from Benton.
How did he get too tired to drive in 15 minutes? There were only about five exits between where they would have gotten back on I-30 and Malvern. I'm not 100% that one of them was there in 1984.
I made a map. Google Maps
The northern most dot is Brown's. The second dot is the location of the Waffle House I mentioned, the whole complex burned a few years back but it was a motel and a Chinese place in an old Waffle House for decades.
The third dot is the last Benton exit and the first easy place to hop off the freeway and switch drivers.
The fourth dot is a truck stop, the exit was there but the truck stop was not. There wouldn't have been any markings indicating it was a place to pull in and switch drivers.
The end point is the Quachita River bridge. During the spring a couple of those creeks can get high, but not in the fall so the Quachita is the only one deep enough to partially submerge a car (I lived in Hot Springs for 11 years).
View attachment 324210
Am I the only one that has a whole lot of questions about how the UID guy ended up in the drivers seat and the other guy fell that deeply asleep in such a short amount of time?
I have always thought the UID somehow wanted to "end it" and it was no accident.