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Not by choice! Kicking and screaming..nothing against Bentonville...but I hate traveling most times. And I always hate flying. I have to go to a Wal-Mart Show of some sort. Some trade show kind of thing, from what I gather it is for people who sell equipment to Wal-Mart.

So are there any places I should look up if I get the chance? I am going with many big-wigs, so they may drag me to do things with them. I thought sure as much as I run my mouth, give people the business, and everything non-PC I say and do, I thought I would surely not be included. What's a guy got to do?

WoVeU...I was born in Bentonville, attended school in Bentonville from kindergarten-12th grade. Great small town. There are some good places to eat in Bentonville....actually lots of good places to eat all over Northwest Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas is a bunch of towns that have leterally all grown together. From North to South the four main towns are: Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville. They are all connected by Highway 71 or by Interstate 540. Each of these towns have smaller towns that branch off from them in the East and the West. Below are some of my favorite places to eat in Northwest Arkansas. On a side note, population of Northwest Arkansas has passed the 400,000 mark if I am not mistaken. I also bolded my faces places to eat in Northwest Arkansas. If you are there on a Wednesday night you can go to the Catfish Hole in Fayetteville and eat all you can eat for $20 and watch the Bobby Petrino Live Radio Show...Petrino signs autographs and talks to the fans, etc.

Places to Eat in Bentonville: Fred's Hickory Inn (great ribs but serves all kinds of food), Doe's Eat Place, River Grille, Station Cafe, Gusano's Pizza.

Places to Eat in Rogers: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Johnny Corinos, O'Charley's, Smokin Joe's Ribhouse.

Places to Eat in Springdale: AQ Chicken, Cracker Barrel, Neals Cafe, Places to Eat in Tontitown (small town outside of Springdale...Italian community): Mary Maestries, Venesian Inn, Guidos Pizza.

Places to Eat in Fayetteville: Hermans Ribhouse (http://www.hermansribhouse.com/contact.htm), AQ Chicken, The Catfish Hole (the best hush puppies you will ever eat in your life), Penguin Eds BBQ, Hoffbrau Steak House, Hogs Breath Eatery, Ozark Brewing Company, Powerhouse Seafood & Grill.

If you are looking for night life you would head to Fayetteville and go to Dickson Street. It sits right off of the University of Arkansas campus.

You should definitely make it to the University of Arkansas campus and check out the Football Stadium, Basketball Arena, Track Facilities, and the Baseball Field. I would say the baseball field and track facilities are the best in the country....the basketball arena ranks in the top 10....and the football field is beautiful....especially with the fall colors in the Ozarks. If you go to the football stadium, you can park north of the stadium an look right onto the field. Check out the jumbo tron above the North endzone...just a few short years ago it was the largest one in the world (no longer is).

If you have any more questions or need directions then let me know. I hope you enjoy your visit to Northwest Arkansas....even if you are not really wanting to travel.

Thanks Doss.

The whole reason I posted, I knew that was home for you. Guess I forgot to note it to Doss.

Nice comprehensive list of things. And this I where I don't like going with a group...it cuts into things. I wouldn't have thought about going to the Campus.

I'm digging for info now, but a co-worker tells me the company doesn't reimburse you for driving. But I got that kind of cash, I have to weight out the message it sends. It is 10 hours from here driving. And I'd like to go up through or return through Oklahoma...jut to mark a state off the list. And see an an are of Ark I haven't seen and maybe even hit Mizz.

Because I am figuring flying could easily mean hitting Dallas and maybe going into Tulsa, longest trip possible I figure, what 3.5 hours flying + 2.5 driving and then all the Air Port time and getting the rental and all...8.5 to 9 hours easy. (Stupid!)
Shortest...what SA to Tulsa...I doubt. SA to Little Rock and 3 to 3.5 driving. SA to Dallas to Bentonville...maybe, 4 hrs flying...total 6 hours easy.

I'd rather drive and be free to look around.

I see I could hit Kansas too in just an hour!

From Bentonville you can be in Missouri in about 10 or 15 minutes....you can be in Oklahoma in about 30 minutes....you can be in Kansas in about an hour (or less). If you have time you could make it up to Branson, Missouri...great fun (theme parks, theaters/shows, Table Rock Lake, shopping) all nestled in the Ozark Mountains/Forrest. You can be in Branson in an hour and a half to 2 hours. Kansas City is about a 3 hour drive from Bentonville. Tulsa, Oklahoma is less than 2 hours from Bentonville.

If you like to golf then the town directly north of Bentonville....Bella Vista is full of great courses right in the Ozarks. It is starting to get cold and wet though.

Not sure if you like to fish or hunt but of course lots of oppurtunites. You would not be far from the Buffalo River (the nations first national river....beautiful bluffs that over look the river and the Ozark Forrest). There are many lakes in the area. The closet lake being Beaver Lake.

There is also a very interesting town not far from Bentonville called Eureka Springs. It doen't get much more ecletic then this town. Some people decsribe this town as a Ozark version of San Fran. It is an arts community, lots of history, old hotel and bath houses, Chicago gansters and old movie stars used to escape there, they have a jazz festival every year, it is a popular destination for bikers and they have a bike rally their every year, music shows, mixture of every belief system in the world (Christians, Psychics, Astologists, etc), Beaver Lake and Beaver Dam are just down the road (beautiful this time of year)....just an all around interesting town. And there are several overlooks of the Ozarks....one of the best views you will ever see....especially this time of the year. My mom said the trees are changing colors right now.

Wish I was there...I would show you around.

Again, let me know if you have any questions about anything.

Seeing the Ozarks will be cool. Branson is something I'd only do with the wife...I don't get into those tourist destinations too often, especially a niche one...you don't get a real feeling for an area by these places. Eureka Springs sounds interesting. I think I'd hit all 3 neighboring states on that corner. Just driving and finding nice places to eat is relaxing for me...helps if you have some heads up o n the eats and have an idea where to find some scenery. I got to see how the time and accompaniment work out.

The trip has now been shortened to 2 days. It turns out the other Manufacturers told Wal-Mart no! Thanks but no thanks to their $5000.00 fee. I got to say that took fortitude...stupid...but real fortitude! So now we are demoing the new control system and the program I wrote...gee thanks. It was supposed to be an idea and communication exchange to increase knowledge across systems for technicians and engineers and such.

If you drive then make sure you make the drive on Interstate 540 from Fort Smith Arkansas to Bentonville. That is a beautiful drive. When you get to Fayetteville, you will crest over a big hill and have a beautiful view of downtown Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas in the distance.

Of course there is a couple of different ways to get from Texas to Northwest Arkansas.

1. You could drive to Dallas, then up to OK City, then up to Tulsa, and then East to Northwest Arkansas....a heads up: the drive between OK City and Tulsa is a toll road, and the drive between Tulas and Northwest Arkansas is a toll road.

2. Or you can drive to Dallas and then head slightly North East and hit Interstate 40 just outside of Fort Smith...go East to Fort Smith and take I540 North to Bentonville.

When I have made trips to Dallas I almost always take route #2.

Thanks for the heads-up! A map doesn't tell you everything.

Toll roads really suck when you don't know they are coming and all you have is plastic!

When you heading to Bentonville...if you wait much longer the trees will have lost all their colorful leaves and it will be an ugly sight...probably cold and wet as well.

The trip just got canceled.

I'd have liked to have seen a new part of the country but I am relieved for the most part as the preparation was just ridiculous. Nobody really had a good plan, as everything kept changing.