Lake Village, Arkansas -- A 525 Mile Day

So I got up at 5 a.m., after a fairly good, fairly quiet night at the Rest Stop.  Only problem was, it was really 6 a.m. because we were right on the “time change” line between Eastern and Central.  No wonder when I went right to sleep at 11 pm after the season ending episode of the Mentalist, that when I awoke at midnight it felt like I had already slept for a few hours.  But when I looked at my cell phone it was only midnight because it had changed over to Central Time on its own.  I did not realize it until 5:30/6:30 when it was already getting light….and when I looked at my computer clock it said 6:30.  Now I have stayed at this rest area many times, as I explained yesterday….but I just forgot about the time change thing.

We were on the road by 6:16 central time, stopping about 70 miles down the road for a quick oatmeal breakfast.  Everything was again uneventful, and so familiar to both of us since we drove back and forth along this route many times in our car, and a few time with the motor home.  As we neared Jackson Mississippi, the road became very ROUGH, and remained so for many miles, almost all the way to Vicksburg.  We contemplated stopping at the rest area in Louisiana, but decided to go on to Lake Village, Arkansas, and we are both glad that we did.
We are at the Pecan Grove RV Park, and Good Sam’s Park, right across from the largest Ox Bow Lake, Lake Chicot. 

An "Ox Bow Lake" is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake.

And since I did not get pictures of the many flowers we saw along our route today, I included some which are along the side of the lake.

Highway 65 does separate the RV Park and the Lake.  It is not very busy at night, so noise is not going to be a factor, but you do have to be careful as the cars are going around 60 MPH as they blow by you if you choose to cross the road.

Here are a couple pictures of the park from the lake side of the highway.  It extends more to the right, but the sun was too bright to get a good shot.  It is an “ok” RV park, nothing great, nothing bad unless you don’t like extended stay units.  In the middle of winter, the number of extended stays is not that big…but during the spring, summer and fall there are a number of “monthly” renters.  But they park is clean, and those who we saw walking dogs were good about cleaning up after them.

Tomorrow we will be in Pine Bluff for a very short, one night stay due to my regularly scheduled medical check-up.  Other than having high blood pressure and being over-weight, the doctor says that I am in pretty good shape.  Overall Cholesterol at 128, sugar count is good, etc. etc.  I wish we had more time so that I could see some people, but we have to be in Fort Smith Wednesday to visit Marcia’s family, and then Fayetteville to see my kids….my youngest one graduates from the UofA on Saturday.  I am so proud of all three of my kids.  It will be nice to see them all together again.

And yes, we did drive 525 miles.  Have not done that many miles for a long time, but with it behind us, we can slow up for a bit now.  The days of driving these long time periods are pretty much over for me.  It was not un-common to drive in a car for up to 38 hours with a 2-3 hour nap while another person drove.  Once I drove from Independence, Missouri to Battle Mountain, Nevada all by myself, straight through, with my parents car.  I could have made it all the way to Sacramento, but I knew I was in for it if I did not stop along the way.  But that was when I was 20, and I am about three times as old as that now.  Not only wiser, but with definite limitations as to what I can do now days.