Maumelle Park, COE

At Maumelle Park, COE, Little Rock, AR

We have been coming to Maumelle Park for the last 7 years.  We typically get spots between A-12 to A-17, which give us a good view of the river, of the marina, and typically a good, quiet stay. It is a COE park, which means United States Army Corps of Engineers.  There are many of them along the Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and other rivers that have dams along them.  If you have a National Park Senior Pass, it is only half price...$13 per night.

This year I think we could have gotten just about any spot and found it to be quiet, and acceptable.  Yes, there was a group or two at the pavilion area during the day…and our neighbor from Indiana has older kids who put up a tent in their spot for a visit…but overall it has been very quiet and acceptable.  In fact, our neighbors to the east of us never showed up for the weekend….SCORE!  With UAMS medical spots right across from us (only one of five being used) it is like we are nearly alone except to our west…and they are leaving Sunday or Monday at the latest.  Overall, the park is about two-thirds full.

Section A, where we try to get into each time we visit, is close to this marina…the thing about being close to the marina is that boats have to go very slow as they come by it…unless they are on the far side of the river…so the noise level is very low.

This is looking to the east, towards Little Rock.  It is just so peaceful…makes the park such a nice place to stay.

  

Lots and lots of fishing in this area…I am sure most of it is for bass.  Each year the Arkansas “Simmons Bank Big Bass Bonanza” takes place along the Arkansas River (June time period).  $50K to the winner…it is big time stuff.  I am sure other fish are also caught…but Bass is the big prize.  They fish from the banks and from boats…mostly from boats for the tournament.   I remember living along the river in Pine Bluff and each year when the tournament took place, the noise of the boats leaving was enough to wake the dead.

First thing I heard was the sound of a woodpecker…use to hear woodpeckers all the time when I lived along the river in Pine Bluff.

  

All along the river you can find Canadian Geese.  In Pine Bluff many of the Geese stayed around all year.  There have been cases where the Geese population have been so numerous along some golf courses that they employee dogs to chase them away each day so that golfers don’t get too much bird poop on their shoes.

Here is a sister to our Motorhome...at least it looks like it is our sister.  It is a Phoenix Cruiser, made by a totally different company.  I have seen many Phoenix Cruisers that have the same style as our Dynamax Isata…but I think our Dynamax is a bit better construction…but these Phoenix Cruisers are pretty good.

This is a big sister to our Motorhome…but I have no idea who the manufacturer is.  It is probably 36-40 feet in length…and might be a DynaQuest, or a DynaMax…but it could be a totally different manufacturer.  It is a beast, that is for sure.

  

  

There are many different types and styles of RVs here at the park.  Today it rained pretty good, and some of the pictures show the water around the rigs.  In Arkansas, when it rains, it normally dries up pretty fast.  Tomorrow much of the water will be gone, and the ground will be hard enough to walk on.  Most of the sites today did not have water on the pads…but they did have standing water on the grass near the pads.  At least it was not very severe weather…I think we have lucked out on that this trip.

Hellfire and Brimstone

At Maumelle Park, Little Rock, AR

Oh, you think things are going so well…and then KABOOSH!  It suddenly felt like Hellfire and Brimstone had broken out!

It started last night at Cracker Barrel in Vicksburg.  After what seemed to be a fairly easy drive from Wilderness RV Park to Vicksburg, staying on I-10, then I-12, then I-55 for nearly all of it (instead of taking the shorter yet harder drive through Hattiesburg and Jackson Mississippi), we had a good dinner at Cracker Barrel, ask to spend the night and got the normal, “you bet” from the manager.  Around 9:30, some fool starts playing his car radio booooming extremely loud, which lasted about 30 minutes.  I told Marcia it was probably some guy waiting for his girlfriend to get off from work...and it probably was.  About 10:30 we both called it a night…and soon after that is when all hell broke loose.  The manager did not warn us that it was Cleaning Night…that they had scheduled deep cleaning with a high pressure steam cleaners…that run on the loudest generator you can imagine.  On and off throughout the night until 5:00 when the dumpsters were dumped by the garbage truck.  Then seeing a new victim to clean, the steam cleaner guy starts up again and washes down the huge garbage bins.  By 5:45 the noise subsides...but by 6:30 I told Marcia I have had enough as now we can hear cars pulling in, and highway traffic zooming along the Interstate.  Why did we wait that long?  Because the steam cleaner blocked our exit with his van, so we were stuck for the duration...although I could have unhooked the car and backed out…staying seemed to be the lesser of two evils, and decided to stay put.

Our drive through Louisiana and up US 65 was just fine.  Just 2 to 3 miles short of Arkansas, Skruffy lets out a bark.  She has trouble getting down off the chair, but with a little help I got her off while I still drove, and she came over to Marcia, and I got her up on Marcia’s lap.  She acted very peculiar…like she knew she was near her old home.  She barked and howled and we all had a good time.  In Lake Village I stopped to walk her and Bubba, and back to her chair she went.  Then, seeing we went through Hellfire last night, the heavens opened and we were POOOOOOURED upon.  When I say poured, I mean poured…all the way to Little Rock.  Sometimes it was so heavy I could barely go 45, and boy it was hard to keep it on the road sometimes.

We had reservations starting tomorrow through Thursday at Maumelle Park…but we arrived a day early, and we took a walk-in spot for one night because someone is in the spot we will get starting tomorrow.  Pictures of one of our favorite parks will follow later…for now, I think we are both going to take a nap, assuming that woodpecker in the tree above us doesn’t get too loud.  Time to LOAD the GUN….

NOTE:  It sure is nice to be back on the road....

RV Brakes, another Cracker Barrel, more storms

Today is was another visit to DJ’s Auto Repair in North Little Rock.  Last October while traveling from Kansas City to Little Rock, we had a leak in our brake line.  DJ’s got us in, fixed the leak, did a rear break job, and did it for what we felt was a reasonable price.  This place is BUSY, so they must be something right.  The staff are all just as friendly as can be, and it because of their owner, Don (DJ) and David (hiding behind the counter, right side).  Even harder to see is Ebony, left side also behind her computer.  Interesting thing…she was born and raised in Sacramento area.  In fact, back in late ‘70’s I lived in a duplex which was 1/2 a block away from a unit she would live in years later.   Her parents were from Arkansas, and after dad retired, she said they decided to move back.  One can understand why financially…sell your house in California for 1/4 million to 1/2 million, and that will buy you a mansion in Arkansas.  And taxes…much less expensive to live in Arkansas.  Taxes are less, gas is less (just paid $2.10 in Russellville a few days ago), and food prices are less…but some things are more expensive…but not much.  Anyway, Ebony is a great addition to DJ’s.  But as with other automotive places, getting and keeping good techs is hard.  Don’t know why the youth of today cannot see how much $$$$ they can make having a career fixing cars, trucks, etc.  LOTS of money to be had for a good tech with experience.

 

Here is a picture from our last visit…did not get the camera out of the RV this time, and it was raining when we left (here is our post from last visit).  They own another building behind this one, so they have around seven or eight repair bays, of which at least six were going today.  This visit they replaced the rotors, put on heavy-duty breaks, new wheel bearings, checked the ball joints more closely and decided they were fine after all, and checked the rear driver breaks because they smoked on me just a bit in the Smoky Mountains.  All was fine, and the best guess is that a wasp had made a nest near the brakes which burned when the brakes were used going down a 7% slope.  All of this and they finished in 3 1/2 hours (2.5 hours labor), parts from Napa, and the final bill of  under $700.  I looked up the parts online afterwards, and they charged about 5% more than had I bought directly from Napa.  So again, we are very happy with DJ’s, a GREAT place to have some work done.  And YES, I can really tell the difference with having new front brakes to go along with the brakes we got back in October.)

Living in Pine Bluff, 40 miles south of Little Rock, I had eaten at this Cracker Barrel a number of times.  My Children’s Librarian wanted a rocking chair that she could sit in while reading to the kids during Storytime…went to this Cracker Barrel to get it for her.  They still sell rocking chairs…but for about $40-$50 more than I paid for Miss Ann’s rocking chair.  Never thought I would one day sleep in their parking lot, but that is exactly what we did last night after eating dinner inside and talking to the manager.  He said, “Of course you can”, almost as if we did not need to ask…but we ask every time.    It is conveniently just 4 miles from DJ’s, and they wanted us there between 7:30-8:00.  We arrived at 7:15, I unhooked the car, and went in at 7:30 to let him know we had arrived (as if they could not see it out their front window).  Exactly 8 am, they shop floor manager came out and we exited the RV for the HHR and drove away.  Breakfast was on our mind, and we went to a nice little place which is well known for its catering…Two Sisters Café,  just a few miles from DJ’s.  We were the only customers inside, although there were a number who drove through the drive-up window.  We had bacon, sausage, cheese omelets, which were delicious.  The hard thing was passing up ALL the goodies they sell…all sorts of sweets and goodies which are not on our diet.

By noon we were headed out to Maumelle Park, a COE park where, with the senior park pass, is only $13 a night for electric and water, and no need for reservations this time of year.  By noon the new storm front had come upon us too, so I was soaking wet after hooking up the HHR and driving to the park, unhooking, parking and setting up.  But the storm kept coming and coming, and at 5:30 I called my good friend from the Library and we moved our dinner to Thursday night instead of Wednesday night.  Glad I did because I went to the store to get tonight’s dinner, and there were branches down throughout the park.  While at the store, my phone went off announcing a flood warning in the area.  By tomorrow it will all be gone, I’ll see my doctor, the four of us will have dinner, and on Friday we will be headed west.

Ready for Departure – 7:30 am Brake Job

Our time here at Maumelle Park outside of Little Rock is coming to an end.  Since we have a 7:30 a.m. appointment at DJ’s Auto Repair in Maumelle, about 20 miles away from the park.  I plan to pull out of our site around 6:30 a.m., so today we pulled out the RV, backed in the car, took the RV to the dump station, then backed it into the site.  I re-hooked up the electric, the water, and hooked the car up.  Put the slide back out, and we are sitting here ready to go.

This gives you an idea of just how long these sites are in the park.  One could easily get a 45’ motorhome in along with a tow car.  My only complaint about this and the Fort Smith Corp of Engineers Park is that the sites could be a bit wider…just three more feet would be so nice.  But hey, if that’s all there is to complain about….

Well, there are our new neighbors that I could complain about.   Although signs say, “No Parking off asphalt”, they have parked their boat out on the grass/dirt next to their site.  When this “redneck” pulled in, with his wife pulling the boat with the jeep behind him, and their daughter and grandchild out in the street, the said “redneck” starts backing up into the site before the wife can even get out of the jeep.  He then puts his head out the side window and yells, “Hey, I could use some help backing up here…”, and she gets out, runs over and starts to help him.  “Over to the left some more” she says as she motions with her hands too…   “I KNOW, I GOT THIS FAR BY MYSELF ALREADY DIDN’T I!”   Well, if I were her, I would just gone back to talk with the daughter…but she bite her lip, (which looks like it had been bitten many times instead of talking back) and continued to help him. 

This is the first time we have been back in this non-reserve area of the park.  It is also the first time we have been here over a weekend…boy, this place gets busy.  However, few cars drive through our area, but many RVs do because you have to drive through to get to the dump station.  I thought more folks would have cleared out of here by now (4 pm Sunday), only three sites have cleared out in our area, with the new neighbors filling one of them.  The folks who run this park have worked here for 13 years, and this is their last year.   They keep order, but are not 100% sticklers to the rules…which is probably a good thing.  I hope who ever takes their place does as good of a job as they do.

Saturday we met Jana and Mike at the Colton’s Steakhouse in Benton, which is southwest of Little Rock, for an early dinner.  As usual we had a great time visiting, were there for three hours, and can’t wait until our next visit.  Jana started at the Library nearly 20 years ago, and has been a full time worker for 18 years.  Her and Mike got married just a few months after Marcia and I did.  Although I had a lot of good staff members working at the Library, Jana was definitely one of the best.  She handled the Reference Floor which included 16 patron computers, the Reference Collection, the Genealogy Collection, the Periodical Collection and the older, sometimes referred to as the Rare Book Collection.  When she first took over as the Reference Manager she took charge of the Obituary Project I had wanted done where we entered all the deaths from the old microfilm and older papers we had on hand into a database.  She completed the project, which included nearly two hundred thousand entries if my memory is correct, in what I considered record time.  The library now gets weekly requests for copies of obituaries due to this online index.  Each filled request brings in around $7.50.  By the time I retired, this was bringing in around $2,000 per year in income, and helping people with their genealogy research, and from what we found out after offering it, lawyers research confirming the death of someone, and even people looking for birth parents due to adoptions.

Well, we hope tomorrow’s brake job solves our issue, is finished in time so we can travel east, and doesn’t cost us too much $$$$.  However, we are prepared to stay the night if needed.  Wish us luck…and you can bet you will get a review on DJ’s, that is for sure.

Stopping in Little Rock

We have to come through Little Rock, Arkansas each year in order for me to get my yearly Physical Exam.  My insurance comes through my retirement from the City of Pine Bluff, and to stay in network, I need to come to Arkansas.  Six years ago I was persuaded by my oldest child, Michael, to see a doctor since it had been many, many years (like when I was 21 years old) since I had a family doctor, had a physical exam, and had been seen by a doctor outside of a quick care for a sore throat hard cold and/or flu type of symptoms.  So I selected the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as my health care provider.  The doctor I choose was sixty years old, and recommended by a few ladies at the Library as a nice, down to earth, easy to get along with type of doctor.  One advantage of using UAMS is that if you need blood tests, heart tests, camera’s poked up your under side….well, they do all of that right there….and yes, over the past six years I have had them all.  I have paid out-of-pocket a total of around $100 over the entire six years.  As for my health, loose weight and lower my blood pressure and I would have a full, clean bill of health.  Cholesterol?  Well, my overall Cholesterol is lower than some peoples “LDL” numbers.  When asked how my Cholesterol is, and I say, “118”, the typical answer is, “That’s a great LDL number, what is your HDL number?  Then they faint when I tell them that is my overall number, that my LDL is at 72 and my HDL is at 39.  Triglycerides are at 33.  Back when I was 21 years old, working in a steakhouse eating hamburgers at least 4 times per week, steaks at least 5 times per week, and lost of French fries and baked potatoes…and having doing that for the most part of four years…I thought for sure my Cholesterol was going to out of this world…but it wasn’t.   Nor was it six years ago, nor last year.  Today the doctor said he wasn’t even going to test it…he said it is just in me Genes to have low Cholesterol, so he is going to skip it till next year.  So far I have not had Diabetes either…Skruffy, on the other hand, that is a story told a few months ago.  (If anyone wants to read or reread the blog post: “Skruffy’s Last Bark?”, just click it, and grab a box of tissues….and as you read it, remember that Skruffy is still alive!

So yesterday we took the 150 mile drive across I-40 from Fort Smith to Little Rock, and we again sit in the Maumelle COE Park just outside of Little Rock.  Had my check up today…lost 25 pounds (Yippeeeee!) and then went and gained 5 of it back by eating at Corky’s BBQ after the appointment.  The two Corky’s in Little Rock are owned by Joe Kleine, former Arkansas Razorback Basketball Center, and former NBA Center with the Sacramento Kings, and continued his fifteen-year NBA career also playing with the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Portland Trail Blazers. 

Joe, raised in a strong Catholic family in Missouri, not only owns the two Corky’s Ribs and BBQ in Little Rock, he has also coached in middle school, high school, college, and with the Olympics.  Sometimes you can find Corky’s ribs in the grocery stores frozen foods section…we even found them at Publics back in Florida once.  I really like Corky’s…one thing I miss not living in Arkansas.

On our trip from Kansas City to Fort Smith I noticed the brake pedal was a bit spongy.  Added some Dot 6 but by the time we got here, I needed to add more.  It appears the left rear brakes have a slight leak in the brake line, and the picture above shows that one must have brakes…so we are staying here through the weekend, and on Monday we take it to a shop recommended by both Camping World and a local Firestone shop.  “IF” they need to order parts, we can stay there in their parking lot…but we hope it does not come down to that. Our reservations here in Maumelle Park went through Friday, and to extend we had to move today to the non-reserve area where we got one of the last open spots.  The park will be totally full this weekend, and there were only three non-reserve spots left open this morning, and the other two filled up before we finished setting up...that was a close one.

Tomorrow I plan to go down to the Pine Bluff area for a visit, Friday we will do laundry, Saturday we have dinner planned with some good friends, and the rest will be relaxing…not a bad place to relax at, that’s for sure.

For my Sis…

Sister Sandy, saw this picture and just had to take it, just for you. 

Do you see why yet????

How about now???? 

Do you see it yet????

Now you see it…actually them.  Took the doggies out for a walk this afternoon and ran back in to get the camera when I saw these SEVEN turtles sunning on this log.  (Of course, you can almost count the reflection as Turtles too, which would make it fourteen.)

    

Here are the seven, three in the first shot (upper left), four in the next shot (upper right), and that little thing on the long log in the middle did not turn out to be a baby turtle, just part of the log.

As I was getting a picture of the turtles, I hear a pounding from above…and after awhile this little guy settled down for some banging and pounding in a position that I could finally get a picture of him.

Reminded me of when I lived in the the 5th wheel in Pine Bluff before I retired…use to see these little guys all day long, especially in the winter when the leaves where off the trees.  Gotta love them woodpeckers!

Speaking of Pine Bluff, every year we come to Little Rock we make it a point to see Mike and Jana, and this time we had dinner at Olive Garden.  Jana worked for me at the Library, and was one of the best staff members I ever hired.  Marcia and I were able to attend their wedding back in 2011, and we just really enjoy seeing them.  We were in Olive Garden for about three hours, and could have stayed for many more hours had we not needed to get back to the doggies, and they back to their doggies down by Pine Bluff.

Saw this good looking guy too….he was really singing away.   Tomorrow is my appointment with the doctor, and we head out of town for Florida as soon as we can after the appointment.  As for our colds, we are much better, but this cold seems to linger on, and mornings are the worse after laying down through the night. We plan to make Vicksburg tomorrow night, near Tallahassee on Friday night, and home by early afternoon on Saturday.

Back in Central Arkansas

Every year we come to Arkansas for my $20 medical checkup at UAMS (University Arkansas Medical Sciences).  Every year we stay at the Maumelle Campground, a Corp of Engineer campground.  We had planned to stop in Fort Smith on Saturday and leave Fort Smith on Tuesday…but Marcia is still not feeling the best, I have had moments of relapse (which last just a short time period), so we canceled our visits and drove straight to Little Rock last Saturday.  We have done little the past two days outside of letting the dogs out, a visit to a Kroger’s and to Walmart for me, and Marcia has made some wonderful split pea soup using the ham bone from the Thanksgiving dinner. 

The park is nearly empty, and we are parked in the same spot we were in last year from what I can tell.  Most of our neighbors are using the long-term UAMS medical visit sites, and there is little action coming from these RV’s.

On this side of us are a few more RV’s which are not using the UAMS sites.  Our five night visit cost $65 with our National Park Pass.  Definitely no need for reservations this time of year.

The dogs always love this park.  Grass (lots of leave this time of year), and all sorts of bird noises through the day.  To us, it is the quietest park we have been in since our trip to Washington State where we stayed at some very quiet, remote locations as we went around Olympic National Park.

A few cars have driven by, and a few dog walkers have walked by, but for the most part there have been few other visitors.  And with the Arkansas River behind us, I figures we would hear an occasional boat…but the river is so high I don’t even think barges are traveling up and down the river.

As the two river photos show….it is peaceful and quiet and a great place for recuperating from this early winter cold we both are successfully trying to shake. 

Maumelle Park, COE

We took our time leaving Petit Jean this morning, after having a nice conversation with a Class B Van Owner who was our only neighbor (Saturday night) the entire time we were there.  He is from Lubbock Texas, where he recently retired from a College Library where he was the Director.  Small world, two former Library Directors parking right next to each other.  We stopped off at a Kroger, just 3 miles from Maumelle Park, and pulled in and set up at the park by 1 pm.  Maumelle Park is a Corp of Engineer Park, part of the Arkansas River - Murray Lock and Dam, across the river (Arkansas River) from the town of Maumelle, just outside of the Little Rock City Limits on the west-side of town.  There is also a Super Walmart about 4 miles away, along with numerous restaurants and businesses along Arkansas Highway 10.  I can remember this stretch of Highway 10 being essentially null of any businesses just 10-15 years ago.  Thank goodness the park is away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Maumelle Park typically gets real good reviews, and with sites like this one, you can see why.

But the non-water sites can be real nice too.  This is a good “pair them up” location, where two RV’s sit close together along a shared driveway with the next nearest neighbor a good distance away.

As I was driving around I found this to be my favorite RV in the park…a loyal Arkansas Hog fan who came in for the weekend.  Normally when the Hogs are at home they play in Fayetteville, but they also play a game or two in Little Rock (although that is probably going to end soon).  This happened to be one of the weekends for this, which was another reason to stay in Petit Jean until Sunday.

All the sites are not as deep as this one, but many are, and most have lots and lots of parking space even if you are driving a 45’ motorhome.  

This is one of the upper campground areas, Area F, with hardly another camper in sight.  There were three or four spots up here which are fairly isolated, especially site 12 and 13. 

I am going to keep this in mind with the hope that I never need to use it.  There are around 10 sites which have sewer and are for long-term medical use.  My primary doctor is at UAMS, and I would easily qualify for this “if” ever needed….let’s hope it is never needed.  There was a guy pulling in just after I pulled in right across from us at site M-08.  He looked like he was missing a sewer connection hose, so I asked if he wanted to borrow ours until we left….but he said that he was headed back home and they were coming back on Tuesday…his little 3 year old just had her second brain tumor removed in the past six months, and now needs to go through chemo and radiation.  He has a trailer that he bought for “Deer Hunting”, but it has now turned into a “Dear Healing” trailer….we sure wish them the best.

Oh boy, guess what’s running all over this park!

“Skruffy, look at ALL this grass!  It reminds me of another place far, far away...a place full of Squirrels.”    “Yes Bubba, and I’ll tell you what, let’s race over to that Island over there….I’ll give you a good lead, and I promise to follow!”  "Hey, just because my name is Bubba, does not mean that I am stupid."

“If I just stare long enough, maybe Uncle Arny will show up and give me a treat!”  All this grass makes me miss my "home away from home."

Look, just before we get to back in, Dad always takes our leashes off…..maybe we should run that way and I’ll bet you we eventually will get to Arny and Sandy’s house.”

As the sun sets to the west, the east shows its colors.

Life sure is precious….