Arkansas and Decision Time

 

We left Delhart Texas and headed South to I-40 at Amarillo, and then east on I-40.  Marcia caught this wonderful picture of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries in Groom Texas with the rays of the sun shinning down on the cross.

 

With so much of the World in turmoil, everything seemingly falling down, we were certainly glad to see the cross before seeing the Leaning Tower of Texas also in Groom.

After seeing so much green, so much beauty over the past week, it is hard to find the enthusiasm to take pictures of dull Texas and Oklahoma...so we drove on and on, about 400 miles, till we got near Seminole Oklahoma where we stopped at the Catfish Round-Up RV Park, hooked into electricity, water and sewer, and stayed inside the motorhome trying to keep cool in the 100 degree, 55% humidity weather.   YUCK double YUCK!!

With just over 150 miles to go on Tuesday, we passed by pretty Eufaula Lake.

And eventually the Arkansas River.

Into Arkansas itself.

And finally parked at the Springhill Campground in Barling, just on the outskirts of Fort Smith.  I drove over to Walmart to drop off the batteries, and almost did not make it back with the car.  After all that work I did on it, it acted up today even worse than when we left Florida.  It was decision time...time to cut our losses and head straight home.  It was a sad call to my good friend and loyal employee for so long whose house we were going to driveway camp on for two nights and visit all the Libraries and my former Rotary Club...our visit in Pine Bluff is not going to happen.  I am afraid that if I unhook the HHR, I might not get it started again to hook it back up.  (It died 7 times just driving it to the dumpster here in the park after I got back from Walmart, where I almost did not get it going at Walmart after I turned the batteries in.) Here at the Springhill Campground I positioned the HHR so that I can back the motorhome up to the HHR to hook up, so we will be good to go in the morning.  From there, we are headed across I-40, then across I-22 to Tupelo where we have reservation with a pull through.  The next day we will make it to northwest Florida for the night, and then home on Friday...IF we don't encounter other problems.  We are not crossing our fingers, but we are holding onto the Giant Cross we passed by in Texas on Monday morning.

Thankfully, Marcia's cousin Jim picked us up in his huge older SUV, we managed to get Marcia up and out of it without any damage, and he took us to a BBQ restaurant nearby.  It was great to visit with him for nearly 3 hours, and Indy did not destroy the place while we were gone, but all the window covers were certainly amiss that she could get her little paws on.  Happy happy happy girl when we got back...now she is on the floor within eye-sight of us both...between us and the door! 

Hail-elujah–Back in Arkansas

Having lived in Arkansas for 23 years, I have seen all sorts of weather.  Yes, it has hailed when I lived here, but not very much, and I did not have to drive through hard hail the entire 23 years.  Our route today took us west into Louisiana, north on Highway 65 at Tallulah right up into Arkansas.  The first town in Arkansas along this route is Eudora, a sleepy little town of just over 2,000 people, a largely Black population with a median income for a household of roughly $17,000.  From nearly the moment we entered the town, and for a good mile after we left town, we had hail, hard pea size to small marble size hail.  Do you stop and sit through it for who knows how long…or continue to drive, slow and steady, until you get out of it???  I picked the latter.   Luckily, no damage…no dents, no broken windows, all was well.

Which leads me to a funny thing…at least I think it is funny…one would have to ask my wife what she thinks, because it has to do with my sense of humor.  The first place I could safely pull over was in the town of Dumas in a Walmart Parking Lot so I could check out if there was any hail damage. The first rest area, which has a small parking lot, was too full.  The second rest area was closed.  This always happens after I have been driving while drinking a 24 oz cup of coffee…which means, yes, nature was calling.  So as I am getting out of the driver’s seat and stepping outside, Marcia says, “I thought you needed to ‘use the bathroom’, which is the polite way of saying it.   I said, “I do.”, and I shut the door, walked up to the front left tire, reached down and “acted” like I was relieving myself…looking into the front window at her…while she puts her hand over her forehead, shakes her head, and burst out laughing.

I don’t know why I get these urges…not the urge of nature calling, I know it is the coffee doing that…but the urge to spontaneously commit a mischievous act…or blurt out something funny.  It has been five years of doing this type of thing and Marcia still loves me to death.  Of course, my Mom is saying to herself, "If I can only tell everyone of the MANY times when David was small that he really would 'whip it out and go' ... at parks, front yards, playgrounds....the entire outdoors was his bathroom!"

Fort Smith was our goal, so Pine Bluff was a quick drive through along the Interstate.  All was well, traffic a bit thick from Little Rock on along I-40.  Shortly after getting on I-40, I decided to call Spring Hill COE park to be sure they were open.  The guy assured me they were, but they had only one spot left!  What!!!! in mid-March!!!!   And he could not hold it, it was first come, first serve.  So we hurried along I-40, and as I got close to Alma, mile marker 13 (13 miles from Oklahoma) I called and he said he still had the spot open, and another opened up.  So we went on to Springhill, a US Army Corps of Engineers park.  With National Park Pass, it was $9 for the night.

We like COE parks, and this one, which we have been to a few times now, is really nice. 

With all the rain, the water is real high.  I doubt we will hear any barge traffic along the river with this high water and fast current. 

After so many miles in the past 50 hours, the dogs were ready for a stay in a park. What they did not like was that we were only parked for 90 minutes before Marcia and I left to go visit her cousin Sophie (92 years old) and have dinner with her, her son Jim and his wife Pat.  Since our plans in the Pine Bluff area fell through, we came to Fort Smith a day early, which is allowing us to drive the RV up to just south of Kansas City for a two night stay where we will be taking my son Ryan out to dinner Saturday night, and visit my Aunt and cousins on Sunday. 

    

When we know we will be gone for a few hours, we always try to give them a nice chew treat…in this case, some Healthy Hide, Good 'n' Fun, Triple Flavor Chews.  It keeps them occupied for the first 10-15 minutes that we are gone, and they seem to settle down quickly after that.   (look at Bubba’s new collar!)

We had a nice dinner at an Italian Restaurant that recently opened…good food at a decent price, but I failed to get the name of it.  We always enjoy our visit with Sophie and Jim and Pat...and hope to see them again when we pass through again in October.

Fort Smith, Arkansas Area

We are back to Springhill Park, a COE park, where we stayed back in late April.  Being out of season, with the senior saver, it only cost $9 per night for electricity and water, with a dump station free to use if you camp.  This time we have a spot right along the water.

Our stay at the Cracker Barrel went real well.  Turned off the generator by 10 pm, no one else in the parking lot near us and only one other small motorhome stayed over night way off to themselves.  It rained most of the night, but it was a very light rain.  Got down to low 40’s, so at 6 am I turned on the generator and cranked up our space heater and the big heater until it got the temps up to 70, then turned the big heater off.  We paid our dues by having breakfast before we left….so this “FREE” parking at Cracker Barrel cost us dinner and breakfast…we now are officially Cracker Barreled out for awhile…but after a five month absence until we got to Albuquerque, it was needed to catch up.

    

We have grown fond of the COE parks.  This one closes down for camping at the end of the month, but the one in Little Rock is open year around.  With the National Parks Senior Pass, you get to stay for half price.  That is a real good deal!

Went to dinner with Marcia’s cousin Sophie, her son Jim and his wife Pat.  Decided to go back to Joe’s Grill and Cantina, where we ate back April.  It was real good, glad we went back.  Will spend some time with Sophie tomorrow, and on Thursday we head to Petit Jean State Park for a few days, it has been over 2 years since we have been there.

Camping Again! Fort Smith, Arkansas

Oh, it is SO NICE to be camping, really camping, again!!!!!  The drive from Houston to Fort Smith was ok, it is nice to be out of Houston and the traffic and the smog and the humidity.  It is in the low 60’s at 5:30 here in the Fort Smith area, very low humidity, and this COE park is quiet and not even half full.  The Corps of Engineers operate a number of parks, many near to the lock and dams they oversee. We are at Springhill Park.  Due to the senior saver, it only cost $10 per night for electricity and water, with a dump station free to use if you camp.  We got to choose our own site, and I got a nice, fairly level one.  Many are very, very deep, you could fit a 45’ motorhome, pulling a trailer and a car without any problem….well, except for how narrow the pads are.  But hey, we are not complaining because we are camping again!!!

    

The dogs, Bubba and Skruffy, could not believe their eyes….or their noses.  No more civilization, no more of those dreaded spurs which got into their fur, not much grass…but they are not complaining, that’s for sure.

And look at us…no neighbors to our right side, left side, straight across or behind us.  I think we will get some good solid sleep tonight, and tomorrow we will spend the day visiting Marcia’s relatives, and getting a little grocery shopping done. 

Someone emailed me asking if I apologized to “Joy” for my attitude over the phone when I first learned of the awning not being in.  Now this un-named person (Mom for short) knows me better than to ask, but I will share my email to her after we left ….

Joy,
Although I was a bit worried there for a bit when I found out the awning had not come in, you sure smoothed things out with your open honesty to the situation.  I am sorry if I came off a bit strong right at first, but we had a very bad experience at the Ford Dealership in Florida near our condo where they had the motorhome in their shop for 30 hours and never even popped the hood....and this was just for getting a tune-up.  I was promised it back after one day, two at the most....well needless to say they lied, and that work will be performed in Sacramento now.
Please send the awning to  ….
Thanks again, and thank your staff too.  Please just let me know you got this email, I did not get it off until we got to the rest area on Highway 59 about 100 miles north of Houston.
Dave Burdick

And her reply….

Thanks for your business, and I have always lived my life that honesty is the best policy and that holds true with life and work.  I appreciate you giving us the opportunity to work on your vehicle.  Once the parts get here, I will send it to the address below and will send you an email with the shipping number.

See you soon mom….love ya!  --dave