Quiet Sunday? Not With Arkansas STORMS!

At Maumelle Park COE, Little Rock, AR

I thought Saturday’s slight thunder storm was going to be it for us…but NO, it just can’t be.  A couple of years ago we had tornado land just a 1/10th of a mile from the Walmart we stopped at for the night.  Well, this was not a tornado….but…

…around 2:00 the TV gives the good ole, “Thunderstorm Warning” for the second time today.  The first was around 10 am, but did not include the area near us…it was more for South Little Rock…we did not even get rain. This one clearly said Little Rock and also Maumelle…the town of Maumelle is just across the river from us.  Within a minute I could feel the wind, hear Sycamore seed balls hitting the roof of the motorhome.  I quickly decided to pull our slide in. 

For 10-15 minutes the wind was intense, the rain was hard, and there was a lot of lightening and thunder.  Thank goodness Skruffy cannot hear as well as she use to, so she did not freak out.  Bubba, well he is just Bubba…could probably sleep through anything. The Sycamore Balls make about a dozen strikes on the roof…but they are not heavy enough to do any damage, just a lot of noise.

The black circle above is where Maumelle Park is located.  By 2:30 I had the slide back out, and so far the weather has been fine.  BUT, there is a milder phase hitting us again in 20-30 minutes.  Mostly green, a few yellows…but this is Arkansas so who knows.  Tomorrow is suppose to be a better day, as is the rest of the week.  But one thing I found out living in Arkansas so long…the weather man can only make solid predictions for just a few days out from April through September.  And ANY MONTH is and has been capable of producing a tornado.  I just hope we don’t have to deal with any of that while we are here.

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.