May 19, 2013 - Harrison, Arkansas

Another overnighter on the way to St Louis. Arkansas seems a lot like Vermont with lots of green hills and mountains, only warmer and more humid. It appears that the severe weather is finally going to catch up with us. Heavy rain and possible thunderstorms will hit the area starting at 3PM Monday, and we will be is St Louis by then. Hopefully it will be heavy rain only.

May 16, 2013 - Travel Day

BEGINNING MILEAGE 41752 Buddy was up early around 5:30 and I was awake around 6:00 due to the time change I guess, we decided to take a walk around the campground, it was 60 degrees so cool enough for me to put on jeans and a light long sleeve shirt, Buddy made breakfast and we cleaned up and got on the road around 8:45 and it was already up to 70 degrees, traveled down Hwy 82 all day, saw lots of farm fields, some rice fields and fish farms, and in Columbus, MS a dump truck passed us and hit us with a few rocks and lo and behold one put a...

May 12, 2013 - Little Rock & rolling on

On Thursday we crossed the border into Arkansas and found this little lake with a dam and a very tranquil park where we paused and took some pictures. Beautiful little place. Then on to Bentonville or maybe it should be called Walmartville. half the town is dedicated to Walmart head offices and ware houses etc. We went to visit the Walmart visitor center which is housed in the original 5 and 10 cent store where Sam Walton started his first store in 1952. Walmart was started by Sam and his brother Bud in 1962. Walmart now has 8970 stores in...

May 10, 2013 - Memphis. TN

Last night in camp we met Neal who had 4 cockatoo parrots. He and his wife were driving from their second home in AZ to Fire Island, NY. We had breakfast with Neal at the Camp Café and learned a lot more about cockatoos and Fire Island. Did not know that cockatoos can live for 60 years which promotes tight knit rescue organizations in which most owners are active participants. The birds were very personable. Fire Island, population 491, is adjacent to the south shore of Long Island and a National Seashore. The island is made up of quiet...

May 9, 2013 - St. Louis to Marion, AK

Today was a travel day and we have travelled in 4 states. We camped in IL last night, drove around St. Louis on the Illinois side back into MO (Hwy 55) to avoid East St. Louis which Bob says is horrific based on his basketball days experience, south through AK and into TN. We are actually camped in Marion, AK for the next two days which is about 14 miles from Memphis. We were in/out of rain all day but heavy wind was with us all day. Bob is a pro driving in it but I still gasp periodically. We stopped in Cape Girardeau ( a BIG town in...

May 8, 2013 - Alma & around

. Monday off to Van Buren about 9 miles away lovely old town with some great old buildings but most of the town shops were closed as it was Monday. There was a railway station here as well and watched the old trains coming through. Then onto Natural Dam and a walk along the river, the next stop was Devils Den State Park but we came across dirt roads so decided to turn back & give it a miss as it looked pretty rough, there was another way in but meant another 30 miles and it was getting later in the day. We drove out to the Oklahoma visitor...

May 5, 2013 - What else could possibly go WRONG!!!!!

Friday spent the day in the city, not a big city seeing as it is the capitol of Alabama. It was over cast but still lovely & warm, first we went on the trolley tour of the city took about 45 minutes. We then decided to walk to the places we wanted to visit, first was Hank Williams museum ( sorry no photography allowed inside), his baby blue cabriolet was something to see. He died in it of a heart attack at the age of 29. We walked quite a few miles today stopped off at the State Capitol building not as ornate inside as others we have...

May 2, 2013 - Tiny Town

Hot Springs, AR. We found a great place today. First, however, we took a drive up West Mountain (their term, not ours) where we checked out the view of Hot Springs below. We could look across the valley to Hot Springs Mountain Tower where we were yesterday. From this vantage point, the tower looked even taller. Then we visited Tiny Town. We thought this would be a quick in-and-out but not so. It was amazing. It is completely animated. Naturally the trains run but so much more was animated: Ferris wheel, barn dancers, farmer plowing, Indians...

May 1, 2013 - Quack, quack

Hot Springs, AR. It was time for a Duck Boat tour! Captain Adam was a real fountain of information. For instance, what do you call a dog with no legs? Nothing, he can't come anyway. He also wanted to know who could swim and who could not. He pointed out the bailing buckets to the non-swimmers, adding that experience had shown that should we spring a leak, the non-swimmers would bail with more energy than the swimmers. He also added that if we could not follow the diagram on how to put on the life vests, don't worry about it. Just grab one...

Apr 30, 2013 - Driver beware!

Hot Springs, AR. Our first tourist activity today was to check out a giant rocking chair. It took a bit to find it but the chair really is a large one! Then we took about an hour to walk through the South Arkansas Arboretum. It was lovely with some very nice trails. We were driving narrow, two-lane back roads and encountered something we have never seen before - a sign reading "Road unsafe when underwater". Does someone really need to be told that? And if someone DOES need to be told that, what are the chances the idiot will heed the...

Apr 26, 2013 - Wilthroup State Park, Arkansas

What a difference a day makes. We have been traveling across some pretty flat land and just before we hit Arkansas, it started to get hilly and now its really hilly. We found a state park to stay in for a couple of days. The road leading to the park is a small 2 lane road that is hilly and snakes back and forth. We also changed from open fields to lots and lots of trees. It is a nice little park with full hookups. We have no phone reception here, but it is nice and quiet and we are surrounded by trees. The trees are just starting to leaf...

Apr 8, 2013 - RV Repairs (Springdale, AR)

We were awakened by the sound of thunder at 3:00 this morning. The bedroom window beside Marilyn’s head was open but there was no rain yet so we enjoyed the distant thunder. Then a gentle pitter patter of raindrops on the roof. Still, we left the window open. The sound of thunder grew closer and then the rain began in earnest. We closed the window! By the time we got up to have coffee, the rain had stopped and it didn’t take long to get ready to go. We pulled in at Wheels RV about 10 minutes before 9:00 AM, when they officially open. After...