Elevation 2992 feet

     Counterintuitive.  That's what it is.  ...more on that later.  A nice day of rest & relaxation at Philipsburg Bay Campground under a forest of lodgepole pines situated alongside Georgetown Lake at a crisp elevation of 6337 feet above sea level.  There were probably less than a dozen campsites occupied.  It was quiet, peaceful, and the perfect break before heading (up? / down?) north to Glacier National Park.

    We packed up and departed Tuesday morning and I'm reminded how its usually "more about the Journey than the Destination."  Descending through the Flint Creek Valley, the landscape opens up into rolling ranch lands dotted with old barns before coming into the town of Philipsburg.  Continuing north, the scene changes and a canyon narrows framed by rugged granite cliffs before opening back up and dropping down into the Clark Fork Valley.

    Joining back onto Interstate 90 west, steep forested mountains close in and rocky bluffs tower overhead as the river curves through another canyon before opening back up into the Missoula Valley and the slopes of Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo.  From there turning north you climb over the Continental Divide again and cross into the Flathead Indian Reservation.  Here, the horizon breaks open into a wide panorama and off to the east, the sawtooth peaks of the Mission Mountains rise straight up out of the valley floor.

    Another steep climb and topping out at the town of Polson to reveal the expanse of Flathead Lake. The lake stretches for miles to the north framed by the mountains.  Driving down to the edge of the lake and then up along the west side, you look down on forested islands and hidden coves floating in deep blue water.  As we continued north, the scene levels out into pastures and the Flathead Valley. The final stretch opens up and draws you into the beautiful, massive peaks of Glacier National Park guiding you down into the riverfront town of Columbia Falls.

    We'll be staying here at Columbia Falls RV Park for 2 nights.  This is just a few miles from the West entrance of Glacier National Park.  From here at least, we can breath easily at a comfortable elevation of 2992 feet.  We'll do a little exploring from here tomorrow and then move across to the east side of the park for a couple more days.  There's a good signal here as well as wi-fi in the RV park.  I'll update again soon, thanks for stopping in. Cheers!

Georgetown Lake

     First things first.  Straight up, we toured all over Yellowstone National Park to the best of our abilities.  What that means is everything we could do, we did.  What we couldn't do was anything that required a long hike to whatever it might be.  On a couple of occasions, the parking area was full and we couldn't even explore to see what it would take to see something.  Most of the "sights" in Yellowstone are located on the southwest side of the park.  I think the only thing we missed that we were looking forward to was the Grand Prismatic Spring located in the midway geyser basin and so popular that the parking area was full.

    Yes, Yellowstone is busy, even after the kids have gone back to school.  There's about 100 miles of roadway to cover when touring the park.  Speed limit is 45 mph except in areas of congestion where it drops to 25 mph. Then of course there are the areas where an Elk or a Bison wanders into view and you slow to a crawl for an hour before you finally get to the spot where it all started and admire the signs explicitly forbidding drivers from stopping, parking, etc that were completely ignored.  I could rant on but, nah...

    There aren't nearly as many attractions on the north end of the park but taking in the view just for the drive was well worth it.  I am amazed by the fact that the background scene changes completely every few miles and sometimes from moment to moment.  I'm not entirely sure how many pictures I took but I only selected a few for the blog simply because if you wanted to see Yellowstone in pictures, its all online already including the places we didn't get to see.

    There was little to mostly no cell service within the park.  The only time we had service of any merit was at West Yellowstone either when we were entering or leaving the park for the day.  The rest of the time it was useless.  I got a text out of nowhere and responded but my response didn't send until the next day.  It rained most of Friday morning so we waited it out before departing the campground.  Thunderstorms were forecast for Saturday morning but got pushed back to afternoon and again to Saturday evening so we got out and toured the northern reaches of the park.

    Sunday morning and the plan is to get on the road again but when I got started breaking camp it started to rain and even hail.  I think it was the thunderstorm that never struck on Saturday.  It had swept past us pretty quickly and I got everything ready to go.  I don't remember if I mentioned this but, almost all the campsites out here do NOT have water on site.  That means you have to fill your water tank before you get to your campsite.  We managed to make the water tank (50 gal.) stretch the whole stay at Yellowstone but were virtually empty for the Sunday drive.  I could have filled the tank at the water point but it was located at the entrance to the campground and I would have had to drive through the entire campground loop again.

    We got about 7 miles north at our next turn and I pulled over to check the ratchet straps on the car.  Straps were fine but the car dolly had a flat.  45 minutes later we're back on the road again for another breath taking day of travel.  We stopped in Butte, Montana for gas and supplies this afternoon and made our way from there to the campsite at Georgetown Lake.  We'll be here for 2 nights but we got an evacuation alert right after we got set up.  Turns out there's a wildfire burning about 25 miles away.  The alert we received was actually downgrading from a red status to yellow.  We'll be watching that closely while we're here.

    This has to be the definition of camping out in the woods.  Sort of... At least I have a cell signal and can update.  Thanks for dropping in, Cheers!

The Grand Tour

  We got an early start Wednesday.  Lynn wanted to be up for the sunrise so I started making coffee at 6am.  This was going to be a relatively short mileage day but a very busy day for sightseeing.  Sunrise was at 6:37 and it was a brisk 46 degrees outside.  I put on my heavy sweat pants and a polo shirt and wondered if I had packed a coat after a few minutes waiting for the right shot.

I went ahead and got the tanks drained while Lynn stowed loose items for travel and we were back on the road again by 8am.  We had to stop for morning meds and breakfast and found a great pull-out spot just as we were entering Grand Tetons National Park.  

I had concerns about this trip early on after reading about the crowds and hoped coming after school had started back up it would be better.  I’m not sure but it was still a bit crowded.  There were quite a few places I would have pulled over but there wasn’t any room to do so.  All for the better I guess, I think I got plenty of photos anyway.  

US 191 highway goes straight through the park but the Teton Park Road by the National Park Service has pull-offs everywhere and its free for park pass holders.  Remember that concern about the crowds, spent 20 minutes in line at the gates before getting on Teton Park Road.  Oh well, not a day to be concerned, this travel day was planned with lots of stops in mind.  And this little alternate route made it all worth while.

It’s great to be seeing places like this for the first time.  We’ve both done our share of trips in the past but it’s not easy finding spots neither of us have been to.  Even so, after stopping to get these pics, I actually felt pretty foolish.  Here I am in this OMG majestic place trying to get a photo that doesn’t include 40 other people trying to get the same shot, realizing 20 million other people have taken the same pic already and posted it online for all to see.  It’s actually how I knew the best places to go for these shots….  Oh well, this is my journal and I like the pics.  

We finally got to our next campsite at Bakers Hole Campground, just west of Yellowstone National Park around 3pm.  Nothing special, a shaded campsite with electric and a picnic table.  We’ll be here for 4 nights while we drive around the park and see the sights.  We had a problem as soon as we got backed into the campsite.  The hydraulic jacks that level out the RV were locked out with an error and wouldn’t work at all.  I had to drive a few miles back to town in the car to get a signal so I could get the instructions to reset it.  It worked, but I’m writing this as just a plain text document in hopes I’ll get a signal later and can login and paste this in.

I have no Idea when I’ll get a chance to upload another post but, I’ll keep a log and post again as soon as I’m able.  Thanks for stopping by.  Cheers!

Northbound and Down

     We pulled out of Crawford, Colorado at 9am. and headed to Grand Junction to take a short break and see the Colorado National Monument.  I hadn't been here in over 50 years.  I think is was around '72 when we came to visit cousins who lived outside of Grand Junction back then.  Like most photographs, there's only so much the camera can capture but, here's a few shots from Colorado National Monument.

    Afterward we slipped back down into Grand Junction and restocked at Sam's Club before heading north for an overnight stop in Vernal, Utah by way Colorado 139 north and over Douglas Pass. A scenic drive in northwest Colorado. The pass is known for its steep grades, sharp curves, and dramatic views of the Canyon.  It was probably the hardest workout Georgie Girl has ever had so far.  The speed limit drops to 25 mph as you wind through the sharper curves and steeper grades.  It's a good thing too,  25 mph is all I could get out of her there.  We pulled off at the top and took this pic of the canyon we had just come out of. 

    After that, the drive was almost routine the rest of the way to our next overnight stop at Steinaker State Park Campground.  It's located on the Steinaker Reservoir just north of Vernal, Utah.  Unfortunately, this area as most all of the "high desert" on the west side of the Rockies has been in a drought for so long that the reservoir was down to only 19% of its designed water capacity.  The park itself was very well maintained and our campsite was nearly level. At an elevation of only 5500 ft. we were able to breath easier too.  We settled in for the evening and as I was about to record the blog for the day, I realized there was no wi-fi and a less than satisfactory cell signal so, it would just have to wait. 

    Tuesday morning and a slightly shorter drive was in store so we took our time getting going.  On a positive note, our next overnight stop was on the same road.  No worries about navigation today.  We headed out around 10am and made our way north going past Dinosaur National Park and making note of it in case we happen back this way again.  It was another uphill climb but not near as steep.  This was the view looking back toward the south.

    This was just a beautiful drive.  The scenery was constantly changing and I could have stopped to take in the view almost every mile of the way.  We came upon another uphill climb, just a little steeper than the last but much more manageable and as we started back down we could see the Green River Reservoir in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area below.

    Its a Huge Lake covering over 42,000 Acres with 350 miles of coastline.  This would explain the inordinate number of vehicles I came across towing boats.  After that, what was such a beautiful drive suddenly became bland. Topping out at an average of about 7500 ft above sea level, this was like seeing an old Western with a cowboy riding out across the plains.  Nothing but scrub land as far as the eye could see.  Thankfully, we noted a Love's Truck Stop was up ahead off Interstate 80 and had the cheapest gas we had seen in the last 5 days.  I try not to think too much about the amount of fuel needed for a trip like this but when the cheapest gas is $4.19 it's hard to ignore.  Still, we saw plenty of stations along the way that were approaching $5.00/gal.  We filled up and drove the next hour towards Boulder, Wyoming where we would make our last "overnight" stop for a while.

    We could finally see the mountains fading into view on the horizon as we approached ever closer to the Highline Trail RV Park.  We got in about 3:30 and I finally got to get this update posted.  Here's the view for this afternoon, an Ultra Hi-Res preview of tomorrows drive through Grand Teton National Park.

Cheers!

A little adventure

    We've been enjoying time with family here and set out to explore the area.  I'll not bother attempting to articulate the experience. I couldn't hope to express it so well and, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Don't forget, just click on a picture to see it full screen. 

These first shots are from atop the ridge near where we are camped.

We took a scenic drive south along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and stopped at a few of the overlooks.

Heading East of Gunnison, we had lunch in a little Canyon outside of Almont, CO

Drove through a forest of Aspen trees coming down from Kebler Pass...

And made our way west again passing the ragged mountains on the way back.

All in all, quite the little adventure on our stop here.  Time for a break, good food, friends, and  get ready for the next leg northwest into Utah.  Till then, sit back, relax with friends, and have a glass of wine.  Cheers!

Interstate 70 West

     Nothing compares to the drive on I-70 heading west.  We got started by 9 am and the windshield on Georgie Girl was more like an 8k 98 inch Wide Screen TV you couldn't stop admiring.  I wanted to pull off and admire the view almost every mile of the way.  It wasn't long before we came to Georgetown Colorado and since we're driving a Georgetown it was the perfect excuse to pull off and get a few pics.  None of which could really do it justice but this is the view of the rest area behind the Visitors Center. 

    It's an uphill climb to the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower Tunnel and then a long downhill run all the way to Grand Junction and beyond.  I so badly wished I had the dashcam in the RV for this part but, since I didn't, Here's a link to that drive on YouTube.  For best results you want to run it muted and playing at half speed. Well worth a few minutes streaming on a big screen if you can.  I expected to need the Oxygen boost when we were nearing the Continental Divide but I think the views were just so breathtaking we didn't notice. 

    The views are changing constantly on the way down the western side.  Our next stop was above the Dillon Reservoir between Silverthorne and Frisco, CO. 

By the time we got to Grand Junction, CO we were in need of a supply stop and stopped at Walmart before turning south to visit family near Crawford, CO.  

    For now, this will be my view from the RV for the next few days.  It does get warm here, 95 degrees during the day but it drops pretty quickly as soon as the sun sets and I woke up to 61 degrees this morning.  I'm surrounded by lots and lots of  Lavender growing here and its quite invigorating as a natural scent permeating the air rather than some spray scent for a can. Even though we've dropped back down in elevation (about 7800 ft.)  I've been a bit short on air and have used the Oxygen boost canister a few times here.  A few more days here should have me acclimated.

    We'll be here for a few days and have plans to do a little exploring so I should be highlighting some of that later.  Until next time, Cheers!

Chief Hosa

     Well, it was another beautiful day for traveling.  We planned to get out early but one of the boys had jumped up on the driver side console and turned on the lights.  Battery was at 7.8 Volts when we tried to start.  After a little head scratching I jumped it with the house batteries and we got off by 9 am.  The price of gas has been going up with the altitude, so we filled up in Colby at $3.59/gal before jumping on the Interstate.  For while I watched the altimeter rise at a foot per second and before very much longer we were moving into Mountain Time and crossing into Colorado.  

    We came across a gas station about half way to Denver where gas was $3.77.  Didn't see it till after we passed the exit and since everything else going forward was over $4, I doubled back at the next exit and filled it to the brim.  A short time later, the Rocky Mountains faded into view on the horizon about 40 miles outside of Denver and seemed to grow a lot faster than I was driving.

    A short stop at Sam's Club in Denver to stock back up on supplies and continue west.  The foothills start before you even get out of Denver.  Georgie Girl got one heck-of-a work-out today.  Usually she can keep up with the traffic pretty well but it was a steep climb out of Denver on I-70 and with towing the car behind she could barely hold onto 40 mph in a few spots.  The oddest sensation happened too.  There were a couple areas where the road "appeared" to level out and go back downhill.  A complete illusion!  Even on what appeared to be a downhill stretch we were still climbing at over a ft./sec. and nearly 10 ft/sec. on the steeper sections.  This was probably the most stressful part of todays drive.

    We arrived at Chief Hosa Campground around 2:30 and all that stress just melted away. 

 The Campground is Historic.  It opened over a hundred years ago as America's first motor-camping area.  Lynn booked a Pull-thru campsite and we got Georgie Girl Settled in for the night.  It's beautiful here, just off the Interstate about 20 miles west of Denver, shaded with tall pines, and a contented 78 degrees with a light breeze.  I got a text from my good friend Pete saying it was 104 degrees at home 🥵

    As beautiful and relaxing as it is, it's a shame we didn't book an extra night here.  I guess the only drawback is that we are from Bella Vista where the altitude is below 1200 ft.  The Altitude here in the campground is 7,900 ft and it will be another week before we can "breath easily."  The air is a bit on the thin side but we did come prepared with a supply of supplemental oxygen canisters.  

    Tomorrow will test our lungs to the limit as we cross the Continental Divide.  I'll be keeping the Oxygen canister close at hand for that trek.  It's time to get dinner started and kick back for the evening so I'll finish this up and just say, "Wish you were here!"  Until tomorrow, Cheers!

    

Oasis of the Plains?

     Colby Kansas, Oasis of the Plains, or that's what they call it.  Okay, I'll admit, there actually are some trees here.  Not a lot but, they do exist. 😏  I have vivid memories of trips out west as a kid hearing my father state his loathing for Kansas, "Too flat and empty."  I shall partially but respectfully disagree with my father on this matter.  We drove across Nebraska in June of 2023 on what seemed like an endless unwavering road to the horizon.  Compared to that, Kansas is great with its meandering highways traversing waves of hills and valleys and hundreds of massive wind power generators that go on for miles.

    We pulled out of the Cottonwood Point campground by 9:30 and, since there's almost nothing in Kansas,  (yes daddy) we arrived in Colby Kansas before 3:00.  Nothing to really slow us down along the way other than a few road repairs and 3 rest areas.  Flat it isn't.  Cottonwood Point campground was just under 1400 Ft above sea level.  Watching the elevation display on the Garmin as we drove today was my entertainment on this leg and I'd call out the readings to Lynn as we'd pass 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000.  Colby sits at 3,159 Ft.

    This is just another overnight stop on our way to Western Colorado. There aren't a lot of choices for campgrounds and our priorities are aimed more toward campsites that fall within the 250 to 300 miles per day travel we plan for.  Hill Street RV park is nothing more than 5 or 6 parking spots (with full hook-ups) on a grass & gravel lot beside a metal building in an industrial park on the edge of town.  The owner had contacted us a week ago just to confirm our scheduled arrival and requested we call him before we arrive.  He's a kind and helpful gentleman and guided me into our pull-thru site to make sure we got a level start.  He made sure we got the utilities hooked up, I thanked him and paid him for the spot.  

    Interstate 70 is just over a half mile away and there's a Walmart within a mile so it'll be easy getting out again tomorrow morning.  We plan these trips out months in advance, and up to a year in advance when our destinations are more of a tourist hot-spot.  I guess one of the advantages of being retired is going to some of the best places after the kids go back to school.  I hate crowded parks with campsites packed in like town houses and will go out of the way to find a quaint, quiet, mom & pop camp site rather than some Resort style place with activity directors and $$$$ listings.  

    Tomorrow morning we continue west into Colorado and we'll be stopping again just west of Denver.  Please feel free to leave comments, or just let us know you dropped in.  Until tomorrow, Cheers! 

Northwest across Kansas

     I spent considerable time making preparations for this trip.  We took a complete inventory of  the RV and were able to lose about 50 pounds of "stuff" but gained a lot of space and a much better sense of organization.  I brought the RV up to the front drive for loading yesterday but encountered another problem with the slide-out after getting it parked.  Fortunately, it enabled me to finally determine the root cause and make successful repairs.  We had planned to be on the road early but with our exit plan delayed, we got finished loading up by 10:00 and had the car and dolly secured by 10:30.  By the time we pumped 60 gallons of gasoline and 80 pounds of propane it was 11:15 but traffic was light and there was nothing left to  do but drive.

    The trip into Kansas was familiar.  It was the same route we had taken 4 years earlier when we welcomed Bilbo to our family.  We had stopped on our way home to take a picture with Toto as we were leaving Kansas.  That was a whirlwind trip in the car, This trip is a bit more of an excursion with just over 5 weeks planned.  Our first Destination is a visit with my Aunt in Western Colorado.  We were last there in Late May of 2023.  We're planning to visit for 4 days with her before proceeding to the NEXT Destination.

    The trip was smooth and uneventful, we made much better time than we had planned for and arrived at Cottonwood Point C.O.E. Campground near Marion, KS.  There was a sign at the gatehouse as we entered the park noting it was unoccupied so we made our way through the park trying to find our campsite.  It took us another 15 minutes but we finally located campsite 129.  It was only one of very few Pull-thru sites but was nicely outfitted with a covered picnic table and BBQ grill, Full Hookups and a decent view overlooking the Marion Reservoir.

    Today was a Good travel day,  and that's not something I'm prone to saying often.  For now, I'l just say Good Night.  Check back again tomorrow, I'm Planning on keeping the blog going throughout this trip.  Cheers!

Return to Petit Jean

 It has been a rainy drizzly month with a few dry days in between storm systems.  June started off dry and warmer and a few days ago we started preparing for this trip.  We still had a late start Tuesday but thankfully the trip is only a few hours.  We brought the car with us this trip so we could get out and about and explore the area.

When we were here last month, it was only an overnight stay in the "high-end" campground.  This trip we reserved the less expensive area.  This campground area is more wooded and natural with lesser quality paved spots for the RV.  The site itself is good sized with a table on a concrete pad, BBQ grill, Fire pit, a lantern pole, water, and 30 Amp electrical service.  

More specific to our campsite than most of the others, the water spigot was placed a considerable distance from the electrical utilities.  I would need at least, a 50 foot water line to get connected, maybe more.  Thankfully I had filled the fresh water tank before we set out.  

We arrived after 5 pm Tuesday so drove the car down to the Visitors station this morning to formally get checked-in.  After that we drove over to the Cedar falls trailhead.  The "trail" was a well constructed boardwalk with a gentle slope leading down a quarter mile to the Cedar falls overlook.  Lynn commented she had made the trek all the way down to the bottom of the falls many years ago.  The boys were happy to take the trail down but enjoyed a ride with Lynn on the way back up to the parking area.

Afterwards, we drove down off the mountain to Morrilton, AR and stopped at Walmart for a few supplies and headed back to camp.  We had a bite to eat and relaxed into a couple hour nap as a rain band made its way across the mountain passing East of us by 5:30.

We'll be here a few days and head back home Friday.  I'll probably follow up with another post before then but it will likely be brief.  Thanks for dropping in and please, feel free to leave a comment.  Cheers!

Petit Jean Mountain

 We pulled out of Winnsboro around 10am after stopping for gas.  The trip was nice and easy as we stayed on US-425 most of the way.  Not a lot of traffic and 65mph speed limits most of the way.  Not exactly the best of roads being a little bumpy but still so much less stressful and missing the bigger towns.  We were on the lookout for a nice spot to pull over and let the boys out when we came upon Portland, Arkansas and pulled over at their little community park.  A nice little respite for a short break to stretch your legs, and quite well kept considering the size of the town.

Back on the road and back onto Interstate once we reached Pine Bluff and grabbed some lunch.  From there traffic was still pretty nice being a Saturday and early afternoon.  We got off of I-40 at Morrilton, AR and made our way up Petit Jean Mountain.  Lynn and I had been to Petit Jean about twenty years ago but I think we came in from the west side back then.

Wow, What a Beautiful State Park we have here.  I can definitely say I am impressed.  Petit Jean State Park is very well maintained and appointed.  It's a shame this is just an overnight stay. 

There's lots of room, lots of trees and grass, full hook-ups for the RV and a great rate at that.  That was all we needed to see and so we've already booked a week for next month.  We had just finished dinner before I started getting this post entered in. It's getting dark now and we'll be heading home in the morning.  I was just getting to really enjoy this little outing.  Oh well, I'm sure looking forward to the next trip.  Until then, Cheers!

The Scenic route

 We started our way back about 9:30 Thursday morning heading north back up to I-10 then west for a Starbucks stop in Slidell, LA.  Lynn was reminiscent being in southern Louisiana and wanted to take a more scenic route up US-61.  This would mean traveling west all the way to Baton Rouge before veering north on the Scenic Highway then onto the Old Scenic Highway past an area of fond childhood memories for Lynn.  This would lead us back up into Mississippi for a time before finally crossing the Mississippi River at Natchez.

From there we would follow US-425 from Vidalia to Winnsboro Louisiana and stay a couple nights at her brothers place outside of town.  

We all went out for a delicious dinner at a locally very popular restaurant called "Honey's" in Mangham, LA which just happens to be operated by Lynn's nephew.  It's always quite active and they are currently expanding to handle the traffic.  Afterwards, we went back and settled in for a quiet evening.  Toto and Bilbo really like the open area to roam around in after being stuck in the RV most of the day.  We'll be staying here another night before heading north again Saturday morning for our next overnight stay at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas.  Hopefully I'll get another chance to post again before we get home, till then, Cheers! 

Gulf of America

 My apologies, I let my depression get the best of me when I should have used this to get me through it.  We spent two days at the Landry Vineyards near West Monroe, Louisiana.  While it was a beautiful setting, it was hot, humid, and without any breeze. We drove through a major thunderstorm on our way in with crosswinds buffeting the RV on I-20 just before we arrived.  It was still raining as we pulled in but cleared by the time we got set up.  Lynn had a wine tasting board and I had a glass of wine that afternoon.  Next day Lynn's niece came by to visit with a handful of kids and the vineyard had live music that afternoon.  I didn't get any pictures but there are plenty available online.

Next morning we were off again and headed for the gulf coast.  We booked four days at Fontainebleau state park just outside of Slidell, Louisiana.  The idea was to spend some time on or by the water.  Unfortunately the water was in the day use area and not near the RV campground.  We kept it simple and broke camp a few times to cruise around the area but it wasn't enough.

This morning we broke camp and drove to a beachfront RV campsite at the Silver Slipper Casino in Waveland, Mississippi.  We had scheduled this as a stop on our little winter escape back in January this year but had to bypass it due to weather conditions.  Now that we are here, Lynn has decided to make this spot a destination of its own.  We spent a little time on the beach with the boys, then came back to the RV for a bite of lunch and an afternoon nap.  Some part of this was enough to break through my funk and get this post up.  

We're heading back homeward tomorrow, spending a couple days in Winnsboro with family and hopefully home by Sunday afternoon.  I'll write some more soon. Till then, Cheers!

Downtown Riverside

 We're off again. Just a 10 day trip down south. Fist night out this time at the Downtown Riverside RV Park in Little Rock.  I have to admit I was a little reluctant before reading the reviews.  Turns out its pretty nice.  We got a riverside spot with full hookup. There's a nice grassy area with trees and benches along the riverbank.  

Rather than ramble on about nothing, I'll cut this short here.  I just wanted to let ya'll know we were out and about again. We'll be staying at Landry's Vineyard in West Monroe Friday and Saturday.  Hopefully I'll have a bit more to reflect on after that.  Right now, its just good to be out again.  Cheers!

Belle Starr RV Park

 Saturday, March 1st 2025

Our last stop on the road home. On the shores of Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma at the Belle Starr Corps of Engineers RV Park.  A nice spot to rest and relax before the final leg tomorrow.  We had originally planned to stop here on our way out but it was still snow covered last week.  Today its a nice sunny 68 degrees with a mild breeze.  

It was just two years ago we began our journeys in Georgie Girl. Now, just 27000 miles later, we've decided to get another Motorhome.  Georgie Girl has been great and we've been with her long enough to recognise we enjoy the time spent out touring the country.  As ideal as she's been, we've also figured out what more we might like beyond what Georgie Girl provided.  So, We've decided to put her up for sale. So for anyone who might be interested, feel free to contact us and we'll be glad to give you the full run down.

I'd prefer to sell her outright, but a dealer trade-in could be in the works if we find what we want and they can make the paperwork easy.  That said, I expect I'll have to get back to changing up the RV Spot at the house to accomodate the new one.  In the mean time, we still have plans for a short trip to Hot Springs, AR next month and a summer trip to New England is also in the agenda.  Hopefully we'll be in the new RV in time for that trip.

I'm glad to have so many friends follow along on our journeys, and the blog has helped me to remember all the places we've been.  Happy First day of March, Cheers!

Kimball Bend Park

 We left San Antonio about 11 am and took the scenic route north through Bourne and Fredericksburg.  After spending the past few days in 80 degree weather I'm looking forward to Spring in the Ozarks.  It was a rough and stressful drive north across the rolling hills of texas.  Nicely, many of the Texas stae highways have roadside picnic areas and I took advantage of a few to calm my nerves.  Driving the Texas back country would have been a lot more enjoyable in a car but in the RV the roads were just narrow enough to test your skills and didn't leave room to take in the views especially when there was oncomming trafic.

We stopped for gas and groceries in Meridian, TX and continued north to Kopperl, TX pulling in for the evening at Kimball Bend Park. It's a Corps of Engineers Campground on the Brazos River southwest of Ft. Worth, TX.  We arrived at about 4:30, got a pull-thru site with a nice covered picnic table, water and electrical hookups.  After getting the RV opened up, Toto and Bilbo took a walk with me across the campground and down to the river.

We'll be here overnight and split up the last 500 miles home with our next stop somewhere in between.  We've been reviewing possible options for tomorrow nights stay but haven't found a winner just yet.  I'm wishing for something more forested or maybe mountains with a view. It's all up in the air at the moment but we'll get something figured out.  

Come back tomorrow and find out.  Cheers!

BFF February

 February, historically has always been the peak of winter in Arkansas. This year was well represented with below 0 temps and an 8 inch blanket of snow to show for it.  I drove the RV up from the lower drive 5 days early to avoid bringing it up in the snow.  Temperatures never got above 30 the whole week and with all the snow we ended up pushing our departure date out another day.  The plan was to take a 3 day drive to San Antonio, TX but our original first stop at Lake Eufalla State park in Oklahome got scrubbed since the park was still covered in snow.  Instead we left a day later and our first stop was at the texas border, below the snow line. 

If ever there was a great way to test your patience, owning an RV should be high on the list.  We arrived at the Red River RV Ranch with a flat tire on the back of the RV.  No idea when it happened, but it wasn't something that could be patched.  We made dozens of calls to neighboring areas looking for a tire but came up empty.  Since we were headed into texas and much denser populated cities I decided to limp along on what we had and continue south.  The tire we needed wasn't found at any of the tire service points we came accross and we stopped for the night in Lampassas, TX at a Harvest Host Vinyard called Texas Legato Winery.

The place was quaint, quiet, and the perfect spot to relax after driving all day totally stressed short 1 tire.  The owner noted a few tire shops in town and we hit the jackpot next morning when a shop in town had the right tires we needed.  Not only that, they accepted the fleet tire service contract we got when we bought the RV and replaced 2 tires in the process.  A ton of weight off my shoulders and we completed our route to San Antonio.

San Antonio, TX is the home of my lifelong BFF Weston and we make an effort to see each other as often as we can manage.  Wes is a much better host than I have ever been. He's always ready to take us anywhere we might want to see or experience.  Of course since it's San Antonio, and Lynn is such a history buff, we find ouselves at the Alamo and Riverwalk often.  Today we went to Market Square and had lunch before doing a little window shopping.  We even walked from Market Square to the Alamo and back.  So much has changed, there was a lot of construction going on and renovation of some of the historic buildings.

We're staying at Lost Resort Ranch on the outskirts of San Antonio.  The place feels like its well out of town but the city of San Antonio has been spreading out more and more for years and as remote as it feels here there are already a lot of communities nearby.  I imagine this place will be surrounded by housing in the very near future.

I know I'm quite late getting this post up but this is really the first time this trip I was up to the task. We have two more days here before we begin the trek back to Arkansas. I'm not sure where our next stop will be just yet but I'll be posting again soon now that I have my mind in a better state.

Thanks for checking in.  Until next time, Cheers!

Northwest towards home

 Well, Sorry for the delayed post.  We spent thursday afternoon in town with friends for lunch. I drove along the coast afterwards looking for a good place to enjoy the beach and let the dogs roam but sadly there wasn't a good spot to get parked when we finally found a nice stretch of beach.  We headed back to the park and spent our last night getting prepared for our return trip.  We awoke Friday morning and were treated to a visitor enjoying the local flora.

I had seen a few doe on occasion during our stay but this was the first I'd seen the buck.  So keenly aware of his surroundings, he wasn't sticking around to pose for me.  We got everything closed up and disconnected by 7:30 but making our way out of the park took nearly a half hour before passing the gate.  From there the GPS was in charge and it was a 6 hour trek to one of my favorite overnight stops at Mount Olive, Mississippi.  So much so that it is the background scene on the blog.  Being winter, we always have the place to ourselves and the boys really enjoy the freedom to run.

It's only an overnight stop, then back on the road again to our next stop and where we are currently for a visit with Lynn's brother Scott in Winnsboro, Louisianna.  This too was to be an overnight stay but winter weather was threatening our return as well.  It's still two travel days from here to Bella Vista and temperatures are expected to be about 5 degrees at home Monday evening then back up to about 20 degrees Tuesday overnight. With the Bitter cold comming down from the north and moisture comming up from the gulf, 3 to 5 inches of snow is actually expected to fall here in Louisianna monday afternoon.  

Our plan now is to head out Monday morning ahead of the snow and make out way north to Maumelle park again. Then make the final leg home on Tuesday arriving home early enough to get unloaded and winterized before nightfall.  Fingers crossed, Let's hope it all goes to plan.  Cheers!