Time in Arkansas

As most of you know, we had to return to Arkansas to help Bob's parents with some chores. The first being getting Andrea's new travel trailer ready for the road. Once she arrived in Arkansas, Bob taught her how to drive the van towing the trailer.

The casino parking lot came in handy for teaching her to back the rig into a tight space. After two days of practice, she was ready for the trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. Bob's dad decided he wanted to go along, so he rode with Andrea and Bob followed in our car. I stayed with Bob's mom in Arkansas. The trip went smoothly. The only hitch was on the return trip, a rock hit the windshield of our car on the driver's side and cracked the windshield. As soon as Bob and his dad got to Arkansas, he scheduled an appointment for a replacement. It is hard to believe with all our travels that this was the first time our windshield cracked!

Our visit to Siloam lasted four weeks. We accomplished a lot in that time---yard work, cleaning the garage and attic,  couple of trips to the dump, etc., etc., etc.

Bob and I took time out of our busy schedule to check out Natural Falls State Park in Oklahoma. There are some nice short trails there and we needed the exercise. We also checked to see if we could bring Sol to their dump station. After almost 3 weeks in Bob and Dot's driveway, it was time to flush the tanks!

The following day, we packed Sol, and headed for the park. Bob's dad wanted to ride along, so the three of us went to Natural Springs to visit the dump station. Once we dumped our tanks, we went to our favorite propane provider to fill our propane tank. Unfortunately, their tank was not full so we were only able to put 12 gallons in Sol's tank. We don't use much propane, and only have to fill the tank once a year! Since it is not full, we might have to fill it again if it is a cold winter since we plan to do a lot of boondocking out west.

Our stay in Siloam Spring lasted until the day after Dot's birthday. She turned 88 on September 16th. We took her to lunch, shopping and the grand finale was a trip to Tontitown Winery. Bob and Dot have lived in Siloam for 40 years and had never been to Tontitown to visit the winery. They have been to other Arkansas wineries, just not the one closest to their house! Dot and I each enjoyed a glass of wine---white for her, red for me--while Bob drank a beer and his dad had water.

The four weeks we spent in Siloam Springs flew by and it is time for us to make our way west. Bob and I have reservations for Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta the first 2 weeks of October. We plan to take our time getting to Albuquerque, exploring some state parks, national grasslands, and forests along the way.