On to Chickasaw National Recreation Area

From Poverty Point our next stop was Barksdale AFB for two nights. Bob had some things he needed to get for the RV and we wanted to stock up at the commissary  in anticipation of hungry grand kids. We didn't take any pictures at Barksdale, but we did enjoy the sounds of freedom as B52s flew over doing touch and go landings.

When we left Barksdale, we knew we would have a long day's drive to get to Chickasaw National Recreation Area south of Sulphur, Oklahoma. We persevered and made it there late in the afternoon. Bob had checked the weather and decided to change all of our other reservations due to tornadoes and severe storms. Instead of heading north east from Sulphur after we collect the grand kids, we are going to go east into Arkansas.

Our site at Buckhorn Area was a nice long one, but not very level! We had to go buy some levelers to go under our tires and jacks to get the front high enough to make the RV level. Television reception was good, but cell phone and Internet were iffy in this area.

We arrived at Chickasaw NRA two days before we were to get Chris and DeAnna so Bob and I explored the area. This is the view from Bromide Hill.

Many of the features in the park were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Lincoln Bridge is one of those features. It crosses Rock Creek near Vendome Flower Park.

 Veterans' Lake has a paved walking trail around it. Bob and I walked that the morning before we drove to Ft. Sill to get the kids.

 It was great to see Bobby--we hadn't seen him since his mid-tour leave from Afghanistan in May, 2012. We met him and the kids at the exchange at Ft. Sill. After a quick dinner and some together time, we packed the kids and their belongings in our car and headed back to the campground 2 hours away.

Wednesday morning we took the kids to see the sights and to work on their Junior Ranger books. One stop was at Vendome Well. You can tell from DeAnna's expression that it didn't smell very good.

 Back at the campground, we put on our water shoes and explored the shoreline near the campsites.

 Of course, there was some posing for pictures.

 Late in the afternoon the kids wanted to swim, so it was off to the lake once more.

 Chris just wanted to relax.

 DeAnna wanted to paddle around without making a wake.

 On our last day, we went to Travertine Nature Center for the kids to complete their Ranger books to earn their badges.

 Hiking the trail behind the nature center was a must. It has been very dry so the spring that should have been flowing over the rocks was dry.

We did find a crossing where we had to jump rocks to get across the creek.

Then, Buffalo Springs at the end of the trail was also dry!

 Friday was moving day--on to Kiamichi Corps of Engineer Campground on Hugo Lake near Hugo, Oklahoma.

On the Way to Oklahoma

On the spur of the moment, Bob and I decided to see if Bobby and Cathy would let us camp with the kids for the month of June. They said yes, so we are on the road again! We will meet the kids near Lawton, Oklahoma. We will be home again in mid-July for Princess Petunia's baby shower.

We stayed home until after the holiday weekend, then we said goodbye to Jennifer, Andy and Princess Petunia. On our first day of travel we had a minor setback or should I say blowout! Yes, the right rear tire on the RV blew about 7 miles south of Perry, Florida. We called our road service and they sent a tech with a tire. Unfortunately, it  was an old tire (13 years to be exact) and we refused to have it mounted on the RV. Once again we called our road service and they found a place with a new tire the right size for our RV. The new tire came from Madison, FL, north of  I-10. It took the tech about an  1 1/2 hour to get to us. He had the tire mounted in no time and after a delay of 2 1/2 hours, we were back on the road.

We checked the map and changed directions for the night. We were going to head northwest from Perry, but we headed west instead. We held our breath and crossed our fingers hoping the gate would be open at Ocholockonee State Park near Sopchoppy. It was the closest state park we knew of that had campsites.

Luckily, the gate was open when we arrived. Bob and I stayed at Ocholockonee about a year ago. This time we even got the same site!

The bugs were terrible! Any time we went outside we were doing the yellow fly/horsefly swat! Needless to say we didn't go out much.

The next morning as we were hooking the CRV to the RV it was windy enough  to blow the bugs away. We took a walk by the river.

 As we returned to the RV we spotted a white squirrel near the RV. Evidently he is used to being fed because he didn't run, he just looked at us to see if we were going to give him something.

 Once on the road we decided to stop at one of my favorite parks--Service COE Campground near Coffeeville, Alabama. Since our route changed after our blow out, we took a different route to get to US 84. It took us through north Florida near Crestview and into southern Alabama.

It was  a long day of driving, but the stop was worth it. Just as we pulled into one of our favorite sites (#7) a tug pushing 9 barges came by behind 3 large fishing boats.

 The internet is not very fast here, nor do we get many television channels....

 ...but it is a very relaxing campground on the Tombigbee Waterway.

From Service we continued on our way into Louisiana. Bob found a state park that looked promising--Poverty Point Reservoir State Park north of Delhi, Louisiana. We pulled into the check-in area late in the afternoon and were able to get a site.

The park is well kept and has a lot of activities for everyone.

 There are plenty of places to fish, but this dock isn't one of them. This one is for relaxing.

  Bob and I were able to walk a trail and get 2 geocaches.

 The area was once home to people 4000 to 6000 years ago. There is State Historical Area a bit further north of the campground. After a one night stay, we were on the road again!

Home Again, Home Again, Let the Work Begin!

Once we got home it was time to do some heavy duty yard work. After a little thought we started small, with the side yard between the pool and the RV garage. We raked and weeded the area and got it back to normal.

 Then it was time to plant flowers to complete the side.

 Once the side yard was done, it was time to move to the front. It took much longer as we had to dethatch the grass and pull a lot of weeds. We worked on it every morning for 3 weeks. It finally started to look good.

We did take the time to get that geocache count over 4000. Of course, the RV was tucked into its home. I wonder how long it will stay there. I bet not as long as we had planned!

Yes, it is time to get on the road again. We have been home for 2 months and now we have the chance to spend the month of June with our grandkids, so off we go!

The End of the Trip--March 2013

From Turkey Fork Recreation Area we headed for Florida. We stopped at Rocky Bayou State Park near Niceville.  We used the park as our base to visit friends in Ft. Walton Beach and to do a little geocaching. As many of you know we wanted to find our 4000th cache before getting home. Our site at Rocky Bayou was on the corner near two walking trails.

 This was the view down one of the trails.

 The view from the boat ramp was peaceful the day we were there. We could imagine how busy the water could be on a sunny weekend.

 From Rocky Bayou we drove a short distance to Tyndall AFB. From Tyndall we went to Mexico Beach to do some geocaching. There is a cache hidden  near this canal, but we couldn't find it. Turns out we couldn't find it last time we visited the area either!

 We did find the cache near the beach.

After spending a week at Tyndall we headed home, eight caches short of our goal. Once again we had a great trip, but it was nice to be home--even if it was only for a short time.

In Search of Warmer Temperatures!

Saturday, March 9, was our grandson Christopher's 8th birthday!
Monday, March 11,was my brother Walter's 72nd birthday and Aunt Julia's 90th birthday.
Friday, March 15, our son-in-law Andy celebrated  his 41st birthday.
Monday, March 25, Bob's sister Andrea celebrates her birthday--I won't publish her age:)

We decided it was time to leave  Siloam Springs in search of warmer weather. Of course, we headed south in our quest for warmth. Our first stop was an Army Corps of Engineer Campground near North Little Rock, Arkansas. We made Willow Beach our home base for two nights.

The last time we stayed in this area, we camped at Little Rock AFB in Jacksonville, AR. During that trip we picked up quite a few geocaches. This time we found some of the caches in the Americana Series we missed the last trip and a few others.

Since we were in bayou country--that's right, Arkansas, not Louisiana, we found some caches near bayous with many tupelo trees in them.

 We also saw this private plantation, Marlsgate. It looked like an interesting place to live.

The campground had 20 sites and all were nice. Our site was waterfront and we had a view of the water behind the sites across from us, also.

 Of course we were treated to a magnificent sunset across the Arkansas River.

When we left Willow Beach, our route took us through Stuttgart which claims to be "Rice and Duck Capital of the World." As we neared Stuttgart we could see many rice storage silos. The most prominent was one marked 'Riceland.'

After a drive of about 250 miles we stopped at Rocky Springs Campground on Natchez Trace. In the past we had stayed at the other two free campgrounds on The Trace, so it was time for us to try  the third campground. This one was just as nice as the other two and was not yet crowded with 'snowbirds' heading north.

 The campground is about 25 miles south of Vicksburg and the closest town is Port Gibson. Port Gibson was not burned during the Civil War because the antebellum houses were considered too beautiful. 

Bob and I drove through Port Gibson and saw a few antebellum houses, but the Chamber of Commerce was closed. They had maps of the homes for self-guided tours. When we returned to the campground, we drove to the site of the former community, Rocky Springs.

Some signs marked where buildings stood when the town was prospering, but not much else remains....

...except the Methodist church.

 It is still in use today.

 Since we had no Internet and no cell phone coverage at Rocky Springs, we decided to leave after one night. We drove through Mississippi to a national forest campground in DeSoto National Forest--Turkey Fork Recreation Area. Believe me, you will never find this campground if you are on the main highways of Mississippi-it is OFF the beaten track! It is east of Richton and south of Waynesboro. It was a great place for us to stop!  There are 20 sites with hook-ups and also a tent area near the swimming beach.

 One good thing about Turkey Fork, there was a trail that lead from the campground to the boat ramp. Bob and I walked this every day!

 We also did some caching! The caches were few and far between. One cache was located at an old CCC camp.

 Not only did this monument recognize the CCC,

  but it also memorialized DeSoto's  travels through the area in the 1500s.

 The memorial was located on a very narrow county road in the back woods of southern Mississippi.

 Our site at Turkey Fork overlooked the lake.

 It was a very peaceful campground and believe it or not, we got good television, Internet and cell phone coverage--even though we were in the middle of no where!

 We spent two days geocaching. One geocache was near this abandoned bridge near Richton, Mississippi.

 We enjoyed our stay at Turkey Fork and I am happy to say that we finally found warm weather! I have put away our heavy jackets and stowed the electric and propane heaters. I don't think we are going to need them any more! The night time temperatures are in the high 50s and the daytime temperatures are in the upper 70s! I think we are going to roast!

Trying to Stay Warm--Texas to Arkansas

Our original plan was to stay in Crosbyton for one night. Well, when we awoke the next morning it was snowing a nice slushy snow so we decided to stay put for one more night. Since it was a slushy snow, there was no need to go sightseeing or even leave the RV so we hunkered down and stayed warm.

The next morning we set out bright and early with a destination near Whitesboro, TX. Bob had done research on the area and found many Army Corp of Engineer campgrounds around Lake Tahoma. We decided on West Juniper Campground as it was the one of the ones open at this time of year. The water was off, but the electricity was good. Unfortunately, I think our days of boondocking might be over for this trip as we are headed east where there are fewer boondocking sites.

We got a great site overlooking Lake Tahoma. It didn't take long to get used to the rhythm of traffic crossing the bridge  on US 377 about a half mile from our site. While at West Juniper we did as much geocaching as we could  (weather permitting) and we also visited the Air Force Recreation Area to do some laundry. Yes, it was still cold. Average temperatures for the area were about 20 degrees below normal so everywhere we went we had to bundle up to stay warm.

One day we were able to walk across the highway to check out East Juniper Campground. It had some nice sites, too. Most of the east sites were gravel, not concrete pads like on the west.

At West Juniper Campground is the beginning of Cross Timbers Trail. The only day it was warm enough for us to consider hiking was Saturday and unfortunately for us, there was a race scheduled for the trail. The mileage for the race ranged from a 5K to 50 miles! It was not a day for us to do recreational hiking!

We did find a geocache near the dam during one of our caching days.

When we left West Juniper, we only went about 50 miles to another Army Corp of Engineer Park north of Denison, TX. Bob's parents were joining us at West Burns Campground. Again, it was one of the campgrounds open during the winter.

Bob's parents drove down from Siloam Springs to spend 2 nights with us. Bob's dad attended Cadet Training at Perrin Air Force Base in 1949. All that remains of the base is a museum--the base closed in 1971. We spent the morning looking through the museum and talking with the volunteers--all who had been stationed at Perrin at some time in their military career.

After touring the museum we drove to the birthplace of Dwight  D. Eisenhower. We drove around the house, but did not go inside. Have I mentioned that it was cold? Well, it still hasn't warmed up to the average temperatures for the region.

Bob's dad has a friend still living in Denison so we met him for coffee and dinner one afternoon. It was fun listening to Bob and Leo talk about old times. On a shelf in the coffee shop where we met there was a picture of  Leo with John Wayne in front of  John Wayne's airplane. It seems Leo flew 'The Duke' to Mexico a few times.

After Bob's parents returned to Arkansas, Bob and I were going to stay in the area a few more days, but after looking at the weather forecasts for the next week, we high tailed it to Siloam Springs the day after they left! This cold weather is getting old, I thought that Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring!

While in Arkansas we visited Crystal Bridges.The museum is sponsored by Wal-Mart and is located in Bentonville, Arkansas. The permanent collection may be viewed at no charge, but special exhibits may have a fee. It was well worth the visit.

The museum is built around a lagoon, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking it along the hallways.

 There are places to sit and rest or view the artwork.

 This was one of the most popular artworks that Sunday afternoon. The museum had a special program for children--Fairy Tale Ball. Most of the children attending were dressed as their favorite fairytale characters and they had to find artworks based on clues they were given when they entered the museum. Later in the afternoon, Michael Buckley, author of The Fairy Tale Detectives, would be available for autographs and questions.

 

 Bob and I decided to stay in Siloam Springs for two weeks. We enjoyed visiting with his parents and keeping warm.  Did I mention that it is cold--it snowed not long after we arrived in Siloam!

We are still trying to decide which route we want to travel to get home--I am sure weather will be the deciding factor!