There is a tendency when reading other people’s blogs to judge your life by someone else’s highlight reel. I’m certainly guilty of it and as much as I try to pepper in the reality of this life I am sure many of you skim over some of that and just look at the pretty pictures. This post is going to be about some of the least pleasant aspects of the lifestyle and for me at least one of my least favorites is wind.
I’m not talking about a light breeze here, I am talking about 40+ mph gusts that contain grit. This has to be one of my least favorite types of weather and the last time we saw it was when we stayed at City of Rocks in New Mexico. This kind of “keep you inside” wind is a real bummer. Especially when you are in a place you would like to explore. But this area is called the High Plains for a reason and with the exception of a couple of gorgeous days, our stay was largely about enduring the wind.
It didn’t help that we were there before the season opened, so most of the state and county campgrounds were without water which forced us into the Terry Bison Ranch RV Park. Don’t get me wrong if you are vacationing with kids this is a really cool place, but for us it’s not the type of campground we like to stay at. It’s more expensive for one thing and the sites were very close together, prompting Lee to pay the extra $10 for a deluxe site which put us off by ourselves in a corner. The coolest part was we had a nice view of the campground’s herd of bison and we were super close to the dog area which Jack loved.
We were in the corner with the RV storage area so Lee turned our RV so my view was of the Bison rather than the junker RVs. He’s sweet like that.
My view while working…not too shabby
This campground is it’s own complex and has a little bit of everything. And I do mean everything with a steak restaurant, breakfast cafe’, ferrier school, wonderful gift shop, exotic animal area, train rides to see the buffalo, and horseback riding. Although we were able to walk around on the first day, most days the wind was so nasty I didn’t even want to walk around. Even taking the dog for his walk was challenging as the wind was gusty and could cause even Lee to unbalance at times.
The buildings had western facadesGreat gift shopThey sold their own bisonRemember this gum from being a kid?First campground giftshop I’ve ever seen that sells moonshineNice JackalopeExotic animal pensA catwalk to walk across and seeCool goat playgroundThe trainLots of horses for trail ridesHow cute is that!!I loved that they have a horse shoeing school on the propertyThey have their own drive in on property. Never seen that beforeTheir onsite restaurantThere were cats in lots of the buildings but well taken care ofStaff housingBreakfast cafe
It was quite the organization but almost everything was priced for a short summer season and not money I was willing to spend. Instead on the one good day we had drove around Cheyenne which was totally free. Being off season it was hit and miss on what was open but we did get to see some cool stuff. Cheyenne is the state capital but a relatively small town and it didn’t take long to see the stuff I wanted to see.
State capitalThe historic governors mansion is free to tour. Lee toured on one of my workdays and loved itThey have a small area with live gunfight shows in season.
My favorite was the visitors center/train depot that you can go inside for free (train museum is extra). It’s a beautiful old building in the historic downtown section with a nice gift shop inside. Outside are lots of giant cowboy boots and pay particular attention to the tile inside because it is original.
The train depot The giant themed cowboy boots were funThere is a train museum insideBeuatiful old tile floorA gorgeous map in tile showing the railineAcross the street was a parkIn season they have performersLots of beautiful statues throughout the town
Historic downtown had some neat shops and restaurants but the street was completely torn up for road construction which forced us to mainly walk on side streets. We did have dinner at one of the steak restaurants which was OK, but again overpriced for what we received. One of the things about northern tourist towns (ski towns aside) is they need to make their money in a 4 month period. We understand it, but in general we are priced out of anything we might want to buy.
Overall Cheyenne is a really nice town with all the basic services but I couldn’t see living there. It’s flat and there’s tons of wind plus they get major snow all the way into May. Still it was a good place to get ready for heading North and we filled prescriptions, got hair cuts, and bought me an office chair…all things that might be difficult to do in the small town of West Yellowstone. Definitely fun for a visit though. Lee loved it. It speaks to his inner Cowboy 🙂
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Lee has been working on various modifications and improvements for the rig over the last few months and I have been collecting them as he made the changes and wanted to share some more of them here. The most challenging change he made was adding sliding drawers in the bathroom cabinet. We have some great shelving space in the bathroom but it’s hard to get to the higher shelves and the back (they’re two feet deep!) and frankly we lose site of what is in there. Lee added these cool sliding drawers so I can easily see what we have and reach it!
Lee set up a work area on the campground picnic tableYes you can have a saw and do some woodworking from an RV!This is what he started with. Because the space is deep super hard to see what’s in thereFirst Lee added the tracks
Then he built the boxes and put them on the slides. He said it was pretty simple the main thing was building the box sturdy enough to handle the weight but light enough it didn’t bend down when pulled out. He even stained them for me 🙂
Much easier to see what we haveLook how nice!!
It really is the little things in life and all these changes may seem simple but have made a nice change in our lives. We both find ourselves scratching out heads as to why we didn’t do these before. Look below for some simple mods that have made life easier.
Jack likes to climb on my lap on long drives but sometimes I want him to stay in the back. This net (which he can jump over if he wants) keeps him in the back unless I call him up. He’s not super crazy about it but he has gotten used to it and its better than crating him. We haven’t had a full sized ironing board since the beginning but sometimes that’s exactly what is needed. Lee removed the wall in the back of the bed box and now a full sized ironing board fits in the space.We used to have larger containers and they were always falling out of the cupboard and generally causing a mess. These stack very nicely and hardly take up any room at all.
Even in a small RV remotes can still go missing which drives me crazy. Lee found a perfect way to hang them though using a small magnet drilled into the wall and a magnetic plate on the back of the remote. He hung up the fan remote, TV remote, and Fantastic fan remotes and man has that made my life easier. No more hunting for remotes! FYI this trick could work in a house too.
Last but not least Lee added a checklist (with actual tabs you can move) to our fridge. It’s customizable so we picked our own items and now use it every time we pack up. Even though we have been full timing for over 7 years we still make mistakes sometimes and this checklist ensures the really important items aren’t forgotten about in a last minute rush. Whether you are new or experienced, I highly recommend this item!
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers. You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on ITunes
Finding places to stay for just an overnight stay is an interesting challenge for most fulltime RVers because we don’t want to spend a ton of money on a quick stop. We also have different requirements for an overnight stay than most other people and for us Walmart is not a great option. Many of our friends are Elk members and have used Elk lodges for short stays and based on their recommendation, Lee and I finally were able to join the Elks.
I say finally because the process of joining takes some time. Not only do you need to be in an area where you can be sponsored (we had to provide three Elks members as references) but you should also plan on being in one spot for at least eight weeks. We have been wanting to join for the last several years but travel schedules and COVID restrictions made it tough for us. Thankfully we were able to join in Texas.
Let me start by saying The Elks is a great organization whether or not you use it for RV stays. Each chapter has its own individual charities and lots of activities for their members. Their overall mission of service and patriotism really resonated with us and the annual membership fee was reasonable. Based on what we have learned, I think joining is a great idea whether or not you use their RV spots for overnights, but that post is going to be about that specific experience.
Not all Elks have RV spots to stay in, but many do, and they are as varied as their chapters. Services range from dry camping to full hookups, and prices vary as well. Although some allow reservations, many are first come first serve and they also allow different lengths of stays. For an overnight, the length of stay isn’t that important, but we do know people who have stayed for longer stints. Like many other overnight options it is a mixed bag and our first two attempts do a good job of illustrating that.
Our first stop for example had full hookups, eight sites, allowed reservations and had a beautiful view of some rolling hills. Although it was close to the freeway it wasn’t a simple jump on and off like most RV parks we pick for overnights, so staying there did add some driving time to our day.
One of the benefits of staying in an Elks is that many have food on certain days. Unfortunately the restaurant was not open for the one we stayed at, but the bar was open. At the end of a long driving day, many people like to walk over, get a drink, and talk to some local folks. We are not big drinkers so that wasn’t a benefit for us, but I know other members who take advantage of that feature at most stops.
For us the two biggest features for an overnight are safety and a place to walk the dog. Safety is a very subjective thing and in my opinion does vary based on whether you are in a Coach or a Fifth Wheel. We tend to have a higher safety threshold than many people though so keep that in mind. Walking the dog goes hand in hand with safety because I usually do the evening walks. I hate walking him in places where there is trash on the ground he may get into or limited green space. That’s just me though, everyone has different priorities and for us the first place we stayed met them all. It did cost $25 a night, but the money goes to a good cause which is a great thing.
The second place we stopped was completely different. It was first come, first serve and we we weren’t sure what we were walking into because information on their website was limited. The Elks was in the small downtown area and although there was a decent park across the street, the pawn shop next door and general vibe of the area made us leery. They also only had 30 amp electric sites which would have been OK, but the sites were VERY short. Backing our 40 footer in would have been a challenge and we would have hung out pretty far.
This time we both gave it a pass and instead stayed at a beautiful county park close by for $20. My point here is by all means join the Elks and use them as an option but for us at least it will be one of many options, not necessarily our first choice. I know other people who stay at them every time they can and you may feel that way as well, but for us location does matter.
Supporting our Blog
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You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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In my experience National Historic Sites are a bit of a mixed bag. Some are amazing but others could definitely use time and attention. So I wasn’t expecting much when we entered the Fort Smith area. It didn’t look like much from the outside and I also didn’t know much about why Fort Smith was important at all. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be. It turns out that Fort Smith was extremely important for a variety of reasons and the location has an excellent museum along with the ability to tour the original jail site.
The building to the right with the porch is original, the section to the left was an expansion. Loved this jail buggy. I don’t think I have seen one like this before. Beautiful parade ground flag with 37 stars just like at the timeYou can go inside the commissarySuper thick wallsMockup Part of the commissary was turned into living space for the county clerk’s family when Judge Parker was in officeSalt pork looked super yuckyMuseum entrance in main buildingMens room signLady’s Room Sign
Several famous movies were also set in Fort Smith including True Grit.
So why was Fort Smith important? The First Fort Smith (1817-1824) was built right on the edge of the frontier. By 1824 the frontier had pushed west and the fort was abandoned.
It changed hands a couple of times in the Civil War due to its strategic location on the Arkansas river. In 1865 the Fort Smith Council was held to establish relations with 15 Native American tribes. Although Native Americans had fought on both sides of the war the United States treated all tribes as defeated enemies and stripped what remaining rights they had away forcing renegotiation. This was also the end point of the Trail of Tears, which pushed the Cherokee (and other tribes) out of Florida and southern US into the Osage and the US soldiers manned the fort to “keep the peace.”
These were the supplies the Native Americans received at the end of the trail
The expanded Fort Smith (1872-1896) was the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas having jurisdiction of Native American territory. US Deputy Marshalls rode from Fort Smith into the territories as the arm of the law. The barracks basement became a primitive jail with two large rooms holding up to 50 men each. Judge Isaac Parker, known as the hanging judge, presided over the court and heard over 13,000 cases sentencing, 344 were for capital crimes and of those 160 people were sentenced to hang.
The jail was indeed hellish and finally was stopped by a young women reporter. She wrote about the conditions which forced the government to change the jail.
There were lots of young gangs in the area and some famous names were either caught near or brought to justice in Fort Smith. These included the Cook Gang, Dalton Gang, Cherokee Bill, and Belle Star the Lady Desperado.
The lawmen who brought these folks to justice were US Marshalls and I was surprised to learn that in the early days they were little more than Bounty Hunters. They were paid $2 (and expenses) for the people they brought in alive and $1 if they were brought in dead. Most, if not all of them were as brutal as the men they retrieved they were just on the right side of the law.
Famous picture of a Marshall’s reunion.
Overall the museum was great and packed a ton of information into the space they have. I will say that the literature could use a bit of a refresh though because it felt a little slanted towards the white perspective. One of the most interesting areas was a recreation of Judge Parkers court room where he ruled for many years.
Overall a great historical site and I really recommend a stop if you are in the Fort Smith area.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
I love small towns and personally believe that to truly see this great country of ours a person has to see where real people live. Because of that I intentionally wanted to spend some time in the rural western part of Arkansas and after some research Lee chose the town of Ozark. And yes Lee and I love the TV show Ozark, but to be clear that wasn’t actually filmed in this town. We did learn though that the first year of Paris Hilton’s The Simple Life was shot here and the town’s claim to fame is that they both worked at the local Sonic…but I am jumping ahead.
First we had to get settled in and Lee had put a reservation in at a cool COE (Core of Engineers) park called Aux Arc Park. Weird name right, but it makes more sense when you realize it is on the property of a dam that generates electricity for the area. Lee got a beautiful spot right on the water, but unfortunately when we arrived the site was taken. The gentlemen in the RV on our spot thought he had rented for two nights but unfortunately it was only one and the situation got more complicated when we realized the campground was 100% reservation only, and bookable online only and the local camp hosts had limited ability to help us solve the problem.
Thankfully a local person jumped in and said due to a family medical emergency he was leaving his site early and graciously allowed the other camper to move into it. That sort of small town kindness is always appreciated and within 30 minutes (the other camper was a C class) both he and we were in our correct sites. Jack was thrilled with all the new smells and I loved seeing all the birds in the area. There were pelicans, geese, cormorants and even an eagle I saw on two separate occasions. It was a really beautiful park and very well maintained. My only complaint was there was a train track across the water and the sound did carry, but other than that it was perfect.
Beautiful site! There was someone on our other side but for most of the week the spot was emptyThe sites even had these little stone tables near the fire pits. A first for meThe dam was to our right but far enough away it didn’t obscure our viewsOur view
Once we get set up, we usually jump in the truck and get our bearings. In this case with a tiny town (population 3684) that doesn’t take too long. Grocery store options are always at the top of our list, but I am always on the lookout for local thrift stores (they don’t always show up in google searches) and I like seeing where people work. In this case the local grocery store was Family CV’s although there was an old school Walmart with an extremely limited grocery section.
The two main employers appeared to be a Butterball plant and the local Ozark bank corporate office. Obviously some money from these businesses had gone back into the community because there was a beautiful state of the art community center with an indoor pool. I also found a local thrift store that was only open Weds- Fri 10-2. If you ever see one with these sorts of limited hours I highly recommend checking it out, because they are volunteer staffed and the prices are always super good. For example I got a polo shirt and a pair of jeans for $1 each!
There wasn’t much in the way of restaurants though although we had an awesome (and inexpensive meal) at a Mexican restaurant. They also had an extremely busy Hillbilly Hideout restaurant in the local truck stop that was doing a brisk business the day we went to get gas. We didn’t eat there but I did get some General’s hot sauce in a really cool glass grenade container. The company is Veteran owned and operated and the $12 price was more than worth it.
All that being said it was a really short tour, so much so that when Lee saw a cow sitting in a field he doubled back so I could take a picture. Then we had to research why cows sit (usually stomach issues) and spent about 20 minutes talking about that. Ah the joys of small town life.
Cool old school grocery carts that folded upThe “famous” sonicThey came in all kinds of hot flavors this was the mildestThe famous sitting cow
There wasn’t much else to see in town but another day we drove up the pig trail scenic byway to see Pig Trail Falls. Unfortunately this was one of those scenarios where the pictures online do not really reflect reality and despite lots of rain the falls were more of a trickle. Plus there was no where for poor Jack to run around so we just jumped out and took a couple of pictures while he had to stay in the car. Lee did like the crazy switchback road we had to take to get there though, and although I am sure the drive is beautiful in the fall not so much in the spring.
We had to park right on a crazy curve on the roadGlad I wore my new Merrels hiking shoesThis was the picture online which makes it look much cooler than it was The definition of hairpin curve
Speaking of rain its tornado season in Arkansas and unfortunately we were not immune. We’ve had really good luck over the years but there were two separate tornado touchdowns near us two days apart in one week here. The first was near Little Rock an hour to the east and was 3 miles wide when it touched down. The second was northwest of Fort Smith two days later and both nights were filled with general unease and multiple tornado warnings.
When you live in a camper tornados are no joke, especially because that weather comes with other nasty surprises. A microburst or high winds can fell trees that can take out a camper, large hail can also do extensive damage, and lots of rain can cause flooding if you are near water. Thankfully we were safe and just experienced lots of rain but it was a little tense. It made us realize why we largely avoid this part of the country in spring and for a variety of factors if you are planning on visiting the area I would recommend seeing it in the fall.
Thankfully we did have a couple of beautiful days and on Sunday we took a day trip to Fort Smith. Instead of going on route 40 though I asked Lee to drive Route 64 which took us through lots of small towns. The most interesting one was Alma which is the self proclaimed spinach capital of the world. It is one of the towns that is in transition, with parts of the downtown being beautified (with an awesome Popeye statue) and others falling apart…literally. The high school was huge though and they had a large theater center, but there is definitely still work to be done. Still we like seeing towns like this making an effort.
Awesome Popeye statueThis was right down the road from the gardenThe buildings behind the front facade were literlly gone in some casesBeautiful high school. Check out that football press boxLocal theaterWe see Dollar Generals in small towns everywhere and they perform a VERY important function but this one with a gas station was a first for us. And no gas was not a dollar.
We arrived in Fort Smith and realized that this was a city, albeit a smaller one. The population is 80,000 plus and it has all the stores you would expect. I also learned that it had a very rich history because at one time it was the gateway to the territorial west. It was the home of the US Marshalls and even has a beautiful new museum dedicated to them. Unfortunately it isn’t open to the public yet, but we drove by to see the outside of the building. Throughout town there are numerous statues for notable citizens including “Hanging” Judge Parker and Bass Reeves a famous Black US Marshall. You don’t have to look far to see hints of the wild west town it once was and despite its growth has managed to maintain some of its original character. We always appreciate that.
The US Marshalls Museum. Cant wait to come back and see it when its openBass Reeves had his own small park
The main thing we saw in Fort Smith was the National Monument, but that was so good I am going to cover that in its own post. After visiting though we were hungry and despite it being Sunday we were able to get a table at the local Calico County Restaurant. I love eating at local places and this one was terrific. First we got cinnamon rolls as our “bread” before the meal and for the first time had deep fried corn on the cob. The meal was really great, but I’ll be honest and say I gained a full pound from that one meal. Still the splurge was worth it and Lee even bought some no bake cookies to take home. They are his favorite. If you are wondering why I have more pictures of the restaurant than anything else that is how good it was.
Free cinnamon rolsYeah they were that goodThe pot roast was little dry but the gravy was amazingLee’s mealDeep fried corn on cob. I wasn’t a fan but glad we tried it Pot Roast potatoes are one of my favorites and never seen them as a side on a menu before. Delicious!
Next up I’ll talk about the Fort Smith National Historic Site which was much more interesting than I though it would be.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers. You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes
To be honest I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Hot Springs National Park so Lee and I drove to the area for recon prior to our visit. I am glad we did because even off season it is very crowded on the weekends and I decided to take a Thursday off and see it. As we often do we drove down early and arrived around 9am and after finding parking started to walk bathhouse row. It is a very unusual National park because it is a sliver of a working town and right across the street are lots of open shops. Even many of the bathhouses themselves are businesses which is also very unusual. The good news is all but one were open to the public (at least the lobby area).
As I am writing this I am trying to figure out where to begin the post. It’s tough to get oriented because where you start is largely driven by where you park. For the purposes of this post I will just take you through as we saw it, but really it can be seen in any order. The first building we came to was the Lamar bathhouse. This is actually the gift shop for the National Park service that is run by a third party. This is the only one there is so don’t make the mistake we made and skip it and have to circle back. They did have the coolest National Park Towels and robes but they were super pricey so I didn’t buy one.
You can drink the water here for free. It was warm but tasted good. Loved the old tile
The bathhouses are all right next to each other and the next one was the Buckstaff. This one was actually my favorite from the outside. This is still a working bathhouse and I thought about going in for some services, but ultimately decided against it.
The Ozark bathhouse has an art gallery but it wasn’t openThe Quapaw is also a working spa. You can walk into the lobby and see the communal bathing pools through a glass window.I wanted to try their steam cave but it was closed due to COVID protocols. The communal baths were open though and pretty busy on a Thursday.
Next up is the Florence bathhouse which is the Visitor Center of the National Park. If you can only do one thing in Hot Springs I absolutely recommend touring this facility as it is a bathhouse in its original state. It was extremely interesting and absolutely beautiful on the inside. In particular the stain glass was gorgeous. It is a self guided tour on three different floors and an area in the basement that shows the stream. Make sure you see every nook and cranny because it was all very special.
Map of the parkLee was trying to figure out how to get one of these in our RVI have seen these steam cabinets in pictures but never in person. No way!Very small dressing roomsSitting roomNude sunbathing was allowed for men on the roof. Women got sun through the glass so they wouldn’t get tan
As I mentioned before the stain glass windows were amazing. They are kind of everywhere so don’t forget to look up as you walk around.
Loved this little violin in the corner of one ceiling piece. Beautiful.The Stain glass window in the men’s main room was beautiful
The bathhouse was completely segregated between men and women so most of the facilities are duplicated on separate sides of the building. It was also segregated from people of color who could work there but not bathe there. The park service has done a wonderful job of calling out the people of color who worked there and the struggle for desegregation.
Working conditions were HOT normally 100 degreesThere was also a lot of physical lifting for ill patientsThis young man was a doctor and the foot specialistThey didn’t have the mechanics we have today so this is how sick patients were loaded into the large tubs
You may wonder why so many people came to the springs (I did), but at the time the hot waters with minerals in them were very helpful. This was a time before cortisone shots or many of the anti inflammatory we have today so the minerals and hot water did help with relief. I was shocked to find out though that the water is hot because it flows through uranium! Don’t worry there are only trace amounts in the water that reaches people but that was pretty crazy.
These signs were awesomeEspecially please don’t urinate in the vapor
The facility wasn’t just about the baths, they also had a beautiful gym and the examples of old workout equipment were fascinating. There were several items I had never seen before and the gym itself was very beautiful. I almost missed it because it was tucked in a corner on the third floor so make sure you don’t miss it.
An old pull benchSwinging these batons around was a common form of exercise. I would probably whack myself if I tried it.Examples of what the men wore (work out outfit on left)And what the women wore (work out outfit on right)You can see echos of modern day gym here
One of the most popular forms of treatment was a massage, but this practice was highly controversial. The National Park service tried to ban it on several occasions, but since it was the most popular (and profitable) of services provided it managed to continue existing. I have to wonder how many of the attendants experienced mercury poison from giving these massages.
Electro massage implement. Scary
When you are finished with the second and third floor don’t forget to see the basement mainly for a peek into the spring that runs under the bathhouse. In particular the crystal all around the spring were really cool.
Once we finished the tour there was more to see. Right behind the Visitors Center is a short walk to a hot spring pool where you can touch the water. It’s touchable but it is hot! We also walked up to the bandstand area are saw the former Navy Hospital that existed in town for soldiers and saw a beautiful hot springs waterfall. They also have a couple of places anyone can get free water and we saw several people filling up jugs! It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the walk immensely. If you like you can even walk up the mountain but we stopped at the bandstand area
The hospitalSeveral famous baseball players stayed hereA free fountainThis bathhouse wasn’t openThe superior baths had a restaurant in it
At the end of the row there was a beautiful waterfall and public park. Cool watching a waterflow steam because it was hot water.
From the park you can see the absolutely beautiful Arlington hotel. Although this is not technically part of the National Park I do recommend walking across the street and taking a look. We were able to look around the morning we went. It is a working hotel, but if you act like you belong people generally wont stop you 🙂
Amazing huge lanterns in lobbyLoved the old elevatorsThe restaurant room was absolutely gorgeous
Really great day but again I totally recommend going early on a weekday if you can swing it. This is one of the most unique National Parks we have been in and I am so glad we could enjoy it without large crowds.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
Before we go to an area I do some research and make a list of all the places we might like to see. From that initial list I thought we would spend more time in Little Rock, but ultimately we liked Hot Springs better and spent more time there. We went into town several times in the evenings and on the weekends and I took a full work day off to visit the National Park. I will cover the National Park itself in the next post, but wanted to share many of the other things we saw in this one.
First off Hot Springs is laid out in a very interesting way. The town curls around a mountain so it can be confusing. It also takes time to get from one end of the town to another because you are going around rather than straight across. This became very clear to me once we visited the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. This tower is privately owned and on the older side, but gives beautiful views of the city and surrounding landscape. It costs $12 to go up in the tower, but I thought it was worth it although I do recommend wearing a jacket because it can get cold up there. Also don’t waste your money on a cloudy day.
This is the third version of the tower. Cool switchback mountain road to get to the towerHuge water containers along the road. The springs come from this area and flow downOld school tokens for the turnstyleThis was not comfortingThe elevator is old and glass and I’ll admit was a little scary for me
There are two floors on the tower. We went to the top with the open air platform first although it was super windy and we didn’t spend long. Got some great pics though. Great 360 degree view.
This pic really shows how the town curves around the hills.
The second floor was closed in (but not heated) and had some older displays about the history of the area. It was an ok display, nothing really special but I did like a few of the artifacts.
YIKES!
The town itself has several sections which we saw during our visits. The historical part of town is right across from the park and the two really flow together. In addition to that it is a regular small town with schools, grocery stores, and a couple of fancier neighborhoods. Bill Clinton went to High School here and it is a modest town to produce a President.
It definitely has character though and the blend of old and new with tons of nature is very unique. That along with the history of baseball teams wintering here and gangsters enjoying the waters makes it pretty interesting. I will say parking (especially in the historical district) can be a challenge, but we ended up finding some free municipal parking in a parking garage. Food was a mixed bag while we were there, but we did have a great meal at Granny’s Kitchen right downtown.
Beautiful statues in the town area, most had a water feature.Parking is limited because of the nbatural geographyLoved the hot springs Hat Lee and Al having a chatThe shops were pretty coolOpen air small concert venueGranny’s KitchenLots of bath products for sale. It’s a shame we don’t have a bathtub.
Aside from the park the town’s claims to fame include a horse race track and casino, former gambling clubs, and numerous crystal mining companies in the area. Those are located north and west of town and one day we took a drive around the nearby Ouachita River and visited the Ron Coleman mine. This is probably the largest in the area and has zip lining, tours, and for a fee allows you to mine. Lee and I weren’t very interested in that but we loved looking at the large gift shop with both finished and unfinished stones. I thought the prices were pretty reasonable and ended up buying a beautiful green rock. Good thing that we live in an RV or I would have bought MUCH more.
Only $30k for this large crystal pointThese were sold by the poundYou had to get the tour to see the museum but I took a pic through the window.Beautiful eagle statueI’ve never seen rocks in a candle beforeI bought this rock for $8The pit was pretty cool.
Another day we visited the Dryden pottery store which is a third generation business. We saw that a lot when we were in the area, family owned businesses surviving multiple generations. That’s always nice to see. They had several really unique pieces as well, but I didn’t think they would survive well in the RV.
Finally we went to visit the Anthony Chapel which is outside of the Garvan Woodland Gardens. It is free to see the chapel ($20 for the entire garden which we did not do) but the inside of the church is not open every day. Luckily it was open the Saturday we went and there were lots of people touring it. Absolutely gorgeous wedding venue, probably the best I have ever personally seen, and still managed to maintain an air of spirituality and blend well into the surrounding nature. Gorgeous. The pictures don’t do it justice.
The venue includes a separate building for the bride and another for the groom and multiple places for pictures including a beautiful waterfall. It even has a gorgeous bell towner which rang while we were on site. We took advantage of the beautiful setting to get some pictures.
Huge bell towerGreat family picture terraced locationThe bridal party house
Not everything we saw in town was this pretty of course but these are the highlights from the visit. Next up our day in Hot Springs National Park.
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One of the main things we wanted to do while we were in Little Rock was visit the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. Since we have had good luck visiting the libraries on Sunday we decided that would be a good day to go, but we ran into some trouble validating they were actually open. The hours of operation were conflicting on their website and Google maps stated they were closed so Lee called multiple times until he reached a live person to ask. It was a good thing he did because we learned they didn’t open until 1pm AND we had to prove vaccination status prior to entry and that turned out to be the case. We saw two young men turned away because they didn’t have their cards. Thankfully we had ours but I will say this is the first place we have been in two years that required them.
Flags were at half mast because Madeleine Albright had just diedView from the back side
The building itself sits on a nice piece of property which runs along the river. It has nice views with an outdoor seating restaurant and a display of environmental art globes in the yard. The foundation is also partially funding a walking path across an old train bridge. I wasn’t crazy about the architecture, but the restaurant did look nice and we learned the space is often used for events.
The restaurant is called 42 and has indoor and outdoor seating. You can see the bridge from the large patioThey repurposed an old train building for a school for public service.There is a free walking tour app narrated by Bill Clinton which is interesting. They had a memory book for Secretary Albright in the lobby which was very nice. I wrote in itThe lobby also had a nice gift shop and the presidential limousine. Lee always likes those.
The bulk of the library is on the second and third floor and this one also didn’t follow a chronology of his life. Instead the second floor jumped right into his presidency, with a floor jam packed with displays. They also had a mockup of the cabinet room which was pretty interesting. I didn’t realize all the chairs had the titles on the back of them
The view from the third floor, Yes that is a Chihuly glass sculpture. The columns were full of presidential papersAnd they had all the daily schedule books you could look atExample of a day. this was pretty fascinating. They even scheduled his morning jogEvery year of his presidency had its own panel and the other side of the panels had important documentsSpeeches with hand written notsA letter from Mother TeresaAnd a letter from Fred Rogers
The sides were each devoted to an important topic and that’s where the information on the Impeachment was. I was extremely curious about how that would be handled, and was not surprised that there was minimal information and it was slanted towards his perspective. That seems to be a pattern in modern presidential museums. There was one mention of Monica Lewinski’s name, and admission of an inappropriate relationship, and lots of words about the constitutionality of what was done.
There was lots of information about various initiatives (some of which I had forgotten) and Hilary’s contributions were consistently shown throughout which was nice. Unlike many libraries which have a separate First Lady section she was on most displays.
These russian dolls with world leaders were both cool and creepyI forgot she won a grammy
Overall the second floor was ok but I actually loved the third floor the most. It had a recreation of the oval office, gifts, the china, and my favorite part artifacts from their childhood. Not sure why all of this was tucked up in a corner, but it was my favorite part of the museum and where I ultimately spent the most time.
Bums me out when they charge for thisI love these white and red striped couches. There was very little about Chelsea, just a few pictures from her childhoodThe saxophone he played on Arsenio Hall which I saw liveCool sculptureI like the chinaInaugural DressFootball signed by John MaddenLoved this knifeThis menorah was handmadeThe sculptureLoved this cross stitch of Socks the cat. It was a big deal they didn’t have a dog originally
My favorite part though was the information about their early lives. Bill’s father died in a car accident while traveling from work before he was born and while his mother went to nursing school he was raised by his grandparents in Hope, Arkansas. His mother eventually remarried Roger Clinton and Bill took his last name. He graduated from Hot Springs High School and met Hilary in College. She was very successful herself, but ultimately gave up her career to support his. I found it all very interesting. She almost didn’t follow him back to Arkansas and I wonder how history would have played out if she would have made a different choice.
His grandparents owned a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhoodHe was a band nerd!An opportunity to meet John F Kennedy as a young man changed his lifeBill and Hilary He was the youngest governor in four decadesHilary working with congrssional leaders
After we toured the building I asked if there was a grave site and one of the employees showed us a circle that was prepared in the last two years. I have to wonder how this would have been handled if Hilary had become president. Where would they have put her library and since presidents are usually buried near their libraries would they have been buried separately? For now at least it appears they will be buried here.
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You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
Yikes! This was a hefty month with $9,500 in spend. For those of you who are wondering about travel and gas prices, despite our best efforts at finding low prices we spent between $4.59 and $4.99 on every fill-up and $1,031 on gas. We only moved from San Antonio to Little Rock, which really isn’t that far and I am not looking forward to those fuel bills as we move further north. Still we have plenty of money coming in and can cover our costs so thankfully don’t have to make decisions based on fuel. For more details see below.
Campsite Fees – We spent over $1,000 on campsite fees as we traveled and to be clear although we weren’t actively searching for bargains we also weren’t staying in particularly fancy places. Demand outweighed the supply in the areas we stayed in which (along with inflation) has driven costs up.
Clothing – This $400+ included some souvenir T-Shirts, thrift store flannels, and a new pair of ASIC shoes. Since we will be spending the summer in a remote location and I like to try shoes on before buying them it made sense to buy them now.
Entertainment – Since we are finally traveling we spent freely in this category. Again nothing too crazy but we visited three Presidential libraries and some other museums. They don’t cost a ton but when you double up the admission prices it does add up.
Home Repair – We spent $2200 on several home repairs. The big ticket item was replacing the ceiling fan but Lee also did numerous organizational projects, some of which I have blogged about and others I am saving for a future post.
Pets – We spent $600 on Jack which included grooming and his annual shots and a year supply of flea and heartworm medicine. Again taking care of this prior to going north.
One last side note I did my taxes myself this month using Intuit turbo tax. I have been paying $350 for someone to do it for awhile (and not getting great service), so decided to try it myself. I was a big fan of the program and found it very easy to do even with Lee’s small business. If you haven’t tried it I recommend it.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
Arkansas is the last state that I have never visited, but despite numerous attempts the timing was never right. So this year as we moved slowly north I was adamant we would spend some time there, despite it being slightly outside of our route. Finding a place to stay that was close to both Little Rock and Hot Springs was a bit of a challenge, but Lee ended up booking us at Cloud Nine Park. The park is high on a plateau about 13 miles west of Little Rock and we really loved it. It is clean, has great views, and a terrific clubhouse. Ultimately we were glad we stayed here because we ended up spending more time in Hot Springs than Little Rock. It’s been awhile since I liked an RV park enough to write about it, but this one definitely deserves a mention.
The suckers left out with our booking package was a nice touch. Beautiful view from the front of our RVThe clubhouse has a full kitchen, pool table, TV area, and card area plus a gorgeous wrap around porch.
We arrived on Saturday after a full day of driving and then set off for Little Rock early on Sunday. We have discovered Sundays are a wonderful day to see a city as most of the crowds are minimal early in the day. The first place we drove to was Little Rock Central High School, the National Historic Site where 9 school children were escorted by the National Guard so they could walk into a newly integrated school. We parked right out front of the school and the site was absolutely beautiful.
For those who aren’t that familiar Arkansas was the last state to integrate its schools and ultimately it required the President sending the National Guard to force the governor to comply. The courage of those young people has always been inspiring to me and standing on the steps of the place it happened was impactful. Best of all, it is still a working school, and since it was Sunday we were able to walk the grounds. I especially loved the reflection pond out front with benches for each of the young students.
Standing on the same steps gave me chills. I wonder what impact it has on the students today. This was 1957 and let us not forget that less than 70 years ago children had to be under armed guard to enter a school. The reflecting pool with benchesEach student had one
Although the visitors center was closed later I was pleased to see that all nine students received the Presidential gold medal from Bill Clinton.
The nine brave black students were Melba Pattillo Beals, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Thelma Mothershed, Terrence Roberts and Jefferson Thomas. (This picture includes Daisy Bates a journalist standing second from right)Iconic photos from the time
Frankly at the same age and given the same set of circumstances I don’t know that I would have had the courage to do this. They were literally risking their lives for a better education. Here are some of their quotes about their choice.
It was a powerful experience and I was so glad that we took the time to see it. Later when we visited the capital building we also saw a statue dedicated to them and a peaceful protest on the capital steps by a large group of mostly people of color. What they did was one huge step in making that possible.
The capital building
As we still had some time before the Bill Clinton Presidential Library opened at 1pm we decided to have lunch downtown. Not many restaurants were open but we got a table at the Flying Fish. I really liked the old booths and the decor which was hundreds of fish on the wall. The food was pretty good, although on the pricey side and it was a nice place to eat with the locals.
Next up is our visit to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library.
Supporting our Blog
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes.
Camper Chronicles 