Endings and Beginnings

On New Year’s morning Matey and I took our last walk over Hot Springs Mountain, coming down to Fountain Street.

We walked down to the elegant, slightly seedy, and beautiful downtown Hot Springs.

Jamie, Sean, Adler and Bria, the dog, came over for lunch. In the afternoon they took Matey and me for a hike on West Mountain. Notice that a week after we’d spent three days below freezing, with a low of 6, we’re hiking in t-shirts!

This was my first hike on West Mountain, just the other side of downtown. Hot Springs Mountain is in the distance with the tower. Downtown is in the valley between.

Bud stayed behind adding air to the tires of our new Dodge Ram 2500 diesel pickup truck, getting it ready for today’s trip. Yep, we broke down and got a bigger truck. The Toyota had been a good truck for us, but we wanted something capable of towing more weight. We didn’t like being on the upper edge of what the Toyota could do. With a three quarter ton diesel we know we can have our water and waste tanks full, add extra stuff and still not be near the 14,500 pound towing capacity of the new truck.

We drove a bit over 300 miles and are now at Roosevelt State Park in Morton, Mississippi with some pretty cool ducks.