Two Stops Along the Way

Since we are on the road full time, everywhere we go is “along the way”, but I try to choose places that will be a destination in themselves. Some places don’t feel that way though and these last two stops have not; especially since our next stop is back in Hot Springs, as close to home as we have.

When we left Fulton and Whitten Park we went to Hurricane Landing on Sardis Lake, just north of Oxford, Mississippi. It was a nice campground and we had plenty of room.

If we’d come here to fish we would have been disappointed. This is the first boat ramp.

The road ends in water in the springtime.

But now even the second boat ramp, at the end of an extension of the road, is not near significant water.

Now it’s the season for off road vehicles.

These guys were using the end of the road to load their ATV into the bed of their truck. I walked over and put my foot on their tailgate, as the tailgate kept lifting as they tried to lift the vehicle in. They were quite grateful.

There were lots of Osage orange trees here and many of the fruits were squashed on the road. But these were more like Osage grapefruits.

I was glad none were dropping at our site on our camper.

After three nights there we crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas. I don’t know when we’ll be back east of the Mississippi, but I expect it will be a year or more.

It’s always interesting along that river.

We drove south and crossed the Arkansas River in the rain.

Our stop here is along the Arkansas River, another Army Corps of Engineers campground, this one at Pendleton Bend.

These are nice deep sites, but narrow.

Again, we have plenty of room.

The last two days were cool and rainy. But of course I’m out there walking with Matey, mostly between the showers. Yesterday morning this tug and barge were sitting along the river.

Today, in the sunshine, I got a picture of the larger of the two rice warehouses located along the Arkansas River just before the campground.

I thought the barges would be entering the Mississippi just downstream from this dam.

But what looked like it might have been a lock on the map is a power generating station.

Looking back at the map I can see there’s a canal that cuts across through Merrisach Lake to the White River and then into the Mississippi. The barges of rice must go that way.

Even when it’s just a stop there are always things to see and learn.