Author Archives: Jill and Bud

Happy Easter, everyone, from beautiful Lake Catherine State Park.

The dogwoods are blooming here and Jamie and I encountered them walking the Falls Trail with the dogs on Friday.

This is the falls of the trail, not big, but lovely.

The whole trail has recently been renovated and is very nice.

Yesterday I was able to finish Sean’s birthday present. We bought him a new flag and solar powered flag lights. I installed the lights but when I went to take down the old flag it was tangled in a tree. Later Bud and Jamie helped get it down and then Bud and I tried to dig up the base that held the flag pole to move it from where it was, much too close to a 30 foot Gingko tree that must have been a sapling when the flagpole was originally placed. We dug around it and had resorted to backing the Ram up to drag it out with a strap to the trailer hitch when a kind neighbor intervened and lifted it with a small forklift.

Yesterday we bought 2 bags of quick setting Sacrete, I dug a hole about 2 feet deep and then Jamie helped me put in water and Sacrete keeping the flagpole base vertical. Once it set we slipped in the pole and raised the new flag, but I left in the afternoon. Last evening Jamie sent me this photo; the lights do work!

Bud is taking it easy until his surgery. He is no longer taking the very strong NSAID that allowed him to walk for the last year, so getting around is pretty slow and painful. We opted just to stay at the camper for Easter.

I celebrated the day by taking another hike with Matey. We started up the Falls Trail, this end of it goes up along a smaller stream, crossing back and forth on nice new bridges.

Then we took the Horseshoe Mountain Trail and kept going gradually up. After 1.45 miles we reached this knob, every direction was down from here. Another 1.44 miles brought us back. (Mileage according to my Apple Watch.) Matey did really well and that was a great Easter gift for me.

We arrived back in Hot Springs on March 20th. Our first week was spent at Stephen’s Park, a Corps of Engineers campground at the base of Blakeley Dam, just northwest of Hot Springs on the Ouichita River.

The last time we stayed here was December of 2021. We were in campsite 3 and I took this picture of the camper from across the river.

I took this picture of campsite 3 on March 21st (that’s not us) and you can see that the river is running a lot higher.

That’s because they’ve been letting a lot of water through the dam from Lake Ouachita into the river below. But the lake level is still about a foot and a half above normal. And it’s not even the rainy season yet!

We’ve gotten to see Jamie and the family a few times so far. While we were still at Kirby Landing Sean, Jamie, Beth Ann, Adler and Bria came out for a hike.

Stephen’s Park is a small and laid back campground, so while we were there we took the opportunity to wash the camper. It looks much better, now.

I started this post and then we moved to Lake Ouachita State Park for a week. We’ve been there twice before. It’s a nice campground but has a weak cell signal so it was impossible to upload images for the blog.

We did have the opportunity to join the family to celebrate Sean’s birthday. Since he had his cake (cheesecake) at the restaurant…

Jamie made him a birthday drink when we got back to their house.

Last Saturday Jamie, Adler and Bria joined Matey and me for a short hike. Here we’re taking a break after about a mile and a half because Matey now tires pretty quickly. He’s 13 and has a heart condition. I’m trying to walk him as much as possible, though.

It was a lovely path along the shore of Lake Ouachita.

Jamie spotted this beautiful Luna moth right at the edge of the path.

Yesterday we moved to the other side of Hot Springs to Lake Catherine State Park.

We have a nice site right at the top of a little hill. It was steep enough that Bud had to use 4-wheel drive to back the trailer up and in on the damp roadway.

It is a very private site, though, and we have TV and fast internet so all is well.

Lake Catherine is the lowest of three lakes made by damming the Ouachita River. We were at the highest one when we camped at Lake Ouachita State Park. The middle one is Lake Hamilton which is right in Hot Springs.

This is a lovely place to watch spring come. That’s good because we are here until June 5th. On April 14th we move to a commercial campground. On April 17th Bud is having a total knee replacement. Once he no longer needs his left hand for a walker or a cane he will hopefully have carpel tunnel surgery. Once that is done we hope he is all fixed up for our next adventure.

We’re going to be on Lake Greeson until next Monday. On Tuesday, because it was in the 50’s and sunny we decided to go play disc golf. The nearest course was kitty-corner across the lake. On the way there we detoured to check out a car wash that might have accommodated the trailer. Alas, it had no foaming brush, so we decided it was not worth the 70 mile round trip. The trailer remains dirty.

We then went up to see the dam that makes this lake. This is the lake just above the dam. Like all these mountain lakes it’s narrow and convoluted since the water fills the valleys in these hills.

This is the dam, and it’s called “The Narrows”.

Bud and I remembered that we had been to the stream below the dam once before. Then it had been a shallow, rocky trout stream. There may still be trout, but right now it is not at all shallow. This is the Little Missouri River.

We did get to play disc golf and the course was a mix of open woods…

and huge fields.

It’s pretty chilly here, but this field wasn’t dusted with snow or frost.

It was covered with tiny wildflowers.

Yesterday we moved to a new campground; the Corps of Engineers campground at Kirby Landing just a few miles east from Daisy State Park. In our tour of the lake we had stopped to check it out. The site we had reserved was fairly small and seemed awfully tippy. It was bad enough that I checked online for another open site but there wasn’t one. We figured we’d just make do.

This is the site. This was the most unleveled site we’ve seen at a COE Campground. We pulled in and backed up as far as we could (there was now a camper behind us) to get to a more level area. The trailer was still at an 8 degree angle. We do not have nearly enough blocks to get us level at that angle. Before we tried anything drastic I checked online again. There is more rain and cold coming so I thought maybe someone had cancelled. They had!

I was able to switch our site to this one.

It still has about a three degree slope, but we could handle that.

The last thing they need around here is more rain,

but if that prompted the cancellation I’m grateful.

We’re in Arkansas now at Daisy State Park on Lake Greeson. The last couple of days have been sunny and cold.

We have a lovely site with a rear “patio” area. The lower area is a tent pad, but it makes a nice addition to the “patio”. With the lake view these would be great places to sit out. The first sunny afternoon I did sit out with Matey, who loves to be outside. But it only got up to 60 degrees so it was too cool for me. It’s only gotten colder since.

It was warmest when we arrived, but we were inside a cloud so it was misty.

There are three of these yurts to rent here. They have heating and air conditioning and I bet some of the folks in tents wish they had rented one of these. It got down to 35 degrees last night.

The first night we had thunderstorms and the next day as the clouds rolled out the cold rolled in.

I think that’s been a pattern for a while here. The nature trail was under water in some places and eroded in others.

The lake level is high and the lawn and trees at the shore were flooded.

The dock is floating but I don’t think those kayak racks are supposed to be in the water.

Oh well, the lake is pretty and for now the sky is blue, so we’ll enjoy it,

even though a lot of the time we’re looking out from inside our nice warm trailer.

On Tuesday we came further north to Lake Claiborne State Park just north of I-20. From here we go back to western Arkansas and then back to the Hot Springs area for a prolonged stay while Bud has knee replacement surgery. This is a bit earlier than I would have liked but his pre-operation visit is scheduled for March 20, almost a month before the surgery.

We’re holding onto spring here with the dogwoods and azaleas in full bloom.

I was excited to see wisteria blooming in the trees, but then I looked it up and found that this is Chinese wisteria and it is an invasive and becoming a problem.

We have a pretty nice site here. It’s nice staying in parks through the week in the off season because there are so few other campers.

I sit out with Matey in the afternoons and this is the view we have.

All this lovely shade was nice when it was 78 degrees out, but today it’s only 60.

This park also has two disc golf courses.

We’ve played them both.

We prefer the longer one as it has a bit more room to throw on the fairways. You walk about three miles to play, but that’s fine with Matey and me.

This has been a nice stop and a good farewell to Louisiana.

We spent the last four days at Chicot State Park near Ville Platte, Louisiana. This is north of the delta area. We had a nice spot at the end of the loop.

There was only one trail, it went all the way around Chicot Lake. The loop was 22 miles long, well beyond what Matey and I can do. We did take a couple of walks along it.

Most of the trees were just getting their leaves. Some, like this one in the center, were still in flower. I know it’s March, but to a northerner like me, it felt like May.

The lake was beautiful and the edges were all cypress/tupelo swamps.

There was an arboretum at the park and Sunday Bud and I walked through it.

It included some of the swamp. By Sunday the needles were peeping out on the cypress trees. The tree closest with less pronounced flutes in the trunk is a tupelo. They were not yet in flower.

There were wetland areas where these lovely flowers were in bloom. It is Pakera glabella; butterweed, cress leaf groundsel or yellow top.

There were also upland areas with beech/magnolia stands.

There were dogwoods in the understory. Most had lost their flowers but I found this one still in full bloom.

March or May, it was a lovely time in a very pretty park.

Morgan City is in the northwestern part of the Mississippi Delta. There is so much water here it gets confusing. This is a panoramic view from the top of the levee across from our campground. To the left is Flat Lake and Pique Bayou. To the right is Lake Palourde, which appears to be slightly lower than the bayou. I think the levee is to keep Pique Bayou from flooding Lake Palourde.

Here’s another structure built to control water flow, but I really don’t know which side is being protected.

Today we drove 68 miles south, southeast to get to the “coast” at Cocodrie. As you can see from the map, the ratio of water to land just gets greater and greater.

There wasn’t really a coast, just waterways winding through marshes.

There was a nice restaurant, the CoCo Marina, where they let us sit in a corner with Matey. Matey was supposed to be outside on the deck, but since no one else was eating in this back room they let him be in with us.

Of course we had seafood. I had Mahi Mahi tacos and Bud had an oyster Po’ Boy. Very good.

Dry land is such a premium down here that this old cemetery was located on an Indian mound. Even so, the crypts are above ground.

Even much further inland long stretches of US route 90 are causeways…

through the swamp.

It was a pretty and interesting drive. This is my attempt to capture an egret rookery as we drove past at 70 mph.

There were thousands of boats, from fishing and shrimp boats on the smaller bayous,

to barges and bigger transport ships on the larger bayous. It was an enjoyable day of touring, but we definitely saw more water than land.

We are at another city campground, this one southwest of New Orleans. There are several camping areas in this park.

We are at a newer area, with only baby trees.

But we do have an unobstructed view of the lake (Lake Palourde) and we have good TV reception.

This is a very lovely park.

They have a nice picnic area,

a pretty little beach,

and a walking trail that goes all around it.

There are lots of squirrels here. These reddish brown ones seem quite tame.

There are also black ones that are a bit more skittish.

This seems like a good base to explore the delta area of Louisiana. TV for Bud, walking and good cell and internet for me, and squirrels for Matey.

We have left the quiet of Citronelle behind and are now camped in Louisiana in the very busy Fontainebleau State Park.

This is a popular family park only about an hour across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans. As this is the weekend the park is pretty full.

Fontainebleau was once the plantation and sugar mill of Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, who founded the city of Mandeville and purchased the land and set up the sugar mill using money he made from selling land he inherited in New Orleans. Today these ruins are all that’s left of the sugar mill and plantation…

along with these live oaks which sheltered the cabins where almost 100 enslaved people lived. The plantation operated from around 1828 until 1852.

There’s a nice nature trail here.

This part of the trail is a raised road constructed by the CCC. In our travels I have been impressed by all the wonderful public places we have because of the CCC and the WPA. It would be good if we could find a way to have programs like these again.

The park is on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. This 630 square mile body of water isn’t actually a lake, it’s an estuary joining the Gulf of Mexico. The park is just east of the causeway that crosses the lake to New Orleans. At 23 miles long, the causeway is the longest bridge that continuously crosses water.

There’s a nice beach…

and some lovely pavilions.

In 2021 Hurricane Ida hit here. The bathhouse is still being repaired.

The boardwalk through the marsh was destroyed.

Many of the trees were stripped of their small branches.

But nature recovers…

and Fontainebleau State Park remains a lovely place.

We are now at Citronelle Lakeview RV Park just outside of Citronelle, Alabama. This place has everything I look for in camping. It has level, concrete sites with full hook-ups and a reasonable amount of space between sites.

It is right on a beautiful little lake.

The entrance road goes all the way around the lake, so the park is isolated and quiet.

There is a disc golf course right next to the campground.

We’ve played there every day, and we’ve pretty much had the place to ourselves. It’s a nice course, too.

The park complex also includes a golf course. We played there yesterday. It was pretty and interesting, though not in the best shape.

Well it is February and it was cheap, so no complaints. We had fun.

This all belongs to the city of Citronelle and camping was only $125 a week. So we are here a week (leaving tomorrow) and it would be perfect except…there is very spotty cell service and no internet. Which I found is really important. Oh well, the rest has been great. By the way, I am in town doing wash as I post this, and the internet is very slow even here.