Day 180 – We were up at 7:15 this morning, 32 degrees, partly cloudy. It was not a good day. Do you ever have one of those days where things just seem to go wrong, no matter what you do? It was one of those days.
143 miles
Village Creek State Park, 201 County Road 754, Wynne, AR 72396, (870) 238-9406, www.arkansasstateparks.com. This was one of the nicest State Parks we’ve ever been to. It was huge, 7,000 acres, and the campsites were spread out into several large loops, affording privacy to those that desired it. There’s a golf course, tennis courts, two lakes, a baseball field, fishing & boating, an amphitheatre, auditorrium, meeting room, very nice cabins, hiking, biking, horse trails, and an equestrian camp. All very clean & well-maintained. The campsites are private if you want, or grouped together for larger groups. Someone has really thought this out. It is a town within itself located close to the City of Wynne which has restaurants and grocery stores for those that need them. We were here off-season and stayed two nights. Our first night we were the only campers in our loop, the A Loop, site #7, electric & water hook-ups. There was a dump station on-site. The second night only one other camper was in our Loop. We drove through all the Loops & there were excellent, private campsites in each loop. And they were not at all busy this time of year. Site #7 was one of the best campsites in the whole place; if choosing full hook-ups we’d have chosen site #57 or #58 in the B Loop with “decks” overlooking the Lake. We would definitely stay here again at the slow time of year; we can only assume they’d be extremely busy in the summer.
We left Village Creek State Park at 10:20 a.m. after dumping tanks and filling up with fresh water, AND after cleaning up a sewer mess, ick, ick, ick – these things happen…it was that kind of day. 52 degrees, partly cloudy. We got on the 754 to the 284 before Wynne, heading east. Then we got on Highway 64 east to Interstate 55 north, but the road was so bumpy that I got the bright idea to get off the GPS-prescribed road & get onto the smaller Highway 77 north, thinking it would be a better route. Went a little ways on that road – WRONG! It was bumpy and so narrow that even at two lanes it was not wide enough for an RV towing a Honda when a car came in the opposite direction, Okay, let’s get back on the 55 ASAP. Ten or so miles later we are on a road headed back to the 55 – talk about bumpy!
Mind you, this was supposed to be a short journey, only 80 or so miles, hmmm……2 hours at the most, or at least that’s what we promised the cats. So back on I-55N, and it is so bumpy that I am afraid that the RV will break apart. Will Rob get into the faster lane which appears to be less bumpy? We won’t discuss that here. But suffice it to say, we are a large vehicle and MUST remain in the slow lane at all times.
The cats were meowing from the back of the RV. Usually they sleep through our trips. This trip; was it a full moon or what, but no one was happy. We stopped at a rest stop for a lunch break. I thought a little food would make us, and the girls, a little more relaxed. The day continued to go downhill.
We thought we should get gas and propane for the RV. We could’ve done this as we left the State Park, in Wynne. But no, we didn’t. So we searched google online to find the closest & cheapest gasoline and where to get propane in upcoming towns. The road is so bumpy that I cannot keep my fingers on the small keypad of the cell phone. This makes me tense. Rob is having trouble finding which route to take because the cell phone and the GPS and the DeLorme Mapbook tell him three separate things. And when we get somewhere, there is no room for a large vehicle towing another vehicle. The tension mounts. Is it a full moon????? The girls are still howling from the back of the RV.
Okay, we found gas, but the dispenser wasn’t working properly and it took FOREVER. But we did save a couple of cents. No propane anywhere. We headed west out of the town we were in, Blytheville near the Tennessee border. Our destination was the Big Lake WMA (Wildlife Management Area) just east of the small town of Manila, AR. There were campsites located here near the Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge in a dispursed camping area, no amenities, free, by the Lake. But, would it be flooded like everything else?
More flooding, near Wynne, AR
More flooding, near Wynne, AR
As we pulled off the 18 west into County Road 305, a gravel road, we saw that this might not work. Due to the flooding, both sides of the road had fairly high water along side it, and the road was pretty rough. We immediately pulled off the road into a pull-out by the rushing water & disconnected the RV from the Honda tow car, taking the Honda up the road to see if it was even drivable by the RV. We passed through a very poor area of town with small river homes on stilts by the banks of the water, a few actually crumbling into the water. The road was obviously too rough for the RV. When we reached the dispursed camping area, we took a quick look and turned around and went back to the RV – just not a good idea to bring the RV into this terrain.
Meanwhile, what should’ve been a short journey today had turned into a long trip. We drove back to the RV and hooked the Honda back up to the RV. But, oops, the roads are too narrow for us to turn around. We disconnected the RV and the Honda yet again, Rob driving the RV and me driving the Honda, and we tiredly drove back to Blytheville to the closest independent RV campground around, Grizzly’s RV Park. Grizzly’s RV Park is grizzly, let us tell ya! They have one site left, sandwiched between two other trailers, and we take it. What a day!
We arrived at Grizzly’s at 3:05 p.m., 64 degrees, partly cloudy. Full hookups, site #2, and we can barely get our slides out without hitting the neighboring trailers. The guy to the left of us is standing outside smoking, so we don’t open the windows on that side of the RV. It is quiet, however, and we are glad to be done driving around. $30 for two nights with the Passport America discount. When Happy Hour arrives, we unpack the beer & wine. The girls are glad we’re here and done driving, and so are we. What a weird day! Some days are like that, whether you are at home or on the road.
Grizzly’s RV Park, Blytheville, AR
Site 2, Grizzly’s RV Park, Blytheville, AR