Day 182 – Beginning of the seventh month of this trip. Daylight Savings Time, we lost an hour AND we slept late. We left the grizzly park at 11:15 a.m., very humid, 48 degrees, light rain. We stopped on the way out of town to fill up with propane. We’re going north & the weather will be colder; gonna need that heat.
158 miles
Grizzly’s RV Park, 3101 S. Division, Blytheville, AR 72315, (870) 623-4971. This was a Park of last resort because the places we were going to camp were either closed due to the flooding or the roads weren’t maintained enough to bring the RV in. That left only two choices, this Park and one farther away and more than twice the price. Grizzly’s was really a campground where people permanently live or where people store their RV except when using it seasonally. It was only a few miles below Blytheville and just off I-55, so it was conveniently located. The Park accepted Passport America for its three pull-through sites; everything else was taken by people who lived there or stored their RV there. The road in had pot holes, and it was surrounded by fields that were a little flooded, probably to get worse with the rains to come. With Passport America, it was only $30 for two nights, full hook-ups. The three pull-through sites were very close together at the end of the road. With all slides out, it would’ve been hard to walk between the vehicles (but on one side of us, the trailer was older and had no slides). Surprisingly though, it wasn’t noisy. So it worked out okay for a quick layover of two nights. But we wouldn’t stay there again unless we had to.
After getting propane, we got on I-55N and soon crossed the border into Missouri. It poured down rain for most of the trip. The flooding continues. The temperature dropped & we noticed that we were back in winter; we’d left spring behind. No flowering trees, no green buds on bushes. A definite chill in the wet air. Moving back up north.
After a good distance on I-55N we got on US Highway 60W, drove awhile and the heavy rain continued. We stopped for lunch in a Walmart parking lot. As we got closer to our destination, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, it became less flat and more hilly. We’d planned to stay at one of two Army Corps of Engineer (COE) campgrounds on Lake Wappapello near the town of Wappapello. We stopped at the first one, Redman Creek Recreation Area, and they had two loops – both were closed for the season with one opening on 3/16 and the other one opening on 3/30. We drove further to the second campground, People’s Creek Recreation Area. One of their two loops was completely closed due to flooding. The second loop was open but they required reservations. We drove thru and weren’t thrilled with the place; it was more than half full & the sites were fairly close together and very near to the main highway. We had one more place to try, Lake Wappapello State Park, before we’d need to get reservations and stay at People’s Creek. At least we had alternatives.
We drove about 40 minutes around the other side of the very large Lake Wappapello to the State Park. The drive was very nice, through woods, up & down hills, and it had stopped raining. If the trees had leaves on them, it would’ve been gorgeous.
Rolling hills approaching Lake Wappapello State Park, Williamsville, MO
Rolling hills, Lake Wappapello State Park, Williamsville, MO
We arrived at Lake Wappapello State Park at 3:15 p.m., 43 degrees, cloudy & windy. The Park was very large. Parts of it were closed due to flooding. One of the two campgrounds was closed because it was off season. Uh-oh, we thought. The Ridge Campground was open. We drove through; no one was camping. It was a wonderful campground, high on the ridge, overlooking the Lake. Off-season rate was $8 per night for 30 amp electric hook-ups, senior discount. There was a dump station and water spigots were located nearby. Perfect. We grabbed site #6. (Most of the campsites were reservable; they had some which were first-come, first-served. Obviously since no one was camping, we had no problem getting a campsite.) Each site had a little gravel deck overlooking either the Lake or the forest below. Ours was several steps down and was situated behind the RV, our little back yard with a panoramic view. Only problem was, it was too cold to sit outside! And wet! But five turkeys walked through the campground; it didn’t bother them.
We unpacked and relaxed. The girls were happy to have finally arrived; they settled in right away. We were a little tired of driving, too. End of Week 26, Trip #3.