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
Six months, wow, amazing. One month ago, at the beginning of our sixth month straight on the road, we were at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. It was high desert country with incredible red rocks & cliffs all around us, dry and warm and dusty. We are, one month later, in northeastern Arkansas, flat farmlands with flooded fields & rushing muddy rivers, Quite a difference and oh my, the beauty we’ve seen. Utah was outrageous, so full of color, but we had to leave due to winter storms coming in from the north. We will SO be coming back to see more! New Mexico, only a small part of it, and we spent so much time running from the high winds. We will come back here, too. Up into the panhandle of Texas, and as quickly out of Texas into Oklahoma. Buffalo and Texas Long Horns at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, never to be forgotten. Playing hopscotch from one Wildlife Refuge to another throughout Oklahoma and Arkansas. What a great month it was. We travelled 2,408 miles in the RV last month, lots more miles if we add what we travelled in the car, too. We stayed at 14 different campgrounds in UT. NM, TX, OK, & AR. During month #7 we’ll be visiting relatives in Missouri & Kentucky, and after that we haven’t decided yet whether we’ll go back to Georgia to visit the alligators again, or maybe go back to Louisiana – both two favorites from last year. Or maybe we’ll do something new, like the Great Smoky Mountains. Mostly it will depend on the weather. We’ve found weather conditions play the biggest factor in where we go and when. We do know that we are enjoying every minute of our adventure and cannot wait to see more.
BIG LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
Day 181 – We were up by 7:15 a.m. this morning. There are no trees to hang our outdoor temperature thermometer on, so we don’t know what the temperature was. Cloudy, though, and it was pretty windy last night. We left around 9 a.m. for Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, about 18 miles from our campground.
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
WAPANOCCA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, AND STILL MORE FLOODING.
Day 179 – This is an amazing State Park – HUUUGE, as Bernie would say. We drove through it today. 7,000 acres. Big enough so that everything is spread out. Like its own city. Someone has really thought this out.
Day 178 – It was windy all night, shaking the RV, but this morning when we got up, it’d calmed down somewhat. 35 degrees & sunny. We hate having to leave Merrisach. This was a great campground last year & it is still one of our favorites. We’d like to come back for a stay longer than two nights next time.
129 miles
DALE BUMPERS WHITE RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, OR REALLY, THE ARKANSAS FLOOD.
Day 177 – We were up by 7:10 this morning, 40 degrees and sunny. There were lots of birds out & the kitties were all excited. Rob went out to take pictures, but the birds were quite skittish, and most were having no part of it. Then when the cats were back to relaxing on the heated pads, they were not skittish, and he got some pictures of them.
Dark-Eyed Junco, Merrisach Lake Park, Tichnor, AR
ARKANSAS, SPRING IS STARTING TO ARRIVE.
Day 176 – Beginning of Week 26. We got up at 8 a.m. this morning, 49 degrees and still raining off & on. We departed at 10:30 a.m., heading southeast to Merrisach Lake near Tichnor, AR – a campground we stayed at in 2017. But first we stopped at the health food store in Russellville and got some supplies.
191 miles
HOLLA BEND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.
Day 175 – It started raining during the night and continued raining on & off for most of the day, We were up at 7:35 & 8:10 a.m., 44 degrees, light rain. A group of black vultures flew in and held court right in front of the RV. The cats were aghast.
Black Vultures, Old Post Road Park, Russelville, AR
GOOD-BYE OKLAHOMA, HELLO ARKANSAS.
Day 174 – At 7:30 this morning it was 41 degrees and sunny. The fishermen were already out in their boats. The River flows by so fast, they have some trouble fighting the current with their boats. NOT a good River for kayaking unless you are an Olympic-quality athlete!
131 miles