Tag: Arkansas

Out of Alabama on the way west

We had a good trip in the Red Bay Area. Ricky McGee at Pro-Finishes touched up a bunch of dings and scratches, a few fairly big. Great paint match, and the guys were super interested at making us happy with the outcome. We also had good work at Precision RV where they found a broken slide slider, a fairly common problem, and one I have been surprised we hadn’t had yet. We are not gentle on this MH! They not only replaced the broken one, but let us buy a spare since it might happen on the other side of the slide in the future. We could find someone to fix it, but getting parts is what always takes a long time. They also discovered and fixed a leaky hydraulic line for the same slide, adjusted all the bay doors so they shut easily and evenly, installed a propane furnace igniter that Kevin had bought but didn’t want to install (the current one was only working intermittently), and re-tensioned the slide toppers. Hopefully the slide toppers won’t hold as much water after rains now. Then we had Rocky Johnson do a complete detail on the motorhome – wash, wax, put 303 on the roof for UV protection, inspect the roof while he was up there (everything is still good), and polished the wheels. The coach just gleamed, but of course it had to rain later that day. Sigh. At least the wax is a good protection.

As usual we stayed in Red Bay RV Park which is like all but one of the Red Bay area spots – a gravel parking lot with full hook ups. This time we had a particularly outgoing group, and we met some nice folks.

We ate at all the standard places – Stark’s for breakfast, Cole’s for the absolute best smoked chicken I have ever had (and fabulous white sauce!), Home Town Pizza for great great pizza, and Big Star Grocery for some of their specialty snacks. I even bought extra of their fruit cake cookies, and I froze them in sets of twos for future consumption. Each cookie is the equivalent of a big slice of fruitcake, so two is plenty for the pair of us.

We left Red Bay this morning a little after 8:00, and we are now in Morrilton, AR a bit west of Little Rock. We are spending the night at the Walmart here. It started out pretty noisy, but it gradually got nice and quiet. Monday is Shawnee, Oklahoma at a casino. I went to college in Shawnee, so it will be interesting to see how it has changed.

Gave up running – just staying put

I made it through DFW, though it was a long tiring day. We arrived at Lale Catherine State Park on Wednesday. The sites are all long, but the one we reserved (number 46] was too unlevel to work for us. Since the campground was pretty empty, we just moved to another site (number 45). We also took a look at the forecast for Hot Springs and for Red Bay, and we decided o just give up on running before the storm! We are staying out until they go away, so we aren’t leaving until tomorrow (Sunday). I was absolutely exhausted on Thursday. All the driving, especially through DFW, added to not sleeping well because I decided to try a Claritin D instead of my normal Claritin, took a huge toll on me. I was tired and sore and DONE with doing 400+ miles a day, three days in a row, in a motorhome.

We had to change sites at the campground because where we were was reserved for the next couple of days. We ended up farther uphill in the trees instead of right at the lake, but the site is roomy, level, and quiet (site 8). It has rained and rained, so we just hung around the motorhome the first day. Yesterday I took a spa day, appropriate since We were in Hot Springs. I had a short Swedish massage, a facial, and a foot scrub at Quapaw Spa on Bathhouse Row at the National Park,  and it was lovely. We had a nice dinner at a German restaurant, and I feel rejuenated. Right now it is pouring down rain, but it is supposed to stop by noon or so. It is also warming up to almost 70, so we intend on doing some sightseeing before we leave. Rest does amazing things.