Friday 5-6 Trip Summary & Minnie Maintenance

Spring Trip

We were on the road for 46 days visiting three states (Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri). We drove 1880 miles. We had a lot of rain but we know during the springtime you get rain. This year was more than normal.

We first visited Oklahoma, where we camped in two state parks: Beaver Bend in Cypress Campground and Robbers Cave in Whispering Pines. We did eight hikes with the total of 32 miles. 

Next we moved to Arkansas, where we camped in two state parks (Mount Magazine and Lake Fort Smith, five Corps of Engineers campgrounds (Ozark Lake, Springhill, Prairie Creek, Lost Bridges and Dam Site), two RV parks (City of Berryville and White Water) and Buffalo National River at two campgrounds (Tyler Bend and Buffalo Bend). We did ten hikes for a total of 41.5 miles. 

We did some tourist stuff. We stopped in Alma to see the Popeye statue. We visited Van Buren and took a train ride and trolley ride. The train ride was through the Ozark Mountains from Van Buren to Winslow. During the ride we learned the history of the Arkansas Missouri Railroad and the surrounding area and towns. The trolley ride was through downtown Van Buren and we learned about the history of Van Buren. We stopped at Mountainburg city park to see its dinosaur statues. In Rogers we toured the Daisy Airguns Museum and the Rogers History Museum. In Bentonville we toured the Crystal Bridges Art Museum and the Walmart Museum. We toured Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, which was a refuge for exotic cats.

In Mountainview we visited the Ozark Folk Center, which is part of  Arkansas State Parks. It had craft buildings, herb gardens, flower gardens for making their dye, an old school house and old log cabin with a root cellar. Some people demonstrated their craft. During the day Dave Smith, sang folk songs. In the evening we attended a concert at the courthouse, the band was True Country, which was the mayor’s band.

Up next was Missouri, we camped in two state parks (Roaring River and Table Rock Lake) and a Corps of Engineers park, Old 86 Campground on Table Rock Lake.

During our stay at Table Rock State Park we hiked a total of 29 miles.

We visited the Dewey Short Visitor Center and Dam and the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery, that raises rainbow and brown trout. We drove to the College of the Ozark, which is a Christian College where the students work in one of the 100 campus jobs or industries to pay for their tuition. We toured Ralph Froster Museum, which was a history museum about the Ozark music and the area.

When we were at Roaring River we visited another fish hatchery, this one was made by the CCC. We hiked the three trails for a total of 5 miles.

On the way home we stopped at Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma and stayed the night at Walmart in Waxahachie, Texas.

Maintenance on the Minnie

This morning we took the truck to town, it needed to go for a ride. First stop was Walmart to do a little grocery shopping. Then we went to Great Cuts so Larry could get a hair cut. It was busy so we had to wait about a half hour. On the way home we stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up bleach for our septic system.

 

Time to get a haircut

We got home just in time for lunch. After lunch we went outside to start working on a few projects on the Minnie. Larry started in on replacing all the belts, hoses and the thermostat. He worked on it for a few hours. He got to a point where he needed some parts he doesn't have so he stopped.

While Larry worked on the Minnie I cleaned the inside and loaded stuff back in. We're not going to be using the Minnie for four months so I bagged the towels and clothing we keep in it to prevent them from getting dusty. It only took me about an hour.

After I finished I went inside and played my computer games. I did my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong last night. I did the Event: Pyramid Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 2 minutes and 40 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group.

In the evening we finished watching the 11th season of Call the Midwife. Then I continued watching the 7th season of New Tricks. I ended up doing 31,500 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group. For the week I have done 123,300 for the week.