Home

We woke up to a foggy morning.  The sun tried to shine through the fog.  We turned our clocks back an hour last night.  We quickly unhooked and closed slides so we could be ready to pull out by 7:00 a.m.

We had thought that it would get down to low 30's last night but when I wrote "Bye" on the front car window, the window was wet not frosty.

We did not realize how much cotton Southern Missouri/Northeastern Arkansas grew.  We saw field after field of cotton ready for picking.  As we were driving I-55 North we run into a stretch of about 10 miles of interstate that nearly shook us off the road.  Carol had to slow down and he even tried to drive in the left lane but nothing helped.  Both lanes were equally rough.  I am amazed that the wheels didn't break off from the rest of the motorhome.  Thankfully, the motorhome and us survived.

 

Crossed into Missouri and stopped for gas at a Flying J in Matthews, Missouri.  Gas was $3.09 a gallon.  From what we have heard, gas will be higher in Illinois so we wanted to get a last fill-up of cheaper gas.

When we see this bridge, we know that Illinois is on the other side.

Once we crossed the Mississippi River, we did see a few more pretty trees.  

We stopped by Don and Peggy's for a bit.  We got caught up from the last seven weeks.  We pulled into our driveway at 3:00.  For the next two hours, we both hustled trying to get the motorhome unpacked.  Traditionally, we have supper at Monical's Pizza with Kara and Family on the day we get home from our fall trip and we did that.

We left on Friday, September 17 and returned Sunday, November 7.  This is seven weeks, 3 days.  Most of those weeks were spent in two states - Florida and Texas.   We drove the motorhome 5,200 miles and the car 3,000.  We visited family and friends and met many interesting people.  This was the first trip we took without Sandy.  Not having her made some changes in the trip.  We didn't take her for at least two walks around the campground.  We didn't meet other dog people and their dogs.  We didn't have her excited greeting when we would come back to the motorhome.  We missed her.  

We discovered that Texas is a great state.  It is a BIG state.  You will find just about any kind of scenery...coastal seashore, mountains, high desert, rolling hills, plains, canyons, swamps.   If you want city life there is Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio.  If you want the rural life, there are plenty of small towns on rural roads and wide open spaces.   This trip was planned last year but we didn't take it then because of Covid.   This year we decided to make this trip because we felt maybe things were better.  We found that things are better in Texas and even Florida.  We felt like we were in a different country.  Except for having to wear a mask and follow stricter protocol on federal property, life was much more relaxed.   It was a nice break.  We are glad that we took the trip.  

Still in Arkansas

The night was cold but with the furnace on we were cozy.  We walked down to Grandpa's Griddle for breakfast.  Carol had "all you can eat" pancakes and I had a sausage and egg muffin.  Both were very good.  I hadn't taken a picture of our spot so I did so before we had completely packed up.

We are in L4 and it was a very tight fit. It was also hard to level the motorhome.  We will not be camping here again.  We had to park the car in the front which meant we couldn't load it until this morning.  That was ok because we were in no hurry to get on the road. Once loaded, I said "Yeah, this is the last time this trip that we have to load the car."   We only had 175 miles until our next stop of Marion, Arkansas KOA.  

 

On I-30 we saw a pretty tree or two like this one.  There was a lot of traffic on I-30.  We thought traffic would be less on a Saturday.

This is site 53.  It is a patio site and very level.  We got in and set up by 2:00 p.m.  The sun was shining so we sat outside on the patio.  This KOA serves a dinner meal and delivers it to your campsite, so we ordered one for each of us.  Our last night out and I won't be cooking.  

This is our patio site.  It has a nice table with four chairs and a glider.  I booked this site because I knew it would be long enough that we wouldn't have to unhook the car/dolly.  We have not turned on the furnace but I am sure we will before the evening is over.  Tonight is time-change and we will gain an hour.  To us that means that we will get up at 5:00 instead of our usual 6:00!  That will be good because we can be on the road early and back in Decatur early.  When we reach this point in our trip, we are resigned that the trip is over and are ready to get home and things cleaned up and put away.

This is our dinner.  It is Memphis BBQ pork sandwich, baked beans, slaw, chips and cookies.  It was very good and the best part was that I didn't have to cook it!

Hot Springs National Park

This year Hot Springs NP is celebrating 100 years as a national parks because it was established as a national park in 1921.  However, local historians of the park say it was established in 1832 when the federal government first set the land aside as Hot Springs Reservation.  The national park system did not exist at that time and when it was established, Yellowstone would be the first official national park. It was set aside to protect the water for public use.  Early communities who sought to ease their pain in the thermal waters  built cabins around the spring.  In 1876, the US Supreme Court affirmed the nation's interest in making the thermal water available to all  The government began regulating private bathhouses and took active control over improvements that led to better sanitation and distribution of the water.  There were eight original bathhouses with only two still functioning as a bathhouse.

 

Lamar built in 1923 had marble bathtubs of different lengths for greater comfort.  Today it is the National Park Service Store.

Buckstaff was built in 1912 and has continued to operate as a bathhouse for over a century.  

Ozark was built in 1922.  It contains sculpted mythical  creatures which hold urns of water.

Quapaw was built in 1922.  It has a tiled dome and an American Indian motif.  This one is my favorite.

Fordyce is home to the visitor's center and all floors and the basement is open to visitors.  Many of the rooms are restored to their original state.  Several pictures below were taken inside the Fordyce.

This stained glass was hung above a room where the men met to relax.  During the time these buildings, men and women had separate facilities.  The only part of the bathhouse they were together was the lounge.

Examples of clothes worn by men and women during their visit at bathhouse.

A close-up of one of the curved glasses in the lounge.

It had several stained glass windows like this one.  

Steam cabinets.

This portrays Hermando de Sota who discovered the springs in 1541.

Above and below are pictures of the springs the Fordyce used in its bathhouse.

Original tiled floors.

Stained glass ceilings in the third floor lounge.

Maurice was built in 1912.  The third floor lounge has a stone fireplace and many painted murals.

Hale was built in 1892 and is the oldest surviving bathhouse.

Superior was built in 1916 and is the smallest.  It offered affordable hydrotherapy and massages.   It now contains a craft beer brewery that uses water from the springs in its beer.

This is the Ohio Club.  Major league players enjoyed coming to the Ohio Club and gambling during training trips to Hot Springs.  Al Capone and other well-known gangsters also frequented Hot Springs and the Ohio Club. 

Carol happened to run into Al Capone.  It looks like Al isn't going anywhere.

A couple of the buildings had nice mural on them.

We ate lunch at Fat Jacks.  Carol had fish and I had chicken.  Both were very good.

The Arlington Hotel was built in 1921 and has hosted such baseball notables as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio.  It has 300 rooms.  It looked to us like it was being renovated and repurposed to contain mini boutique shops.

This monument is to honor the first US Park Ranger to die in line of service.  James Alexander Cary was killed by bootleggers while patrolling on West Mountain in Hot Springs National Park.

There are water fountains like this all around the city for people to fill jugs and bottles with water from the hot springs.  We bought a gallon container at the park service store and filled it with water.  Two hours later the water is still hot.

The last thing we did today before going back to camp was drive up Hot Springs Mountain to a tower 216 feet tall.  You can either climb the stairs or take an elevator to the top.  We chose the elevator.  From the top you could see a 360 degree view of Hot Springs and the area   The above picture is of the Arlington Hotel.  You can see how big it really is.   The picture below is of the mountain side.  It shows very little leaf changes.

We made it back to camp around 3.  We will be relaxing the rest of the evening.  The next two days we will be driving.  Today was the last day of sightseeing on this trip.  We have seen so many varied sights...mountains, high desert, cities, historical places, rural roads, swamp, and lakes.   We are about 600 miles from home and will drive it in two days.