Goodbye Texas

 It began to rain last night and continued off and on in the early morning hours.  We weren't in a hurry to get packed up because we only had 175 miles to travel.  About 9:30 when we began in earnest to pack up, the sky opened up and it poured.  We were thankful that we had put the car on the dolly.  We dug out our old plastic rain ponchos and packed up as quickly as we could.  By 10:30 we were on our way.  Thankfully, the rain had lessened.  We took Texas 43 north to Texarkana.  The rural roads are a treat on which to travel.  There are only small towns connected with ribbons of road through pine and oak forests. The traffic was light so we made good time.  Yesterday was the first day of this trip that we dressed in long jeans, long-sleeve shirts, and an additional sweatshirt.  I have checked the forecast for the next few days where we will be and warmer clothes are in our future.  I would say that we will also need to turn on the furnace in the motorhome.

Can you tell from this picture that it is raining?  After nearly five weeks, we finally left Texas.  We stopped at a Arkansas Welcome Center Rest Area to eat lunch and pick up an Arkansas road map. The Welcome Center was very nice.  A large stone fireplace filled one end of the center with a warm, inviting fire blazing.  There were rocking chairs in front of the fire for visitors to sit a bit and get warmed up.  It felt so good to go inside that Welcome Center and stand or sit by the fire for a few minutes.   It almost made us forget the dreary and cold rainy day that was outside. 

It looks like some of the trees are trying to change colors.

We traveled on I-30 from Texarkana to our next stop which is Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It was the first time in over a week that we drove on an interstate.  We liked the trees on the sides of  our lane.

We didn't like the traffic.  

Another glimpse of some fall colors.

We arrived at Hot Springs KOA at 2:45 and found our spot.  It needed another two feet in length to make it more easily accessible for our motorhome, dolly, and car.  It was tight but we managed to get the motorhome and dolly in the space.  We found a small space for the car.  Supper was a pot of chili.  It tasted good on a cool, rainy day.  I had nearly 10 days of laundry to do so I headed for the laundry.  A I stepped out of the laundry, I saw a tiny bit of a beautiful sunset and snapped a couple of pictures.  The trees hide the real beauty of the sunset.

We did turn on the heat so the motorhome feels cozy and warm.  It was 50 degrees in the motorhome this morning so that temperature won't be repeated tomorrow.  Tomorrow we plan to drive some back roads around Hot Springs hoping to see some fall color on trees.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny an cool.  Sounds like a perfect day.