On to Arkansaw!

The new alternator did the trick.  FROG is running like a champ and we left Integrity Auto & Diesel in Lebanon, Missouri after shaking hands all around.  And paying the bill, of course.

The drive south into Northern Arkansas took about two and a half hours and we drove through some of the prettiest country we’ve seen anywhere.  The Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks as seen from local Route 5.  It didn’t hurt that we drove through the softly rolling hills of North Central Arkansas during the time of evenings golden light. The gorgeous sunset couldn’t be photographed well through the coach windows though, and we had to keep going to avoid getting in too much after dark.  Parking FROG is a whole other story when you don’t have full light to see by.  Sometimes the biggest obstacle (like the TOAD behind?) may be hidden in the smallest shadow.

FROG's nose is peeking out at left

But we arrived at Bull Shoals United Methodist Church just as the last rays of the sun were leaving the sky, and found the parking lot almost exactly level, quiet, and wonderfully wooded.  Thank you Pastor Donnie for recommending this location right behind your congregational parish house across from the church!

We were so tired that even late night reading got short shrift and the morning came all too soon.  Well, noon almost came all too soon.  We slept till (shhhh!  Don’t tell anyone else)  about 11:00 am. And with so much to see!

The White River Dam was built in the late 1940’s and President Truman dedicated it in 1950.  The town of Bull Shoals, named for the rapids now buried beneath the deep, cold waters of Bull Shoals Lake, was built at the same time to serve the tourist traffic generated by the huge lake.  Fishing, hunting (deer leapt in front of our car several times today), and camping are the hot items in the Ozarks anyway but this lake and nearby Norfolk Lake to the east top off the vacation agenda for most.

Arkansas State Parks have no day use fees so we were able to enjoy a visit to the wonderful visitors center by the dam, and the park facilities along both the lake and the river below the dam.  No swimming though!  The water which is released below the dam comes from the lake bottom, about 100 feet below the surface at the dam wall.  Its clear as crystal, and cold to about 45 degrees.  If someone falls in the water getting them out as quickly as possible is critical before hypothermia sets in.

Lunch was at Connie’s Café in Bull Shoals where the owner, Dan, of course, is also the chief cook.  And he can really cook!  Our lunch was a bit late since breakfast had been about 11 so there was no one else around as we began what turned into an almost hour long conversation with our server and new friend, Tina. 

Tina hails from Wisconsin and has always wanted to live in an RV so we had that to talk about. And she has a son who is now 19 with some issues that our daughter’s boys have had to deal with so that filled the rest of the agenda. Thank you for a super meal Tina and Dan and crew at Connie’s (wink-wink Dan’s) Café.

Fishing is the thing we saw everywhere.  In boats, on the shore, and in waders they fished. They fished with plugs, naturals and flies of all kinds. And many were catching them. Including these cousins of the lake neighbors we had up at our last lake in Missouri.  Bald Eagles and Hawks are touted at these parks, but Turkey Vultures show up for the cameras most often.

Speaking of catching fish, though, tonight we heard one boy say he loved the trout he had for supper that mom fried over their campfire.  Of course he loved it!  He’d caught it that morning with dad!

Alex and Mona get ready to dig in

And where were we that we heard that campground story?  Back at the State Park Campground.  No day use fees, remember?  And no restrictions on who may come to any park program.  Tonight Ranger Edmunds was demonstrating dutch oven cookery down by the trout docks (where the fish cleaning pavilion is). 

While he used charcoal briquettes instead of wood to keep the heat at the right temperature more easily for the demonstration everything else was for really-real.  And he made two pots of some of the best mixed fruit cobbler you’d ever want to taste.  There were about a dozen of us to ‘sample’ the first pot at 7:30 pm.  But the kids had to head off to bed before the second pot was done so the remaining five of us adults, including Ranger Eric, enjoyed finishing it off lickety-split!

Tomorrow we rise a bit earlier, 7:30 am, to get to the 9:00 am worship service at BSUMC (I love that acronym) and Sunday School at 10:30.  Then we have lunch and drive about two hours further south to Conway First United Methodist Church where our good friend Vickie and Clayton Crockett live with their two kids.  We haven’t seen the parents, and have never seen the kids, since they lived near us in Southeastern Pa umpteen years ago. Vickie was one of our son Jim’s best buds at Gretna Glen UMC Church Camp when they were teens.

Jim's 16th birthday party. Jim and Jenn had some crazy wonderful friends in those days.  Come to think of it their friends are pretty crazy wonderful today too! And many are the same ones.

Thank you Vickie for arranging a parking space for FROG and TOAD at your home church for a couple of nights, and we really look forward to joining your family in your Labor Day Monday plans.

-Ken

PS: Yesterday as we were leaving Lebanon I left a message for Vickie that we were coming and asked for prayer that nothing else would need repaired for a while.

Last night we noticed a bulb was out in one of our rear coach lamps, and the gas gauge seems to be on the fritz.

No worries! “Mona, where did you say that next truck shop is?”

-K