On to Cooper Lake State Park

Most of the dancers who were camped around us packed up and left after the dance yesterday. While we were eating breakfast this morning, our one remaining neighbor pulled out, leaving us alone at the fair grounds.

Of course we were also preparing to leave, but we had a short trip today, so we weren't in any hurry. We went for a walk around the neighborhood. We spotted a bunch of RVs and walked up the street to investigate. We soon saw that they were all alike and very used. They were parked in a large area behind a small used car lot. The receptionist told us that the trailers were FEMA trailers that had come from Hope, AR, and that they were for sale for $2,500 to $3,500 each.

Some of the trailers were open for viewing. They were pretty much minimal, with a small bedroom in the front with one closet about 15" wide. A short couch on the wall opposite the door constituted the "living room." Some had a shelf for a small TV. A small kitchen with few cupboards was next. In back was a bunk area with two bunks on one side and a small bathroom on the other. Another 15" closet was outside the bunk area. They might be okay for a fishing or hunting camp, but it's hard to imagine a family living in one.

After lunch we drove south about 36 miles to our new campground. It's on the south side of Cooper Lake, which is just north of Sulphur Springs, TX. The online reviews were very positive. We were looking forward to a lakefront site. When we arrived at the park, we asked for a site on the water in the Bright Star Loop, which has 50 amp electricity. The young woman told us that the only site occupied in that area was #12.

We were a bit disappointed to find that the lakefront sites aren't very near the lake, and most don't even have a view of the lake because of intervening trees. We picked a pull through with a distant view of the lake. The sites are paved, and our site (#15) is quite long, so we expected no trouble getting into the site. However, a dropoff at the edge of the pavement made maneuvering difficult, and it took us an hour to park.

For our evening walk we headed down to the lake. We had to walk quite a way across a dried up flat. Texas has had a record setting drought and heat, and the land looks like a wasteland in an earthquake zone.

After a while we began to realize that we were actually walking across dried up lake bed. The lake must be much lower than usual.

We were watching the weather because the forecast called for thunderstorms, some with damaging winds and quarter size hail. When the lightening and wind got intense, we headed for the bathhouse. That's what the park information said to do. We took our books, and Ken took his computer to keep track of the storms. After a while, we decided conditions were calm enough to go back home. That's one of the hazards of living in a house on wheels. Read more!

Diehard Dancers and a 91st Birthday

The Sunday morning sessions at a square dance weekend are some kind of a test of dancing dedication. Usually fewer squares show up to dance, and as time passes, more and more dancers say goodbye. That leaves the "diehard dancers" to dance the final tip, taking advantage of the final opportunity to dance this weekend.

That's what happened this morning. Dancing started at 10:00 a.m., and five squares danced the first tip, called by Darryl Lipscomb. He finished off his final session in the C-1 hall with a singing tip, surprising the dancers. Challenge dancers are in the game for the, well, challenge. What we do is more a choreographed game set to music, one in which callers challenge dancers to succeed at difficult patterns, and dancers hope to do well themselves and contribute to a successful square, glowing in the sense of having met the challenge (often when others did not--there's definitely some competition between squares at times). The singing call offered a pleasant interlude--a reminder of earlier dancing pleasures, definitely a more rhythmic and quicker moving choreography.

Next Tim Plogh called for us, followed by Bill Haynes. We were down to three squares. Finally Lee Kopman, the grand old man of modern square dance calling, set the final challenge for the two diehard squares. Everyone cheered at the end.

Lee Kopman, the "Square Dance Man"


We said goodbye to our Valley friends and told them we'd see them in a month. Steve and Jan left to meet Hardy and Judy for lunch on the way south. Steve and Jan are driving back to Mission, where they are living in their Texas room while they are waiting for their air conditioner/heat pump to be repaired (that's been dragging on for a long time now).

Hardy and Judy will stop in Gunbarrel City to visit Hardy's folks before they too head for the Valley for the winter. We will join the gang again for some great square dancing and friendship. We danced with more folks that we know from the Valley. Terry and Linda Hansen dropped in from the C-2 hall. Jim and Jane Booth and Dick and Mary Ann Drake danced in the C-1 hall with us. Kit and Marty were camped near us, but we didn't see them again after saying hi the first day, because they danced entirely in the C-2 hall. Arnie and Sue also danced in the C-2 hall. The halls were far apart, which discouraged dancers from changing halls.

We had a great weekend. Wayne and Yevonne Alexander were the coordinators, keeping everything running smoothly. This is their last year at that job. They've decided to sell their house and travel while they're still young enough to enjoy it.

Yevonne Alexander talking to Ben Bateman (St. Louis) at the Registration counter

Wayne Alexander talking to dancers

I called my Aunt Helene to wish her a happy birthday. She was at Peggy's house, and it sounded like a crowd of the grandkids and great grandkids were there to celebrate. She's my dad's older sister and the only surviving sibling. At 91 she's still going strong. My great grandmother and great aunt Gladys were active into their 90s too, so I hope I've inherited their genes.
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Saturday Dancing

We danced from 9:30 to noon in the morning and then again 2-4:45 in the afternoon and 8-11 in the evening. We danced to a lineup of great callers, including Lee Kopman, the Square Dance Man. We danced to him three times today, including an intro to the next level, C-2, in the morning workshops. Other callers included Darryl Lipscomb, Tim Ploch, Bill Haynes, and Jerry Stover (with whom we were not familiar).

On the dinner break we went to the Roadhouse Family Diner again, with Hardy and Judy and Jan and Steve. This time Ken and I shared the salmon, which was very good. Of course we had lots of laughs.

This evening, in keeping with the spirit of the Eiffel Tower topper, I wore my red cowboy hat to the dance.

By 11:00 p.m., everyone was brain dead and tired, so we adjourned to the rig for another after party. Steve has not felt well all weekend. His shoulder is painful, and he's had some kind of respiratory bug, so we sent him home to get some rest. It's actually amazing to me that he and Jan could dance after a long day on the road yesterday and not much sleep last night. Read more!

Eiffel Tower With Attitude

This morning Ken got a chance to take a campsite photo. Our spot at the Red River Valley Fair Grounds is pretty basic, but very functional. We have 50 amp electric, water, and sewer on a level somewhat grassy site for $15 a night, quite a bargain.

Ken repaired the chewed up hoses this morning so he could hook up the water.

Here's a photo of the guilty party. Looks cute but is dangerous to water hoses!

We got together with Hardy and Judy to do some exploring and geocaching today. Dancing didn't start until 8:30 p.m., so we had plenty of time to play. When Hardy and Judy arrived at our site, caller Joe Saltel and Harlan Bowen stopped by to talk with them. We all decided to go to visit the Paris, TX, model of the Eiffel Tower. It has something the French original doesn't--a red cowboy hat cocked on its peak.

Ken, Joe, Hardy, and Harlan pose (or in Joe's case, clown) for the camera

In addition to the pleasure of seeing the unique tower, we also collected a virtual geocache by noting the date when the tower was dedicated. We headed next to another geocache hidden at the final resting place of John Chisum, notorious cattle baron made famous by the movie in which John Wayne plays the part of Chisum.

We went on to find some more caches, one at the refurbished courthouse and another at a historic church. At the courthouse, we found this sign in the basement, near the public restrooms. It's a bit sobering to realize how recently this kind of thing was commonplace. The sign is intended as a reminder of the injustices of the past.

We went to Culbertson Fountain to look for another cache, which we never found. It was a good place to people watch and eat our picnic lunch.

Butterfly at the Culbertson Fountain downtown

Walking around, we saw some interesting sights, including this unusual church. We thought it looked more like an Eastern Orthodox church or something from Istanbul.

First Methodist Church of Paris, TX, built in 1924

Steve and Jan drove up from the Valley, a nearly twelve hour trip, and they arrived eager to dance. It was great to see them and some of our other friends from the Valley and to dance to some great callers. It's been four months since the last time we danced, which was in Detroit. Ken and I read through the definitions before dinner, but both of us were a bit apprehensive about our dancing skills being rusty. They were, but we had fun and didn't embarrass ourselves too much. Fortunately, some of the moves came naturally from "muscle memory."
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On Our Way to Paris (Texas, that is)

We got up this morning, packed up, and took our final walk through the park. The sun was shining, the sky and the river were blue: it was an altogether lovely day and a very nice campground. We’ll certainly return if we’re ever back in the Little Rock area.

We hit the road at 10:30 a.m. but stopped at Lowe’s in Bryant, AR, half an hour later. We had to buy repair kits for our hoses the squirrels chewed up. We also realized when we were packing up that we must have left our smaller leveling boards at Defeated Creek, so we got some new ones, treated wood, and the nice young man cut the 12’ piece in two for us. The other thing we did is look at kitchen faucets.

We’ve decided to replace ours. It’s been flimsy and unsatisfactory from the start, and the brushed nickel finish became permanently spotted and streaked early on. I’d really prefer to have a single handle faucet with a pull-out handle too, like the kind I had in the house. We’re making a list of things to have attended to when we take Venture in for repairs in the Valley. The service person there said they’d be happy to install a faucet and we could buy our own.

We got to the Red River Valley Fair Grounds in Paris a little after 5:00 p.m. As we were setting up, our friends Hardy and Judy called to say they were about 20 miles out from the motel they are staying at. We went to the Roadhouse Family Diner for dinner with them.

We last saw them in mid-June when we went to Milwaukee to AACE with them. It was great to have a chance to catch up. They regaled us with the tale of their float trip with Steve and Jan, when Steve and Jan's canoe was tipped over by a tree that had fallen in the river. It was lucky they had Hardy and Judy there to chase their stuff that went floating down the river and to help them find the waterproof case which held Jan's wallet!

After dinner, we got to see their new car too, a Chevy Cruze. Their truck is at home, taking a break, and they are enjoying the great gas mileage of the Cruze.
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Last Day at Maumelle

We took a longer morning walk than usual because severe thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. On our way we passed this campsite, really into the spirit of the season.

We walked the Nuttall Trail, a short paved loop through the woods which starts and ends in the campground. We didn't take any of the side trails, which didn't show up on the map.

We've been surprised to see empty campsites along the river near us, since all the sites showed up online as reserved the whole time we were here. Lots of people must cancel after paying for reservations, because Corps of Engineers parks require payment at the time reservations are made.

After lunch, we waited for the thunderstorm to lighten up a bit before going to the Fun Wash. Doing the laundry was no more fun than usual. We got to listen to some silly daytime TV. We stopped at Kroger's on the way home.
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Pinnacle Mountain

On our walk this morning we spotted something large on the river. It turned out to be a tug moving barges slowly following the channel in the middle of the river. We figured from the channel markers that larger craft must use the river than the small pontoon and speed boats we had seen.

Our big adventure today, after lunch, was a hike up the West Summit Trail to the top of Pinnacle Mountain. Our research on the web showed that the lower portions of the trail are being renovated, but there's an alternate route up an emergency access road where you rejoin the upper portion of the West Summit Trail. Armed with this information, we headed to the trailhead. When we got there, a large sign said the area was closed. Now what?

We called the park and were given instructions to park across the street in the overflow parking area, from which you have to follow a walkway under the highway over to the (closed) West Summit Picnic Area. We finally figured out that the reason the area is closed is that a big festival, Pinnacle Mountain Rendevous and Fall Festival, is planned for this weekend, and setup for the event has started.

Anyhow, we saw other hikers, so we walked to the usual trailhead for the West Summit Trail, where signs pointed to the alternate route, which ascends the Base Trail for a while and then follows the gravel access road. When we got to the point where we rejoined the actual summit trail, we soon found ourselves enjoying some great views.

We had read that the West Summit Trail is much less steep than the East Summit Trail. In fact, it was described by one hiker as "easy." He also indicated that at the higher elevations, it mainly went up stone steps rather than boulder fields (like the East Trail). The earlier parts of the trail seemed to be as described, but then things got tougher. Some of the way did indeed involve some boulder scrambling.

The climb was quite steep, 700 feet elevation gain in 3/4 of a mile. Markers placed every 100 feet of elevation showed how high we were on the 1,011 foot peak. At marker 9, we rested for a while.

When we got to the summit, the views of the Arkansas River and surrounding countryside were spectacular. We congratulated ourselves on making it to the top.

The trip back down was anticlimactic. It was much easier to descend than to ascend! We got back to the trailhead 2 hours and 25 minutes after starting out, tired but happy.

On the way home we stopped at the Arkansas Arboretum, where we walked a .6 mile paved path through the forest. Various areas of the arboretum are supposed to represent different divisions of the state, and quite a few trees are labeled. Some signs describe trees that must have bit the dust--we couldn't find anything to match the descriptions. Overall it was a pleasant walk through the woods, and we did learn a few things. I now know that the pine we've been seeing that resembles a Ponderosa Pine with its reddish scaly bark is actually the Shortleaf Pine.
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Rocky Valley and West Quarry Trail

We decided to explore Pinnacle Mountain State Park today. A sign near the campground entrance says it's two miles to the state park, so we rode our bikes over to check things out. It was two miles to the boundary of the park, but nearly three to the Visitor Center, and most of the way was uphill. We were again reminded of how much out of shape we are! We walked the bikes up the steeper portions.

The Visitor Center has a room full of interpretive exhibits explaining the geology and history of Pinnacle Mountain and the Arkansas River system. It includes some live exhibits.

Cute baby alligator in an aquarium

We stepped out onto a balcony to take in the vista of the Arkansas River

Outside the Visitor Center is a quarry pond whose water is green. The acidic water doesn't support much life, but blue-green algae thrive in it.

We decided to ride home, have lunch, and come back later in the truck to take the Rocky Valley and East Quarry Trails to the Scenic Overlook. We ate our lunch at the picnic table and enjoyed the river. Although the day started off cloudy, the sky was clear with fluffy white clouds.

It was much easier to drive to the Visitor Center than it had been to ride our bikes! We planned to hike to the scenic overlook, but it turned out that there are actually several scenic overlooks. The first is just beyond the parking lot.

It offers a nice view of Pinnacle Mountain, part of the Ouachita Range. At 1,011 feet, it is the highest peak in the park and attracts attention with its distinctive cone shape.

Walking a bit farther brings you to the actual start of the Rocky Valley Trail, a loop trail. From its midpoint, the East Quarry Trail extends to another scenic overlook. Hiking down the rocky trail into the valley, we realized where the trail had gotten its name. We also realized that the hike out would be uphill.

The start of the East Quarry Trail, blazed in red, shows a much different ecosystem, with tangled undergrowth and bamboo like plants.

Unusual striping on bamboo?

We stopped briefly at the "Big Maumelle Overlook" (the second overlook on this hike) before continuing on to the main attraction, the H.L. Dickinson Overlook.

We followed the trail a bit further to the East Quarry site, where the trail dramatically ends in a STOP sign.

We didn't see many wildflowers on this hike, but did take a quick photo of this American Beautyberry.

Altogether, the hike was only 2.9 miles, but we enjoyed the diverse environments and the dramatic views. Walking through the woods as we have recently has given us a chance to see trees in every stage of their lives. Some are small saplings while others have toppled and are decaying. Some stand straight and tall while others have been bent or are leaning. Many fallen trees are visible in every direction. Although they are very long lived, trees go through the cycle of birth and death like all life. Read more!

Exploring the Park

After a brunch of migas and black beans and fruit, we set out on our walk to explore the park, since it was dark when we got back from the clinic yesterday.

Maumelle is a beautiful park, laid out along the Arkansas River. We're lucky to have a riverfront site. Someone must have just cancelled before I went to Recreation.gov to reserve a space, because all the water sites are booked solid. The sites generally are very well spaced. We have additional space because there's a small shelter with a (nonfunctional) water fountain between us and B30, our neighbor west of us.

Something that is unusual is that the day use area is intermixed with campground, mostly right in the middle. That keeps things a bit noisy during the day, but after dark it's very quiet.

Beautiful Arkansas River forms Lake Murray here

A fellow camper is a Michigan fan!

We've been trying for four days now to mail a couple of items, but haven't seen a mail box or post office. Today I checked the Mailbox Locator and found one at Kroger's nearby. Of course I also shopped at Kroger's when I dropped off the mail. Ken had decided not to come with me. Then I read some aging jokes Steve Spaulding sent along. One was "Old is when you don't care where your spouse goes, as long as you don't have to go along!"

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Maumelle Park

We slept in this morning to catch up on our rest, so it was 10:45 a.m. by the time we hit the road (I-40, that is), heading for Maumelle Park, on the Arkansas River north of Little Rock. The first part of our trip took us through western Tennessee. We crossed the Mighty Mississippi and entered Arkansas. As we moved westward and left the mountains behind, we noticed fields of cotton and large round bales of hay. As we approached Little Rock, we could see the terrain changing again, with gentle rolling hills.

Arkansas is a lovely state, but its highways leave something to be desired. Everything in the truck and trailer was bounced and shaken (including me) by the rough roadway. We were very glad to arrive at the campground about 4:15 p.m. On the way in we dumped, and then we had to go evict some squatters from our site. They admitted they had spent the day in their beach cabana, but quickly began to move when we showed up.

Our site backs up on the Arkansas River, which at this point looks like a large lake. The Corps of Engineers operates a series of locks and dams to make the river navigable.

(This photo was taken the next day because it was too dark by the time we actually got set up.)
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Truck Repair

We got up very early this morning and broke camp as soon as it was light enough to see outside. We called Wilson County Chevrolet dealer repair department when they opened and described our problem. The repair person said to bring in the truck but to leave the trailer behind. After dumping, we towed the trailer over to the marina and dropped it in the parking lot there.

Then we drove to Lebanon, about 45 minutes away on US70 N. We were very impressed with how cheerful and friendly and helpful everyone at the dealership was. We could see that the repair department was busy, but our service advisor, David, kept us informed and assured us that they would do their best to get us back on the road.

They started out by putting the truck on the rack to change the oil--our DIC (Driver Information Center) had notified us the day before that we needed to "change engine oil soon." While we were waiting, I fired up my computer and checked the Silverado maintenance records and realized that we also were due for a new fuel filter, since it had been just over 15,000 miles.

Our last service was done at a Lexus dealership in the Dallas area last April. Looking over the invoice, I noticed that they had diagnosed a leaking power steering hose to the hydroboost unit, but had not replaced it due to the truck being too heavy. We had not noticed this omission before, and they didn't mention it to us. Anyhow, we asked David to check that hose out too.

After only a few minutes, David came to tell us that they had found our problem: none of the bolts on either side of the axle had been tightened! He said we were lucky we hadn't lost an axle. You can picture how dangerous that would be, especially if it happened while we were towing.

We took them up on an offer to give us a ride to a nearby park where David and another employee regularly walk. It turned out to be a great place for a walk (or jog or bike ride), with both a loop path and an extension that ties in with other paths. We walked along the extension and came to this intriguing building, which of course we had to explore.

The website includes this note:

The Mill at Lebanon is an Adaptive Reuse Project of the Former Lebanon Woolen Mill, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Right now there's a small cafe and a children's shop in operation, with much more planned.

The park includes a fascinating playground area which was built entirely by volunteers.

This slide is part of an elephant!

When we got back to the dealership, the truck was ready. But no. Even though I had explicitly described to the service advisor the need to reinstall the dually tires so that the inner and outer valve stems were 180 degrees apart, they ended up installed with the inner valve stem inaccessible. So we had to wait over an hour for that to be fixed (the mechanic had gone to lunch). We ate our picnic lunch in the customer lounge. When I noticed the mechanic had returned and was working on the truck, I strolled around to the bay door in the back, right next to our truck. I chatted with the mechanic, only to find out that he now had installed the wheels so that both valve stems were in the same hand hole. Good thing I checked!

We ended up almost $400 poorer, but with a safe and operational truck. We headed back up to Defeated Creek Marina to pick up Venture and be on our way. We were planning to reach Jackson, TN, for an overnight stop in a parking lot before heading the next day to Maumelle. Our route along I-40 took us through Memphis, and since we left Defeated Creek at 3:00 p.m., of course we got stuck for a while in rush hour traffic and then waiting for an accident to clear.

When we arrived in Jackson, after dark of course, we tried to park at Cracker Barrel, but first I drove into the wrong driveway and had to back up to get out. Yikes! Then when we checked the RV spaces in the Cracker Barrel parking lot, they were very unlevel and all but one had cars parked in them. So we called Walmart and got permission to park behind Sam's Club just up the road a bit.

That's what we ended up doing. One other fifth wheel was there before us, and we chatted with the folks. It turned out that they are official judges for a barbecue contest. We walked around to the front of the store, where the contestants and show were all set up and most of them already cooking their barbecue for the next day's event, The Inaugural Sam's Club National BBQ Tour. Competition barbecuing is serious business (or so we were told), but the team names are creative and humorous.

Fifth wheel toy hauler modified for serious BBQ

This team ended up being the Reserve Champions
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