Day 6 - West, TX

We're headed to Austin to visit Bruce and Barbara Stevenson who are friends from Carol's days at Ohio State. We travelled 426 miles today from Hot Springs, AR to West, TX (just north of Waco). The trip took us south on AR 7, west on I-30 through Texarkana to Dallas and south on I-35 toward Austin. Some of the miles weren't planned.

Disappointments: Dick picked the wrong campground for tonight. We lost nearly 2 hours travelling to and from a campground that was way off our route and really not up to expectations.

Good things that happened:

• The weather continues to be perfect
• The roads were great
• Gas prices seem to be going down ($3.439)
• We realized that Arkansas is a fantastic state to visit for almost any kind of outdoor recreation
• Carol found a great campground to replace the poor choice.

Lots of driving. We were more than ready to stop at a KOA campground at 7:30pm.

We must be getting the hang of trailer life. We were set up, and having dinner by 8:15pm. Yup, that includes grilling a chicken breast.

Day 5 - Hot Springs, AR

We only travelled 165 miles today ... on purpose.

Jim’s guided tour of the state campgrounds on Sunday convinced us to try a stay in one while still in AR. We changed our plans to cover ½ of the AR Route 7 scenic highway, ending up in site #4 at Quachita Lake State Park. The park (pronounced "Wash'i taw") is 10 miles north of Hot Springs. The park is beautiful. The campground is located deep in the national forest is everything we had hoped.

We got to the campground about 3pm, got set up and drove to Hot Springs to see the historic "Bathhouse Row". We were able to tour the Fordyce Bathhouse before closing time at 5pm. It was amazing. The spring water still flows at 134 degrees F.

We headed back to the park, had dinner and relaxed for the evening.

Days 2,3 and 4 - Drasco, AR

We travelled 380 miles from Central City, KY to Drasco, AR to visit Dick’s sister Barbara (Bobbie), her husband Jim and sons Eric, Ryan and Jimmie. It’s been over 5 years since we last got together. This entry describes the journey on Friday and the two day stay there.

Friday – we left at 9:30 instead of 8:00 as planned. It was a beautiful sunny day. We crossed the Mississippi twice within a few miles (from KY to IL, then from IL to MO). Surprise sight of the day: cotton fields in MO. Excitement of the day: two very narrow bridges. Two semis couldn’t cross in opposite directions at the same time on one of them. Narrow, curvy roads showed up when we entered AR and travel slowed down a lot. We had planned to get to Bobbie & Jim’s by 3:30 or so. We got there at 6:30.

Bobbie and Jim’s home is on 18 wooded acres in the country. We parked between their home and their horse corral. We met Ryan’s horses Bo and Dakota. Bobbie served a wonderful dinner in spite of our late arrival.

Saturday –Jim fixed an outstanding pancake, omelet and bacon brunch for us. Eric, Ryan and Jimmie arrived in the morning. Kenzie (Ryan’s girlfriend), Lindsay (Jimmie’s girlfriend) and Willy (Jimmie’s business partner) joined us as well. These young people are loaded with talent, energy, humor and a bit of mischief. What a great fun day we had! Carol & I got to ride around the grounds on 4-wheelers. Ryan and Kenzie rode the horses. We went out for a seafood buffet and came home to play pool until late. We even danced.

Sunday – Jim did his kitchen magic for a very full (10 of us) home. We were treated to “eggs McCouran”, cream cheese coffee cake and melon. Everyone got up at different times because of the late night of playing.

Jim and Bobbie took us on a tour of some of the state campgrounds around Heber Springs. We were so impressed we changed our plan for Monday so we could stay at one.

Things we learned: they have road runners (as in beep-beep) and armadillos here.

Day 1 - Central City, KY

We made 339 miles today and are currently in a campground outside Central City, KY (approximately half way between Louisville and Paducah). It's not fancy, but works fine for us @ $15/night for full-service hook ups.

We left Columbus at 10am and took our time heading down I-71 to Cincinnati and beyond. We used a Flying J truck scale to check our weight and load distribution for the first time. It was an interesting activity.

Weather is wonderful ... sunny, cloudless and low 80's. The drive through KY was beautiful. We had lunch at an I-65 rest area just beyond Louisville.

Today was all interstate travel. Tomorrow will be a lot of state and county roads (I'm thinking narrow and curvy) as we leave KY and pass through short sections of IL and MO on the way to my sister Bobbie's home in northern AR. We'll be there through Sunday.

Getting Ready

Some say getting ready is half the fun. Well, we've had enough of this half ... it's time to get on the road!

We're loading this afternoon and will leave in the morning. If we don't have it, we'll need to get it or do without. If it breaks, we'll need to fix it. Who knows, maybe there will be some "roughing it". It's hard to believe "roughing it" could come to mind with our on-board amenities (microwave, oven, stove, refrigerator, TV, AM/FM radio, CD/DVD/MP3 player, air conditioning, furnace, shower, and water).

For those who need to know, we've confirmed that the ratio of men's-to-women's clothes is about the same in a travel trailer as at home. The picture doesn't include even more hanging clothes for Carol that are still in the car.

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All joking aside, Carol got great news today. She's cancer free after 5 years of treatment and gets to stop taking the dreaded medication Tomaxifin. As far as Dick's concerned she can take anything she wants on this trip.

Pre-trip Adventure

Sunday August 14th was an exciting day for us and other residents of Ohio. We felt the effects of hurricane Ike. Unfortunately, we had planned a trailer blessing and picnic with church friends in the afternoon. It turned out to be quite an adventure.

The day started out sunny and pleasant. The wind began to increase in the late morning. We headed to the RV storage lot at about 2pm and were hooked up and ready to go by 3pm ... it did seem a bit windy. We got a hint of what was going to happen when we got to the Roberts Road/I-270 entrance ramp. Four orange construction barrels had blown onto the ramp. Carol had to get out and clear the road before we could continue. Things went down hill quickly from there. We were out with the Airstream from 3pm to 8pm. This was the time when the winds were at their peak (75 mph gusts). Pretty smart huh?

The good news is:

• The trailer handles beautifully in strong cross winds
• We had no trailer damage
• We did have a picnic (about 1/2 of the guests were able to make it safely)
• Our house power was only out for about 30 hours

The bad news is:

• We had some damage at home
• Many people in Columbus and Ohio need our prayers as they try to function without power.