Horseshoe Bend Campground, WalMart Museum, Bentonville AR

Saturday, April 13 - Tuesday, April 16, 2024

On Saturday we went to Pea Ridge National Military Park near Garfield, AR.  I have the National Park Passport and like to get as many stamps as I can, so since this was nearby we decided to visit.  I'd never heard of this place before but it was very interesting.  It was a two day battle that began on March 7, 1862.  Missouri was part of the Union and they wanted it to stay that way.  Of course the south wanted it for the Confederacy.  The Union won and Missouri stayed in the Union.  The state was politically neutral throughout the war, although it provided men and supplies to both sides.  At the Visitor Center there is a 30 minute film that explains the battles, as well as a museum with artifacts from the battlefield and the Civil War.  There is also a seven mile tour road with stops and a video you can download that explains what happened at that stop.

Before the first stop there was a marker for where the Trail of Tears ran.

From the East Overlook, Stop #7.

Elkhorn Tavern (stop #8) sat at the intersection of Telegraph Road, Ford Road, and Huntsville Road, and served travelers before the war. It was used as a Union Supply Base until the Confederates captured it and turned it into a field hospital caring for both Union and Confederate soldiers.  Union troops recaptured it and used it as a military telegraph station until Confederate guerrillas burned it in 1863.  The present building is a reconstruction.

This is Huntsville Road that ran in front of the house.

On Sunday we left Ozark Cabins and RV and drove back to Pea Ridge National Military Park.  Our check-in time at the next stop wasn't until 4:00 so we were taking our time.  John rode his Lectric bike along the tour road.  It took him less than 30 minutes to go the seven miles.  We had lunch and then decided to go ahead to our next stop, Horseshoe Bend Campground, CoE park near Rogers, AR.  We are here for four nights (another great deal at $12 night).  What I didn't realize when I made the reservation is that our site only has 50amp electric.  We filled up all the water tanks when we came in and have been doing well.  I've even done a couple of loads of laundry.

We are in site #21 on the peninsula (circled in red near the bottom of the page). It's a very large site with little shade.  I understand that sometimes they close this loop due to flooding.

God has shown the glory of His creation and we've had beautiful sunsets both nights we've been here.

On Monday we went into Bentonville to the Walmart Museum.  The museum had been located in the original Walton store, but they started repairs and realized they would have to do a renovation, so the museum is in another building for the time being.  They give you a scavenger hunt card when you enter and it's really a lot harder than we thought it would be to find everything on the card.

Hologram Sam

Bentonville is experiencing a lot of growth.  There was construction of buildings of all kinds everywhere.  They say it is the mountain biking capital of the world.  There are also biking paths everywhere, through towns and by schools.  I think you could go from Belle Vista to Fayetteville on a bike.  I was told that the Walton grandchildren have a lot to do with building those.  The economy is about the same as Charlotte.

After the museum we had lunch at the Flying Fish.  The fish was really good; I had rainbow trout and John had grouper. 

We've been watching Fixer to Fabulous on HGTV.  They reno houses around Bentonville and Rogers, so it's been fun to see the area.  They owned an old bank building in Centerville and renovated the downstairs into a store with locally made items, and the upstairs into an apartment.  I think we're going to go see that tomorrow, as well as stock up (at Walmart!) before we get to...

Roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1

 

Old Highway 86 Campground, Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, Ozark Cabins & RV, Thorncrown Chapel

 Saturday, April 6 - Friday, April 12, 2024

On Sunday, April 7 we drove to Old Highway 86 Campground in Blue Eye, MO for 4 nights.  It's a CoE park and the back of the trailer looked out over Table Rock Lake.  We had 50amp, water hookup and dump station.  For $12.50 a night it's a great deal!

On April 8 we went to Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.  The weather was wonderful and the park was beautiful!!!  We took the 2-hour tram tour when we first got there.  The 10am tour was full but we saw a couple of other tours that only had two or three people on them.  I guess we all wanted to get the tram tour done in time to have lunch and watch the eclipse. 

Tram

Chapel

Chapel Interior

Dogwood Creek

Covered Bridge built by the Pennsylvania Amish.  No power tools here!

This treehouse was built by Animal Planet's TV show Treehouse Masters.

God's creation is so beautiful!

Part of the tour is the wildlife area.  They have longhorn cattle, bison, and elk in this area, and they all get along together.

A curious little guy!

About the time we were done with lunch the eclipse had started.  We walked over to a clear area and waited.  It wasn't a total eclipse where we were, but it was close.  It was like twilight, but muted.  It got brighter faster than it got dark.  You can see the difference in the sunlight in the previous photos and the one below.

The next day was overcast and was supposed to rain but really didn't.  However, it was cold and rainy the following day and it was nice to stay in under a quilt with a book and a cup of tea in front of the fireplace.

We've had some windy days and Thursday, April 11 was no exception.  We drove on windy and windy roads to Ozark Cabins & RV near Eureka Springs for 3 nights, where we are now. They are a quiet family run campground with cabins and have full hookups, which we haven't had for a while.  Getting lots of laundry done!

Site #1

They allowed us to receive packages so we did an Amazon order for several things, one being the topper awning for the slide and the fabric for a new awning as the old one has holes in it.

This afternoon we went to Thorncrown Chapel near Eureka Springs.  It's a beautiful glass chapel that I've wanted to see ever since I saw a picture of it.  It didn't disappoint.

It is 48 feet tall, contains 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass.  Since it opened in 1980 over 7,000,000 people have visited.  The architect, E. Fay Jones, was an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright.  It's just stunning.  The story of how it came to be is truly very interesting and inspirational, and you can real about it at www.thorncrownchapel.com.  We'll be at this campground until Sunday and then we'll be...

Roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1

On the Road Again!

 Sunday, March 24 - Friday, April 5, 2024

The day finally came - the day we left on our next adventure!  We spent the first night at Pride RV Resort in Waynesville, NC.

On Monday, the 25th we drove to Spring Lake RV Resort in Crossville, TN for two nights.  The manager gave us what she said was their most popular site, #47.  It was beautiful!  There was a pretty fountain on a little lake, a swing to sit in, and outdoor table and chairs. Very nice!

From there we went to Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns, TN, site #113.  It backed up to a creek and was quite spacious.  I only reserved it for one night but I could have stayed there a few more nights.

On Thursday, March 28 we spent the night at a Harvest Hosts/Boondockers Welcome at Pleasant Exchange Farms in Tennessee.  We didn't see any lambs but we bought some lamb/pork sausage, although we haven't tried it yet.

Friday we arrived at Village Creek State Park in Wynne, AR for 3 nights, site #53.  It was a beautiful state park with widely spaced sites.  There was a lot to do and John rode his new Lectric e-bike for 13 miles, but he said the bike trails were more suited to mountain bikes.  They also have hiking and horse trails, golf, tennis, and a list of other things to do.  I was happy sitting out and reading a book in the beautiful weather.  The one downside of the park was that there was very spotty cell service.  We could get a text out once in a while, but if you tried to do any internet it wouldn't work.

Moving on we stayed at Brecks RV Park in Batesville, AR for 2 nights, site #44.  It was in town and nothing special, and the view from our back window wasn't all that great, but the manager was really nice and everything worked as it should.  It was really windy there.  John went on the roof to tighten the screws on the solar panels and discovered the passenger side slide topper was hanging on by a couple of threads.  So he took it off and he'll order some more fabric when we get to a place where it can be delivered.  Wouldn't you know he ordered a roll awhile back to do the driver side topper and didn't bring the rest of the roll with him.  The internet service on our phones wasn't very good so we connected to the park wi-fi.  The reason we came here at all was so I could go to Marshall Dry Goods fabric store.  They have a large selection at good prices.  I bought some fabric to make a quilt for the new decor in the 5th wheel.  That was a fun morning!  :-)

Next the cold wind blew us to Lead Hill Campground in Diamond City, AR, site #A01.

I read that we should have two bars cell service, but when we got here it was no better than the state park.  We talked about it and decided that since we were going to be doing more boondocking and might have this problem again to bite the bullet and get a Starlink satellite dish.  Best Buy sells them so we drove to Branson, but they were out of them.  They said the Springfield store had some so we drove up there and got one.  Since we were within a few miles of a TA we went and got fuel, then stopped at a Culver's for lunch.  I thought of going to Lambert's, but we'd been there before and decided to skip it this time. We stopped at College of the Ozarks, a beautiful Christian college, on the way back and toured their campus.  All the full-time students work 15 hours a week to help pay their tuition, and the rest is made up from donors.  That way the students graduate debt free.  The students make things like stained glass, baskets, flour and baking products from the mill, and plants from the greenhouses, as well as other things.  I bought something yesterday and asked the cashier if she liked the college.  She said she went there and liked it so much she came back and works as the manager in the store.

They have a museum at the college with all sorts of antiques.  One of the things they have is the car from The Beverly Hillbillies.  That was fun to see!

We finished driving home and John tried to set up the Starlink without having internet.  He had to drive to the top of the hill and get internet to get the information he needed, then come back and set it up.  He finally got it so now we can check emails, send texts, make and receive phone calls using wi-fi, and make plans for where we want to go next, as well as catching up on the blog.  I have our next two stops planned but will have to check the weather to see where we'll go after that!  They say getting a campsite these days is really hard, but so far I've been able to get us a site.  It may not be the best site in the campground and I take what's available, but that's ok.  Sitting here looking out over the lake is pretty good.

Roving on...

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1