Wind

 3/11- Queen Wilhelmina State Park, Mena AR

   In case you were wondering we survived last night just fine. It was a hell of a lightning show and it sure did rain but we were snug in our sturdy camper. The campground didn’t fair so well as they lost power at some point in the evening. 

   We started out into a freshly scrubbed Oklahoma as the grass seemed to burst from the ground after the rain. This part of Oklahoma is really quite pretty as mountains start to rise covered with pine trees. It is still cattle country as we saw lots of cows even a herd or two of long horns. Why anyone would get into a field with those horns is beyond me. Apparently they have characteristics that make them quite easy to herd. 

   We climbed steadily into a more mountainous terrain of the Ouachita Mountains. We opted to take the Talimena Scenic Drive. This is a lot like the Blue Ridge Parkway as it climbs to the top of the ridge. There are vistas off to either side that are stunning. After about 20 miles of this we entered Arkansas and found our campground. 

   The campground is on the top of ridge and we have a nice vista looking out the windows of the van. Or rather we did until we looked up and saw the big dark cloud chasing us down. It swept by us without rain but the cloud clung to the top of this ridge so we could barely see across the road. As it started to clear the wind picked up. The wind has shaking and rocking the van now for several hours. Forecasts call for 20-25 mph winds with gusts to 45. Hopefully the camper stays put tonight. 

   This campground is perched on the top of this 3000 ft mountain and has a beautiful new lodge. The views from inside those rooms must be gorgeous. The place was built by Dutch investors so they named it after their queen in the hopes that she would visit. They were disappointed. The place has burned several times and was last rebuilt by the state 10 years ago. 

   Because we really couldn’t appreciate the vistas much we have decided to stay on another night here. Tonight will be cold but it should warm up when the sun comes out tomorrow. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boom

 1/8- Cedar Point Campground     We woke up this morning to the sound of thunder in the distance. Then it started getting closer and closer but never really got here. Turns out it was artillery practice at Camp LeJeune which is just down the road. I hope they hit what they were aiming at! We had jets flashing overhead all day long also.      We walked down to this trail which was called a saltwater tidal trail. It is supposed to be the only one like it in the US. It was a nice walk with a lot of it on boardwalks over a large estuary. We didn’t see many critters but we did see a number of snowy egrets. The best time to walk here is when the tide is out as there is a lot more to see which was the case for us this morning.     After lunch we broke out the bikes and went to ride down to the beach. Once we got out of the campground the traffic got very intense. Turns out the route I thought to get to shore was a private gated community. We ju...
Read more

Break

 11/19- Onanoncock VA    We left the farm early in the hopes of getting a jump on traffic. Siri had us bouncing around on a bunch of side roads as I was just hoping she wouldn’t lead me off the edge of some cliff. The closer we got to Norfolk the busier the traffic was. Now we were on the expressway and trying to follow the winding path that was being drawn for us. We actually had to stop and get inspected before entering one of the tunnels under bay. This proved to be the woman asking if our propane was off, which it was. Back we went into the rat maze. We finally popped out and drove onto the Chesapeake Bridge and tunnel.     This is a 16 mile long bridge tunnel that crosses the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Fortunately the wind was not an issue and we drove along peacefully. We watched pelicans soaring and diving out in the bay. At the end we stopped at the welcome center and took a short walk out to an old gun emplacement. They had this huge gun that was use...
Read more

Escaping

 1/6- Kiptopeke VA    We blasted down the Eastern shore of Maryland today to get our rental car back in time. We stopped along the way and picked up Ms Allspice. She had been sitting in our friends Joe and Nancy’s yard for the past month or so. I was a little worried about her starting and I was hoping for no mouse invasions. She started right up like she was raring to go and so far we haven’t seen or found any sign of mouse habitation.      We did solve the great mystery of the disappearing mouth guard. Alayne had not been able to find her brand new very expensive retainer when we were here in the fall. We tore the camper apart and just couldn’t find it. It was truly a mystery. Turns out it was in a shower bag she had hung on a hook in the bathroom. While we searched the bathroom repeatedly we never thought to look in that bag. Mystery solved!!     We then stopped at Walmart to fill up the larder. We need to get every system fired up again. Some ...
Read more