Tuesday April 8th
Packed up this morning and headed north after saying good bye to neighbors Pat (Jay) and Jinx. Also saying good bye to the Gulf of Mexico for this year. We have enjoyed our time down here, although it has not been the best weather. Everyone we talk to agrees that it has been a cold wet winter and spring.
Drove northward through Beaumont on I 10 and then turned off and on northward to Carthage, TX to Carthage RV Campground, a distance of uneventful 207 miles.
Wednesday April 9th
From Carthage, TX continued on northward through the Arkansas Ozarks and up to Alma, KOA, near Ft Smith Arkansas. The Ozarks are always enjoyable, maybe somewhat comparable to the Hill Country in Texas, but in a more primitive way. Distance today was 295 miles. Took a circle route round Ft Smith and found Alma just a few miles away, but still near the main highway. The KOA was easy to find and it was a fair Park
Thursday April 10th
On the road northward again. Left Alma, Arkansas and went north on highway 540. I thought this was going to be on a secondary state highway. Not So!! It is a new interstate highway with some amazingly high bridges. Seems like we crossed about 50 of them with heights I'm sure over 300 ft above the creeks below. An amazing piece of engineering!! After we arrived in Lafayette, Arkansas the I 540 ended but traffic was very heavy for about 50 miles through several cities almost touching each other, The last was Bentonville, home of Sam Walton, the originator of Walmart, and from then the highway changed to Highway 71, but was still a very good 4 lane divided route. Arrived in Carthage, Missouri about 1 PM and checked into "The Big Red Barn" RV Park. Had some lunch and the headed off the "Precious Moments"
Did a tour of the grounds and chapel and viewed lots of magnificent stained glass work - away beyond my expertise, and then of course into the gift store. Dropped a couple hundred $$ there, but Denice got some neat things.
Friday April 11th
Away early this morning at 8:30AM and up Highway I 49 and US #71 to just outside Kansas City, then onto 435 around the city. Turned off into Smithville and then to Bass Country RV Park. I screwed up a little on the way in. These are narrow country roads to the park and our GPS was saying turn Right and I was thinking Left, so I turned left and then of course I could not back up and God knows how far I would have to go to get turned around, so I unhooked and Denice drove the jeep the last couple miles to the park. Got checked in and led to our site. 81. WIFI very poor, also TV poor but still OK here. They make Pizza and wings, so ordered for Dinner at 5:30PM.
Checked out possible sites for stopping tomorrow and chose On-yur-wa RV Park at Onaway, a Good Sam one. Reserved for tomorrow night.
Saturday April 12th
On the road early this morning by 7:30 AM as forecast was for wind. Traveled northward through Council Bluffs, Iowa. The same city as Omaho Nebraska, but on the east side of the Missouri River. We only had routed for 225 miles and arrived at On-Yur-Wa RV park by noon, and checked in. Got set up and found very good wifi here. Checked forecast for next couple days and does not appear good. Cold and wind, so we may just sit tight here until better weather.
