Best Western Continental Inn Arkadelphia

... a lone thriving fall tree amidst a field of yellow grass; horses; long fences; the biggest yards in the USA; thats what she said's; trailors on stilts; the inside of hills where roads have been '"dug", big skies.

RV Newbie Rule #2 Take drinks and all other things off of flat surfaces before driving away...

Take a Load Off Fanny, Tom Petty, Hotel California, Queen...good riding music.

Sumner's driven us into Oklahoma and it's my turn to drive...until next time.

Visiting hot springs might be one of Bek's favourite things to do in the whole world, so when a town is named Hot Springs, it sparks our interest. We did an overnighter and drove from Wichita, Kansas to Hot Springs, Arkansas (State # 22, slowly getting there).

Hot Springs is a town surrounded by state parks that is built around (you guessed it) Hot Springs. This area has 46 natural hot springs and a row of bath houses ...

... promenade back to the visitors center. We made the decision that the hot springs here could not top the Laird Hot Springs in the Yukon, that and spending $15 just to go into the pools briefly was a bit steep. So we headed up to the top of Hot Springs Mountain and Mountain Tower sitting 216 feet above the top of the mountain, though we did not go to the top we had a very pretty view of the Ozark area. Last and not least the earth-cache called for ...

... God I will never forget that. They also had an exhibit on artifacts from the presidency from various presidents including signed letters by Thomas Jefferson. They had a sculpture that depicted George HW Bush with a sword up Sadam Hussains back side, and the actual tree of lights that Hillary had created for the White House. After that we went downtown to the Library Gift Shop and I found the book Hillary wrote that was Dear Socks, Dear Buddy, letters kids had ...

... everywhere for hundreds of years. It comes out of the ground at 143 degrees and gets reduced to 105 degrees for the hot baths we took.

Chilled and damp we arrived at the Buckstaff Bath House, one of the two houses that have been restored to active spas after closing down in the '50's. Andy and I went for the "bath special". Hot mineral bath soak with a lufa sponge scrub down, then a sitz bath ...

... my parents didn't even know I was in Arkansas).

The plan went off without a hitch (except for going the wrong way on a bypass once), and my family was very surprised. Luke and Jenna ate dinner with us and then kept going on their way. We stayed at the lake house until Monday afternoon, swimming and watching movies and eating burgers, then I finally headed home.

We got into Hot Springs, Arkansas around noon yesterday. From the plane all you see are hills and green. Being from Miami.. that's a lot of green.

My two great aunts, Mary and Ramonita, were already waiting for us when we landed in the private airport. On the way to Mary's house all you see are tree's and randomly placed houses. We drove through "downtown" and Ramonita started complaining about the ridiculous traffic.. which was like ten cars on the road. I couldn't help but laugh ...

Hot Springs is the bathing capital of the world. Old documents show that American Indians bathed in the hot springs during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Some believe that the traces of minerals and an average temperature of 143 degrees Farenheit give the waters whatever therapeutic properties they may have. Today, people still come to Hot Springs for therapeutic relief.

... there is a beautiful creek that runs just by the campsite that provides white noise to drown out the nearby road. We plan on seeing the Hot Springs later this afternoon and tomorrow along with the historic district of town. Love, Tom and Christine Total Miles Driven: ~1500 miles Altitude: ~ .3 miles (although was near .6 during Ozark driving) Different State License Plates Seen: 19

... This has the affect of keeping the drivers behind him from passing. I get to a hill that has a passing lane, and I pull over to let the 13 or so vehicles go around. The semi has a chore climbing the hill trying to pass me so I slowed down to 30 so he could get around and pull in front of me. At Nacogdoches I get on a US highway with much wider lanes, and relax again. I stay on this highway all the way to I-30 just ...