Above downtown Hot Springs is a beautifully brick paved walk. It takes about 30 minutes from end to end, we had all 3 dogs with us, so it took a bit longer with everybody stopping to ohhhhhh and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh over the cute
doggies! That plus the dogs had to stop and make sure they watered every plant!

We started from the center of town, there is a big visitor parking lot in the middle of town and the trail starts from there. We came out north of bath house row, so we took Central Avenue back to the parking lot. The old bath houses are beautiful! I wish we had time to go visit one.


After our tour of downtown, Chuck took me to myfavorite rock shop just north of Hot

Springs Village, Coleman Rock Shop. I have mined often for quartz Crystals at the Coleman

Mines, but we just didn't have time this trip!
http://www.colemanquartz.com/index.html

Check out the size of those quartz crystals in front of me! WOW!







Downtown Hot Springs is worth a day to just walk around and explore! They are restoring a lot of the old buildings there and downtown is looking prosperious again! There are several of the old bath houses being restored now and 2 are fully restored and you are welcome to soak for a day or an hour, as long as your pocketbook will allow!








About 1/2 way down the palisades trail is the steamy hot water tumbling down the hill, over rocks, to the pool below. It doesn't look as hot and steamy as it really was, it was a chilly morning and believe me... the water was steamy!










We left Hot Springs Saturday about 9 am and landed here with a lakeside campground site in Oklahoma and will report more about it in my next posting. It's time to hit the road for another day!

Wow ! We spent 2 nights camped at Hot Springs Gulpha Gorge Campground. We arrived Thursday night, Oct. 9th and left Sat. am about 9 am.

This is a beautiful campground, all the trees are just beginning to turn colors., there is a beautiful little creek, the bathrooms are clean and several are placed around. However, no showers, no hook ups until next year. They are currently upgrading about 12 campsites in the upper tier for hook ups. But as I said, with our Golden Age Geezer Pass, it was only $5 a night! The campground has hiking trails into the town of Hot Springs if you are ambitious and healthy enought to climb straight up! Thursday night, the campground was full, everything from tenters to Monaco Coaches. Friday night the place was almost deserted! We spent what was left of Thurs, night cleaning up the camper and reading. Friday, we went to downtown Hot Springs.

On the road again !!!

Howdy! Just wanted you to know we are on the road again! We left Monday, Oct 6. We spent the first night just east of Mobile AL in an Escapees RV Park that Chuck wanted to show me. He is a member of Escapees and we can visit their campgrounds all over for about $15 a night. Tuesday night finds us in Vicksburg Mississippi. We are staying at a casino campground for about $20 and they give you a free breakfast for 2 that came to $18, then we each put $20 in a slot machine... I went broke in about 10 minutes while Chuck doubled his money but quit when he got back to the original $20 "invested". The Casino is right on the Mississippi River... as you can see in the picture, and the campground is across the road. The Casino and campground are reached by taking exit 1a from I-20. Great campground, Wish I had taken pictures of it!

We left Vicksburg around 11 am and landed in Hot Springs National Park tonight. With the senior citizens Golden Age Pass (geezer pass) we are here for $5 a night! Beautiful campground! No hook ups so we will be boon docking 2 nights here. I'll take photos and share later!

Crater of Diamonds State Park

If you EVER get the chance, go check out Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro Arkansas. It is the worlds 8th largest diamond mine and the only one that will let you keep the diamonds you find! It costs $6.50 to mine all day! You can bring your own tools, or rent them there. A claw type hand tool, a small hand spade, a bucket is all you really need! Chuck and I dug around in the dirt for 2 days! Chuck found a nice jasper and I found a few new places for muscles to ache but we had so much fun! http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/ Besides the usual great campgrounds that you find at Arkansas State Parks, thus one had great hiking trails.........paved or wild! The last day we were there, Chuck and I took the trail you see here and then kept on following it after the trail turned wild at the river! I was a bit nervous because I still don't trust these new knees as much as I should! Chuck encouraged me and helped me up or down some of the steep areas, and we all had a great hike. The dogs, Midget, Scottie and Bobbie, loved it! Back to the diamond mine........... the first day we were there 6 diamonds were unearthed! One was a fine quality 3/4 carat! In several area of the park mining area, you will see sings with shovels hanging from them. The one in the photo shows where the Uncle Sam Diamond was found. The shovels show where all the big diamonds first saw light. A lot of people cluster around those areas hoping to find another big one! We really enjoyed ourselves here. Now for a commercial! hahaha! While there, we discovered a great little Mexican Restaurant in Murfreesboro... Rico Habaneros and it was amazing! Great service, excellent food! About 1/2 mile north of the courthouse! It was so good, we went back the second day, not even wanting to try any of the other restaurants the town had to offer! Rico's was great. This is our favorite Arkansas State Park so far.......... I hope you get a chance to visit! This is a great time of the year to go, the weather was perfect for digging in the dirt! Next week, we leave for California! I'll keep you posted! Happy Trails!

Rver II Rally page 3

A calm Dawn broke after the passing of TS Ike, to the credit of the RV park, it was well drained and hardly a puddle was left to show for the hours of rain that had pounded down on us. Betty and I took a predawn walk with the dogs and found only a laundry basket that had escaped from it's home. We all survived TS Ike very well. Chuck says goodbye to Poco. Sunday morning was the final gathering for pancakes with sausage and coffee. It was time to begin the goodbyes to all the new friends we had made! Paul and Sherry left Saturday to go visit her mom in Missouri so they missed sharing Ike with us. Almost everyone was packing up after breakfast and heading for home. I loved the wheel cover on the back of Steve and Tali's Oliver, "Not all those who wander are lost and the road goes ever on...." ! They obviously love life on the road! Mountainborn took a minute to brag about the box he had built onto the tongue of the Oliver to house his generator. Of course now Chuck wants one just like it! Mountainborn and Butcherknife go "boondocking" quite often and having the generator handy makes life easier! Finally, everybody was packed up but for 3 of us who decided to stay Sunday and leave Monday. So in the ready to roll mode, we all went down to Jake's Steaks for lunch! Another great meal at a restaurant within walking distance of the campground. We are going to miss our new friends! Most we had met via the internet and Oliver Forum or the Casita Forum, but just hadn't met in person. This was really fun for my first rally and I'm looking forward to next year! Next stop.... Crater of Diamonds State Park!

Rver II Rally page 2

One thing I have learned with this blogging stuff, I never know where the text is going to show up around the pictures!First I think CD Smith and his wife, 3 pups well known on the Casita Forums. The first night everybody was there, several of us went out to eat at Rick's Ribs........ and YUM is all I can say! Great fried pickles too, along with french fried sweet potato's....... much too good when all I can eat is 1/2 cup of food at a time! I got a nice sampling of all though and leftovers for 2 days! Then we have Larry and Betty, better known to those of us on the Oliver Forum as Mountainborn and Butcherknife. Then the famous Poodle Girls with their white boy slave Lane better known on the Casita Forum as Lane and the Poodle Girls! Saturday was fun, it was open house and we got to explore everybody else's campers inside and out! Some of these people were very imaginative and creative when it came to decorating their mini homes on wheels. There were several 13 footers! Small and cozy! Saturday afternoon it started raining! Ike was on his way in and the first bands of rain fell! By the time we settled in for a covered dish supper in the meeting hall, it was pouring down big time! We went on with our games of bingo and awarded prizes and certificates. Chuck and I got a certificate for being the couple that travelled the most distance to attend the rally. It rained and rocked and rolled all night. Ike was just supposed to be a tropical storm by the time it hit us, but for 5-6 hours we had steady rain and strong gusty winds and I was serious when I said we were rockin' and a rollin' all night long. Being a Florida gal, I slept through most of it. Chuck was up almost all night! Those California folks just ain't mush used to hurricanes! Will post a few more photos on next Rver II page 3.

Fiberglass Egg Rally RverII

Ok, here is a bigger picture of Chuck and I taken the last day of the RverII Rally. A few of you wanted to see a bigger photo...... so we aim to please!

At last we were in Van Buren Arkansas, still a day early for the rally. I gotta tell you, I was a bit underwhelmed at the campgrounds chosen. No trees, no picnic tables, not much space between sites and right next to I-40 exit 5! But the campground was still pretty empty so it didn't look it's best, especially after the pretty state park campgrounds we had just been to! Then folks started pulling in. Then it was fun having everybody close by. The 4 of us with Olivers parked 2 to a space and with our awnings facing each other, so it was like we has our own "subdivision" in this small town of fiberglass rv's! Eventually there were about 18 of us camped there. The campground site turned out to be perfect. Easy to get to, a nice big meeting/clubhouse, a nice laundry, close to restaurants and WalMart.... turned out ok.

The photos are of the rally and of Betty and her dog Poco! I have to do a new post to add more photos....... so until next time!