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| West Arkansas Cotton |
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| Arkansas Cottonfield |
9-16-11: Today we passed lots of cotton crops on The Music Highway (I-40) between Nashville and Memphis. I'm starting to feel at home! Arrived at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis. It's right on the Mississip.
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| Majesty! |
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| from Tom Sawyer Campground on the Mississippi River at West Memphis |
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| Watching the barges and tugs |
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| Rocky likes to watch the tugs and barges, too |
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| on the Great River |
We can sit outside and watch the tugs and the barges easing up and down the Great River. Timed a couple: took them between 30-45 minutes to get from one bend to the next- Which looks like maybe a mile or so.
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| Blytheville, AR |
9-18-11: David took us on a tour of Blytheville, AR - birthplace of Justin McClintock in 1982.
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| David's 1st teaching job - corner room |
Saw the school where David had his 1st teaching job. Not a school anymore - a church of some sort.
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| hospital where Justin entered the world |
He showed me the hospital where Justin was born, and
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| Justin's 1st church |
Baby Justin's first church - Clear Lake Baptist. The Blytheville area is pretty barren and impoverished. But, a lotta cotton!
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| Memphis eatery |
9-19-11: David and I went to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken tonight to meet my college friend and superstar, Jimmy Morgan, and his wife Polly. Jimmy was with Jett - an awesome band that played for our college events during the 70's. I even sang Red Neck Mother a time or 2 on stage with them back then. (I learned tonite that I wasn't the only one who did that. Go figure.)
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| Bec/David & Polly/Jimmy at Gus's |
It was so much fun visiting with Jimmy and Polly! Brought back a lot of memories of some great times. I also rec'd an autographed copy of a Jett cd.
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| Polly & Jimmy Morgan |
Thx Jimmy and Polly!!
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| Rocky and Becky chillin' at Petit Jean |
9-21-11: Arrived at Petit Jean State Park. So beautiful! Ready to hit the trails! I'd forgotten about the little airstrip just across the Lake Bailey from us. Got my attention when a low-flying military chopper looked like it was landing on us!
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| Hi, I'm Rocky and I've been drugfree for one week |
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| The Rock is back! |
9-22-11: Took a short walk on the Cedar Falls Overlook Trail today. Rocky went with us. He was so excited and so were we when we saw how energetic he was on the hilly parts and even hopped up and down about 20 steps! Our Rocky is back! We walked over to Jakeb's wedding spot. Not quite the same without a wedding going on. LOL. The Falls have suffered from the drought. We could hear a trickle, but couldn't see any water. Got off the trail just before the bottom fell out. Love a mountain rain!
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| David and Becky about to begin the hike |
9-23-11: David and I hiked the Cedar Creek Trail today. This is a great hike. Only about 1 1/4 miles and takes 1 1/2 hours.
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| David heading uphill |
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| Thank goodness for walking stix |
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| smelling the roses |
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| The one good fishing hole on Cedar Creek Trail |
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| King of the Hill |
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| On my way! |
Nearly as long as it took us to hike 6 miles at Chickamauga. Some hills and spots where it feels more like rock climbing than hiking.
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| Cedar Creek |
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| 1st bridge over Cedar Creek |
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| Cedar Creek Bridge |
Wonderful views and scenery. The geology of Petit Jean is awesome - lots of huge boulders.
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| Today's Ethan's Birthday! |
9-24-11: I drove over to Bill and Pam's for Ethan's 2nd birthday. Wonderful to be with the Goff group again!
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| How about some green sugar? |
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| A little help from Cuzzin Miller |
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| Game day aat the Goff's Hogs vs Bama |
Ethan is precious and is loved and adored by his new adoptive family! And Laci is a great mom!
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| CCC Water Tower at Petit Jean |
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| Fall Color |
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| Bec on Cedar Creek Trail |
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| One of many boulders at Petit Jean |
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| Cedar Creek |
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| 1st Cedar Creek Bridge |
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| David on Cedar Creek Trail |
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| Cedar Creek |
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| A pop of color |
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| David "in" Cedar Creek |
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| Boulders on Cedar Creek Trail |
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| Heading up the hill |
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| Bridge #2 on Cedar Creek Trail |
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| 2nd bridge over Cedar Creek |
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| Pioneer Cabin at Cedar Creek Trailhead |
9-26-11: Another beautiful hiking day on Cedar Creek Trail.
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| Sunrise at Petit Jean |
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| Waiting above the clouds |
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| Peeking out |
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| Sunrise |
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| Over the Arkansas River |
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| David catching the sunrise |
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| And it's a new day! |
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| Petit Jean Gravesite |
9-27-11: David, Rocky, and I got up early, drove over to the Petit Jean Gravesite and Overlook, and watched as God painted the sky and the Arkansas River Valley with a sunrise! So gorgeous! When we got back, I took Rocky on a walk and finally saw one of the huge Pileated Woodpeckers that frequent this area. Those things are as big as a buzzard and sound like a jackhammer. So wish I'd had my camera!
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| The Happy Couple |
My friend Holly Jones Choate and her new hubby, Ryan, came up to visit with us tonite. So good to see Holly. We'd lost touch the last few years, but found each other on Facebook. She and Ryan are delightful and seem so happy. As much as FB is ridiculous, it's also a blessing in reconnecting friends and family!
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| Another day of hiking |
9-29-11: Today David and I took the Rock House Cave, CCC Falls Overlook, and Bear Cave hikes. All are pretty short and sweet.
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| Turtle Rocks |
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| Truly do look like turtles! And rocks. |
On the Rock House Cave trail, we crossed over the interesting Turtle Rocks. Really do look like turtles.
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| Bec and David on CCC Overlook Trail |
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| Great view of the canyon |
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| Some trail! |
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| David on CCC Overlook Trail |
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| Looking out across toward the wedding spot |
The CCC Falls trail gets a tad tricky, but the view is amazing. Loved it! One of the best views of the canyon we've seen.
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| Looking for the Falls |
Tho the Falls are mostly dry, we caught a glimpse of the trickle.
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| Rock House Cave |
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| Native American Pictograph |
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| David in the Rock House Cave |
And in the cave, pictographs from Native Americans can still be seen.
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| Bear Cave Hike |
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| Bear Cave Hike |
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| Big ole rocks |
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| A bear cave |
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| which way? |
The Bear Cave trail is only about 30 minutes long but has some spectacular boulders and views! Even with a temp of 90ish degrees, it was a beautiful day with a bit of a cool breeze on the mountain.
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| Got a signal! |
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| That's far enough back! |
From here we could see the progress on the Mather Lodge on the other side of the canyon. Looks like it's going to be great!
10-1-11: Watched the Razorbacks beat TX A&M this afternoon. What a tense game. Then our satellite went out with 2 minutes left. But in the last 50 seconds David found another channel. Found out most people in AR lost their satellites about that time. ????
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| Peep-eye!! |
10-2-11: Bill, Pam, Laci, and Ethan came up to see us today. The weather and temps are perfect and not a cloud in the sky. Fall is in the air! And lots of single engine planes! Not sure why, but the airstrip out here is staying busy today. I know it has to be a great view from up there of Petit Jean.
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| Laci, Pam, Becky, Bill Boy |
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| David and Bec (and Ethan) at the Bear Cave |
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| Bill Boy and Pam on the Bear Cave Hike |
After enjoying David's grilled burgers, we all went on the Bear Cave and Rock House Cave hikes.
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| Mimi and Ethan in a bear cave |
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| Ethan and Mommy in a "cage" |
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| Rock climber, Ethan -- and Mommy |
2 year old Ethan loves the outdoors and is full of adventure. He was fascinated with each "cage" (cave) and was such a happy hiker.
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| Thank goodness Ethan and Pipaw were there to hold up the boulders! |
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| another "cage"! |
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| Laci and Ethan |
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| Gotta be quick to keep up! |
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| Ethan and Aunt B |
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| Bear Cave Hike |
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| Following our leader |
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| Caveman Ethan |
He walked them both without wanting to be carried at all until we were nearly finished. He enjoyed the Turtle Rocks.
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| Ethan and his "cage"woman, Caroline |
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| Lots of rocks to climb in the Rock House Cave! |
And in Rock House Cave he even hooked up with a pretty little girl, Caroline, who was one day older than he. Not sure, but we think we saw them swapping phone numbers or facebook info or something. It was a wonderful, peaceful day outdoors with family. God is good!
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| CCC Overlook on Red Bluff Drive |
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| Dated Cornerstone |
10-3-11: David, Rocky, and I took the Red Bluff drive today. It's about a 45 minute drive with a couple of great overlooks, one built by the CCC and then rebuilt later by the YACC.
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| Rocky enjoying the view |
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| Mts. Nebo and Magazine from Petit Jean Mtn. |
In view is Mt Magazine (highest point in AR), Mt. Nebo, as well as some smaller mountains, and what looked like possibly the nuclear reactor over in Russellville.
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| Bec on Red Bluff |
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| another great view |
It's gotta be extra beautiful from this spot when Fall colors pop out.
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| CCC Overlook from the other side |
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| Red Bluff Dr from the Pallisades |
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| Pallisades from the Red Bluff Dr |
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| What IS that white thing on the middle of the rocks??? |
Then we drove around to the Pallisades overlooks to look across to where we just were. I could live up here!
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| Petit Jean Auto Museum |
After taking what we call the "Rockefeller" loop - past the WR farms, etc - we dropped Rocky back off at the camper and went to visit the Auto Museum. They have some outstanding old cars there.
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| Winrock's Caddy |
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| I think he was a cattleman |
A couple of Winthrop's caddies, and a Ranchero that belonged to Elvis, and one of JFK's personal convertables.
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| Winthrop Rockefeller Trail |
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| from the Davies Bridge |
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| Some color popping! |
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| they call me mellow yellow |
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| Davies Bridge from the trail |
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| winding our way thru the boulders |
10-4-11: Last day at Petit Jean. Decided to take another hike. So we ventured out on the Rockefeller BSA Trail. Thought we'd just hike 2 or 3 hours and come back. We didn't stay out that long though. But such a beautiful day!
10-5-11: Arrived at Beaver Lake, Horseshoe Bend, in NW Arkansas. We love being in Razorback Country!!
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| Whitetail couple at our campsite at Beaver Lake |
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| Part of the herd |
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| heading back into the woods |
A large herd of Whitetails - over 20 - were hanging out in and near our campsite this evening. I'm thinking whoever had our site before us must've fed them. Then I saw the man across the road feeding them. We aren't sure if that's legal, but it brings 'em running! Rocky is very interested in watching them. They seem to be interested in him, too.
10-6-11: After a quick lunch at Five Guys in Rogers, David and I went to see Courageous. Excellent Christian movie about real men! A must see!
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| Christena and Will at Catfish Hole |
10-7-11: Tonite we met Will and Christena at the Catfish Hole. So much fun! They are a blast and so in love! We had a lot of catching up and laughing to do!
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| Not as cute as Gus, but sure made us all do a double-take |
And we saw a Gus lookalike! The Catfish Hole was packed with Hog attire, folks calling the Hogs, and basketball recruits. Kinda hard to pick them out of the crowd. Oh, maybe it's the guys whose heads are scraping the ceiling as they walk through! Fun atmosphere!
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| Fall showing its true colors at Beaver Lake |
10-8-11: Chillin at the camper on a flawless day! Not a cloud in the sky, constant breeze, temps in the 70's, and Razorback gameday (Auburn)! Sweet!
10-9-11: Visited Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers. Great message on being careful about what you say. Ouch!
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| Jerri and George |
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| Will and Christena |
10-10-11: Jerri and George got here today. So great to see them again! Will and Christena came out and we had a great time grilling and visiting. Will and Christena mentioned that someday they'd like to do what we are doing. This from a guy who had to call for help to get out of our bathroom! Couldn't figure out how to open the door. :)
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| Gus in Kindergarten |
10-12-11: Gus' 28th birthday! Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday that he was born!
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| Our Home |
Today is also our 2 year anniversary of fulltiming! That's gone by fast, too! To celebrate these 2 milestones, Jerri and I went to Rogers to do laundry! While there she taught me a new card game - 3-13. Really fun.
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| Jerri playing cards at the Laundromat |
Now, we were kinda grossed out at the laundromat. She got a box out of her car for us to use as a table, so the cards wouldn't have to touch the table there. BUT - when our laundry was finished, we stayed there to finish a couple more hands! haha. Cards trump ickiness.
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| Card Sharks |
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| A serious game of 3-13 |
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| Lizzie |
Tonite the 4 of us played more cards. David made the 200 club -- which isn't a good thing. I was close behind him.
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| Beaver Lake |
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| Sun setting over Beaver Lake |
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| Full Moon in NW Arkansas |
10-13-11: Today we left Arkansas. Hard to leave my home state. I love Arkansas and my peeps there! We are will spend the next month or so exploring Kansas. We have peeps we love there, too! Including the 2 sweetest grandsons in the world!
Oh - my friend (and niece) Keasha sent me a list of fun facts for each state. Thx Keasha. The fun fact for Arkansas is that it's the only state with an active diamond mine. If you've never been to it, it's a great place to take kids -of all ages - who like to play in the dirt! And this year has been a pretty lucky year for finding diamonds.
Much Love to You All!
The Arkansas Travelers and Rockyfella
