May 18----Swim Meet

We made it home on Thursday. It was raining when we left and rained till we got past Marshall TX.We didn"t know it till we got home but we were about an hour ahead of all the severe weather they had  in North Texas. Sure glad we missed all that. On Friday I mowed all day. My cub cadet is just about done. I have had it for 7 years so its time I start looking for a new lawn tractor. On Saturday we went to our grand kids swim meet. If you have  never been to one its a whole lot of waiting and a few minutes of action. Mackenna and Ashley did a great job and each were in about four events. I am pretty sure Sam

mi had the best time just playing and eating. We got there about 8:00 am and left about 12:45.  We stopped on the way home and had a light lunch. Once we got home we just relaxed for the rest of the day.We were tired and didn't even swim.

Sammi

Sammi

Ashley

Ashley

Mackenna

Mackenna

Mackenna in action

Sammi in action

May 15--Our last day and a rainy one

We got up this morning to cloudy skies. It threatened to rain all day. We drove over to Broken Bow , Ok  to see if a quilt shop was open for Susan. It was only about a 30 minute drive. The shop wasn't open so we headed back.  We did find a small river which has float trios that we would like to try in the future. The rain and wind started about supper time. I had started my charcoal fire but had to move everything under the trailer canopy. The rain wasn't bad but the wind blew so hard I had to give up on my propane cooker. I managed to cook all my vegetables and corn on my little electric grill. Hope its not raining in the morning as we are packing up and heading home.


Well its Thursday morning and it really rained hard last night. It is drizzling as I sit here and type this. Oh well I am gonna drink my coffee and when its daylight will start hooking up.

Yucky weather

May 14---Another quiet day

Our camp from the upper road

It was another nice morning today. The wind was calm but it was still a little cool. I was hoping to get the kayak in the water today but the wind got back to gale force winds . I cooked breakfast outside and then we just did a little reading. Later in the morning we took a ride around the lake looking at the two other corp parks. We think we are going to come back here for a couple of nights when we head to Eureka Springs in early July. We went to the town of Dequeen and picked up a few vegetables for supper. Later we made a short trip over to Lake Giliham to look at it. There was a couple of nice campgrounds over there. When we got back home we just sat out till supper time.                                                           

Our campsite

We are on the far end

Rolling Fork river which feeds Dequeen Lake

Thats our campground.  View from the bridge crossing 

View from the dam on Dequeen Lake

Below the dam on Dequeen Lake

I have never seen a suggested speed sign before

May 13---Travel Day to Dequeen Lake

We left about 8:30 am this morning. We didn't have a long drive today, maybe three hours. It was a pretty drive thru mostly back roads till we hit 71 at Waldron. We stopped at a sonic which was by a  a nice store which had big bays to get fuel. This layout probably brought both places a lot of business from traveler's. I wish we saw more of these as sometimes its hard to find a place to fuel up with the trailer. Anyway we made the Bellah Mine Campground (Corp of Engineer Park) a little before noon. This is a small park with most sites waterfront or at least waterview. Most of the sites have lower level decks which contain your table , firepit, and charcoal grill. Most of the sites are first come first serve but there are some which you can reserve. Its a quiet park with great views. The wind was really blowing , about 20-25 mph so I didn't break the kayak out. I am gonna wait till tomorrow and hope the wind lays.We just spent the evening sitting out and reading. We are going to do a lot of this for a couple of days.

May 12----Another Nice day

Long Pool Rec area

Nice swimming area

Good place to kayak

A few ripples

Lets eat

A pretty area

Linda & Lou

It was quite chilly when I got up i got up this morning. It was 44 with a slight breeze. I decided to sit inside and drink my coffee and just look out the bay window. After Susan got up we decided to take a small road trip to Long Pool Rec area. One of our camping neighbors told us about this out of the way camping. It was about an hour away and back in the mountain hollers. It has rv camping with w/e. There is Big Piney Creek which you can swim in and also do float trips. The only down side is no cell phone service at all. This is definitely a place I would like for a few days. It was a really pretty drive down there and back. We got back home and both took a little nap. Later one of my aunts (Linda) stopped by and told us to come on down to a gathering. Gary's family(Linda's husband)  just happened to have a mothers day family reunion in a pavilion about 75 yards from our camper. Bonnie & Gary, Lou and Deville also came. We had good food and a good time.  Afterwards Susan and I headed to Sonic and got us some ice cream.  Tomorrow we leave for Lake Dequeeny for a few days.

May 11------Ozark, Ar -----Visiting Kinfolk

I slept really well last night. That drive yesterday really wore me out. I got up early and drank my coffee outside . It was a really nice morning. We finally got rolling and went to Bonnie"s house. Linda and Lou came over and we visited for several hours. Later we went to two winery's and bought a little wine. I also revisited an old catholic church which has to be one of the prettiest churches I have been in. It was built in the 1800"s. Later we went back to the trailer and chilled out the rest of the evening.

This church is in Altus on top of a mountain overlooking the valley 

Hard wood floors and pews

Thats a pipe organ in the top center

All the windows are stained glass

Yep, we bought a little winr

View from the church parking lot

Wine tasting rom

May 9&10 Made it to Ozark

Thursday was our last day in Tennessee.  Mike and Lavonna started their trek back home about 9:30. The rest of us are not headed back home just yet. Jimmy and Vicky went to quilt shops all day. Dean and Pat went to the Hermitage and toured it. I started packing up  junk outside and putting it up. Susan worked on the inside getting it ready to travel. Its supposed to rain tomorrow and we plan to get an early start. We went to town and fueled up the truck and got a bite to eat.  Every one had to take the mountain road to town as the main highway had a rock slide and is closed down. We couldn't get close right enough to get pictures but on TV they showed boulders bigger than cars. We just chilled around camp the rest of the day.That evening Dean and Pat and us went back to town and ate Mexican food. When we got back I went to bed. Don"t know what time Jimmy/Vicky got back.                                              ....The next morning we left at 6 am. The rain started  as we left. It rained untill we got to the Arkansas border. We finally made Ozark, Ar about 4:15 pm. We are staying at Aux Arc Park on the Arkansas river. I don"t like driving that long anymore. Anyway we got set up and sat outside till dark and I went to bed.                                                

May 8----- Winery day

Today was the prettiest day we have had in Tennessee. We did get one brief thunder boomer in the evening that lasted about ten minutes, otherwise we had blue skies. We didn't do a lot today. Big Mike went golfing at a nearby course. Dean/Pat and Jim/Vicky went to quilt shops. Susan,Lavonna and I went riding the back roads ending up at a little winery. It was a nice little place and the lady running it was great. We tasted all her wines and each of us got our favorites. We then wound our way back home. I was able to get a little nap before supper. We had another nice evening with no wind and a nice fir.

May 7 Grand Ole Opry

I got up this morning and it was cool and very foggy. I took Maggie for a walk and washed a load of my laundry. The Park has one set of washer/dryers.  No one using them at 5:30 in the morning. It was about ten before the fog burned off and then it became a sunny day. I took a little nap and just relaxed all morning. We left for Nashville about two oclock. We drove downtown to see all the sights. No one really wanted to walk around so it was a car tour. We headed to eat about 4:00 before the show. We settled on Mexican food near the Opry house. We headed to the Opry about 5:30. Everyone went to the gift shop while I picked up our tickets at the office.  I"m glad I had my order number on my phone as You had to have that to get your tickets. Name and ID not enough. The doors  opened at 6:15 and we went in. We had great seats on the main floor about 7 rows from the stage. All the perfomances were good but for me Jim Ed Brown won the night.  He is 79 years old and his voice is still smooth. He sang two of his standards and then one new song just out " In Style Again".  He got a standing ovation from the crowd. Riders in the Sky were my next favorites and then Chris Young. The show was over much too soon. It was our second time to go to the Opry and we will go back again sometime.

Chowing down

Grand Ole Opry

Dean Patricia

Jimmy Vicky

Susan and Lavonna hitched a ride

Inside the Opry

"Minnie Pearl"

Keith Anderson

Jim Ed Brown

Mandy Barnett

John Conlee

Chris Young

Riders in the Sky

Del McCoury Band