Arkansas Lakeside Camping

We had a bit of a delayed start this morning. Our new pickup truck is a hybrid with fully electronic controls. Thinking the old kind might be better! The new Maverick has a special mode for towing and a number of electronic steps are needed to make it work properly. I’m pretty accomplished at performing 90% of these tasks in the right order. Unfortunately, 100% is needed and I struggled to get things right for nearly an hour - only to find that the driver door was opened a crack. If a door is open the power isn’t off. If the power isn’t off the damn thing won’t go into tow mode. Lesson learned and early departure failed.

I’ll let Pam describe today’s trip but, in an abbreviated form, I’ll just say that the weeks of preparation were all worth the effort. The coach seems roadworthy and has been operating smoothly. The new truck is packed with all of our camping gear so that we can just easily grab what’s needed out of the bed. The dog has had her shots and is road ready. We have all the necessary clothing for summer and winter (it gets cold way up north) and we have a fridge full of food.  Campsites are chosen and paid for. GPS routing is all in place. In short, we did it!! After a year of planning, things are in place, we are a few days along, and all is working well. Thinking I might just be able to stop the planning and worrying and just enjoy. Lovely!

(Pam) So last night ended up with more fireworks.  This time Maggie had had enough and refused to leave the RV at all.  Even this morning she refused to go outside.  Eighty pounds of ‘hell no’ is hard to argue with.  It wasn’t until we stopped for gas an hour or so along the way this morning did she finally go outside.  Wow, did she have to pee… it had been at least 15 hours!  

I did get to see fireflies last night, which was really fun! 

We crossed the border into Arkansas today.  After setting up camp at a state park, we left Maggie in the RV and headed into town.  We found a brewery and had a beer, then went to an old bank that is now a restaurant for dinner.  After that, we found an auto parts store since we needed to pick up a part for out break assist cable and then went to a local Kroger (Fry’s for us in Arizona, and Fred Meyer for those in Oregon) for a few groceries.  I had no trouble finding a cucumber and tomatoes, but had difficulty finding the wine and beer… turns out, we are in a dry county. You can buy a drink in a restaurant, but you can’t buy alcohol to take home.  For that you have to go to another county.  

So, back to the RV with a cucumber and tomatoes, but no Sauvignon blanc.  Even using our nav system, somehow we got lost.  We ended up on a high ridge and got to see some beautiful homes and views.  Eventually we found our way back to the RV.  Something here has Maggie scared again, so we couldn’t get her outside once we got back.  I’m hoping she gets the hang of all this soon… she doesn’t seem to be loving the adventure just yet.  

Tomorrow Memphis and a campsite at Graceland RV Park - a few blocks from the home of Elvis the Pelvis.  See you all tomorrow.