Tag: Old Hwy 25

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “May God ever bless, keep, guide, and continue to prosper you in your uplifting work for humanity, be it great or small, is my daily prayer. And may those whom He has redeemed learn to walk with Him not only daily or hourly, but momently through the things He has created.” ~ George Washington Carver

Monday, June 1, we had to get across Big Muddy, which necessitated going south through Memphis and crossing on the I-40 bridge…not something we were looking forward to. We hit the road about 10 AM and, thankfully, didn’t run into too much traffic. On the other side in Arkansas we took I-55 up to Marion, where we stopped for lunch at the Seafood Shack…yum! (They deserved a food pic!!) Then we followed US-64 west to Bald Knob, US-67 to Searcy, then AR-16 up to Pangburn. The final leg was zig-zagging west then north on AR-5 up to Heber Springs and Old Highway 25 campground on Greers Ferry Lake. It had been a beautiful day for a drive, and setup was pretty easy, which is always a blessing.

Tuesday the day started with a nice walk around the park, followed by a ride into Heber Springs later to have lunch at Peggy Sue’s Place, which was delicious. We stopped to check out the dam Visitor Center on the way back, but it was closed so we headed back to Priscilla and did a little relaxing.

SIDE NOTE: While we are on the road, some maintenance things get taken care of at the barn by trusted friends. For the last couple of days, our buddy Jason has been bush-hogging. He sent me several pics from the day…

In case you didn’t recognize them, they are copperheads. There were a total of five, but Jason said they aren’t a big as they look in the pics. Isn’t that a blessing!! There was also one that got chopped up beyond recognition (I didn’t think you’d want to see that pic), but he believed it was a timber rattler. They were all dispatched, but you can bet I will be very careful from now on when walking in the tall grass. They get out there looking for rodents, but now that it is mowed, they will not stay in the open…too easy for hawks and eagles to pick them off.

Wednesday started with a repair project of sorts. For the last couple of days, we’ve had something in the microwave vent system or the wall behind it scratching to get out. MW opened up the outside vent cover and tried his best to give whatever it was an exit, but it seemed that the little fellow was just getting weaker and weaker. When we didn’t hear the noise for a while, we feared the worst, and I was a bit worried about possible smells forthcoming. MW decided to take the microwave off of the wall and check it out thoroughly. It was relatively easy and just took extra hands to take it down. He checked everywhere that could be accessed, but found nothing. We chose to believe that is because the little visitor found his way out after all. I sure hope that is the case.

I found a nice lady at Superhair in town to give me a haircut, so later MW and I headed into town on Tuesday. While I was getting beautified, he found us some firewood, then we perused a used bookstore, stopped in at Whataburger for a bite, fueled up, and checked out the Ozark Country Market, where we were able to find a few gifts and goodies. The town of Heber Springs gets its name from seven natural mineral springs located in Spring Park downtown. Developers in the mid-1800s envisioned a wellness destination using the springs, but the bathing aspect never quite took hold. People did believe the mineral waters cured a variety of ailments such as dyspepsia. Before leaving town we took a walk through the park to check out the old spring houses.

Before heading back to Priscilla, we took some of the road around the dam to see what we could see. Later MW built a fire and grilled some DELICIOUS steaks. Now that is the way to finish up an evening at the campground! YUM!!

Old Hwy 25 Campground is one of several Corps of Engineers campgrounds around Greers Ferry Lake. Amenities include a pavilion, swimming beach, hiking trail, fitness trail, boat ramp, bathhouse, and a dump station. Boating is big, with sailing, water skiing, swimming, scuba diving, and fishing all available. There is a large, non-electric group campsite and the regular campground, which has wooded 116 sites, 80 electric (38 50-amp). This park is very well maintained, but typical of COE parks, the bathhouse was pretty buggy and not cleaned as often as it should have been. Also the lack of A/C made it really HOT! Most sites appeared to be reasonably level from side to side, but many were fairly sloped, which might make it hard to level with a longer travel trailer. Television signals were very good and Verizon had a strong signal. We didn’t check the AT&T phone. For this visit in June 2026, we paid $28 per night for 3 nights in a 50-amp site with water.

Thursday we had a pretty long drive planned, so we pulled out right at 8 AM. Weirdly, as we pulled up to the dump station, several vultures skittered off a few yards away. While MW was taking care of the tanks, I walked the trash across the street to the dumpster. There were two vultures sitting on the fence before I got there. Then, as I rounded the corner, half a dozen more came flying out of the trash in all directions. There was this one big one, though, who seemed to be sitting up in a tree just kind of supervising those below. I shooed the few away that were hanging too close, then headed back to the truck. The fellas over there were still patiently waiting for us to get the heck out of their way. What the heck? We pointed Big Jake north to Drasco on AR-5, then west through Greers Ferry and Shirley to Clinton. There we jumped on US-65 north to Harrison where we made a quick Walgreens run and had lunch at La Torcia Brick Oven Pizza which had some unique offerings and a pretty darned good Italian sandwich. Before heading back to Big Jake, we took a walk around the courthouse where they had a war memorial and a few other monuments. One was in memory of Jack Williams, a Medal of Honor recipient who died during WWII on Iwo Jima (citation).

Another monument was for the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. For those not in the know, here’s an overview of the terrible event. In April 1857, a wagon train left northwest Arkansas with John T. Baker, relatives including three of his adult children and some grandchildren, and some acquaintances. With them they took 138 head of cattle, nine yoke of oxen, two mules, one mare, one large ox wagon, guns, saddles, bridles, camp equipment and provisions. Others joined the caravan along the way. It is believed that they traveled along the “Cherokee Trail: in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, to Fort Bridger, Wyoming. There they turned south to Salt Lake City, where the picked up the southern route that took them to the Mountain Meadows valley in southern Utah. By the time they arrived there in early September, the group had grown to 147 emigrants, 35 wagons, hundreds of head of cattle, plus many mules, horses, and oxen. Shortly after their arrival, they were attacked by Mormon militiamen and Paiute Indians recruited by the Mormons. They attacked for five days, killing at least 10 of the emigrant men. Then, on September 11, under a flag of truce, the militiamen had the emigrants give up their guns and property, promising safety. Claiming to take them to a nearby settlement, the emigrants were divided into several groups. They never made it. The militiamen killed the unarmed men, older boys, and some of the wounded, then were joined by other Mormons disguised as Indians, and the Paiutes to finish off EVERY LAST ONE of the remaining men and women, leaving only a few children alive. The dead, around 130 people, were stripped and left where they lay. About 20 months later U. S. Army soldiers searched the meadow and found the scattered bones and remains, burying them there. At the same time, Senators Sebastian and Johnson and Congressman Greenwood worked with the government to find the surviving children. They located seventeen and sent the fifteen youngest back to the custody of their relatives in Arkansas. The older two stayed in Utah as witnesses, but by January of 1860, they, too, were back in the arms of family. It took 17 years for a grand jury to indict nine Mormon men for the massacre at Mountain Meadows. Although many others were surely involved, evidence could only lead to those nine. In the end only one was actually brought to trial…John D. Lee. He was convicted and executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows. The monument has a list of all of the victims of the massacre who originated from the area.

Back on the road we continued on US-65 north to Bear Creek, then headed west on US-62. At Berryville we took AR-221 north into Missouri, passed through Cassville and turned west at Purdy. The final leg was due west into Oklahoma, where we ended up at Twin Bridges State Park. It was a LONG day, but the drive through the foothills of the Ozark mountains was beautiful. We were both ready for cooling off and relaxing, though, by the time we had Priscilla set up.

Friday was wash day, so I headed up to The Washboard Laundry in Miami (pronounced My-am-uh), Oklahoma, to get it taken care of. My plan afterwards was to spend a good bit of time catching up on this blog, but after having a sandwich and working for a bit at Braum’s, I had to pack it in. It was so cold in the dining area that my hands were aching. Since I don’t get a Braum’s fix very often, I just had to have a scoop of ice cream before leaving. That I took out to the patio and ate in the sunshine, though!! LOL. After a couple of errands I made it back to Priscilla around 4 PM.

SIDE NOTE: While I was ordering ice cream, a woman said something about a dog outside the front door. I turned to look, and a beautiful, white dog shaped like a German shepherd was standing behind me in the lobby. The manager and I shooed him back out the door, but a few minutes later he was standing beside me again. I told MW when I made it back that we almost got a dog. He was beautiful and clearly thirsty. The manager said he must live nearby because he shows up every once in a while. They don’t give him food or water because it’ll encourage him to hang out there, and they are concerned about him being in the high-traffic area. He disappeared after being led outside again, but one of the girls behind the counter said he will be going home with her if he shows up again. That right there was MW’s saving grace, because I was already calculating where he would sleep in the RV!!

Saturday despite the rain we took a drive up to Diamond, Missouri, to check out the George Washington Carver National Monument. What a cool place! All I knew about the man was his work with peanuts, but he did so much more than that. The facility has a Visitor Center, informational movie, museum, gift shop, plus a nice walking path that gets you to the Carver birthplace, the Moses Carver House, and the Carver family cemetery. They also have beautiful flower beds in honor of Mr. Carver’s life-long passion. Seriously, he was quite the man. Here are some of the things I found interesting:

• George Washington Carver was born a slave during the Civil War. His mother, was purchased in 1855 for $700 by Mr. Moses Carver of Diamond Grove, Missouri. They lived in a one-room log shanty on his 240-acre farm. Moses and Susan Carver lived in a similar cabin. George’s father, who was killed in an accident shortly after George was born, was a slave on a neighboring farm.

• Some time during the war, George was kidnapped (what he called ku Clucked) along with his mother. Moses Carver dispatched John Bentley after the thieves, but he was only able to recover George. For returning the boy, Bentley was paid with a horse. That wasn’t George’s only brush with violence…he once witnessed a brutal lynching in Fort Scott, Kansas.

• After the loss of George’s mother, the Carvers took George and his brother Jim in and raised them as their own. (As a young man, Jim would die of smallpox in 1883.)

• George had a thirst for learning, and his favorite thing to study, even as a young boy, was plants. He began his schooling at the colored school in Neosho, Missouri, but quickly outgrew what they could teach. He bounced around to multiple towns in Kansas slowly accumulating the education that he would end up sharing for the rest of this life. He could sing well and learned to play organ, piano, accordion, and violin. He was also accomplished in various types of needlework, painting, the sciences, and algebra.

• George was initially accepted at Highland University in Highland, Kansas, but was refused admittance because of this race. Four years later he began studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. There his art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized his talent in painting plants and flowers. She encouraged him to attend Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames, Iowa. He was the first black student accepted to what became Iowa State University. George eventually earned his Master’s Degree in 1896 and joined the faculty, the first black man to do so. Later that year, Booker T. Washington, the principal and president of the Tuskegee Institute, invited Carver to head its Agriculture Department. There George found a home and ended up teaching there for the next 47 years.

• During his tenure at Tuskegee, Carver changed the face of agriculture. He developed crop rotation techniques using peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other crops to restore soil depleted by constant cotton growth. In his lab, he researched new crops, coming up with new applications, which he shared with farmers. When the U. S. peanut industry faced a serious downturn due to imported products, Carver developed many new uses for the legume, then testified before Congress on the need for tariffs on products shipped in.

• Despite his early life and the trials of being a black man and the son of slaves in the south, Carver never looked backward. He believed in education, opportunity, devotion to God, and service to his fellow man, and remained humble despite fame.

• George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943 from complications from a fall down a flight of stairs. He was sitting up in bed painting a Christmas card which said, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men.” when his time came. He is buried next to Booker T. Washington on the campus of Tuskegee University in Alabama.

• In Carver’s quotes can be found life lessons for all of us, even over 80 years after his death: 1) “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” 2) “Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill a dinner pail is valuable.” 3) “There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation – veneer isn’t worth anything.” 4) “It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobiles one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.” 5) “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

Unfortunately, by the time we came out of the building, the clouds had opened up. We walked far enough to see the Carver Birthplace, which is the outline of the cabin he lived in with his mother, then went back to Big Jake. On the way back to the campground we stopped in at the Indigo Sky Casino to grab a bite at Rock and Brews. (Everything was good, but nothing was a standout.) Then it was back to Priscilla to relax. We ended the night with a little John Wayne and Dean Martin in “The Sons of Katie Elder”.

SIDE NOTE: On the way home, we saw this guy in a gas station parking lot. How long is that rig????!!!!

ISSUES: When we stopped in Harrison on Thursday, we checked out a squeal we had been hearing and discovered an issue with our back right trailer tire. Clearly something was rubbing somewhere, but we had no idea where. Nothing seemed overheated, so we continued down the road. At the campground MW took the wheel off and discovered that one of the springs that holds the bottom of the brake pads together against the adjuster was broken off, causing the adjuster to come apart. Pieces were rattling around in there, scratching the drum, messing up the magnet, and generally tearing the entire ABS brake assembly up. A spring and adjuster from O’Reilly in Miami provided a temporary fix until we could get the brake assembly from e-trailer down the road.

Sunday we headed over to Southern Hills Baptist Church in Miami, Oklahoma. I believe we were welcomed by just about everyone there. Pastor Terry Smith’s message was in the middle of a series on Romans, and it was very good. This was the second week in a row that we were invited to fellowship with the congregants afterwards. This time the Pastor was having an afternoon gathering at his home. It wasn’t starting until late afternoon, so we thanked them, but declined. Before heading back to Priscilla we ran a couple of errands and had lunch at Woody’s Bar & Grill in Miami. MW’s Prime Rib Sandwich and my Brisket Sandwich were both delicious, but the star was the Salt & Vinegar Cheese Curds. Yum! Back at the campground I did a little writing and watched a little Audie on Grit’s all-day Audie Murphy marathon.

Grand Lake State Park, Twin Bridges Area is located on a spit of land between the Neosho River and the Spring River near Wyandotte (pronounced wine-dot), Oklahoma, and about 40 minutes from Miami (pronounced My-am-uh). Oh, and if you like to gamble, there are lots of casinos nearby. According to the lady in the office, this area is mostly used by fishermen, purportedly for trophy-sized bass, catfish, bluegill, and spoonbill. Amenities include a park office, pavilions, boat ramp, boat dock, playgrounds, horseshoe pits, volleyball court, and dump station. Lodging options include lake huts and three campground areas. The latter has 63 RV sites, 18 premium tent sites, and 26 primitive tent sites. RV options include back-in and pull-thru sites with 30- or 50-amp electric and water. The Woody Hill section where we stayed had paved sites, but some were in pretty bad shape. Ours had an odd setup with a partial picnic table and grill on the driver’s side and another outside our door near the back end of the adjoining site. At first glance, MW thought the one outside our door was the neighbors, which would make them cooking and eating right outside our windows. However, when you counted down to the end, that was actually our stuff. So who was the setup behind us for, and why would they put ours near the rear end of the next camper? The bathhouse also had a weird setup…one room with a shower, toilet stall, sink that could be curtained off. It appeared to be for more than one person to use at a time, but that would be a bit awkward. It was also not particularly clean. The campground was mostly empty during our visit, but you could hear a bit of highway and train noise. There were plenty of over-the-air TV stations, and both Verizon and AT&T were strong. Because of the oddities, we probably would not stay at this park again. For this visit in June 2026, we paid just over $25 per night for 4 nights in a back-in site with 30-amp electric and water.

Monday, June 8, it was time to move again, and we hit the road about 8 AM heading west on US-60 through Vinita, Nowata, and Bartlesville. At Pawhuska, Oklahoma, we made a quick stop at the Osage County Historical Museum, but just to see an outside statue. Seems that this is where the first Boy Scout troop in the United States was formed in 1909 by Reverend John F. Mitchell. To be fair, other places have claimed the same thing, but these people installed a cool statue! We checked that out, then headed over to P-Town Wood Fired Pizza for lunch. (The pizza was excellent!)

Back on the road, we continued west on US-60 over to Ponca City, Oklahoma, and our next stop…the Pioneer Woman monument. This is a bronze statue whose idea dates back to the late 1920s. Apparently an oil man named E. W. Marland had twelve different sculptors created models, then sent the results out on a road trip across the country so that the public could decide which one would be used for the actual statue. That whole process made this statue pretty expensive for its time at ~$350,000 (that’s $6,979,461 in today’s money). Despite the market crash and ensuing Great Depression, Marland kept his commitment and funded most of the project himself although he did do a little private fundraising to help. Artist Bryant Baker’s design won, and the result was installed on 2,000 acres northeast of the town center. The unveiling on April 22, 1930, the 41st anniversary of the Land Dun of 1889, was a BIG deal with a parade and all kinds of festivities. It was kicked off with a radio address from President Herbert Hoover and Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley, an Oklahoma native. In 1958 the Pioneer Woman Museum was added on adjacent land. Today the statue of a pioneer woman walking while carrying a Bible and holding a young boy’s hand sits in a 5.5-acre park. We didn’t have time to do the museum tour, but you can easily drive through and see the memorial to the “…heroic character of the woman who braved the dangers and endured the hardships incident to the daily life of the pioneer and homesteader in this country”.

Our next stop was at the nearby Standing Bear Park and Museum. Normally parking would not be an issue here, but today there were mowing crews who parked their trailers in the spaces for RVs. Since we were just going to take a quick walk out to the statue, we parked in the circle near the building leaving enough room for other folks to pass. It was the best we could do. This park is to “Honor the legacy of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, America’s first Native American civil rights leader.” In 1879, Standing Bear stood in a U. S. District Court and argued for equal rights for Native Americans. He said, in part, that they are “persons with the meaning of the law” and famously noted “My hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce my hand, I shall feel pain and if you pierce yours, you too shall feel pain and the blood that flows from mine will be the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both.” In 1993, a committee including representatives from the six area tribes….Kaw, Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Ponca, and Tonkawa…for the dual purpose of crossing the divide between white and native members of the community and educating all peoples to the historical and cultural importance of the Native American culture. They became the Standing Bear Native American Foundation, which today oversees the large park and museum. Again, pressed for time, we did not get to enjoy the museum, so will have to stop in again next time we are through the area. On this trip we took the paved walk out to the 22′ tall statue of Chief Standing Bear by Oreland C. Joe. It was pretty impressive and there are also informational displays for each of the six tribes.

In case I haven’t mentioned it, it was HOT! Big Jake was registering 101 degrees outside, but I feel certain it was much more than that. By the time we got back on the road, I was ready to get to the park, set up, and cool off. We continued west on US-60 over to Lamont, then turned north on OK-74 up to OK-11 west. About 30 miles later, we turned south on OK-38 and headed down to the Great Salt Plains State Park. MW was not looking forward to this site, because on the overhead it appeared to be in full sun. Turned out that the map was off, and it was shaded by trees on both the east and west sides. That makes such a difference when the temps are so high. It was very windy and hot, but we got Priscilla backed in and all set up.

Tuesday MW took an early walk around the park and got some cool pics:

Later we had lunch at Priscilla, then headed out to see something totally unique…salt flats…in Oklahoma! I had NO IDEA!! Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge includes 32,197 acres encompassing the Great Salt Plains Lake that our campground park is on, about 12,000 acres of salt flats similar to Bonneville, but not as smooth, and large areas of salt marsh grasslands. It is a big bird habitat, with 315 species of bird living, nesting, or passing through on migratory routes. The Snowy Plover nests there, and this is a critical stop on the migration route of the endangered Whooping Crane, the tallest birds in North America. Another big thing in these particular salt flats is selenite crystals. They form out of selenium, gypsum, and iron oxide with a unique, hourglass shape within the crystal. This is the only place in the world that it happens, too. I was picturing a clear crystal with a cloudy shape inside, but the ones I saw at the Visitor Center were a kind of browny beige with a lighter colored hourglass shape inside. The park allows digging for crystals from April 1 to October 15, and it is hard work. In the designated digging areas, you have to dig down about 2′, and then start sifting through to try to find them. We drove across the flats to the dig area, which was pretty neat. Since it was about 100 degrees when we visited, we opted out of actually looking for crystals. (I’m not a glutton for punishment!!) There were eight people out in the sunshine on that bright white surface digging their hearts out, though.

On Wednesday we started the day with a phone call to Dad2 for his birthday. They were heading over to Fort Payne, Alabama, to try out a steakhouse, which ended up being pretty good, so he had a good day. Next up was a nice walk around the park.

Thankfully, I had an appointment in Enid, Oklahoma. About a week prior, I woke up with a hitch in my giddyup, and my upper back, shoulders, and neck had been killing me. Riding in the truck was terrible and in general, I was exhausted. I’ve been telling MW that I think he should go to massage school, but he is having none of it, so when we arrived on Monday I began the search. Thankfully I found Gena Ford at Rustic Spa who could fit me in. I headed into town a little early and did some writing at Chick-fil-A, then made it to her place in time for my 1 PM appointment. What a Godsend!! She worked me over good for an hour and got the hitch out! Whew!! I was, however, very tender, which made my next chore a little slow. Cadence’s upcoming Great Adventure is going to include a dress-up night, and I needed something to wear. Enid doesn’t have much to offer, but I headed first to Ross. Amazingly, I found something suitable after a little rack-digging. Now I needed a shrug of some kind, but their options just didn’t feel right. I checked Cato, then ended up at TJ Maxx, my last real option. I’m not kidding you, I searched that ENTIRE women’s department, coming up with three possibilities, none of which I really liked. After I resigned myself to purchasing two to show MW and was heading to the front of the store, when a color caught my eye down the center part of a two-sided rack I had already searched. Voila…the perfect color in a unique design that fits and doesn’t look like Granny crocheted it!!! Amazing! I used to really enjoy shopping, but now it is just a chore, so to get it done in one afternoon was such a blessing! On the way back to the campground, I made an Arby’s run for MW. Then it was feet up for the rest of the evening.

Let’s talk about moving air. This part of Oklahoma is WINDY! Yes, the capital letters are absolutely appropriate. Lori and Jimmy say it is because Kansas sucks and Texas blows. Whatever the reason, the 25 mph sustained and 40-45 mph gusts are RELENTLESS! Add to that 100+ degree temps, and you just feel like you are in an air fryer!! Just taking a walk or getting in and out of the car all day in it wears you out. My eyes have felt exhausted for days, and more than once a gust has caught the truck door as I was trying to unload stuff and almost slammed it on my leg. On the plus side, I don’t really have to do much to my hair, because there isn’t a hair spray or gel in the world that will survive the hot turbo blast of walking outdoors!! LOL. Thankfully, we may get some relief at the next stop.

SIDE NOTE: The Arby’s drive thru was quite the challenge. I pulled up to the menu board, paying attention to the height, because that is typically what can be a problem. After ordering, I went to pull forward and realized there might be an issue. The menu board sign stuck out about 6″ over the curb where I had to make the left turn. Added to that, a dumpster was directly in front of Big Jake’s right corner. It required me to pull in my mirrors, swing right slightly, then cut back sharply to the left. The move took me up on the curb just past the dumpster, so thank God for high clearances! It is no exaggeration when I say I missed both the sign and the dumpster by just an inch or two. Tight turns in a 22′ long pickup truck are no joke!! When I pulled up to the window, I said something about this not being for trucks, which is odd on farm, cattle, and oil country. The kid agreed and said he was impressed as he watched me maneuver through. He also pointed out that there would be another tight turn as I tried to get around the front of the building. AND…it’s been that way for 30 years!!! Wow.

Salt Plains State Park is located on the Salt Plains Lake and the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River in Nescatunga, Oklahoma, and not too far from Jet, Cherokee, and Nash, as well as the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. Amenities include an office/store, community center, swim beach, fishing dock, picnic areas, a boat ramp, picnic pavilions, playgrounds, hiking/biking/equestrian trails, laundry, boat ramp, and toilet/shower facilities. Fishing for catfish, shuteye, sand bass, and hybrid striper is big, as is digging for crystals. Lodging options include six cabins, an equestrian campground, several separate tent areas, and the regular RV/tent campground. The latter is on the opposite side of the river, separated from the rest of the park, and includes a large pavilion, playground, outdoor church, and dump station. The bathhouse was air-conditioned, which was appreciated in the 100+ temps. It was nice, but unclean thanks to a ridiculously rude camper who decided to leave USED feminine pads in the floor and stuck on door parts. Who does that??!! Yuck!!! The sites were relatively level and most backed up to the river, but several were almost like 3-site buddy setups, which was a bit close for a state park setup. Most were 50-amp with water and backed-in along the spillway, but there were a couple of pull-thru sites not on the water. We got lucky with ours, which was the only one spaced out fairly well and was shaded from both sides, where most of them had little to no shade. Over-the-air TV only had PBS, and Verizon was fine. NOTE: Kegelman Air Force Auxiliary Field is only 1/2 mile away and is used a LOT for training. If you don’t like the sound of freedom, this isn’t the park for you. We loved it, though, and would definitely come back. For this visit in June 2026, we paid a little over $29 per night for 3 nights.

Thursday we didn’t have too far to go, so we hit the road about 10 AM heading north up to OK-11 west. That became US-64 just north of Cherokee, which continued west over to Alva, Oklahoma. There we found the 818 Diner for lunch, which was very good. At some point early in our ride, the pass-through door on the driver’s side of Priscilla popped open, which required a stop to secure. (The gap between the door and the trim there is too large, so MW is going to need to figure out a fix.) After lunch we continued west on US-64 through Buffalo, Rosston, Knowles, and Forgan, then turned north on US-83. After crossing into Kansas, we took US-54 north up to Arkalon Park northeast of Liberal. Gas mileage for this drive was ridiculously low…5.3 mpg!! We stopped along the way to check tires and brakes, but there didn’t appear to be any dragging. There were high winds, but much of the time it was a direct crosswind, which shouldn’t slow us down like a nose wind. Big Jake otherwise sounded and performed normally, and the truck nor the trailer were making any odd noises. We couldn’t put our fingers on a problem so who knows??!! We made it to the park about 4 PM, and got Priscilla all set up in the heat. That night I was awakened about 11:30 PM by lots of coyotes carrying on fairly close by. Too cool! That’s the first time we’ve heard them on this trip.

Friday MW talked with the park manager about the proximity of the site next to us and moving to a different site. She was awesome, and we relocated in the morning. Then I headed into Liberal to do the laundry at Get the Funk Out Laundromat. (Honestly, there was another option, but the name drew me in. LOL) After scoping out the machines, I started loading them up. After starting the first one, I realized that I had been duped!! The one on the end of the row was $3.25, which was the smallest machine they offered and a really good price for the size. However, the other three that were EXACTLY THE SAME, were $5.25, making it a pretty expensive laundromat. (I think someone just coded that first one incorrectly, because there wasn’t another machine in the place for less than $5.) Oh, well…live and learn. I set up at a nearby table to do a bit of writing, moving everything to the dryers as soon as they finished. Just after I sat back down, a BLIND MAN was dropped off by a transport service outside and came in with a white cane and a bag of laundry. He had one eye completely closed and the other was only a slit. Seriously, I was amazed and totally impressed as he made his way around the room! I can barely work my way through some of this stuff with sight!! When he chose a $5.25 machine, I stepped in and gave him the scoop on the cheaper one and assisted with the digital screen there and later on the dryer. He was still there when I finished up, and I wished him a blessed day. The other interesting thing was an older lady who walked through selling a variety of homemade Mexican delights. I was sorely tempted, because I firmly believe that true deliciousness comes from little, Mexican grandmothers!! Sadly, I needed to do a few things before lunch, so did not partake. One of the other guys bought a couple of burritos, though, and I asked on the way out if he tried them. He hadn’t, but said that she comes by there often, and they are typically awesome. I regretted my decision, for sure.

The errands took a bit of time after that, then I popped in at Freddy’s for a bite and to write for a few hours. Then it was back to the campground to relax for the evening. We watched Star Trek Out of Darkness (2009) again. (I think the cast did a great job of playing younger versions of the original characters with their quirks.) When we headed to bed, there was the threat of serious thunderstorms later, and we were awakened by lots of wind, thunder, lightning, and small hail. No tornado activity, though, which is a blessing in Kansas!! However, the park was prepared with little tornado shelters spread about, so that was cool.

Saturday we took a walk around the park taking pics, then headed back in to Liberal. We saw a road runner actually running down the campground road, another first for this trip, but wasn’t fast enough with the camera. After taking care of a couple of errands, we stopped in at Taco John’s for lunch. (I don’t need to explain why again here, do I?) MW wanted to re-visit the Mid-America Air Museum in Liberal, so I did a bit of writing while he did that. (I get points for going last time!)

From MW: Mid-America Air Museum was pretty much the same as the last visit (here). Their focus is more on private aircraft, and they have a lot of memorabilia from local military and general aviators. They have a restoration area in the back where they are currently working on an A-4 and another jet that MW didn’t recognize. It was good to see that they are still going strong.

When he finished up, we made a grocery run, then headed back to Priscilla. It was breakfast for supper night, so I made bowls with yellow grits, Neese’s hot sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheese. Yum!! The temp and humidity were higher today, but is supposed to get better later tonight. We might even get to open those windows again!!

You can get a good look at the bridge below as you drive into the campground. It is called the “Mighty Sampson of the Cimarron”. Built in 1886, it helped eliminate 3 miles of dangerous, hairpin curves and a series of low trestle bridges that were frequently collapsing or being washed out on the Rock Island Railroad. Due to loss of life and cargo, the railroad began construction on “Sampson” the 1,269′ long, 92′ high bridge in 1938 and finished just 10 months later. Sadly, the town of Arkalon did not survive the railroad change and disappeared into history.

Sunday morning we checked out First Southern Baptist church in Liberal for services. Pastor Andrew Puett was in the middle of a sermon series on choosing joy, and this lesson was from Philippians 1:27-30 entitled “Citizens of a Different Kingdom”. It was very good. Afterwards we were invited to a cookout on the church lawn, but declined, mostly because we were not dressed for the HEAT!! We had lunch at Cattleman’s Cafe II in Liberal, then picked up a few groceries and refueled before heading back to the park.

Arkalon Park is a city park located 10 miles north of Liberal, Kansas, which has plenty of restaurants and shopping opportunities. Amenities include a pavilion, bird-watching area, playground, nature trails, a museum about the town of Arkalon, bathhouse, and dump station. On the good side, the park is beautiful and very well maintained by the park host; the campground is nestled among cottonwoods, which provide some shade; and there are fishing ponds, nature trails, nice views, and lots of wildlife. On the bad side, the fishing is catch and release only as the ponds have wastewater contaminants and what they call a “tranquil campground” is filled with noise night and day from the (very) nearby refinery and trains (no whistles, just track rumbling). Despite the negatives, we would return if in the area. This stay in June 2026, we paid just under $27 per night for 4 nights in a 50-amp site with water.

Well, that gets us further along. Next up…Preparing for Exhaustion, Cadence’s Great Adventure, and Actual Exhaustion! See you on the path!!

Talisa

Sources: Attraction displays and websites, campground handouts and websites, and wikipedia.

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