STILL in Arkansas!

Good grief, I left Eureka Springs at 8:30 a.m., stopped driving at 5:30 p.m. and I'm still in Arkansas!  And I thought TX was large.  But I've been traveling diagonally from NW AR and now in SE AR near the Mississippi River.

Of course I spent almost the first hour back tracking.  I used the map from the campground and obviously didn't have my bearings.  After driving about 1/2 hr. I came to an intersection I hadn't expected and even after looking at the map I couldn't find that route so I resorted to Gertie and after several tries she finally recognized one of the towns I gave her but she was having me go back the way I came so I pulled over, got my map out again, still couldn't find that route anywhere.  While pondering what to do next I looked down the road and saw, not too far ahead of me "Welcome to AR".  WHAT!!!  How could that be!!!  Oh shoot - I went north on 23 instead of south and was back in MS.  So, back to Eureka Springs and so about 9:30 left again.

Some times I wonder how I traveled all around the US this summer and didn't end up in Argentina.

Anyway, for 6 hours I wound, climbed, descended, braked, down-shifted, kept on the road as I wove my way down through first the Ozark Mountains and then the Quachita Mountains into Hot Springs all to avoid interstates and Little Rock.

The scenery was pretty and leaves very colorful (sorry, I'm at my limit again for pictures so use your imagination) but I might actually look forward to I-10 when I get to FL

Eureka Springs, AR

              Left behind 30 Roadtreks all parked in a horseshoe:

That's Rhoda on the left

and headed to Eureka Springs via a curvy, narrow road.  Went directly to the campground - Wanderlust (great name) and then directly to the trolley stop.  They have a great trolley system here and it's so needed.  The streets are very narrow, very steep hills and heavily traveled & parked on even though this picture shows none of that:)  - it's a side street.

One of the non-hilly streets

I first went to see (on a different trolley) "one of the finest religious spaces of modern times" and AIA have placed Thorncrown Chapel 4th on its list of the top buildings of the twentieth century.  I present Thorncrown Chapel:

Inside the Chapel
consists of 425 windows and over
6000 square feet of glass

Walkway leading to chapel
It surprised me, I thought it was made of steel
but it's made of wood
in the woods and on the rocks

It was a beautiful structure and such a sense of peacefulness both on the inside and outside.  So glad I saw it.

I then had lunch back in town at "Local Flavor".  Everything was nice and fresh & beautifully presented but not so sure about the local part.

Then took a different trolley (it was 1 price for all day, all trollies) up to an old hotel high on a bluff - the Crescent Hotel.  It definitely was old but great that it has been maintained.

Walked the streets, found a Rocky Mountain store in the middle of the Ozarks.

Took the 4th trolley to an antique store a little out of town and then back to Rhoda to watch a beautiful sunset to the west (out her back windows) over the hills, through the fall foliage and admired the full moon to the east (out the front windows) - almost perfect for Halloween.

Heading south, southeast tomorrow through Hot Springs to the Mississippi River, crossing yet again at a different point.  Not sure how far I'll get but it's all about the journey, not the destination. 

Heading to Branson

     Heading to Branson, MO to meet up with about 37 other "solo-trekkers".  We are calling our gathering "Meet in the Middle" because solos are coming from all corners of the US to meet in the middle of the US.
     There'll be lots of chit-chat, eating, sharing, shows, and wanderings.
     The gathering begins Thurs. afternoon and I'll leave on Monday to go to Eureka Springs, AR with a few other "solos" to explore this "Swiss Alps of the Ozarks" - a Victorian town with lots of Painted Ladies, shops, mountains, forests and supposedly one of the most architecturally beautiful churches in N. America, set in the woods.
     On my way home I'm hoping to swing by Florence, AL to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house - the only one in AL

So, I got an earlier than expected start today which was a good thing:

• before I got to Orlando there was an accident so had to detour out of my way to stop at Lorraine's to get some of Buzz's famous pasta fazool, Lorraine's famous banana bread and to help her get rid of some over-done (for them, not me) chocolate chip cookies - dinner tonight!!

YUM!!

• "check engine" light came on while on the detour so after hugging Antonia & getting my goodies, I had to go to the Roadtrek dealer:  Leisure Time RV in Winter Park to see what was going on.  The NICEST young tech gave me a lesson in filling my gas tank, turned off the light and we're hoping that's the issue.  So an hour later I'm on the road again.
• and you know how annoying it is when your smoke detector's battery dies and it starts chirping?  Well, try that in a vehicle driving down a highway & there's nothing you can do about it until you stop.  I got a new battery from Lorraine but was going to wait until I got to Leisure Time to put it in but of course it then didn't chirp anymore - probably in the middle of the night tonight.
• So, that's my 3 strikes for today and that better be the end of it.

I'm at Deer Run RV Park tonight in Troy, AL after passing Malone, FL when I got off I-10 to get on Rt. 231.  Only stopped 3 quick times - gas (cheapest it's been since last presidential election) at Loves which I loved, loved, loved because they had long-handled windshield cleaners so I could actually get all the way to Rhoda's middle, then once for lunch and once for you know what.  Gained an hour - Central Time (the hour I lost at Leisure Time) so was able to get to my planned-to-stop-at place.

BTW - if you need a typewriter repaired, there's a shop in Cottondale, FL that can do that for you.  Can't miss the little town - right in the middle of many cotton fields.

BTW - what do you think they do at a "Bull Testing" place?