The Arkansas River Valley - Buena Vista, Colorado

Monday July  29th was a fairly uneventful day of driving - 430 miles - mostly lots of Oklahoma / west Texas scenery (that is not saying much) and plenty of hot……ending in Dalhart, Texas where we just stopped for the night at a private campground.

Tuesday July 30, 2013- Today we drove 320 miles to the Chalk Creek Campground between Salida, Colorado and Buena Vista. The campground is the one that my sister, Sally, and her family have stayed at several times before. It is clean and nice and very convenient. After getting the camper set up, we decided that the day was young (it was only 3 pm) so we headed up the road a few miles to Buena Vista, a cute little town that sits right on the Arkansas River.

The Arkansas River in Colorado is the same one that we see in Arkansas that runs at the base of Petit Jean Mountain, and winds through Little Rock before emptying into the Mississippi. It starts up here in Colorado!

Buena Vista has created this wonderful river front trail which we walked a bit of.

The Headwaters of the Arkansas River originate from snow runoff and are noted for really good kayaking and whitewater rafting.

Here, some kids are taking kayaking lessons along one of the man-made rapids pool. They could practice going over this rapid, then just paddle back around a do it again!

After walking the river trail, we stopped for dinner at this restaurant that Sally had recommended. We had a wood oven pizza that was delicious!

It’s Time For Another ‘Adventure’…….

Sunday, July 28th- With the family celebrations over and the heat of  a Louisiana August just ahead, we decided that the time was right to answer the call of the open road……

Way back in January or so, we were looking at an Airstream magazine with an ad for a the ‘Alumafandango’ – a camper rally geared towards Airstream owners. It sounded like fun….and escaping the Louisiana heat was a plus…..but it was in Oregon!  No problem for true road warriors…….We made the necessary reservations, and started to scheme about what we should do along the way.

After much planning and packing and preparations, the day was finally upon us. Today….this morning…..we hitched up and pulled away from the Cabin with mixed emotions - excitement, (though it was disguised as anxiety), the sense of adventure and desire to see and experience new things, a sudden, new appreciation for all the beauty and the comforts of home, a longing for loved ones both near and far, and, of course, panic. “What are we DOING?” and “Do we have everything?” (This last question just illustrates the ridiculous. We must have everything, for we had packed almost the entire house! And, if there is anything that we might happen to need, there is always a Wal-Mart.)

We pointed our wagon towards the west…..well, north first. We decided to go through Little Rock to I 40 and over to Oklahoma.

Now, one doesn’t get to Oregon without planning to have some days just devoted to driving. We tried to keep them to the minimum, and tried to plan to stop at State Parks when ever we could.

Total driving distance today was about 375 miles. Our stop for tonight is Lake Eufaula State Park, Oklahoma, just south of Checotah,OK, which by the way, the sign pointed out is the home of Carrie Underwood. ( American idol winner and Country music star).

We arrived at Lake Eufaula about 4pm and got a choice campsite right on the Lake.

Perfect for cooking a couple of burgers and trying out our new travel grill.

This adventure will take us through Colorado to Oregon for the camper rally, then over to Crater lake National Park, Oregon, then on to a rafting trip on the Snake River through Hell’s Canyon, Idaho, After that, we plan to ‘tootle around’ Idaho and then back home by way of northern Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park.

I will try to keep everyone updated with blog posts and pictures…….Love to all….you are always in our hearts and never far from our thoughts.