July 10, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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Robby started to unhook things this morning before he had to sit down and do a little bit of work. I took Bentley on a walk around the loop and then came in to read for a bit. I had already started getting things ready for when we made it home (sheets of the bed, clothes in a basket, laundry by the door.)

We loaded the car and were soon on our way. I really enjoyed Millwood State Park-possibly even more than Queen Wilhelmina. The view was so nice-though I could hardly walk on the grass because I was always looking for alligator. 

We just zoomed right home with no problems at all. When we made it home, Robby worked while I began emptying the camper. It didn't take too long even though we are even washing our sheets this time. It also didn't take too long because I had a goal-I had some new school stuff delivered so when things were settled in the house and camper, then I could start opening the school boxes.

Soon I was going through school things and really I have done only that for the rest of the evening. Reagan came in after work for a little bit. This was her last day of work in the office-she has camp next week, and then she is free for the rest of the summer. She wasn't home long because she went to church and then to pickleball.

Robby and I heated up our leftover enchiladas, and now we are on the couch watching our show. I have quite a few pictures from the kids to go through today. This was their last day before they all head home. I haven't really talked to them much-Anderson did say that he tried to surf yesterday unsuccessfully. Whitman said that he had a lot of fun at the water park today-for Whitman to say he had fun, then he really did have fun. 

July 9, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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Let's start with the kid update: I don't really have anything. Reagan did give me a thumbs up when I asked for her to move my packaged off the front porch. Graham wrote a very short reply when I asked him and Anderson if they needed airpods. I have not heard from Campbell, Keaton, or Whitman today. I did get a picture from Keaton from a leader who said that she had scrubbed a kitchen for a very long time with the best attitude. Also, usually by now I have gotten a proof of life update from Whitman by now, 

I'm glad that they are busy and having fun so I guess I will let it slide today. In their defense, they have all sent me multiple pictures throughout the week. Tomorrow is everyone's fun day-Whitman and Keaton go to a water park, Campbell goes to the Cincinnati Zoo, and the boys were not thrilled at all about going to the San Diego Zoo. I tried to remind them that it is the premiere zoo in the nation, but they just reminded me that they had been there already.

Robby and I left around 11 this morning to head to Historic Washington State Park. It was about a 30 minute drive. We walked through the visitor's center, and then we saw that there was a horse and buggy ride about the park. Robby paid for it just as the horse and buggy pulled around the corner.

It was really a neat ride. The driver told us just enough information while we went around the streets of Historic Washington. (It was Old Washington State Park when we were growing up.) The most impressive thing was a huge old magnolia tree. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot happening at the park today. (It is no Greenfield Village-oh, but it could be. And possibly it is Greenfield Village-ish during some of their special events.)

We decided to complete our visit we should eat at the tavern. Robby and I split chicken tenders which were very good. We also had green beans (fine) and mashed potatoes (not edible-Robby tried, but there wasn't enough salt and pepper to help. I'm not sure what happened because it isn't too hard to mess up mashed potatoes, but I don't really think that they were potatoes.

The horse and buggy man told us that the earthquake cake was very good-indeed it was. However, we didn't know that earthquake cake has coconut which Robby doesn't like. So I ate the bottom of the cake with the coconut, and he ate the top with no coconut. (Like the nursery rhyme-Jack Spratt would eat no fat, his wife would eat no lean, and between them both they licked the plate clean.)

We  stopped at Walmart in Hope on the way home because right before we left, Robby leaned over in the kitchen area and asked, "what's that noise?" I listened, but he quickly figured out that it sounded like water. He went outside to see that a plastic cap from the water heater had split. It was no worries since he carries spares (of everything). He had to fix that a little bit before we left, but he needed some special tape to put around the cap which is what we picked up at Walmart.

Back at the camper, we stayed in the house until it was cool. Then we decided to walk the 1.5 mile trail. Bentley wishes that we would have left her at home, and Robby wishes that he would have sprayed bug spray all over his body-especially his head where the bugs were swarming. 

It was fairly maintained trail-until it wasn't. It was at least well marked and followed the water on the other side of the camper. We were moving through the trail because who wants to be lost in the wilderness in the dark. Robby did see an alligator, but when he said something he slithered back in the water. I thought he had seen a bear so I was relieved that it was just an alligator that I missed seeing. 

Since we have learned our lesson about trails and Bentley, she received her beauty treatment when we made it back. We both had brushes and brushed the mess out of her. Under out picnic table, it looks like we have sheared a sheep. I tried to check her the best I could so hopefully there are no ticks on her. Robby jumped in the shower as soon as we walked back in the door from brushing Bentley, and I'm next. 

July 8, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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Robby had a call this morning which I had planned to be up and read during. However, I slept through it and most of the morning long. I even slept through a rain shower which cooled things off incredibly. We walked to the end of the loop, and when we came back we started getting the camper ready to pull out.

Getting the camper ready to leave really doesn't take too long-especially with two of us working. We were able to load up the car without any problems at all. Then we headed down the mountain. We stopped at one pull out so Robby could let a car pass him and to check his tow straps. They have a tendency to come lose, but they held tight today.

We drove right to Millwood State Park near Ashdown. We had done some of the drive a day ago when we went to Cossatot State Park. We made it just fine which is always a relief when we go anywhere in the camper now. Even though we have a had a few successful trips without any problems especially tire problems, we feel like we are just holding our breath the whole time.

This state park is a bit on the smaller side-campground wise. However, it has a huge fishing lake. Our site is really great-shade (not so great during the thunderstorm this evening though), a lake view with a swing,  and a decent loop to walk. 

We unhooked the camper and settled into our site for a bit. We had some pimento cheese and wheat thins for a late lunch before loading up with Bentley in the car to head to Conway Cemetery State Park. It is way down south-only about an hour from here though.

You probably won't be surprised that we were the only people at the cemetery which is where Arkansas' first governor was buried. He was from the area, but the area was looking pretty sad on our visit. We did find a mural that we stopped at to take picture.

On our way to pick up a pizza in Ashdown for supper tonight, we could tell that it was about to start storming. Robby made it back in the car right before the rain came. It rained pretty heavy on the drive back to the camper, but then on lightly rained on us during our supper. 

After the rain stopped, we were able to take a walk around the loop. For this being a small park, we were surprised that there are a decent number of campers here tonight. We have our show to watch in a bit and possibly some more cookies for dessert (we have eaten all of the ice cream).

July 7, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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Robby had just closed his eyes for the night so I rolled over so the light from my phone wouldn't bother him. That is when I saw my computer and realized that I had not even thought about doing the blog tonight. 

So it is a bit late, but better late than never. We had a fairly slow morning-I had yogurt and granola for breakfast while Robby opted for a honey bun today. He did some work, and then we loaded up to take a drive to Oklahoma. 

There are 3 ways to Queen Wilhelmina state park-the short, straight up, very curvy path with no shoulder or guard rails that we took up here; the longer well maintained, curvy road that we drove yesterday and will drive tomorrow; and today's adventure.

The third way to leave Queen Wilhelmina is to head towards Oklahoma along with Telemena scenic byway. It is a 54 mile stretch that winds through the Ouachita Mountains in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Another name for this byway could be "the deserted byway" because we saw 2 cars and 1 tractor on the whole 54 miles. It was kind of eerie. 

We even stopped at a nature center that was shut up like a ghost town. There were not even trash cans there-so Bentley left them a present. It was odd and a little bit spooky. We have had limited cell service on this trip, so I'm glad that Robby had his new starlink toy with us. 

When we made it off of the byway, we drove through the town of Talehina-it was pretty small. Very small. They did have a start park nearby so we stopped there for lunch. Since it cost 10 dollars to park, we opted to just eat in the car. However, it was also deserted so no one would have known if we didn't pay. I'm a bit worried about the people of Oklahoma. Hopefully, they were all at work today and have not been abducted. 

We came back to the camper a different way-it was flat, and there were cars. For supper tonight, we had mashed potatoes and meatballs. We heard thunder and looked to see a storm rolling in, but it never came to us. The weather was still nice this evening so we were able to walk to the lodge again and sit on the porch for a while. 

When we came back to the camper, Robby made some chocolate chip cookies, and I completely forgot about the blog. 

I have heard from all of the kids today. Anderson and Graham both sent pictures. They said that they helped move some dirt this morning. Campbell did a lot of canvasing the neighborhood. Whitman and Keaton worked in a school-she organized a shelf, and he carried boxes. And Reagan only has a few more days left of work!

July 6, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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Robby and I slept incredibly well last night, as we always do in the camper. I did wake up early this morning a bit chilly because Bentley had decided to join us in the bed. When she is in the middle of the bed, I can't really pull any more covers on top of me. I keep a blanket by me in the camper, but that silly dog was laying on it too.

Some times we go camping and do absolutely nothing, and other times we stay pretty busy most of the day. Today was a busy day. We started this morning by walking Bentley up to the lodge. We sat on the porch for a little bit. Then we walked back to the camper. 

We got Bentley settled in the camper, and we left again. We walked back to the lodge. This time we went inside, where I bought a sticker and got a stamp for our Arkansas state parks passport book. Then we ended up back in our chairs for a few more minutes.

Robby and I then rode the Rich Mountain scenic railroad, a miniature train that runs around the park. We were the first ride of the day and the only people on the train. It goes around the lodge, pass the scenic overlook, through the campground, and into the woods. It is a neat little ride.

Actually, the train owner man told Robby that he is ready to sell it. I did tell Robby that I could do a lot better theme-ing and merchandising in their little store. Plus I would add a coffee shop as well. However, it would take a lot of train riders paying 7 dollars each to make it profitable. Most of the rest of the day, we spent our time counting people on the trains to see if we could make a go of it up here. 

We then packed an ice chest, said goodbye to Bentley, and headed down the road. Literally, we had to go down a hill to get to our stop-Cossatot River State Park. This state park was a little over an hour from here, and since it doesn't have camper camping, it was just a day trip for us. 

We found the visitor center, but drove on past it to the day use area of the river. We weren't really sure what we were doing when we quickly saw that the drive was down a one-lane dirt road. Thankfully, we made it though without any cars coming back up. The river was pretty down there, but there were few rapids that we could see-it actually looked fairly peaceful and made me want to float a river.

However, this river has class 4 and even 5 rapids. They make it clear that it is not for beginners to float. We weren't able to see any of those rapids despite driving a long ways down another gravel road-we chickened out on it because we had no idea where we were going. The internet is spotty where we are so we are just guessing at most things.

We walked around the visitor center for a bit and later came back to stamp our book. The visitor center was huge and very nice. We are always curious how some places receive lots of funding and others do not. Even with all of their funding, the Cossatot could use a few more picnic tables. They only had 2-we did eat our lunch at one of those tables. Robby had a turkey and cheese sandwich while I had peanut butter and jelly. There is nothing better than a sandwich eaten outside for sure.

We then drove back towards Mena. We did find the big city and even stopped to get a frosty at Wendys for each of us. Then it was back up the hill to the camper. We walked Bentley and put our two new stickers onto the camper. 

Robby and I had a bit of downtime before we headed to the Wonder House. This was a rock house bit forever ago right across from our campground. We met the park person who gave us a tour of it. The interesting thing about the house was that it was built on 9 different levels-a living room with an upstairs, then a separate kitchen, cellar, pantry (all different levels). This was connected to dining room with a bedroom containing two levels above. I am missing a level though, but the most interesting thing was all of the rock work that they did. There were outside stairs going up to the kids' bedroom, and they were strategically placed wrapped around the fireplace so they would not ice in the winter.

After the tour, we found a trail behind the house. We knew that it should only be about .4 miles. It was little bit longer, but of course we didn't want to take the tick magnet, Bentley. Robby found one tick crawling on him last night, and there was a dead one on the comforter this morning. After brushing her for at least 20 minutes last night, we gave her another check and didn't find anymore. Hopefully, we were able to get rid of all of them.

We came back to the camper for a bit, and I crocheted some and read even more. Tonight for supper I made chicken enchiladas-not really. They were from Sams, and I heated them up in the oven. They were very good, which was a good thing since we have enough for leftovers. 

When it was getting near sunset, we walked towards the lodge and found our chairs again. Bentley was perfect sitting on the porch watching the people. It was almost chilly this evening as walked back to the camper. 

I worked on the blog for a little bit, and now we are watching some tv before bed. I haven't heard much from the kids today. When I dropped everyone off, I did tell them to send me proof of life every so often, and Whitman is the one who has done that for sure. Keaton and Campbell both sent me pictures today, but I have heard little from the big boys. I know that they all went to church today at their different churches, but that is just about all that I know about their days. 

July 5, 2025-July State Parks Trip

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• Our morning started early-I folded laundry first because there were a few last minute things that the kids needed to pack. Then I went to wake up Campbell and Keaton. I waited a few minutes and then woke up Whitman.
• I went back downstairs to empty the dishwasher and could hear Keaton and Campbell already moving around. I knew that Whitman had gone back to sleep, so I went back up there to make sure that he was getting up. He did get out of bed, but when I came upstairs for one more check, Whitman was quietly closing his bedroom door while holding his backpack and suitcase....EXCEPT he had Anderson's suitcase and backpack. 
• Campbell had to be at church at 7:30 so we left with Keaton and Whitman also. We dropped off Campbell and went to run a few errands while we waited on the next drop off. I had to go to Walmart to pick up some cream for Graham's foot and a water bottle for Anderson before they left. 
• We were actually back at church when Campbell and her vans departed. They made it to Cincinnati later than all the other mission trip goers, but I know that she stopped at ChickFilA for lunch. She also said that she had a good travel day.
• Next we dropped Whitman and Keaton off at church so they could head to Starkville. None of my other people seemed so little when it was time to drop them off at mission trips-but my baby boy Whitman seems tiny. Plus there are so many things for him to remember-phones, chargers, credit cards, gracious! Thankfully, he has Keaton there with him.
• They had lunch at ChickFilA, and Keaton had text trying to figure out if she should order their food on the app. Plus she sent me a picture of Whitman and Carter this evening. Keaton said that they had a good day-and had a lot of time to play this evening.
• Anderson and Graham had to be at the airport at 12:30 to catch their flights to San Diego. Their first flight was a bit delayed, but they only had one gate to walk to the next flight. My friend on the flight said that the turbulence was a lot on the first flight. Anderson did write each time that they landed which was sweet.
• As soon as we dropped the big boys off, we came home and said bye to Reagan and Odelia. They were headed to Target and then I think that the plan was to play pickleball tonight. Robby and I pulled out in the camper and headed to Queen Wilhelmina State Park. 
• The drive was very pretty, and it was nice to not be on the interstate for way too long. It was fairly warm when we pulled into the state park and checked in at the lodge. We found our site, unhooked the car, and parked. 
• Robby and I walked to check out the big train that is parked almost right in front of us. We watched the little train drive by, and then we looked at all of the other campsites. We have a pretty decent spot here-not the best, but it was decent enough for us. 
• Robby and I heated up some of our leftover poppyseed chicken, and then we walked up to the lodge with Bentley. The weather was pretty cool tonight considering that it is July. On our way back to the camper, we took a little adventure. 
• We spotted a trail. It was in the general direction of the camper, and there was vague map-so we just headed off down the trail. It was incredibly well maintained plus there were yellow flowers growing along the edge. It was nice-except that I was pretty considered that we were going to get ourselves lost in the dark. Thankfully, the trail ended at the end of the campground loop. 
• We walked back to the camper, and it was still light outside. Robby and I turned on the American Made movie since we were near Mena, and all was going well...until I found one and then two ticks crawling on me.
• Bentley was sitting right between us so we inspected her. We got at least 4 more ticks off of her-they hadn't bitten her and were just crawling on her. I guess this means that her flea and tick meds work. However, just as the vet told me-her meds cause the ticks to walk off of her and onto us. Maybe I need her flea and tick medicine.
• Robby and I paused the movie and took her outside and brushed the mess out of her. We then brought her back inside and did one more inspection before continuing the movie. Hopefully, we were able to get all of them off of her. Now, the movie has just finished, so it is time to head to bed!

July 4, 2025

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• This holiday has felt like a Saturday for sure. I had plans to walk this morning and treat the day like usual, but when I realized that it was hot outside (it seemed hotter today to me-though I don't think that the temperature really was warmer than yesterday) I just pretended it was a Saturday. 
• I did a few more things to get ready for the evening's packing session. Then I just sat down and bought some school things. I was trying to wait and just do one order each Monday, but there were a few free shippings today that I decided to take advantage of. 
• I made muffins for breakfast, and not too soon afterwards we left to eat lunch at Nonna and Pops' house. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, and all of the fixings. We stayed and visited for a bit, but then headed home. 
• Not too long after we made it home, Reagan had a few friends come over. I'm think there were about 7 possibly, but there are at least 4 or 5 cars outside parked by the house. After hanging out for a while, they headed to Kennedy's house to eat and watch some fireworks. 
• The campers were supposed to get out home at 8:30, but they were running early so it was around 7:15 when they arrived. We have needed all of the time that we could get tonight. They all had a good time and weren't too tired. 
• Anderson said that he won the chess tournament and possibly the volleyball (it's all running together now). His senior boys group did win the overall whatever there was to win. Graham had a few things that he and/or his group were second place in. He came home with a pretty good cut on his foot plus ant bites on his feet. Campbell had taken about 1500 pictures on her camera.
• When they arrived home, we immediately started washing all of their clothes. The boys clothes were first in the wash and they are both ready to be pulled out of the dryer. Keaton and Whitman are packed, but now I'm going to fold clothes for the boys and make sure they pack before they go to sleep.
• By then Campbell's clothes should by ready to go. She will mostly pack by herself, but I'll have to make sure that she does it before she falls asleep too!
• Packing update: it is almost 11: Campbell is in the shower. Her clothes are clean and folded by her suitcase. Anderson's clothes are also ready to be packed, but neither one of them have packed. Graham is completely packed and has a list of things that he needs to add in the morning. 
• I have completed 4 loads of laundry. We have one load in the dryer now, but that is bedding that will not go on this trip. Then there is tonight's regular clothes which have some loose things that will need to be packed in the morning.