Village Creek State Park, AR

 After a pleasant 5 day stay at Ft Chaffee, it was time to move further east on our trek towards Key West. Our next stop would be Village Creek State Park in East Central Arkansas, however our trip would be delayed a couple hours. While doing my pre-departure walk-around, I discovered a low tire on the drivers side rear, it just happened to be the same tire that had valve stem problems in OKC which I thought had been fixed. I couldn't get a pressure reading on the tire, so I couldn't tell if it was the valve stem was bad again or the tire was low. We knew we would need roadside assistance to fix the issue irregardless of what the problem was, however being on a military base we knew it would be a major problem to get help onto the base. We decided to limp on down to the nearest gas station just off the base and call for assistance from there. We called our roadside assistance (through our RV insurance) and they wanted to have our rig towed to the nearest tire shop to have it looked at, that seemed pretty extreme for a tire issue. We decided to call a local tire shop which said they could come out and fix our tire on site for 85.00, that sure beat the heck out of having our rig towed, so we just paid them out of pocket and had them come out. The service man was on scene within 15 minutes or so and had our tire off and fixed within 30 minutes. Turned out, when we had the valve stem worked on in OKC the tire didn't seat right on the rim when it was re-inflated (they didn't remove the tire for the fix) and it was leaking air from around the rim. Our mobile service guy took care of the valve stem problem, and seated the tire properly and had us on our way in no time. So after a couple hour delay, we were on our way.

 It was a normal travel day made long by the tire issue, but we made it into the state park by 4:00 and got all settled in. We had a nice pull through site with only a couple other site around us. As most state parks go, we had the place to ourselves during the week, but of course it filled to the brim on the weekend. The park itself was very well kept as most of the Arkansas State Parks seem to be. Pretty good for a system that does not charge an entry free into their park system.

 During our time at Village Creek, I of course had to get out and explore the area a bit. I set my sights on the St Francis National Forest about a half hour away. The forest had two main roads running through it, a portion of the Great River Road and Crowley's Ridge Scenic Byway, both portions were dirt/mud/gravel through the forest. Thank goodness for our Jeep and having 4x4 and the aggressive tires or I would have been stuck pretty good a couple of times, not the best place to explore after a good rain. However it was a great day out and an enjoyable trip through the forest.

 Village Creek State Park is contains two lakes and most of the activities are centered around them. We did get the kayak out and had a great time exploring one of the lakes, Scrappey Doo even approved as he rode in the front with Sheryl. Here are a few shots of the Lakes and the Fall colors as the leaves are just beginning to turn here.

One thing we found hard to believe, was the lack of cell service in this part of the country, hence the late posting. Hope you enjoyed the shots and we'll see you next time from Loretta Lynn's Ranch!!!

Relaxing at Ft Chaffee

 It has been a relaxing 5 days here at Ft Chaffee, but our time here has come to an end. We will be heading out in the morning for Eastern Arkansas and Village Creek State Park. We are looking forward to someplace we haven't stayed before. Poor Sheryl has been nursing a cold that the grandkids so lovingly gave to her before we left OKC, so she's been feeling kinda rotten. Good thing we've been here several times before and have seen most of the sights. I did get out for a few hours the other day, heard of a place called Natural Dam and wanted to check it out. Once I arrived I was pretty disappointed, there was no water flowing over the 50' wide dam, just a trickle at the far end. The above shot is all I was able to capture. I'm sure in the spring when water is really flowing it's a beautiful place.

 Not to be detoured, I found a walking path and headed upstream and was able to get this shot from a rocky island in the middle of the stream.

After Natural Dam, I pointed the Jeep eastward to explore the Cherokee Prairie Natural Area, the largest expanse of wild prairie left in the Arkansas River Valley. Again fall is not the time to come expecting lush vegetation and wild flowers, spring would be the optimal time. However I was able to find some green and red turning foliage to add a little color to the scene. These are two places we will definitely return to if we happen by in the spring time.
Again, not a whole lot happening our way, just relaxing and cold fighting. Hoping Sheryl is feeling better tomorrow for our trip eastward. So that's all for now, see you next time from Village Creek S.P.

On The Road Again

 Our time at the family farm had finally come to an end, we spent just over a week hanging out with family and working on the homestead farmhouse. We didn't come to do a lot of work, but we did get a few things accomplished and were able to spruce the place up alittle. After our time was up we headed back to OKC and the Tinker AFB FamCamp. We did get some news while on the road, our daughters Oct wedding was put on indefinite hold while they work through a few issues (a good thing and very mature decision). So instead of having to stay in the OKC area until the first part of Nov, we will only be staying for a week, WooHoo!!!

 Of course only staying for a week does not mean everything went hunky Dory, Noooooo. Turned on the hot water the next day and it was down to a trickle.......hmmmm, Went thru several different troubleshooting scenarios and came to the conclusion of a broken water heater check valve. OK, that can't be to hard to change, until I really looked at it......darn, with-in my skill level, but would need to pull the water heater, by a new tool (normally not a bad thing) high dollar and only one use, more trips to home depot, because of course you can't just make one or even two when fixing anything and not to mention the aggravation and probably a couple of days without water.........time to call in the pros. Contacted our local Mobile RV guy and he was out the next day, couple hours later and hot running water again....nice. Yes it cost a few bucks, but was more than worth it (see previous.....lol) After that, it was just taking care of a few items and we were off and running.

 Well, off and running after a quick couple of maintenance items were taken care of. Radiator Flush and new coolant, and Transmission filters and fluid change. Ok, these two set the ole bank account back a little more than expected, but it feels good to know they were done and shouldn't need attention for a few years. Got to keep that big diesel happy you know!

So, we finally got out of OKC around 3:00pm and set our sights on Ft Chaffee Army Base in Ft Smith Arkansas, a short 3 hours away. We arrived right at 6:00pm and pulled into our reserved spot, got set up and settled in with a cold one.....ahhhhh. We will be here for 5 days, before heading to Village Creek State Park in eastern Arkansas. Since we have been here before and scene most of the sights, our time here will be used to decompress from the almost 6 months spent in OKC dealing with various issues.
That's a quick update and all the news that's fit to print. Internet has been pretty spotty and we actually have to go in search of it sometimes when we want to do some data intensive surfing (like doing the blog) so, updates are not as often as I would like, but hey, you get what you pay for.....lol Ok, see you fine folks right back here before long.

Birthday Safari and a Trip to Kansas

Last weekend we celebrated our granddaughter's 9th birthday at the OKC Zoo. The party was held in the Treehouse room and featured a private tour and special animals brought in for us. A great time for a special little girl.

Yesterday (Sunday) it was finally our turn to hit the road again. This time a trip into South West Kansas and Sheryl's old family homestead. We plan on being here for a week or so. Sheryl's brother and sister will be meeting us here later in the week to celebrate her birthday. Not a bad place to hang out and just get away. More to come later.......

All Clear!!!

Sheryl graduated from Cardiac Rehab today with great results!!! 15 pounds loss, 2 inches from her waist, blood pressure within normal limits and her cardio level was excellent. I'm so proud of how she improved!!! On our end, we cut out as much salt as possible and began eating alot more fresh foods and much less processed foods, in general just good healthy eating. I also have lost almost 20 pounds, lowered my blood pressure and lost a few inches to boot. All is well and we're ready to hit the road again!!!

Projects, Projects, Projects!!!

 Since returning to OKC from our getaway to Bull Shoals Lake, we have actually been staying rather busy, over and above the normal day to day life. First it was off to the foot doctor to get the "Ok" for Sheryl to return to Cardiac Rehab and her final few appointments there. Cardiac Rehab has been going very well and as of today she only has a couple of more sessions to go, Woo Hoo!!! She is doing much better and we fill in just how good after completion. Next, her Cardiologist gave her the thumbs up for at least a year before he'd like to see her back (usually it's every 6 months), so that was also great news!!! As for staying busy, we are finally Marrying off our last daughter and Sheryl decided she was going to make the little girls dresses for the wedding, one is 9 and the other 2 1/2.
 

 We think they turned out really nice and both the kids as well as the parents loved them. the kids loved them so much that they asked grandma if she could make them play dresses?? Of course Sheryl being the good grandma she is, just couldn't refuse.

 So with the extra material and leftovers, she whipped together one play dress for the littlest one (she wanted to be a princess0 and the older one a tutu as requested. Again they turned out so cute!

 Of course Sheryl's not wasn't the only one staying busy, I had a couple of projects I wanted to complete myself. First thing was the water pressure valve. Now for us RV'ers we know we need to have one and usually we pick up the small ones that fit on the end of the hose. These work well, for about a month or so, then get dirty, clog up or just seem to stop working, all, resulting in really poor water pressure. Then of course it's off to the store to pick up another one. Well of course this happened again, so I did a little research to see if there was a better way. What I found was, many RV'ers are going to the whole house residential style valves, adjustable, cleanable and much better flowing. They are a bit more expense than the  $8.00 RV ones, but the same price as the little fancy ones at Camping World with the little pressure gauge $53.00. So, off to Home Depot I went, they had several in stock and the additional fittings needed to connect to the water hose fittings on both ends.

 Just a few minutes of putting the pieces together and installation, it works like a charm. It is preset to 50 psi so there was no need to adjust it. You can also see in the top picture how much bigger it is and really allows for a good flow rate.

 Next up was finding a place to store the fresh water hose when traveling. For as big as our new home is, outside storage is really at a premium and the hose needed to be stored in the main cargo bay. As I was looking at our wet bay, I thought, why not a couple of hooks to hang the hose on?? Again off to Lowe's to see what I could find. I was able to come up with 2 wooden fence brackets, I placed one in each upper corner of the wet bay and now the fresh water hose can live there when not hooked up!!! I placed the black hose there just to show how it works.
Oh you may also notice the "Y" connector, just in case you were wondering why? it's placed so I don't have to hook up a second hose to flush the black tank and is routed so we are not using filtered water to flush the tank either. I'm all about simplicity when traveling.

 Next simple but effective mod, was to pick up a 10' plastic house gutter to help contain the sewer hose. If you don't have this, you know how the hose can jump off the plastic risers when you pull the tank handle. This keeps everything neat and flowing down hill. Highly recommend picking one up if you are not using one. Just cut it in half so it is adjustable for most any run length and storage.

My last project for now, well, more of a purchase, was to pick up a much heavier duty electric extension cord for mooch docking (plugging in at a friend or family's home). Now we have mooch docked several times over the years and have been just using your standard outdoor extension cord. Doing this we have noticed the cord gets pretty warm and we have been very lucky not to have melted it or caught fire, just something that never dawned on us. Well the light bulb finally came one as I was thinking, we are headed to the family farm for a couple of weeks and will be plugging into a 20 amp house plug in the barn. So again after a little research it was off to Lowe's to pick up a 100' 10 gauge extension cord rated for 20 amps. We now feel much safer, you can see the difference between the new cord and our old 16 gauge one.
I know most of these mods are minor and many of you may /are already using them but just in case your not, they are pretty good ideas and are working well for us,
That's really all the news that's fit to print for now. We will be leaving OKC next Sunday and heading to SW Kansas for a couple of weeks to spend time at the farm and celebrate Sheryl and her twin sisters birthday. From there we are thinking of attending a Good Sam RV Rally in Shawnee Oklahoma, just east of OKC. We have never been to a rally and thought it would be fun and interesting as long as we have to stay in the area anyway. After that a couple weeks back in OKC to get our daughter married off, then it's south bound and down for the winter!!! Ok, that's really it this time. Thanks for following along, I know post are fewer while we sit here, but that will change as we begin traveling again, so until next time.............................

Bull Shoals Lake, Arkansas Family Trip

 Since we have needed to stick around OKC for a bit, we decided (while we had a break in the action) that a family camping trip to the Ozark Mountains of Northern Arkansas would be just the ticket for a little break away. Our son was able to take off work for a week and our daughter and family would meet up with us later in the week also. With the desire to escape OKC as soon as possible, we left two days before we really needed to. This gave us a good excuse to have the motorhome serviced after an overnight stay in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This allowed us not to be too rushed in the morning for our appointment at the Cummins Service Center. We knew going in that diesel motorhomes were much more expensive to maintain and a simple oil change, chassis lube and fuel filter change did not disappoint. So after a couple of hours at the shop and a much lighter wallet we were on our way.

 Arriving a day before the kids were due in, gave us a little time to kick back with a glass of wine and enjoy the quiet view.

 Once the kids arrived (funny, in their 30's and we still call them kids....lol) it was time to enjoy the lake. We hit the swimming area just down from our RV's and enjoyed a couple of hours with our grandson, who is quite the water baby himself!!!

 The next morning provided a beautiful sunrise to highlight the parks Sundial sculpture.

 Our son wanted to rent a boat for a few days, but bad weather was forecasted for the next several days. So a one day outing was in order. We had a great time cruising around the lake, which is several miles long, getting in a little fishing and of course more swimming in the clear Arkansas waters.

 The ladies

 Us guys

 Even our grandson showed dad how to operate the boat.

 Of course Sheryl got in as much grandma time as possible

 We stayed at the 125 Corps of Engineer Park on the North end of Bull Shoals Lake. Most of the sites here are large and well shaded and all with a water view, the RV park is actually on a small peninsula.

 A very nice COE park and with our National Parks Access pass it's hard to beat at 10.00 a night, which includes water and elec but no sewer hook ups, however a dump station is provided.

With the storms rolling in and out of the area, it did provide some nice sunsets and a beautiful rainbow almost at our doorstep.

It was a nice 10 days away from OKC, but alas we had to head back for another month of so of Cardiac Rehab, After that, it will be off to SW Kansas for Sheryl's birthday with her twin sister (yes theirs two of them....lol) then back for our youngest daughters wedding.
That's all the news that's fit to print for now. Thanks for following along with us and we'll see you next time!!!