Iowa

It is October 1, time to start heading south. Since it is Sunday, our first “stop” is for our weekly Bloody Mary. We pulled into the parking lot at the Diamond Joe casino, barely into Iowa. We stopped at the same parking lot, for the same reason last year!!

We continued driving to our first overnight stop, a Harvest Host stay at Revelton Distillery in Osceola, Iowa. Distillieries are not our favorite places to visit but this one was different. We did not have the usual tasting and narrative about the distilling process. Instead, we chose from the drink menu and could sample something before ordering if we wanted. They had some unique things like their own ginger beer and and mulberry gins. After making our choice, we found a table in a neat setting, once a wedding venue and the server brought us our drinks. I also checked out the clothing and decided to purchase a shirt, even though I really don’t need another one. This one is really ME!

Missouri

Our first actual destination was the Ozarks. We got to Lake of the Ozarks State Park on October 2 for a 6 day stay. This is near Osage Beach. We have been here 3 times before, always to a different campground. This campground has a lot of “locals” and they are not shy.

One of the first places we went back to was Backwater Jack’s, a neat waterside bar. We visit there every time we are in the area. This time, or maybe every time, the outside is only open on weekends. We decided to stay for one drink and enjoyed watching the wildlife.

That night, we had a campfire to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Other days during this stay, we returned to some breweries and wineries we had visited before and also found some new ones. Visiting the Shawnee Bluff Winery, I was dressed to cheer on the Twins in post season play. We got into a fun conversation with the couple next to us, from St. Louis. The band that started to play was awesome, playing songs from our era, mainly from the 70’s.

On our last day, we went for a walk with Boo and came across a red headed woodpecker. He was so pretty but was camera shy. He would fly away every time we were ready to snap a picture so it took several attempts to capture a couple of shots.

Arkansas

We moved on to Eureka Springs, Arkansas on October 8, another place we have visited before. Avoiding freeways, we knew we would take some winding roads to our campground at a Army Corps park. It proved to be a bit more challenging than we expected as one road GPS told us to go down was a very sharp turn and the sign said “NoTrucks” so something on it was not suitable for us. Instead we continued on and ended up driving the rig through the narrow streets of Eureka Springs but eventually got to the campground.

There was no one around to check us in but we knew our site number. We were told someone would come around eventually so we set up. What a neat, large site.

The next day, we decided to drive into town for a beer at The Cathouse, one of our favorite bars in town, after walking around the park, right by the river. Because no one had checked us in yet, I put a note on our site with our name, reservation number and departure date.

Later that evening, we were enjoying a campfire with wood left by previous campers and getting ready to start our grill for supper. A park ranger came up and was ready to give us a citation for parking in a reserved spot. The people who had reserved this spot were annoyed by my note.

Dave gave him our reservation number and it turns out we were camped at the Dam RIVER Campground, site 12 but were supposed to be at the Dam LAKE Campground, site 12. Since we had a reservation and no one had checked us in, he could tell it was an honest mistake so he did not write a citation.

I was so annoyed that we had to move after being here for over 26 hours and it was close to dark. However, the correct park was only about 3 miles away and we had no choice so pack up we did. Wow! As great as the River campground was, the Lake campground was even better! We plan to return here sometime and we rarely return to a campground, simply because we like to try new places.

We spent another afternoon and evening in Eureka Springs. We were looking for a different bar but ended up back at the Cathouse and had supper at a Mexican restaurant.

The next day, October 11, we drove to Little Rock for a 6 day stay at the Downtown Riverside RV Park. The park itself is pretty bare and plain but functional. It turned out to be neat because we could walk to many of the things we wanted to see.

On our first day, we drove to see a couple of things. First was the Little Rock Central High School, one of the largest and most beautiful high schools I have ever seen. We were too late in the day for an inside tour of this still functioning school but went through the visitor center. In 1957, it was the site of one of the country’s first desegregation issues. The Supreme Court and decided Separate was not Equal and ordered schools to desegregate. The southern states were not eager to do this. Nine brave black students decided to be brave. The governor of the state called out the National Guard to keep them away from the school. Eventually, President Eisenhower called the Army (101st Airborne) to provide support for the Little Rock Nine. They continued to go to school for the rest of the year but it was not easy or pleasant for them. Wow, brave students.

Then we went to see the Capitol building. When asked how many state capitols I had toured, I had to honestly answer that the only other one I had toured was the Minnesota capitol. With a heads up from a staff member, one stop on our self-guided tour was the Treasury where Dave and I each got to hold $690,000.

Then we found an out of the way brewery before heading back to the campground.

On Friday the 13th, we walked across the bridge, the Clinton Memorial bridge, to downtown Little Rock. The bridge is now a walking bridge but used to be a train bridge. It is located right outside our campground.

Our first stop was the Old State House, the original Capitol building. It was neat to watch a film about the restoration of this building, built in 1833. Restoration went as deep as the foundation which was very thin and not very deep by today’s standards and it is a wonder the building managed to stand this long.

My favorite exhibits inside were about the governors, including Bill Clinton and the First Ladies of Arkansas. Clinton was first the youngest Governor of AR, then the first Governor to be defeated in AR. He was convinced to run again 2 years after his defeat and was in office for another 8 years until he decided to run for the Presidency of the US. He announced his candidacy on the porch of the State House. Dave and I had our picture taken with him! (fake)

We also walked to the Historic Arkansas Museum. We wandered through inside, mostly to the part about the Bowie knife and to the history of the local Indians, the Caddos, Quapaws and Osages. There were historic buildings across the street but we had conflicting information about if we had to pay to wander through or not so we decided not to. Instead, we went back to the main street with intentions of checking out the Market. We found out if closes at 2 PM each day and it was already almost 4. I was tired from so much walking so we headed back toward the bridge and stopped for one beer along the way at Stickyz Rock N Roll Chicken Shack. Their menu inspired us to make loaded baked potatoes for supper that night.

On Saturday, we walked across the bridge again, this time a bit farther away to a brewery Dave had been looking for, the Lost Forty Brewery. We enjoyed a few beers, conversation with a local couple and a delicious pizza.

For our last day in Little Rock, we walked across the bridge again, this time to visit Clinton’s Presidential library. Neither of us had ever been to a Presidential library and it was quite impressive. The tour started with a short film about Bill Clinton and why he decided to run for office. Then, we got to go into the main part of the library. That included a replica of his Cabinet room. I got to sit in the President’s chair. Another thing we saw was a replica of the Oval office as it was decorated during his tenure. The rest was lined with exhibits of Bill Clinton’s accomplishments as President. It was a wonderful exhibit.

Louisiana

On Tuesday, October 17, we got to West Monroe, Louisiana where we had a reservation for a one night Harvest Host stay at the Landry Vineyards. This was another fun, beautiful spot.

Mississippi

October 18 brought us to Pass Christian RV Park in Pass Christian, MS. We plan to soak up the sun and enjoy some beach time for the next week because we won’t have beaches this winter. There is a friendly cat in the campground but Boo is never sure if she trusts cats.

On our first full day, we went to the Pass Christian beach. It looks pretty but the sand has so many sea shells I would not walk barefoot on it. A person could seriously injure their feet. But, it was beautiful! Dave enjoyed private time on his own island.

We went to Shaggy’s bar where I got talked into purchasing a Shaggy’s mug for discounts on future drinks. Duh…

The next day, we went to the beach in Bay St. Louis. The sand was nicer but the tide was very low. It was beautiful again. After two days, we need a little break to let some red skin heal a little.

On Sunday, October 20, we started with our Bloody Mary’s outside on our own patio. Then, we decided to head to Bay St. Louis to look for patio music. The first place we found was not that great but then we found The Loft and a great singer. What a fun afternoon that was.

On Monday, October 24, we found a different beach in Pass Christian (pronounced Pass Chris te an) and watched a hermit crab that kept hiding from us, or so it thought. It would sit still in its shell for a long time, then suddenly scurry 3 feet away before stopping again.

That night, in the middle of the night, Boo decided to alert us to the danger of an armadillo in the yard. We couldn’t see it at first; it looked like a rock. Then it moved and we could see it’s snout and tail. We wonder how Boo happened to see it. Good Watch Dog!

On Tuesday, we went out to supper in Gulfport, to a neat, small Mexican restaurant, El Mexicano. The food was delightfully authentic and spicy. Yum!

On Saturday the 28th, we were going to start with an hour or so at the beach then head to Bay St. Louis for the annual Witches Walk. Driving through town, I had the idea that we should park and find a place to park our butts if we wanted a place to sit and watch. So, we parked the truck. I removed my swimsuit from under my clothes in the safety of the front seat with Dave keeping watch and off we went.

We spent about 3 hours on the outside patio of the Hinge bar and saw hundreds of different witches. There were good witches and bad witches, male witches and female. There was an honest-to-goodness Kurt Russel lookalike (younger years) and some witches with horns. Many people spent a lot of time and creativity in creating their outfits so we took pictures of a large sample.

On Sunday, the 29th, we tried to find a bar to watch the Viking/Packers game. We found a sports bar in Waveland, MS but the two TVs that could show the game were reserved for local people to watch local preference games (Saints and Philadelphia). The smaller TVs did not have the correct sports package to bring in our game. We did not know that until the first quarter was almost over. The bartender made and excellent spicy Bloody Mary and tried very hard to get our game for us but it proved to not be possible. We went to a nearby casino but they did not have a sports package either. Eventually we just returned to our campground and listened to the game on KFAN. It was a fun game with a great win for us, even though a Wisconsin friend can only say that “neither team played very well”…. HA!!! Sadly, Kirk Cousins, our QB tore his Achilles tendon near the end of the game and will be out of commission for the rest of the season.

The park we are in is okay, nothing special but close to anything we want to go to but also not especially pretty. One site has been vacant since we got here but many belongings left behind. Finally, 12 days after we got here, they were removed. I am not sure why it took so long. Perhaps some legal reasons.

One lady was taken away by ambulance twice. We were told she is 91 and overdosed on her medications twice in the same day. The driver looks to be young enough to be her son. We are not sure why he did not help her. It has been several days and no one has returned to that rig. We hope she is okay.

A couple in a rig across from us had 3 squad cars at their trailer twice in one night and early morning. The guy was taken away the second time. Later, the woman spent two days removing belongings and then the guy came with a U-Haul and pulled out the trailer and rest of belongings. A few days later, the police came again, to a different trailer. I am not sure I ever want to come back to this park again.