Hot Springs, Arkansas. It reminds me of the sign I used to see on the bride & groom's car at weddings in the Black Hills back in the 70s and 80s: "Hot Springs tonight, Deadwood tomorrow." It was funny the first 40 or 50 times I saw it. ;-)
We are planning for some time in Branson, but decided to take our time, instead of going nearly 350 miles from Texarkana.
Izzy lounged in the front window while we had breakfast (she had already eaten)...
The traffic was light when we hit the road at 9:00 this morning...
It wasn't long before we left Texas and entered Arkansas. We stopped at the Arkansas Visitors Center at the rest area...
Can you pick out the Aspect amongst the big rigs? The lady at the Visitors Center loaded us up with all kinds of books about Arkansas. We decided to stop early and spend a night in Hot Springs; haven't been there before.
The traffic picked up a bit as we rolled...
We turned off the Interstate onto Scenic Byway Highway 7. The lady in the Visitors Center said, "Some people with RVs find that road scary - I think it is a very pretty drive." Didn't seem too scary...
Pretty scenery along the way, including lakefront properties...
I didn't know there were so many large lakes in this state. The only time the road seemed scary was when we rolled into Hot Springs... obviously the newer part of town, with malls and restaurants... but it seemed like they were trying to make 5 lanes in the space for 4. Checking my mirrors, the cargo trailer tires were touching the lane lines on both sides... yeah, this is narrow.
We got off on a loop, and drove to the KOA... a steep hill leading to the entrance... first gear. I pulled up to the office just before noon, went inside to see if they had a site. Yep. "Mr. Vick will escort you to your site."
We wound around the trees, and Mr. Vick took us to a site where we could easily unload the scooters. Not real long, not particularly level, but it works...
Look close, the front wheels are off the ground - you can see light under the front tire on the far side; the little bush is obscuring that on the passenger side.
We rode a side road that took us to an intersection that said, "Hot Springs National Park Historic District"... sounds interesting.
The National Park surrounds the town, with a Park Headquarters right in town. We rode around a bit to get a feel for the place...
Decided to have lunch before it got too late...
The parking lot was packed, but we got seated right away. With bellies full, we took the scoots to the historic part of town.
Nothing says "historic" like t-shirt shops. There are plenty of historic buildings here, mostly hotels and bath-houses.
After walking the main drag, we decided to check out the Promenade Walk up the hillside. On the way to that walk, we saw people filling water jugs with the "healing water." Mr. Vick at the KOA told us to take some water with us - "It makes great coffee or tea!"
The Promenade Walk...
An interesting feature along the walk: use your cell phone to get a "guided tour"...
A pretty view from the higher perspective of that walk...
A narrower walk above the Promenade...
A pretty hillside - the tanks you can barely see are "spring collection tanks", used to hold water from the hot springs...
Water flowing from one of the springs...
Back down to the main drag and the buildings and touristy stuff...
We weren't the only ones on two wheels - lots of Harleys and other cruisers...
Joan said, "Like a mini Sturgis." Real mini. From there, we rode some twisty roads for a while, before heading back to the RV. At the Visitors Center, there was a brochure for riding motorcycles in the Hot Springs and Eureka Springs areas... smart.
We have been to Eureka Springs several times (the first time by motorcycles back in the early 80s). Hot Springs is a much larger version of that; this is a definite tourist destination area. And, I don't mean that in a bad way - plenty to do here.
Checking weather, we planned to head for Mountain Home or Mountain View tomorrow. Checking weather again, it looks like the rain is moving in earlier than originally predicted. Sounds like we will be driving in the rain tomorrow... no point in staying in the rain in either of those two places - part of the draw is the folk music played outside in the square. So, we may be changing the plan, yet again.
No comments:
Post a Comment