Yesterday we left TN (Thanks to Jenny, Morgan and Paul for the fabulous accommodations!) for AR and had a wonderful trip until we hit I-40 W just over the AR border.
Apparently, every semi in the entire US travels this route and despite a 70 MPH speed limit, we never made it over 60 until we got to Little Rock.
So, though I normally push 'buying local' for many other reasons, I'm now adding SO WE CAN DECREASE THE NUMBER OF SEMIS ON THE HIGHWAYS! This craziness added nearly 2 hours to our trip and with a bit of bad final directions we didn’t make it to the campground until after 7:00 p.m.
The evening started out wonderfully. The air was warm, a light breeze was blowing a
nd the sound of water trickling over the stones and small water fall just outside our tent door lulled us both to sleep very quickly. Then at about 1:00 a.m. someone pulled into the camping spot next to us, didn’t understand the term ‘quiet hours’ and had a 3 ½ week old baby who bawled the entire night. Janan slept like a rock, but Mama wanted to soothe the baby!
I finally got to sleep around 3:00 and slept soundly until 7:30 a.m. Janan & I got up and went searching for sticks and dry wood to start a fire, made a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and cherries and then headed into town for the Jr. Ranger program (at Hot Springs NationalPark, the Jr. Ranger program takes place at the Visitor's Center, so we had to leave the park).
Janan completed her first Jr. Ranger program and received her badge. She thought that was REALLY cool.
We then headed back to camp and spent the afternoon at a wonderful swimming hole we found that was filled with very friendly kids. Janan played for hours. Who needs a ‘water park’ when you can find a nature-
made water hole with an au natural waterslide!
After swimming, we cleaned up and headed back into town. Janan had seen a Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and just HAD to go. Seventeen dollars later we had seen a handful of horrific wax figures and Janan loved every minute. We bought fudge, shared it BEFORE dinner (we're going TOTALLY crazy here!) and then had a wonderful dinner at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Janan's Adoption Day. Though yesterday was her actual Adoption Day we didn't get to celebrate because of the delay in getting to Hot Springs. Mama gave her the latest 39 Clues book and she's nearly finished it! She says it's the best one yet!
We’re spending another night here in AR and then heading out in the morning for Chick
asaw, OK. Let’s hope we take a road less traveled by semis!
Yesterday we left TN (Thanks to Jenny, Morgan and Paul for the fabulous accommodations!) for AR and had a wonderful trip until we hit I-40 W just over the AR border. Apparently, every semi in the entire US travels this route and despite a 70 MPH speed limit, we never made it over 60 until we got to Little Rock. So, though I normally push 'buying local' for many other reasons, I'm now adding SO WE CAN DECREASE THE NUMBER OF SEMIS ON THE HIGHWAYS! This craziness added nearly 2 hours to our trip and with a bit of bad final directions we didn’t make it to the campground until after 7:00 p.m.
I'm loving this blog, Valerie! I'm glad your travels have been safe (and fun) and I am SO looking forward to getting my hands on 39 Clues Book #4 (What have I been doing that I don't already have it?!) Glad Janan enjoyed it so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elisabeth! For both reading the blog and for letting me know about the next 39 Clues Book. Somehow, in all the craziness she hadn't found out about it and was SO excited to get it! :o) Hope all is well!
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