FAYETTEVILLE, AR, October 8-10, 2012

Yes, it's been way too long since I've made myself sit down and do some blogging about our travels. Looks like the last one was almost 3 months ago, and so much has happened since then. We are presently staying in Oldsmar, Florida having arrived here October 25th.

I'll start a little "catch up" just to get me up to date. So, looking back into October, here we go!

October 8-10, 2012
Our first stop as we headed north from Little Rock was at the Clinton House Museum in Fayetteville, the first home of Bill and Hillary Clinton.  They were married in this home in 1975 but moved back to Little Rock the next year after he was elected Arkansas Attorney General.

 It still has all the decor of the 1970s but now filled with Clinton memorabilia including Hillary's wedding dress.  The gardens were lovely on that fall day. In the back yard is the First Ladies' Flower
Garden.

  Our next destinations was our COE campground, Horseshoe Bend Park near Rogers, AR.  We had the most perfect site! Right on the lake with no one around us and the senior fee of only $10 a night. We set up and just relaxed and enjoyed the view. Our evening was spent with friends of Paul's sister, Glenda and Alan Miner.  The fun part was that Alan picked us up in his motorboat and gave us a tour of the lake on our way. Dinner was wonderful and the ride back on the lake with the full moon shining was memorable.  We love getting to meet new people along our travels!

Dinner with Alan and Glenda Miner

Tuesday Oct. 9 day trip to Eureka Springs. Lunch at Bubba's BBQ

After lunch we visited Thornhill Chapel, a spectacular chapel in the woods. Such innovative architecture of wood and glass. While there we had a wonderful piano concert by a local parishioner. 

 Woods and trails surround the chapel.

 We continued west on Highway 62 for a stop at Blue Springs Heritage Center and a walk down to the springs, though a little hard to see as the springs were being worked on an dug out to remove sludge from the ponds.  Not sure I'd make this stop again, a little pricey for what we got.

From there we took a little detour to find this little very narrow, one lane suspension bridge.

 We got back to our campsite just at sunset,  so peaceful

 Wednesday morning started with a visit to the Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers, AR. Yes, the home of the little Red Rider BB Gun that's the main character of the movie The Christmas Story. It is surprising what unusual museums we find along our travels.

 Next on our day's plan was a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (also known as The Art Museum Wal Mart built).  It's fantastic!!! Amazing architecture and amazing American art from Colonial to Contemporary artists.  I must say I wasn't expecting it to be as fabulous as it was, and so glad so many people had spoken highly of it. As is our custom, we had lunch in the museum restaurant surrounded by glass with this beautiful view.

 So many masterpieces in the collection inside as well as outside in the sculpture gardens.  We got on our bikes to enjoy the outside grounds.

 Since my tires were a bit low we also went on into the little town of Bentonville to find a bike shop.
 The town is the home of the original Walton's 5-10, which is a museum of the origins and history of Sam Walton and WalMart.  Tons of photos and memorabilia, including the red pick up out front that he drove every day to work.

 We got back at our campsite that evening after having dinner at a little restaurant we'd been passing the last couple of days on our way home. The parking lot would be empty each morning, but full every time we passed at night, so Wed. night we decided to stop and check out Monte Ne Inn. It's only open evenings from 5-9 and serves one meal: a family style chicken dinner. It was delicious!

 Our original plan to go east the next morning to see more of northern Arkansas changed as weather reports were forecasting a huge storm with very strong winds and heavy rain with thunderstorms.  After looking at the map we decided to put that trip off till next time and move south to avoid the powerful storm approaching. We packed up by 10 and headed for gas in Rogers...well, that gas stop caused just a bit of drama for us. As we were trying to drive out of the station, Paul turned too severely and pulled our tow dolly with car attached into one of the concrete barriers near the pump. Thank goodness the barrier was there, I think we would have taken out the gas pump if it hadn't been!

After detaching the car, whacking the tow dolly so the tires would at least move so we could get away from the pump, Paul started calling around to repair shops to see what could be done.  A broken tow dolly? No one wanted to touch it, too much liability. So, he contacted our insurance company and I got on Craig's List to see what we could do.  Oh, my goodness, best news ever! Our insurance covered our dolly and I couldn't believe it, but I found a brand new dolly, exactly the same as the one we had damaged and it was only 20 miles away.  Needless to say, we parked the RV, got in the car and by 4:00 that afternoon we bought our new car dolly!

 It is incredible that all the stress of the morning disappeared as we pulled out at 5PM and drove south to an over night in Little Rock with car in tow on the brand new dolly!  What would I ever do without Craig's List???