The Great American Adventure Has Finally Begun!

It’s almost the end of day 5 on the road and Will and I are sitting at camp off Forest Road 55 in the Ouachita (Wa-Keeta) National Forest near Hot Springs, Arkansas. This campsite has been perfect. We’re about 5 or 6 miles away from paved roads with no other campers or campsites around. The occasional car has driven by, but otherwise we’ve been peacefully left to ourselves. The campsite is a large open dirt circle with towering pines establishing the camp’s perimeter. The sun peeks through the trees in glistening waves while the wind gently rustles the leaves. Down a small slope from the camp runs a cold stream that jumps over rocks and pebbles, with the babbling of the water lulling us to sleep at night.

I’m sitting in a camp chair by the teardrop’s galley while Will works on finishing the chili that we’ll have for dinner. We’ve been on the road for 5 days now and are finding a nice groove. I just wanted to give a quick update on what we’ve been up to so far and really just hit the highlights. We’re trying to work our way quickly out west where we plan on spending quite a bit more time and should have quite a bit more to write about.

Highlights:

Day 1 – Headed out from Laurinburg, NC early and drove most of the day to reach Cove Lake State Park in TN by early afternoon. A nice state park, but really crowded with families enjoying the spring weather.

Day 2 – Visited Mammoth Cave National Park. The Visitor’s Center and campgrounds remained closed, but trails where open. We took a short walk with the dogs before heading to our campsite at the back of a cornfield by a lake. This was a really secluded spot, but still really felt like home.

Day 3 – Visited Mark Twain National Forest. We camped at Fourche Lake Recreation Area at dispersed camping. This campsite was also beautiful, but surprisingly was also crowded.

Day 4 – Visited Hot Springs National Park and walked around the town of Hot Springs. Several shops and restaurants were open and although the visitor’s center to the park was still closed, we were able to talk with a Park Ranger who suggested the area we’ve camped in for these two days. We were also able to get our national park stamp!

Day 5 – Our first zero day. We slept in a bit, cooked a bigger breakfast, hung around the campsite, took naps, and really just enjoyed being out in the forest.

For these 5 days we really haven’t been up to much. Loads and loads of driving mostly. We’ve got a few more long driving days (4+ hours) before we start to slow down and take it a bit easier. We’re on our way to Texas tomorrow.