November 13, 2004
Arkansas to Georgia
Four states in a week. Only spending a night or two in each location. At this rate it looks like we’ll be in Orlando for Thanksgiving with Andy’s brother Joe and his family.
Our first stop after leaving OKC was Russellville, AR. We stayed at Lake Dardanelle State Park and paid an extra $2 per night for a lakeside site and a clear view of the nuclear plant’s cooling tower across the lake. That sounds bad, but it was still a beautiful view and we had some great sunsets here. It was very peaceful. Feels like forever since we were able to sit outside in short-sleeves and just relax.
Sunset View from Campsite
We spent two nights here. Initially we thought about kayaking the lake, but we prefer narrow waterways to the large open lakes. So we drove up to Mt Nebo State Park for a view of the surrounding Ozark Mountains instead. At 1,350 ft elevation, it didn’t seem like much of a mountain in comparison to the 8,000 plus ft mountains we’ve seen but it was a nice side trip. The road up to the summit was a hoot. Vehicles over 24′ not permitted. The switchbacks were so sharp, short and steep they should’ve just put in a spiral staircase instead.
Crazy Road to Mt Nebo
View from Mt Nebo
From Lake Dardanelle we moved on to Memphis. We had our mail delivered to a UPS store downtown so after setting up camp outside the city at T.O. Fuller State Park we drove into Memphis. We primarily stayed in “downtown” Memphis walking the streets, ate dinner out, and had a beer. On the way out of town we drove through Graceland but neither of us are enough of Elvis fans to feel the need to go in. Curious about the crime rate here in Memphis. Although downtown was neat and clean and the people were dressed to the nines, there were a lot of homes with bars on the windows. Even the state park’s registration office/visitor center rolled down hurricane shutters at night. Are they afraid someone is going to steal all their brochures? We decided to only stay the one night.
Beale Street, Memphis
As we continue deeper into the southeast we are noticing that drivers tend to speed more. Birmingham, AL was an absolute mess with cars speeding and tailgating, usually at the same time. We stayed in a town south of Birmingham primarily because they allowed us to wash our RV. Most RV Parks won’t allow it either because of water shortages (in the desert) or they don’t want soap residue going into the ground, etc. And Spirit and Ele both desperately need a good washing. It’s an all-day affair washing the RV and car, so it was a good thing there wasn’t anything tempting to do in Jemison to distract us from our duty. We also wanted to spend a night in Alabama so that our state sticker on our travel-map would be legitimate. Jim and Chris had informed us that to be legitimate we had to sleep in the state. The first time through Alabama we had only driven through it, so now we are legit.
We then spent two nights at Seminole State Park near Donalsonville, GA. Down by the Florida border. Some of the first signs that we were almost home: a warning sign stating alligators were present; it was raining and sunny at the same time; it was warm enough to put on shorts; and the swimming beach actually had sand, not dirt.
Lake Seminole is actually in both Florida and Georgia. This was a great kayaking lake. Lots of fingers with marshy edges hiding hundreds of birds. Saw one of the largest Ospreys I’ve ever seen – close to a five foot wing span I’m sure. There were moor hens, egrets, and blue herons. But the most enjoyable were the hundreds of red-winged blackbirds that hid in the cattails until you kayaked too close and they would take off in waves of about 50 at a time. The pulsating whoosh of their flapping wings as each wave took off would vibrate in your body. The sky would become full of black dots as they would dart and dip into the next bunch of cattails.
Kayak Put-In
Turtles
Another great plus about this state park was that our super-sized campsite was lakeside and we were able to launch our kayaks right from our site. We never even had to detach the car. We kayaked for hours feeling the heat of the sun on our skin. It sure does feel like we’re almost home.
Our Campsite from Land
Our Campsite from the Lake
Tomorrow, we should be in our home state of Florida. The end of our trip is near.
Diandy's RV Travels from 2004 