Little Rock Arkansas; Winding Down Our Stay

We are about to wind down our 10 day stay at the very scenic Maumelle Park.  I love the campsite for the water views and peaceful, tranquil setting.  I could actually spend more time taking hikes, then come back to the lounge chair on the bank of the Arkansas river to have a glass of wine and read a book.  But there are more places to explore.  More roads to travel with our truck and 5th wheel camper. Our travel day is a mixture of excitement of the unknown and being on high alert as we navigate through highways and back roads with the beastly sized rig.  On to another new place for us!  Vicksburg Mississippi. 

As we are preparing to leave on Wednesday, I have mapped out the route and this will be one of our longer travel days at 250 miles or 4 hours per Google Maps.  The 4 driving hours will turn into 6 plus total hours as we make pit stops, plus I drive very conservatively (accounting speak for slow).  I have to even plan out the bathroom breaks at truck stops due to the size of the truck and camper.  We cannot just pull into the local Mickey D’s.

Our route to Little Rock was through rural Arkansas on the byroads.  I was worried about it at first, but did enjoy getting off the interstates for awhile.  You see more of the country and more small towns.  Quite a lot slower, but when you have the time, it is much more enjoyable.  Our next destination is Vicksburg, Mississippi and our route is almost all byways or smaller US highways.  It should be another adventure.  We will be all over Vicksburg to see what it has to offer in our week long stay.  It will be fun to be fully immersed in the deep south.

Not all of our days are filled with exploring exciting new places.  Some are just about chiilin’ and some days include some workdays.  Here is a brief look at our last 3 days.  A mixture.

Friday 10/6

The morning was filled with my workout with weights, shower, sweep out the camper, empty trash, guitar lesson, and some reading by the river.  After lunch, we went back into Little Rock to the maritime museum and a guided tour through the USS Razorback, a WW-II era diesel/electric submarine.  I love these old military vessels.  What I think about are the crews who lived aboard this same vessel during the war and the 18 ships that it was credited with sinking.  Can you imagine being on board for 3 months, with just 1 change of clothes (no laundry), most all the crew smoked at that time, and the incredible stress of war time service.  We are in the same room as all of this history.

It was also interesting to learn that all sailors are volunteers for the US submarine service.  As a reward they also have some of the best food.  Many times, steak, shrimp and lobster.

This sub is 95% operational, so one of their crew gives the tour.  This sub was used in WW-II, Vietnam, the some other US service before we transferred it to the Turkish Navy in 1971.  The Turks left it stock except removed the coffee maker and added a tea set up.  Not sure why, but maybe a cultural thing?

It is interesting to note that Turkey used it from 1971 to 2001 and then the city of Little Rock purchased it for $37,000.  They wanted to hire American ex submariners to sail it back to the USA but the state department would not give their approval.  I guess I can understand that, but it would have been pretty neat.  So, after private donations of around $2m, they were able to arrange tug boat/barge transit back.

After the 1 hour long excellent submarine tour, we caught one of the electric street cars to ride the loop around the River Market district.  These are replicas of the old street cars of yesterday.  They run on tracks and use the overhead electric cables.  The driver narrates as it travels.

Next up was a stop for a cold refreshment on a hot day.  We went into an Argentinian bar/restaurant at about 3 pm, so it was very slow.  Like we were the only customers.  Sat at the bar.   The owner/chef came out to chat with us.  They have just been open since the first of the year.  Trying to get established.  Serves classic Argentine menu along some Americanized items as well.  Her specialty was something that included many different meats.  Her family bought the building and started the place, while she gave up a professional career to manage and be the chef.   Sounds risky, but I understand exiting the Corp world.

Saturday 10/7

It is hard to believe that we are into the second week of October and the temps are still in the upper 80’s and low 90’s.  I like it.  Pat not so much.  Maybe our southward trek was a month early.  Oh well.

It was another slow start to the day.  The usual stuff, breakfast, a couple cups of coffee, reading, shower, guitar practice, and some small jobs.  Then about 3 or 4 hours making more mods to the RV refrigerator.  This fridge is still not performing as it should.  Arg!

Finally, some long walks around the park and down to the marina.  They have maybe 50 large boats.  I mean ocean going type of boats.  Maybe $1-2m each.  Surprisingly in large covered docks in Little Rock on the river.

We finished the Netflix series Stranger Things.  Quite good, but it was strange. We are also waiting on the new season of Longmire to start.  My favorite show of all time.  This will be the final season for the high demand show.  I heard the audience is of the more mature set and even with a large viewership, they are targeting a younger audience.  That seems even stranger than the previous show.  Oh well.

Sunday 10/8

Pat had researched our house of worship to attend this week.  The Grace Church of North Little it would be.  They are bible based church and have a contemporary, casual service at 10:30am.  We try to find a church from our Presbyterian denomination, but not finding that will explore other options.

In our travels, it has been interesting to attend many churches and meet many new people.  One of the elders told me their church land was bought  back in the last recession after the prior business defaulted.  They got a good price for the land, then sold off the prime frontage lots.  Then they got a donation.  The total of sold land and the donation was exactly what they paid.  The Lord does provide.

After church it was a leisurely lunch back at the camper.  And since we have been at this campsite for 7 days, the black and grey water tanks were about full.  Remind you of any movie?  This campground has electricity and water but no sewer.  So we had to pack most everything up, retract the slides, unhook the power and water, back the truck into the hitch, then pull the camper over the other side of the campground to the dump station.  Then return back to our site again.  It all went fine, but about 1.5 to 2 hours on a hot day.  Not really too exciting, but one of the tasks for a full-timer.

That evening we got caught up on the Madame Secretary series on Netflix as the new season also began.

Monday 10/9

Another slow moving morning, with breakfast, several cups, more reading, workout, a shower, then tackled some of the jobs on my list such as reviewing the mail received at our mail forwarding service and routed it our next destination.  Then did some investment work.   Also, called the next campground to get the exact directions into the park.  Never rely completely on the GPS.

After lunch we ran some errands.  Dropped off the old microwave at UPS store, filled up the truck with diesel.  $69 for about half a tank.  Just topped it off actually.  A 50 gallon tank.  Then to the laundromat.  That was about 2 hours and is a job we do every 7-10 days.  It was nice one, but expensive at $2.75 per load for the washer.

Finally, we went out to have dinner out.  We do not so this too much as Trish is such a great cook!  But, I found a great little German place about 15 minutes away called the Pantry.  They were rated at 8.9 on FourSqaure.  I ordered some very good Jager Schnitzel and Pat had the roast pork shoulder.  Excellent along with a German beer on happy hour prices.

Then back at camp it had rained and was still warm.  The humidity was about 100%, so into the air conditioned RV to find a new series to watch.  The evening walk was scrubbed.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.  Hey, this blog is now caught up to real time.  I hope you enjoy my random thoughts and topics.  Up soon, we will take you through a tour of the RV.  I also will post some budget information.