After our lovely stay at Queen Wilhelmina State Park in Arkansas, we didn't get on the road until well into the afternoon. Knowing we couldn't go far, we just wanted to get a few hours further down the road and spend the night in a decent place where we wouldn't have to "unhook" everything. This would mean that we could get started earlier the next day and put some good hours into our journey.
Here are a couple lessons for the rv-uninitiated (which would have been me until recently). Our RV is towing our car on a dolly. That means, at most places, we need to unhook the car from the dolly and unhook the dolly from the RV. This takes some considerable time and work, although we are getting better and faster at doing it. So, when we're just going to spend one night somewhere and get on the road, it's nice to find a place where we don't have to unhook everything. I help Mark by doing what I can and all that hooking up makes me "glisten."
Lesson 2: Driving "all day" in an RV is 5 or 6 hours. There is no putting the vehicle on cruise control and chilling out to your favorite tunes while you go mile after mile after mile. Nope. The RV takes up a lot of the lane; is very sensitive to air currents that push and pull when big rig trucks go by; and the driver has to pay careful attention to people pulling in front of them because there is a lot more weight to slow down. RV-driving, therefore, is a full mental and physical sport. You have to be "on" every moment to keep everyone safe.
With all of that, we found a site just a few short hours away that had a place big enough where we could keep everything connected. We meant to only sleep there and get on the road pretty early, but once again, we were surprised with the beauty of the place we just happened to stumble upon. It was in Maumelle, Arkansas and right on the Arkansas River. So, Mark and Petunia took the time to start their day with a bike ride while I sat and enjoyed my coffee looking out over the river.
I'm writing now settled into our home for the next two nights, just west of Nashville, Tennessee, We are going to take tomorrow off from driving to rest, play, and maybe go see Music City! Who knows!?
They were gone a while and came back hot and sweaty, so I guess that's some good exercise!
I did arm lifts myself. This mug went from table to lip; table to lips; table to lips....thank you, Brenda, I love it! xo
Halfway through today's journey, we passed through Memphis! Shout out to Ashley! xo
Part of the state park where we're spending the next two nights. Petunia said, "This looks like a GREAT place to explore!"