TIME TO GO HOME

THREE LEFT TO VISIT

Finally we headed into Texas through the East Texas Oilfield area, supposedly the largest oilfield in America. The sun continued to shine. It was 28oC/82oF today - heaven!  I keep thinking about cold UK but I am really looking forward to getting home now.

We are now at our final campsite at Lewisville Lake, near Dallas. Roy doing jobs on the trailer then washing and polishing it. I just have to pack, I've done my cleaning inside the trailer, so I think I will have to sunbathe.

We are so lucky to have a niece of my sister in law living nearby, she has been wonderful, we are staying with her on the last night and she will take us to the airport.
So last night we met up with her and her husband and spent a superb evening enjoying their company over a meal and putting the world to rights.

We visited Fort Worth Stockyards, the world's only twice daily cattle drive.
 For the drovers heading longhorn cattle up the Chisholm trail to the railheads, Fort Worth was the last major stop for rest and supplies. Beyond Fort Worth they would have to deal with crossing the Red River into Indian Territory. Between 1866 and 1890 more than four million head of cattle were trailed through Fort Worth which was soon known as “Cowtown” and had its own disreputable entertainment district several blocks south of the Courthouse area that was known all over the West as “Hell’s Half Acre”

LOVELY LONGHORNS

 The Fort Worth Herd was created as part of the city's sesquicentennial celebration. The city acquired a herd of fifteen Texas Longhorns, each steer representing one decade from Fort Worth's colorful past. The city also hired a diverse team of drovers clad in authentic 19^th century clothing and riding horses mounted with period correct saddles.
On June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators, the Fort Worth Herd made its first cattle drive to the Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District.
Since then, twice daily, the drovers drive the longhorns along East Exchange Avenue, harking back to a time when the great herds rumbled through the dusty streets of Fort Worth on their way to market.
As the herd passed by, it was like a byegone era come to life.

CATTLE DRIVE

GIVE ME A WASH!

CARING FOR EACH OTHER

LEADER OF THE CATTLE DRIVE

LUNCH TIME - ROY WAITING FOR HIS FAV MEAL - A BURGER!

THIS CUTIE WAS LOOKING DOWN ON ME WHILE EATING MY LUNCH

We have spent 100 days here this time, travelled 9,500 miles and visited 20 states -Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario - Canada, Quebec - Canada, New Brunswick - Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana & Texas - 12 new US states and 3 Canadian for us.

I would like to finish this blog with a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read it and an even bigger thank you to my amazing husband Roy for planning it all and driving me safely around this wonderful country.

Au revoir - until next time.

GEARED UP FOR ENGLISH WEATHER!

NEW JACK AND ONWARDS

We spent the day before repair man came cleaning inside and outside trailer, we swapped sites to a level one as we had been left at a ridiculous angle when the jacks seized up. 

Charles, the repair man arrived Monday morning, found out it was the teeth on the gears had broken off and jammed the system, spent quite a while on the phone to Keystone regarding who was going to pay and finally they agreed to pay Charles instead of making us pay and then reimbursing us. Charles disappeared for a couple of hours and came back with a new jack. All fixed now, nothing to pay and Charles left after giving us lots of tips for trailers.

We have moved to North Toledo Bend State Park, still in Louisiana, with a huge lake, we will have to move on tomorrow with one more stop tomorrow night before we get to Lewisville Lake State Park our last site before we put it in store on Tuesday.

VIEW FROM OUR SITE AT NORTH TOLEDO STATE PARK

LOUISIANA RODEO AND FAULTY JACKS

AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS

PELICANS TAKE FLIGHT

GREAT EGRETS

We spent 5 days at Lake Bistineau, watching butterflies and hundreds of American White Pelicans and Great Egrets suddenly appear on the reduced lake. They didn't stay long, must have been a surprise to discover the lake almost empty.


We heard that the Louisiana State Fair was on in the nearby town of Shreveport so decided to drive into town.  I love rodeos - think its all those hunky cowboys!
 We enjoyed a fun afternoon around the livestock, funfair, displays and food stalls. The pro-rodeo was great with the usual bucking horse, barrel racing, steer roping, bull riding and rodeo clown - good clean family fun - I'm getting closer to knowing all the words to the American National Anthem!

BRAHMANS - STRANGE LOOKING BEEF!

MORE BRAHMANS

FUN FAIR RIDES

WE DID NOT GO IN HERE

WE DIDN'T TRY THIS

AND WE DIDN'T GO IN HERE - SPOOKY!

BMX STUNTS

PINEAPPLE ICECREAM

Next day we started to pack up to move to another State Park with a lake, when Roy tried to retract the front jacks on trailer they would not go and it made an awful noise. Tried different things with no luck so drove to a Keystone dealer in Shreveport who was no good, could not look at it till next Friday and we would have to take it in - er - it wont move! They gave us the card of a local man who comes out so we spoke with the dealer we bought it from in Ohio and he said to go ahead. Unfortunately there was no reply with local man so left a message - its Saturday so we were not hopeful.
How lucky are we - Roy suggested we  go to the Waffle House for lunch on way back (to comfort eat you know) and because
 we were there and not at the site where there is no phone signal, we got his call and he's coming first thing Monday.
Fingers crossed please he can fix it.
Just to add to it all - the inner door catch on the trailer has dropped off and Roy's Walmart sun chair just fell to bits - they say they go in threes!

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK IN ARKANSAS

FORDYCE BATHHOUSE

QUAPAW BATHHOUSE

OZARK BATHHOUSE NOW A COFFEE SHOP

ME TESTING THE WATERS

ROY LIKED THIS ONE ITS GOING TO BE A BREWERY

We arrived at Hot Springs National Park and got a pretty site on the small Park campground with electric, water and dump for $12.
Water is what attracts people to Hot Springs. Hot Springs thermal water began as rainfall over 4,000 years ago so the scientists say. Do I really want to bathe in them? 

We had a fabulous hour and half tour of Fordyce Bathhouse with a Ranger. This is the Visitor Center but because of technical problems had to be closed for 9 months to repair but they are still able to do tours twice a day at the moment.
It was fascinating and so informative - you had to have a doctors prescription to go to the bathhouse. The Ranger took us from room to room explaining all the different procedures and treatments - and by the time she had finished I knew I didn't fancy a treatment!
We ended the tour with a drink of the hot thermal water which tasted - odourless, colourless and clear - pure water!
But I must say I did feel envigorated as she told us the water we were drinking was probably rainwater which dropped around the time the pyramids were being built!

LAMAR BATHHOUSE NOW VISITOR CENTER

FORDYCE TOUR - NEEDLE SHOWER

SITZ BATH AND VAPOUR BOX

A NEW SHOWER - LOOKED LIKE TORTURE TO ME

ONE OF THE BATHS

BATH FOR HYDROELECTRIC THERAPY AND EMBALMING TABLE - ASK ME WHEN YOU SEE ME WHAT ITS USED FOR

SUN AND FREEZE BOXES

NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER - CEILING IN MENS BATHHOUSE

FOUNTAIN OF LIFE IN MENS BATHHOUSE - IT STARTED AS A MANS THING!

EXPLAINING WHERE THE WATER CAME FROM

We have bathed in many volcanic hot springs over the years but these are not volcanic. Water is heated by continuous thermal processes occuring deep in the earth. Rainwater seeps through the earth's crust and forms pools far below. Pressure and the decay of radioactive material heat the pools of water. Because the Ouachita Moutain bedrock is full of cracks and fissures, the hot water finds
its way back to the surface so quickly that it doesn't have time to cool.

There are two bathhouses still open, Buckstaff and Quapaw both privately run and exorbitently priced - so yes you guessed right - we gave it a miss! I can think of better things to spend $286 on.

QUAFFING THE ELIXIR!

LOVELY CAMPSITE AT GULPHA GORGE NEAR HOT SPRINGS

CARDINAL BIRD AT HOT SPRINGS

The whole area is a mass of trails, originally made to compliment the treatments prescribed by the bathhouses - we just enjoyed them!

We have been watching the news with interest regarding Hurricane Sandy and now demoted to a cyclone- once again we missed the disaster that has happened. Arkansas is enjoying clear blue skies and slowly warming up. 

 We are now in north west Louisiana at Lake Bistineau State Park with hardly any lake as they have drained it to get rid of invasive  species and no hiking trails as they have closed them for logging.
But its a beautiful place - we are  surrounded by Cypress trees draped in SpanIsh moss, egrets, herons, woodpeckers and butterflies.
And we can get a TV signal so will be watching the Country Music Awards show tonight after a day in the sun.

ROY LOOKING FOR THE LAKE AT BISTINEAU LAKE

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES AT BISTINEAU

OUR BISTINEAU LAKE SITE