Wednesday, May 26:

We walked down to the dock after breakfast.  We watched for the shuttle returning but didn't see it.  We went back to Navarre Beach where Deanna waded in the water and found more shells.  I waited on the beach with her purse and camera.  We got a kick out of the tiny little clams.  A whole group of them would come up to feed with one wave, go back down for the second and then back up on the next wave.  We left and drove to the Naval Air Museum at Pensacola.  We had lunch there, then toured the museum, rode in the simulator for a Blue Angels trip, and saw a model of the USS Hornet. Billy's cousin died on the Hornet in World War 2.  It was an aircraft carrier.  We were fortunate and got a tour of all the airplanes they have  outside the museum.  Lots of historically important aircraft.  There was an interesting part of the museum where they recreated a 1940's kitchen and had a 1940's car.  I remember those old home kitchens well.  We left and drove to Fort Barrancas.  After touring the fort, we stopped at the Crab Trap Cafe for supper. Really good food and had a lot of fun with our waiter who had a distinctly Cajun accent.  He was a college student from New Orleans that was working the summer in the Pensacola area.  He said he was in fact a Cajun and filled us in on how to make good Étouffée.  After we got home, Deanna and I went to the hot tub.  It was malfunctioning and wasn't hot, so we sat in the heated pool for half an hour.  That really relaxed us. Later, Dave and Deanna walked down to the pier and I watched TV for a while.  Deanna came in and got me and guided me to the beach.  The moon was full and shining on the water. So beautiful!!

Fort Barancas at Pensacola Naval Air Station

Pensacola NAS Fort Barancas pass

Map of how to find Baracas on the NAS

Clams come to the surface

Flying Tigers

Typical 1940's kitchen

Dee flying an F-15

And they dig back in

Corsair

Fort Pickens on the left

The bay protected by Fort Barrancas

Historic aircraft

An old Connie

Early high altitude suits

And the remenants of another on the right

Thursday, May 27: Ft. Myers to Vicksburg

We are leaving today to go back to Mississippi.  Left camp at 9:00 AM.  On highway I-10 we saw the Blue Angels emblems on the underpass and they were really pretty.  We stopped at a rest area just inside Alabama then went on to Mobile Bay.  We saw the USS Alabama in the distance at Mobile but didn't stop as we had toured it 5 years ago.  We drove through a mile long tunnel that went under the bay.  We stopped at a Visitor's Center when we reached Mississippi and got maps there.  Gosh, why the heck can't our home state of Oklahoma have such nice visitors centers?  There was lots of highway work along here.  We drove through Biloxi and noticed most of the old houses we saw in 2005 were gone, due to hurricane Katrina.  So sad!!  All those beautiful 100 plus year old homes.  There were lots of empty lots with just a foundation showing and a few new buildings.  The same thing had happened in Gulfport, lot after lot with nothing but grass and a few trees.  How sad.  When we got to Jackson, we had to detour north because of a car fire and traffic jam.  We got back on our highway at Vicksburg and went to the Ameristar RV Park.  We had some good leftovers for supper, and then watched TV for a while.   We have to be up at 6:00 AM to leave for Eureka Springs, Ark., so we went to bed early.

Map of Ameristar at Vicksburg

Navarre Beach pier

Kelp(?) design

Welcome to Alabama

Welcome to Mississippi

Our site at Navarre Beach Campground

Blue Angels decorations

Entrance to Alabama visitor center

Mississippi visitors center

One last look at that beautiful ocean

U.S.S. Alabama at Mobile

Mississippi visitors center

Friday, May 28:

After breakfast, we started getting the RV ready to leave.  We had to check out at the office, so we left at 7:20 AM. We crossed the Mississippi River into Louisiana soon after leaving.  We passed through Transylvania, LA and I took a picture of their water tower that has a bat on it.  When we got to Arkansas, we stopped at a beautiful welcome center.  We saw the crop dusters in the air again flying over the fields.  We stopped at Pine Bluff for gas and had to wait on an old lady at the pump. Deanna and I went to the rest room and she was still messing with the pump when we came out!!  We finally got our gas and drove through Little Rock at noon.  We saw the park named "Toad Suck Park" again.  Can you believe that name?  We had lunch at a Waffle House at Conway, AR then went on north to Eureka Springs.  We drove through the Boston Mountains and the Bobby Hopper tunnel on route 540 just north of Chester Arkansas, went through Pea Ridge, then down a really curvy, steep road to get to Eureka Springs.  We arrived at the Wanderlust RV Park at 6:00 PM.  We had Chimichanga for supper and ice cream for desert, then watched a movie.  We are all really tired from all that driving.

Wanderlust map at Eureka Springs AR

Wanderlust RV Park Brochure

Crossing the Mississippi into Louisiana

Arkansas a state full of pride for America

Bobby Hopper tunnel in Arkansas

Saturday, May 29:

I don't know what we will do today, but we will see the Passion Play tonight.  We all slept in this morning.  After breakfast, we drove to Berryville to shop at Wal-Mart for gas and groceries.  We bought trolley tickets when we got back to the office.  We waited and waited for the trolley, but it never came.  We learned there was an accident on its route that held it up, so we drove to the Passion Play area, got our tickets, toured the art museum, and then came back to the RV to rest.  We finally got on a trolley that took us downtown; another one took us to the old Crescent Hotel.  We saw old pictures, and old organ, and an old piano; then went to the 4th floor balcony. What a beautiful view!!  We then caught another trolley to bring us back to the RV.  We ate a quick supper of burritos, then left to go to the Passion Play.  We need to be there by 7:30 PM at the latest to hear the potter's story.  I changed my clothes as I suspect it will get cool once the sun goes down.  Before the potter's story, David the shepherd boy, came out and told about being a shepherd, slaying Goliath, and other interesting things.  The potter showed how he made vases of clay and related it to the Bible stories about clay vessels.  The Passion Play started at 8~30and was a wonderful, emotional experience.  We got to bed about 11:00PM that night.

The Great Passion Play tickets

The hard working girls

Our site at Eureka Springs

At the entrance to the Great Passion Play

Sunday, May 30:

After breakfast this morning, I read my Bible trying to catch up on my yearly reading schedule.  We left camp and decided to check on Quigley's Castle, even though it is closed on Sunday.  We found the road, but the gate was locked so we couldn't see any of the castle itself. We went on down highway 23 south and found a good road.  There were lots of turns but not too sharp.  Dave decided that will be the best way to go when we leave instead of going back the way we came.  We stopped at Withrow Springs State Park and found a beautiful place.  Clear, clean water; several dams, the cave where the spring originates; and visited the gift shop where Deanna bought me a pin.  They have some of the old grinding stones built in to the wall at the mouth of the cave.  If you closely at the pictures you can see the round stones.  We then drove back to Eureka Springs and had lunch at Grandma's Beans and Cornbread Cafe where we also found a very contented cat at the front porch.  We went back to the park, and then rode the trolley back to the Crescent Hotel.  Deanna and I had noticed a pretty church a short way down from it and decided to walk to it.  Dave stayed on the porch of the hotel. We found a beautiful Catholic church with all kinds of statues and flowers.  It was so peaceful there.  As a matter of fact it was so peaceful that we found ANOTHER very contented cat sleeping away.  We then rode the trolley to the downtown area, toured a few stores and a park, and had ice cream.  We then took the trolley back to the RV Park and rested a bit.  We are all very tired and will leave for home tomorrow.  After supper, Dave and Deanna went to get some ice cream and I stayed in the RV and rested.

Withrow Springs State Park Map

Withrow Springs State Park brochure

Withrow Springs fees

Withrow Springs RV campsites

Monday, May 31:

We left camp at 10:00AM, headed for Oklahoma.  We got there at noon and stopped at Natural Falls State Park to use their rest room and eat lunch in the RV.  We got back to Bartlesville about 1:45 PM and packed up all my belongings.  We stopped at Sam's when we got to Caney to pick up my lock box, keys, and mail, and then went on to Havana.  When we got home, Dave and Deanna helped me unload all my stuff, turn on my water and air conditioner, and then they went on home.  This trip was 4512 miles long, including all the driving to different beaches, parks, etc.  It was a good vacation, but it is good to be home again.

Withrow Springs Arkansas

This water is FREEZING!

At Grandma's

Someone set up right in the middle of the road

Toward the spring entrance

The spring entrance with mill stones

Behind the Crescent Hotel

Church behind the Crescent

Another contented cat