Traveling Back Roads (Mostly)

One last shot of our neighbor longhorns before leaving
Leander KOA on Thursday morning.

On Thursday, April 6, we began driving out of Texas headed for Smoky's mom in Illinois, stopping that first night in Gilmer, Texas at Watts RV Park. Traveling to Gilmer gave us a chance to see another part of the state, one not considered Hill Country. We were pleasantly surprised at how many beautiful flowers we saw along the roadside.

Roadside wildflowers in northeast Texas.

Smoky had read somewhere that the Texas Department of Transportation is considered the world's biggest gardener (we hope we remembered this correctly). I discovered on the TDOT website that roadside wildflower programs have been in place since 1932. Now, TDOT buys and sows about 30,000 pounds of wildflower seeds along the roadsides each year.

Roadside verbena were abundant and found in many colors.

Encouraging native species of flowers and grasses cuts back on the mowing required, a win-win for everyone. And traveling down the state highways in northeast Texas was thrilling.

These beautiful yellow flowers were
abundant along the roadside to Gilmer, TX.

By Friday, April 7, we had driven out of Texas and into Arkansas. Before crossing the state line, we stopped to see what the bright yellow flower was that covered large patches of Texas roadside. They were beautiful. We are having trouble identifying them, so let us know if you have a clue.

Friday night we stayed at Catherine's Landing at Hot Springs. The campground was large and right on Lake Catherine. The heated pool was beautiful and popular, and the bath houses were modern and clean. I had a bad experience in the laundry room, however, and had to rewash one load late Friday night after it came out of the washer dirtier than when I put it in! Ugh!

View from Scenic Byway 7 of the Grand Canyon
of the Ozarks.

The weather has been beautiful for these travel days--blue skies, temperatures in the high 70s during the day and cooling down at night. Saturday we traveled on small winding Scenic Byway 7 through the Hot Springs National Park and then through the Ozarks on our way to Harrison, Arkansas. The views were amazing along this curvy road, which is considered by some to be one of the ten most scenic roads in the nation.

Harrison Village Campground.

We arrived after 6 at the Harrison Village Campground, where owner Mike patiently waited for us after his closing time. Mike and lovely wife Becky have owned the campground for 11 seasons, and it is a really charming place to stay.

Harrison Village Campground's
amazing laundry room! You don't
see the ironing board, comfy
chairs, and reading material.

Mike, Harrison Village
Campground owner.

I shared my laundry fiasco from Saturday night with Mike, and he suggested I check out his laundry. Wow! It is great. I've always been crazy about washing clothes. I got it from my grandmother, who also loved doing laundry. Mike's laundry room would have made my Nannie proud! This is our last night camping before moving to our permanent spot in Illinois, and we're voting Harrison Village Campground our favorite spot!

Off to bed!

Tonight's almost full moon!

--Shann