April 9  through April 15, 2004

Friday April 9:

I awoke at 5:45AM;  there was work to do, as we needed to load new GPS maps if we are going to Ft Smith.  The daily log is falling behind too, with concentration on preparation of the web page…..  We pick a route by paper map from Hot Springs to Ft Smith, through the mountains instead of along the interstate.  This will take longer, but should be more interesting.  In Ft Smith we will replan our Arkansas trip....and maybe even into Kentucky.  It does seem like planning too far ahead invariably leads to wasted paper, though....  :-)  The drive along US 270 and US 71 through the Ouachita mountains is quite scenic.  

Rock shops and crystal mines seem to be the thing all along here... As we ran north, near the Oklahoma border, the land leveled, with farms and pastures.

 Small communities would pop up along the highway.

Some had a store or gas station, but many did not.  As we approached Ft Smith, industry became apparent, and the environment turned urban; Ft Smith is a city.  It is a small city, but definitely a city, and a shopping center for many Oklahoma residents too, to judge from the license plates. We found Sam's Club, and immediately shopped.  We easily received permission to stay overnight, as long as we stayed on the outer perimeter of the lot (where we always park).  In the early evening tornado warnings were posted, and all channels of local TV were fully devoted to storm tracking.  Some tornadoes touched down in areas south of Ft Smith, in the area we had driven through today.  The TV storm tracker stayed on continuously until the warnings were lifted, with constant warnings for people in the storm's track to be in their "Safe Area".  I'm not sure where our safe area is....and I'm not sure I'm flexible enough to kiss my tailbone goodbye either....  :-))  I am beginning to think a good weather radio with severe weather alarm that could be left on continuously, only sounding when alerts are issued, might be a good investment for us if we continue to visit these areas of high tornado activity in springtime.....  The cell service here is STRONG digital, so I expect the Internet will work tomorrow.  I turn in right after dinner, expecting to arise early.

Saturday April 10:

I was awake at 1:45 AM, and found the net worked fine.  In the course of doing our business, I found we still had no E-Bill from the cancelled Discover Card.  :-(  We called Discover customer service from a public phone at Sam's (I do not like to reveal my account details on a cell phone), found a significant amount was due, and would be accepted as a one time bill paying payment to that closed account.  Otherwise we would need to have a statement to mail a check, or pay at any Sears store.  I pay it through our web bill paying, and hope it goes through.   I also found our Mastercard showed triple charges for two purchases made at Walmart in Marshall TX on Apr 1.  Customer service there said these erroneous charges were made to lots of people, and had already been credited back to our account.  No comment on whose fault it was...shall we blame it on April Fool joke?  Some joke!!  This annoying business out of the way, we called and reserved 2 tickets for Ralph Stanley's concert next Saturday at the Ozark Folk Center.  They will be held for pickup at their Dry Creek Lodge Office.  We called a Passport America campground in Mountain View, and they are understandably full for the next weekend.  We called Blanchard Springs, and lady said get there by Wednesday for available first come first served camping spots for next weekend.  She expects the campground will start to fill Thursday night.  I have lots of work to do on the website, so we move to a nearby mall for the afternoon.  The weather is not improving as clouds get darker!  We move to a Walmart a few miles south, and find lots of shopping ongoing.  We find a place near a truck tractor at the edge of the lot, and I go inside for one last chance at the chocolate covered marshmallow Easter eggs....  the candy aisle is JAMMED.  :-)  I work the webpage until bedtime.

Sunday April 11:

It rained sporadically overnight.  It is not yet a beautiful Easter morning in Ft Smith as I upload the webpage, but the weather improved as we visited Ft Smith National Historic Park, site of "Hanging Judge" Parker's court for 21 years in the late 1800's.  We saw the reconstructed gallows.  

It is capable of hanging 12 men at once, with the hangman pulling one lever on the left side of the platform.  The lever simultaneously releases both sides of the full width trap door in the platform through a rather complex linkage mechanism.

The trap door is clearly blocked from functioning now by large pieces of angle iron positioned to prevent opening even if the lever somehow gets pulled.  This large a gallows does not seem necessary, as only 79 men were hanged in 21 years here.  During that same time they lost over 100 deputy marshals murdered in line of duty.  There was huge lawlessness in the Indian Territories then, with non Indian criminals fleeing there, where legal jurisdiction over them was not clearly defined.  Perhaps at the time they needed to make a firm statement of commitment to law and order, and the gallows was a part of that statement.  The military headquarters building which later served as the courthouse under Judge Parker now serves as the National Park Service visitors center.

We declined to take the offered ranger led tour of the building, preferring to walk the spacious grounds outside instead.  We plan to overnight in Clarksville about an hour's drive east, then proceed on to Toad Suck Ferry Park the next day, so do not have a full day here.  There are few visitors here this Easter Day, even though the sun is now peeping out between the clouds; we pretty much have the place to ourselves. Ft Smith served as a supply depot for the Army, and settlers too, over the years.  This Storehouse Commissary building is the oldest building still standing on Ft Smith.

The covered wagon, which hauled many supplies for the Army, looks quite fragile and top heavy to me, and has little space left over with a single large wooden barrel placed inside as cargo..  I suppose the large wheels made pulling the wagon on unimproved roads easier for the horses or oxen....but it made tipping over easier too.   The first Ft Smith, built in 1817, is now gone, having been used and abandoned by the Army several times in the early 1800's .  It was located  in a pretty place

The first Fort Smith, finally abandoned in 1839, overlooked the point of land where the Poteau River (left in the picture) flows into the Arkansas River, and was built primarily to stop warring between Indian tribes in the Indian territory which is now Oklahoma..  The Arkansas river is navigable to barges with 9 foot depth here, due to the Corps of Engineers built locks and dams that also provide many of our recreational opportunities in Arkansas. It continues to be maintained navigable to the port of Tulsa in northeast Oklahoma.  This area played an important part in the controversial "Trail of Tears" forced resettlement of many Eastern Indian tribes to Oklahoma Indian Territory in the 1830-1840 time frame.  The donation supported Trolley Museum nearby was open, and staffed by volunteers rebuilding an old car.

Parts are scavenged from old cars, or fabricated as necessary. The organization offers rides for $1.00, but the station was not in sight, so I passed. They do need 20 volunteers to staff the scheduled trolley runs during the week, though. I should have asked what drivers license I'd need to drive a trolley....I always think better in hindsight!   :-(  There was a handsomely repainted steam locomotive outside.

It was presided over by a very pregnant young gray cat who would poke out of strange openings to be petted.   I suspect this locomotive will hide her kittens somewhere....it is not operative, so there is little danger of it hurting them.  The man in charge said it would cost $1 million to get it running, to meet current boiler safety standards, and then they would have no track to run it on.  He also mentioned that steam locomotives require 250 hours of maintenance for each hour of operation; that makes military aircraft seem like a maintenance bargain!  Running one of these is a big budget affair.  When I return to the RV, Claire is doing TaiKwonDo. I work a bit more on the computer, then we head east on I-40 to Clarksville.  There is some construction on I-40, and also some work ongoing this Easter day.  Crews are burning brush piles in the median strip.

I think the choice of day is strange here in the heart of the Bible Belt, but I guess even here not everyone celebrates the holiday if they can get overtime pay.  The Walmart is not where we expect it, but it is visible from the I-40 exit.  We settle in on the edge of the lot near other RVs for the night, and Claire prepares our Easter dinner; Fresh pineapple as an appetizer, baked ham, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, with Easter candy for dessert (like it is needed!). I'm ready for bed after a last check of email.

Monday April 12:

It is not as cold as predicted this morning, 52 under the RV, although I slept VERY late, 'til 8:30AM…a pattern I notice developing after too many hours on line on the weekends…  :-)  Purry got his forgotten evening pill at 5:45 AM though, and it was not cold then either.  There are forecasts of temperatures in the 30's tonight and Tuesday night, so maybe they will not materialize either (hope, hope).  We shopped Walmart after Claire prepared the black eyed peas for dinner.  It is cool outside, so much so that the open vents to let the cooking steam out are unwelcome.  We found Easter candy at half price, and made our FINAL purchase of that.  The customer service manager at Walmart gave us directions through downtown Clarksville to a corner with TWO laundromats, but could not comment on their quality... we expect that with two so near each other, they will be better than average..  :-)  We move quickly to the laundromats, and enter the first one...to be greeted by a friendly owner, who is definitely in sell mode.  :-)  She quickly answers our questions, and Claire decides to stay there.  I must call the home town and see if we owe any taxes....  Sure enough we do, some due today.  They offer NO WAY to pay on the phone, so we are stuck with two $5.00 demand charges plus insignificant interest until our mailed check can get there.  The town is the WORST entity we have to do business with....  They just do not understand "We do not GET mail"...GRRRR!!!!  EVERYBODY else, federal and state included, have ways to do business over the phone or on the web!  Other than for the convenience of our town, and once annually to get income tax statements, we do not need mail [UNLESS a credit card gets cancelled...  :-) ].  We got directions to the post office, and stopped to mail the income tax extension forms and the town tax checks.  We then continued to Toad Suck Ferry Corps of Engineers park.  I-40 in Conway was under heavy construction, and at 4PM Conway seemed jammed too...maybe BECAUSE of people looking for a way around the construction delays.  At least the roadsides are lined with what looks like dark red clover, and it is pretty in full bloom.

We've seen a lot of this in Arkansas.  It does make traffic slow downs a lot less painful!   We did not know EXACTLY where Toad Suck Park was...the Corps of Engineers directions are always a bit mysterious, and we had no others.  The route they described led right through Conway, and then an incomplete road sign sent us in the wrong direction in heavy traffic....  :-(  We did find the park, on the west side of the Arkansas river centered around Toad Suck Ferry Dam.  Rates here are $9 AFTER the half price discount for our golden age pass; it must be the value of the name.....  :-)  We chose a site overlooking the river just below the dam, and parked so the  windshield overlooked it.

Moving to the extreme river end of the paved pad, our electric cord reached without the extension cord too.  :-)   There was a phone message from the man interested in traveling to see our boat, which we quickly answered, but apparently DAYS after he left it.  Verizon's voicemail is less than useless when you travel out of native Verizon coverage!!  :-((  At least we could now agree to his newly changed plans!!  :-) The weather was raw, with light drizzle as we signed into the campground and connected electricity. The computer crashed just as the gate attendant was swiping my credit card, so he took minutes to reboot, then swiped again...we must watch for double billing on this one, fer sure!  The genial attendant hands me a sheet explaining the TOAD SUCK name in answer to my question.

He also points out the nearby gas station across the road selling the T shirts.  :-)  I comment that we have really enjoyed Arkansas, and I have a hard time understanding why so many people make fun of it, with all the beauty, interesting things to do, and plentiful parks spread over the state. He agrees, and adds that people making fun of his state often makes him a bit mad...  I guess I see his point.   Even Purry in his fur coat seemed willing to come inside quickly today, despite AMPLE green grazing available, and by the time I return and finish the outdoor chores both he and Claire are snug and cozy inside.  :-)  Of course, some of my "outdoor" time has been spent in the very warm gatehouse too.... Dinner warms easily in the microwave...no need to start the generator first.  PBS TV is good and clear, even if the news itself is not that clear... We finally turn to NOAA weather radio for an understandable forecast, which includes a good warm weekend coming.  :-)  The river traffic passing through the lock is interesting to watch.

As darkness falls on the river, I'm ready for bed; we can no longer see the towboats on the river passing through the locks, but we hear their horns signaling for passage through the locks, and the steady whisper of turbulent water passing under the dam gates continues.   

Tuesday April 13:

48 degrees under the RV at 7:30 AM.  The sun pokes fitfully through hazy skies as I pull the front curtains to look out on the river.  It seems the water level below the dam has fallen overnight, and the gates in the dam are in a different position, passing less water.  These navigation dams serve only one purpose, to keep the water level deep enough for navigation to 9 foot depth all along the stream.  When there is more water, the dams allow it to flow down stream.  Like the Mississippi river dams, there is insufficient water storage volume behind the dams to permit holding back much water for flood control.  As on the Mississippi, lots of low dams were built to avoid flooding large areas of the adjacent land behind fewer high ones. The furnace ran at times during the night, and I felt the need for our heaviest quilt on the bed sometime during the darkness; it was quite comfortable under the mound of covers, though. We notice there are few lights in this park; unlike in brightly lit Walmart lots, we find lights are necessary to move around inside after dark here.  We took our time leaving Toad Suck Park, planning and finally deciding to go to Bull Shoals 120 miles away by the most direct route US65 rather than by SR 7 which adds 40 miles and over an hour to the trip. Both routes are labeled "scenic" by our maps.  The chosen route is over 3 hours of driving by the computer plan. Bull Shoals is further north than we have to go, but there are few campgrounds we have knowledge of in this area that would break the trip to Ozark Folk Center up better.  This unusual reddish tinged squirrel was a friendly native too.

I get the feeling he was used to handouts, but reluctantly refuse to further weaken his survival capability with more free food.  I tried calling a Passport America commercial campground that would be closer to our route along SR 7, and it appears they are still closed for the season, as I got no return call from either the land line or cell number given.  We showered and filled water, then walked to the Toad Suck "One stop"; combination gas station, convenience store, bait shop, and in one corner, Toad Suck souvenirs.

It sorta seemed to be Toad Suck's ONLY stop too....   :-)  The Toad  Suck T shirts seemed like the thing to have, if only to wear next summer on the cape...   

They might be under appreciated in church at home, even at Christmas.  Heck, even the camera rebelled at focusing them sharply.   :-))   The gate attendant said the old ferry boat that was said to be on display here in the park is gone.  He also said that recently tornadoes could occur at any time of year, although years ago they only occurred in the spring.  He said his idea of his "safe area" was the brick restroom 300 yards away, and even with his emphysema he expected he would be the first one there....  He said they had a NOAA  weather radio with automatic alert feature that could be left on, but would be silent until an alert was broadcast.  If we are going to spend much time in tornado country, we must look for one of these that operates on 12 volts..... It would be nice to know immediately when an alert is posted in the area we are passing through.  We dumped on the way out.  On the way back over the bridge we got a nice view of the interior of the lock, without any vessels in it.

Claire drove the first hour, and the hills slowed the driving well below what we might have expected.  During the second hour I drove, and Claire snapped this one as I rounded a curve on a downhill run....using the shoulder too as it would appear..

The scenery passing through the Ozarks is magnificent!  Soon we left US 65.  Immediately the road became winding as well as hilly, and was narrow.  There was no place to pull off, and no shoulder, so I led a parade much of the way as the speed limit was 55, with recommended speed on the switchbacks 35 or less.  The locals had no problem in their cars knowing the road, but the recommended speeds were about right for the RV.  We found a place to pull off where the road crossed the Buffalo National River, and stopped to take pictures of the scenic views. It is truly awesome....

I'm not sure how best to express the feeling of this place, but this is Claire's opinion...

It is difficult to do full justice to it in pictures.  We had little information about the Buffalo River area, other than knowing it was scenic and catered mainly to canoeists.  An old couple stopped and said there was a campground that would take RVs a few miles east if we took a turn at the top of the hill.  We decided this was much to be preferred to going another 20 miles to Bull Shoals, only to backtrack along the same route tomorrow.  The campground was Buffalo Point in the Buffalo National River park, run by the National Park Service.  It was almost empty, and the host told us where the level sites were, and indicated that here the Golden Age Passport  discount was not quite half price; we would pay $9.50/night with electricity.  A sites few are reserved, including the one we select overlooking the high bluffs on the far side of the bright green river far below. The reservation is for the coming weekend, and we will leave tomorrow.   This view is really SPECTACULAR through the windshield;

We just have to trust the park service has put these sites where the earth will hold....  :-)  The three inch diameter grape vines (left side of picture) hanging from the tree limb 50 feet above the ground would make a GREAT swinging vine...Tarzan style...  but I fear the water depth below would not support the 100 foot drop, so we'll leave them grow....  :-))    We walk down the road to the river built for canoe launching. A group is throwing stones, trying to get them across the river.

 Somehow, this reminds me of the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas;  I envision wading across to Mexico and climbing the Bluffs...but this water is COLD!   There is a sign "Outfitters Canoes Here", so we expect this is a major termination point for down river canoeists renting upstream.  SR 14 is one of the bigger roads crossing the 133 mile long river, and Buffalo Point is the headquarters for the Buffalo National River.  The scenery is unforgettable.

When we return to the RV I notice we have NO CELL service here, and the only TV we receive is a ghostly PBS signal, but that means we watch the Arkansas Outdoors show, which coincidentally talks about the Arkansas elk herd in the Buffalo National River park...I had no idea there were elk in Arkansas, let alone in our area.  We've got something else to watch for!!  Dinner is steak, snap beans and New Orleans rice; we decide the New Orleans rice is too salty, so will not buy it again.  My thinking is that it's good we don't like it, as it is unavailable anywhere but in Cajun country, and we're pretty far away from there now.  :-)   After watching the President's news conference, I am ready for bed.  Claire joins me almost immediately, not finding the available TV show interesting.

Wednesday April 14:

43 degrees under the RV at 6:45 AM. This is the coolest night we've experienced in months. The furnace ran regularly after midnight, when it started because we had several overhead vents open.  :-(  They were quickly closed, but outside temperature was already in the low 50s.  This morning we plan an early departure for Blanchard Springs campground, to arrive before noon.  This way we beat any folks quitting work early to get a spot.  We skip dumping as there will be water and dump in Blanchard springs too. The drive out of the campground is beautiful too; the dogwoods are in full bloom.

 The drive over narrow winding mountain roads is tiring, but Claire lasts the whole 38 miles without relief.  She even slowed for this young dog LAYING in the middle of our traffic lane!  

As she slowed almost to a stop, wondering if it was alive, it slowly got up and ambled off the road.  In this tiny town we also attracted the attention of a police officer, who popped out of nowhere to follow behind us for half a mile, then turned around.  Perhaps the town dogs are getting too much protection for their survival instincts to develop....:-))  We always religiously obey speed limits, and this is one time it paid off!  Towards the end of the drive, the road seems to get a bit straighter and less hilly.  We find signs for the turnoff to Blanchard Springs a couple miles before we expect it, but gladly turn onto the indicated paved road.  Previous Ozark NF campgrounds all had signs leading onto dirt roads, most looking too narrow for another vehicle to pass the RV.  We find the campground a bit over a mile from the caverns, and get our pick of the few good motorhome sites.  We are first!  :-)  We choose the easiest site to get in and out of, as we expect to be coming and going.  If we place the front wheels on the tent gravel, we level almost perfectly too.  Level sites are a scarce commodity in the Ozarks...  :-))  We sign up for 4 nights at the $5.00/night golden access rate.  In the unlikely event we find something more convenient in town 14 miles away, we can write this "investment" off....  There is weak one bar analog cell service when we pull in.  A few minutes later we notice we have no service. These isolated campgrounds in pretty valleys next to creeks and rivers will probably never get good service, as the cost of erecting a tower close enough to serve it is not justified.   We decide to relax the rest of the day, and see the caverns here tomorrow.  Although we have the whole afternoon ahead of us, we are not feeling very ambitious, and an additional benefit of waiting is that Thursday Claire becomes 62 and qualifies for the Golden Age discount in the caverns too.  :-)  We need to pitch our tent on the site to hold it while we are away, so I open the rear compartment where I think it has been stored forever....and find it EMPTY.  YIKES, we've been robbed....but then I think; it is more probable the sleeping bags and tent were removed when Matt went camping late last fall.  We are always cramped for storage space, and here is an EMPTY locker.....for a full season!  DUHHHH!!!  I think a bit more, and wonder if the tent is stored in the locker with the folding chairs.  I remove everything from that locker, and way in back is the tent.  :-)  We pitch it in front of the RV.

no question now that  this site is occupied, whether we leave in the RV or not!  Claire checks out the showers in the well maintained new looking building 50 feet from our campsite, and finds them clean, with free HOT water, and locking private exterior doors too.  This is one of the best bargains we've found in our travels...just when we were thinking we were getting into a high cost area, too...  :-)  Claire practices TaiKwonDo, then colors her hair.   I wash the numerous bugs off the windshield and front of the RV, then despite my aversion to public facilities, enjoy a hot shower too.  I'll admit I let the water run full force for quite a while.  I'm sure this design of shower with full privacy might cause all sorts of problems in many areas, but it says much for the folks using this area that National Forest officials are confident enough in their clientele to build them this way.  :-)  Dinner is spaghetti with Claire's delicious sauce made with canned turkey.  Purry gives us some concern by refusing his treat of the turkey, but it smells and tastes fine to us.  Purry seems to be gaining weight while eating less; I think that is a good sign for a hyperthyroid cat.  Perhaps the daily grazing on fresh new grass helps, too?  :-))  After our dinner is complete, Purry gobbles his treat eagerly;  he just does not want to appear too eager I guess  But then WHY does he trip Claire by hanging between her legs while she prepares every meal, HUH?  We get only the same channel of PBS TV here as in Buffalo Point, from Mountain View 14 miles away, with a strong signal but still lots of ghosts and color distortion.  I guess areas like this are what persuade folks to pay for satellite TV.  :-)  We make coffee and charge the battery around dusk, then it's off to bed.  Tonight seems MUCH warmer than the last few...but we still decide to close the vents upon retiring.  :-)

Thursday April 15:

It's 49 degrees under the RV at 5:00 AM.  We did not run the furnace, but it was cool enough for my fleece over suit.  I worked on the computer until nearly 10 AM, when folk music started from a campsite next door.  At first I thought it was a radio, but the man was sitting there with his guitar and singing beautifully in this mountain forest springtime morning.  WHAT a way to start an Ozark Folk Festival!  :-))  When I stopped writing this foolishness and walked out of the RV and started down the campground road toward him, he invited me into his campsite.  Dan Merry from Ft Smith AR introduced himself;  he has made four CDs he sells for $10 each, and also sells a foot ointment he has discovered that helps his sore feet.   I listened in awe as he played his multi-autographed guitar and sang song after song to his appreciative audience of one...and he is GOOD!  

His guitar is autographed by big names in the folk music business, folks like Jimmy Driftwood and Ralph Stanley.  Dan writes many songs, and sang a few of his originals for me.  One long ballad told of an aircraft disaster which had killed hundreds, but the pilot saved hundreds too, as he was able to crash land the plane in a cornfield using only throttle control on the two remaining engines, after the flight controls were destroyed in a midair engine explosion.  The usual result with control failure is spinning in from dizzy heights killing all aboard....  Dan is a very interesting man, with a varied history, and he shares freely.  We talk and he sings until nearly noon, when I must get back to the RV to leave for our Blanchard  Springs Cave tour.  He has a web site, http://groups.msn.com/fingerpik which contains information about buying his CDs. He sells his Sweet Feet ointment directly, with more info available by email on request to fingerpik@hotmail.com.  He generously offers me a sample of the ointment, which has little interest for me UNTIL I see him spread it on his face...against the pesky black flies that I noticed were not bothering him as he sang, but were BUGGING me... maybe I do have interest! :-))  At the cave entrance, Claire exercises her eligibility for the Golden Age Passport on her birthday, and we eat a quick lunch before the introductory video starts.  The Blanchard Springs cave tour is interesting, and the limestone formations are beautiful.

The bright flood lights here are helpful to photography, as my flash does not have the range to deal with the 1100 foot size of this room, and the camera moves too much with the dim natural illumination provided.  

 I am struck by how similar it looks to Carlsbad Caverns...even to the lighting and walkways.  It's uniqueness is in the guide's interesting talk, but the visual impression is quite similar.  This small pool in the floor is walled in by limestone.

The major pool in the picture is just to the left of center;  Limestone precipitates out of the water which drips from the roof of the cave, and deposits at the edges, growing the wall taller so it holds more water, which continues the process.....  Cave coral gets name from its similar appearance to coral in the sea, and it's color from minerals in the limestone.

The common red and pink coloration in this cave is caused by traces of iron.  New stalactites form with hollow tubes through which water runs, depositing minerals which lengthen the tubes and eventually close the central opening.  Further growth results from water flowing on the outside of the stalactite.

The broken stalactites may have been caused when the nearby cave opening was closed by a landslide in the tunnel to the surface.  This cave seems smaller than Carlsbad, but we only took the one hour tour through the developed part of the cave; there is a 4 hour hard hat "on your hands, knees, and belly" tour through undeveloped parts of the cave available with advance reservations.  One point that interested me, but it makes sense upon reflection; the guide said major seismic events, such as the New Madrid earthquake, do not collapse these caves, as the destructive waves travel along the surface, not as deep as this cave 240 feet underground.  I was quite doubting...until I thought about the millions of years this cave took to form. It is still here a mere 150 years or so after the New Madrid earthquake 150 miles away, the largest ever recorded in the US, which was felt strongly in Boston MA over 1500 miles away.  The closed tunnel to the surface near the broken stalactites MIGHT have been caused by an earthquake, and that entrance closing probably caused bats to stop using this chamber, which piles of very old guano prove they once did in large numbers.  Claire partially prepared squash soup dinner before we drove to Mountain View to pick up our concert tickets.  We chose the longer route 14 as there was no sign to the Folk Center on shorter Rt 87.  Rt 14 had a really LONG STEEP hill before we arrived at the Folk center.  The folks there were exceptionally friendly; a lady preparing the gift shop for tomorrow's opening called to locate our concert tickets, and then directed us to the administration building to pick them up.  She even offered to take us there in her car...but with the distance being less than half a mile we thanked her, but preferred to walk.  After getting specially marked maps and detailed directions to downtown from the administration lady, we drove the RV on the narrow streets to the area of the Mountain View courthouse.  We passed the Rodeo grounds, an easy walk from the Folk Center.  We will try and see our first rodeo Sunday, when the published festival schedule is slowing down....IF the impromptu music is not MORE interesting!  :-)  We drive around a bit to find Rt 87 for the trip back to the campsite after tonight's youth concert; the road is said to have shorter but steeper hills, but not seriously worse than Rt 14, and 4 miles shorter.  We park in the public parking lot downtown; parking is already pretty scarce, and the festival has not started.  Everything is an easy walk here;  musicians are playing in small groups scattered about the lawns, entertaining anyone who chooses to listen.

This gentleman picks an instrument which resembles a guitar, but there are significant differences.

The face of his instrument has a metal vent, the instrument is played horizontally on his lap, with a sliding bar in his left hand moved to change chords, and the sharp metal picks he uses on the fingers of his right hand look positively DANGEROUS!  I seem to recall seeing the "Will pick for food" instrument case label on a TV show a while back, and perhaps the gentleman as well...he certainly plays professional quality music!!  :-))    Folks come with folding chairs and sit next to a group for a time, listening, then move on.  I talk with a lady from Tarrytown NY, who drove here instead of flying so she could bring her guitar along.  The group she was playing with meets here twice a year, at the spring and fall folk festivals, and are from various parts of the country, mostly from Memphis TN.  She said this place has not changed as fast as most places due to difficulty of getting here, but it was starting to develop.  The population of Mountain View has grown from 1800 in 1990 to nearly 3000 today.  The Arkansas Fish Commission pulls up a trailer with LARGE live game fish in tanks; they really do this RIGHT, with a tank of liquid oxygen to keep the concentration of large fish from depleting the water's oxygen.

 The display is interesting, but reflections and slight haze in the water prevent really good pictures of the occupants unless they cooperate by coming close to the glass.  The needlenosed guy in the foreground is a Gar;  the hazy light blue one with the red striped blouse is a lady on the other side of the tank.  :-)  We return to the Folk Center, eat dinner, finish dishes hurriedly, and walk up the hill to the auditorium for the free youth concert.  The guard remarks we have chosen the hard way to go; we could take the shuttle bus!  :-)  It does not seem that far to us, but it IS uphill, and steeply!  We get seated just as the show starts.  The young performers are mainly involved in the music roots program sponsored by the folk center, nearby schools, and other support organizations who provide instruments and financial support.  This program is designed to facilitate transferring the Ozark mountain music skills to the younger generation, who previously have been more interested in newer forms of musical expression...  :-)  The young musicians were impressive, and the half full auditorium was nodding heads and tapping feet to the lively rhythms of the fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin and bass string instruments.  There is no brass here, unless you count the spoons one lad used for percussion....  :-)  The hour show was too soon over, but we had a drive along the mountain road back to the campground to thrill us before we could sleep.  Roads are always different when driven in darkness, but we now had one advantage; we could use the WHOLE road unless we saw headlights coming at us...and we did!  The motorhome passenger side is much more vulnerable at night, as we cannot see how close the rear of the coach is coming to the edge of the road on turns...we appreciate an extra margin of safety.  We returned to the campsite by backing around in a drive to another campsite, exciting the occupant who came out to direct us away....  We are sorry to disturb them, but there is little other opportunity to turn this coach around here, so we will do this maneuver again tomorrow night!  Bed comes almost IMMEDIATELY tonight....it is 9:30, WAAY past usual bedtime!  :-)

PLANS:  We will stay in Mountan View through Sunday.  If we can get reservations, we'll go to the Ritz for dinner before Ralph Stanley's show tonight; they have a special seafood buffet.  :-)  We'll work our way into Kentucky, and then through West Virginia and into Virginia.  We expect to be around Roanoke VA area by May 10, and home by May 21.