Monday

I headed out from Lake Catherine State Park early in the morning so that I could have time to drive over to Crater of Diamonds State Park and still get into Texas at a reasonable time. Crater of Diamonds is a 37-acre volcanic lava tube that is full of diamonds, garnets, and other gems. They have had flawless diamonds over 10 carats found in the field. They plow the dirt and you look through it for stuff that sparkles. You can screen the dirt dry or take buckets of it to a washing station and wash it through a couple of screens to catch the small gravel. You then look through the gravel for diamonds. Dry is too much work, so I tried wet screening. It works pretty good, but you have a lot of gravel to look through. I was short on time, so I have a box of gravel to look through later. There were 11 diamonds found in the park the day before.

On my way to Sulphur Springs, I passed a field with more travel trailers than I have ever seem in one place. My first thought was that they had to belong to FEMA. Sure enough, when I got to the other end of the compound there was the sign - the FEMA Emergency Housing Unit in Hope, Arkansas.

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I stopped in Cooper, TX to eat supper. By 4:30 pm everything in town was closed. The only place to eat was Big Jon's Burgers. Had a pretty good burger and chili-cheese fries for about $6.

I spent the night in a cabin at Cooper Lake State Park - South Sulphur Unit. No photos of the park, there is not much to see. It's a small rustic cabin near some water.

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Tuesday, I will head back to Austin to resuce Parker from the kennel and get ready to go back to work on Wednesday. I have decided that I am ready to retire, buy and RV, and spend my life on the road.

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-Eric

Sunday

I headed off to Hot Springs first thing in the morning and went over to the Buckstaff Bathhouse on historic Bathhouse Row. I soaked in the thermal waters the same way they did 50 years ago. You have an assistant that helps you through the process. It started with a 20 minute soak in 105 degree water in a clawfoot tub with a whirlpool. Then you move to 10 minutes in a sitz bath (not so impressed). Next is 3 minutes in a steam cabinet and a 20 minute full body hot wrap. You finish off with a 2 minute shower in a "needle shower" that completely surrounds your body with water jets. After a short time in the cooling room, you get dressed and leave. It took about 75 minutes to complete and was worth the $22 for the experience.




After the bath, I walked around some of the trails and looked at one of the few hot springs that is not covered up with steel doors. The water is 147 degrees when it surfaces. I also drove the windy road to the top of the mountain and went up the 250 foot mouontain tower. It was a nice view, but not wirth the $6 to ride the elevator.

My next stop was the Garvan Woodland Gardens. It was one of the best gardens I have walked through. I got a lot of ideas for working on my yard this winter.

I spent the night in a cabin at Lake Catherine State Park. It was a nice cabin with a full kitchen and living room. It was a cool evening, so I took a walk down the waterfall trail loop, which is about 2.5 miles long. It follows the edge of the lake to a waterfall then goes back into the woods.

Saturday - Part 2

My first stop back in Arkansas was at the White River National Wildlife Refuge. I drove 15 miles down a dirt road into the refuge and found myself in the middle of the swamps. It really was like being in the middle of nowhere. It's so remote in some areas, that scientists think they recently found an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Something thought to have been extinct for over 40 years. I was hoping to take a picture of one and claim a $10k reward from the Nature Conservancy. Unfortunately, no woodpeckers. Just a lot of water and cypress trees.

I left the refuge and was on my way down a small road when I saw the largest gathering of waterfowl I have ever seen. There must have been 20,000 birds in this one flooded field.

I spent the night in Pine Buff, Arkansas at a Holiday Inn Express.

Saturday - Part 1

Sorry - no Graceland. I got up early in the morning at went over to the Memphis Fire Department Memorial. It's a large sculpture on the side of the Fire Museum that is probably about 25 feet tall. I also looked around the museum. They have a few really old fire trucks and some great interactive fire safety stuff for the kids.




When I finished there, it was time to go over to the Peabody Hotel for the famous duck march. They have five ducks that live in a penthouse suite on the top floor. Every morning at 11:00, they roll out the red carpet and march the ducks down the elevator to the lobby fountain. They take them back up at 5:00 each evening. It is quite a production and they have been doing this for something like 70 years.




After that, I ate at Rendezvous BBQ in an alley basement. I had a pulled pork sandwich, rice and beans, slaw and beans. Pretty good. I would have had the "famous" charcoal ribs, but didn't feel like a $20 lunch. Overall, I would be just as happy with Texas BBQ. http://www.hogsfly.com/

When I got done with lunch I headed out of town and back toward Arkansas.

...cont'd on part 2.