WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - Day 10 - Wright Patman Dam - Rocky Point

It was that time. Time to pack up and head on out of Craighead Forest in Jonesboro, Arkansas. We have been here a full week and it was time to try and move further south. We were looking for a little bit warmer weather. So Steve did all of the outside jobs and I did all of the inside jobs to get "roadworthy". Nick just sat there and looked handsome. 

We set the camera up and did our little intro for the video on YouTube. We usually start each travel day with a brief talk from the cockpit of our motorhome.

We headed on out of Jonesboro and angled our way down towards Texas. Steve spotted the lowest price of diesel he's ever seen, so we stopped and filled our tank. 2.99 a gallon--- (It's hard to read the LED lights on the right, but that is $2.49 a gallon for regular gas)

At first we were worried that the pump was out of service, but that was only the pump on the right for gasoline. They had plenty of the diesel available from the pump on the left. Yes, this is real diesel #2, not biodiesel or any other blended configuration. Our Mercedes-Benz engine requires regular diesel. We are averaging 12.8 miles per gallon. 

We also stopped in at a Walmart for a stock up of grocery items like fresh produce and milk and eggs. We needed a few things after being stationary for a whole week in Jonesboro.  

As we drove along, our eyes were adjusting to some really beautiful green grass along the sides of the road. Even some of the trees are budding out with leaves. The lower shrubbery is filling in with green deciduous leaves, and we noticed the pine trees are also having fresh new growth of green needles on all of their branch tips.

Our eyes are not accustomed to seeing this in February in Wisconsin!

We passed a lot of flat agricultural land with many channels and irrigation ditches. We know that a lot of these fields are rice fields. Arkansas is the major producer of rice in the United States. We also passed some of these huge solar farms. Amazing!

It was too busy at the gas station to take Nick out for a potty break. But not too far down the road we found an interesting rest area / wayside. It was in the middle of the meridian between both northbound and southbound routes of the interstate.  It was very, very noisy! But they did have a pet walking area so we got Nick out and about. We also noticed they had an overnight camping section. Even though it was noisy, it would be a good port in the storm if you are traveling in bad weather or needed a quick overnight stop. Good to know.

We are now in the Southwest corner of Arkansas and ready to cross the border into Northeast Texas. The roads are good, the skies are clear, and we put on a few miles.

 

We drove through the city of Texarkana about 5:00 p.m. This city is half in Arkansas and half in Texas. The middle of the city is split by a highway that is also the border. There was a lot of construction going on, and somehow we got ourselves into a temporary center "Thruway Route" instead of the right hand lane with exit ramps and on ramps.  We don't know how we got on it, but we couldn't get off! We could see the exit we needed to take to get down to our next intended campground. But we couldn't get there! 

We had to keep going further west. Exit after exit was unavailable to us because we were in this center "Thruway Route" and couldn't get off!!! Concrete barriers kept us from getting into the right hand lanes. I think it's to keep the truck traffic moving through the construction straight through without having to change any lanes. Well, we finally found our way off by the 4th or 5th exit. Now we had to double back around on side streets and side roads to make our way back to where we should have gotten off in the first place. We were miles out of our way...

Finally we worked our way down to the entrance to what we thought was Rocky Point Corps of Engineers campground at the Wright Patman Dam on the Wright Patman Lake.  We saw the sign and made our turn here.

We drove on down and we found the huge Dam. It was an amazing huge mound of grassy dirt with a road running alongside of it. Suddenly the road took a sharp incline and we were supposed to drive up on the top edge of the dam??? 

That didn't seem right to us. We stopped and double-checked the GPS and the maps. It really wasn't very clear. I guess there's another campground down here that's closed until March 1st. So we turned around and headed back out to the main highway.

Now we drove down to the next entrance off the highway also for Wright Patman lake. This one led us to the Rocky Point campground. Oh what a pretty drive into this campground...

We are really enjoying the tall pine trees. It looks a lot like the Northwoods of Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Not at all what we thought Texas would be looking like. In other years, we've been to the west side of Texas and down as far south as far as Big Bend. It's all desert and rolling rangeland and sagebrush.

We like the Army Corps of Engineer Parks because they accept our America the Beautiful senior access pass. It allows us to camp for half price!  The pass can be purchased on a yearly basis or you can buy the lifetime pass for $80. Ours has more than paid for itself in the first month that we had it.

For example, at this next campground, the electric sites are $26, so we got it for only $13. 

We looked up online to see that there were many sites available at Rocky Point. But there really was only one site that was available for a whole week that was considered waterfront. So that's the one we aimed for. The attendant at the gate said sure we could drive right in and check it out, and then register online. So that's what we did.

Just past the gate house, the welcoming crew made us feel right at home...

The deer in Texas are smaller in size than what we are used to up in the Northwoods. These were pretty accustomed to having people around and didn't seem to be very bothered by us at all.

We found our way to our intended campsite. Steve was just about ready to start backing in when our neighbor came over and interrupted him during the backup process. He was telling us how uneven the campsite was and that he couldn't get level on it etc etc. Well, we eyeballed it and it was pretty darn good. We aren't too picky and we have levelers to help out if it is. As soon as we got backed up onto the site, he came back again to interrupt us and tell us how glad he was that we could make it on to the site. We were busy trying to get set up and get supper going as it was getting late. This guy really wasn't leaving us alone, was he?  I think we were his "new best friends".  (set up and tear down times are the WORST time to interrupt RVers. Mistakes can be made that could be dangerous or costly).  We tried to be polite, but we had to firmly continue our setup routine and get settled in. 

Then he proceeded to go back to his site and crank his music, very loud. 

Yes, very loud! 

Ugh.

I managed to get supper started and Steve finished our hookups and getting our slides out. We were finishing up just in time to catch the most beautiful sunset ever...

Even though we were technically water side, we kind of had to look through some of the other campsites to see the sun setting.

I decided to grab my camera and walk down along the shoreline to catch some beautiful amazing sunset shots.  These are untouched and no filters. I do a little cropping to center the photo but that's about it. I don't manipulate my pictures.

The sun was going down and it was so pretty. What a great way to end a long travel day. The opposite shoreline made the perfect foreground for the sun as it was getting down near the horizon. It got bigger and bigger as it got close to the edge of the land.

As it slipped below the horizon, it made the most beautiful color striations against the clouds. Again, nothing here is manipulated or changed. It was so pretty that it was dazzling to the eyes as it sunk lower behind the trees.

This looks like an abstract watercolor painting or some crazy dyed fabric streaks of tie dye. But no, it was the actual sky!!!

As I walked back up to the motorhome, it was bathed in the same beautiful orange glowing light. I was so thankful we had a nice spot to rest for the night. Even with the loud music, we were happy to be off the road and having a spot to rest.

We decided the next morning that we would either move campsites to another site or head on further south. That's what's great about having a motor home or any RV with wheels. If you don't like your neighbors, you can move. 

Here's the YouTube that goes along with today's blog:

299 miles traveled today 

1,063 miles traveled so far

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - DAYS 8 & 9 - CRAIGHEAD FOREST IN JONESBORO, AR

It's Happy Valentine's Day!

I know this blog is coming a little bit late for Valentine's Day, but we were doing some relaxing.  I am adjusting to some new medications from the doc the week before. Blogging just wasn't on the top priority of my list for a few days. 

But that's okay, you'll still be able to read these in order and I might be able to catch up by next week. It's not easy to blog and post YouTube videos all within the same day or two while we are camping. So please excuse me if there's a little lag in timing.

I woke up first, and left Steve sleeping in a little bit. I mixed up some blueberry muffins and got the coffee ready. Usually Steve makes the coffee. So this was my little Valentine treat to him.  The smell in the camper was amazing.

Our little Canadian neighbors were back again. They were clustered out in front of the motorhome and we could watch them through the windshield. They were very busy scrounging around on the ground for who knows what that was there on the surface of the grass.

I whipped out my bigger camera to take better photos of them than the ones I posted the other day. Now I could pick up more details amongst their feathers and their beaks and their feet as they waddled around in front of our motorhome.

Some of them chose to stay out in the water and paddle around in groups. I'm not sure exactly what they were looking for, I would imagine there were some little fish here and there or maybe some frogs.

Pretty soon there was a whole flotilla out there, bobbing along in the water. It wasn't very windy so they found nice refuge in the bay right near the camping area. This is such a wonderful park with diverse areas to occupy. We really enjoyed the camping loop because nobody else really drives down here. It's pretty peaceful.

It was fun to watch the geese while we sipped our coffee and ate our muffins. Now, if only they didn't leave their little slimy packages behind on the grass, it wouldn't be so bad. We hated stepping in it and heaven forbid if Nick ever decided to stop, drop and roll! So far, so good.

But they were rather pretty, with their striking contrast of colors on their cheeks and their head compared to the rest of their body.  We noticed that this one had been tagged on his leg. Probably part of some sort of migratory bird record-keeping. Either that, or he's part of the witness protection program?

It was turning into a beautiful day. We thought perhaps the weathermen would be wrong. They had forecast rain. So far we saw a blue sky and we thought maybe we got lucky. We really enjoyed the views from all three angles of the motorhome from our campsite.

While we are looking at these views in these photos, I'll mention that our whole goal of this entire trip is not to go see a bunch of "tourist things". Really, our intended purpose is to just get somewhere warm, relax in our lawn chairs with a beautiful view, and maybe take some walks or bike rides. We aren't asking for a lot.

So maybe if it seems like we're not really doing anything this week at this beautiful park in jonesboro, it's because we aren't!  Our biggest endeavor was to leave the park on the bikes and go pick up our Amazon package and a few things at Aldi. Yep, that's about it.

Otherwise, we are spending time relaxing, reading, or I have sewing and some knitting along. Steve is looking at things on Marketplace or reading various articles online about things of interest. We have our Starlink so we can connect to watch our favorite YouTube channels. There's not a lot on network TV that we are interested in. We do tune into local stations to check the weather. But we also check the weather on apps on our cell phones too.

Speaking of weather, the weathermen were right. By later afternoon the clouds started rolling in. It was getting drizzly and rainy and I think it was time to curl up inside.

We did manage to do two loads of laundry up at the shower house. It was pretty easy to buzz back and forth each time a load was done. There are two washers and two dryers here. The washers are $1.50 each. The dryers are a dollar each.  We do have a small portable washing machine that we carry in the shower stall. It was too rainy to hang anything out on a wash line to dry. Using the park laundry facility was more convenient, only a few campsites away. By early afternoon, everything was done and folded and put away.

Before we knew it, (and after a nap), it was time to start supper. I got out my ULU knife from Alaska and my concave cutting board. It's just perfect for chopping up vegetables. I cut up the celery and then I cut up some onions. I got out the chopped garlic and thawed a hunk of hamburger from our favorite meat market back home. It was time to make some chili!

I brought along a precious jar of my homegrown canned tomatoes. Nothing can beat a jar of my wonderfully canned fresh tomatoes from the garden to put into a pot of chili. I pop open the top and breathe in the wonderful smell. Then I take the first fork full out to eat before the rest of it is dumped into the pot. That is my reward for standing in a steaming hot kitchen in August and September to process all of those tomatoes! Ahhhhhh the little things in life that can make me very happy.

I simmered up the onions and the garlic with the celery until they were softened. Steve took care of chopping up the meat and browning it. That's something I've never liked to do. So Steve takes care of that part for me. See? As Valentine Sweetheart's, we cooked together. Perfect!

(Yes we like to put noodles with our chili. That's the German side of us) 

The motorhome smelled so good with our meal. We were satisfied to sit back and enjoy the evening with full bellies and watching some of our favorite shows on youtube. We didn't need to go to a fancy restaurant anywhere, or exchange luxurious gifts. It's just a gift to be together and to be cozy and warm in our little motorhome. 

It continued to rain throughout the evening, and I snapped this one photo before dark. The sun was trying to set underneath the edge of the clouds. Did you ever get that little shaft of sunlight right before sunset that sneaks in under the clouds and shines across the ground?

It makes me smile. 

Here is the video that goes along with this blog:

0 miles traveled today 

764 miles total so far

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - Day 7 - Walk Around The Park

Now that we are settled in and comfortable, it's time to take a few days to just relax and enjoy the park. That's why we took this site for 7 days. The weather is kind of up and down, some days are cold and some days are warm. That's just the nature of weather in Arkansas this time of year. 

We got out and took a little walk around, I made a video as well as snapping some of these photos.

(When we first got here 5 days ago, this section of this water still had ice on it!)

Having the lawn chairs out and sitting in the sunshine is really a wonderful way to pass the afternoon. Feeling the sun's rays on our skin and soaking up that vitamin D is well worth it.

In a way, we sound like a couple of old fogies, chasing the sunshine and the warmth. But it feels good on the bones when you've been tucked away inside with snow and cold for 3 or 4 months. Remember, it was 4 degrees below zero when we left Wisconsin.

Even Nick enjoys the sunshine, as we strolled around the lake in the park. There may not be any green grass yet, but this is the best we can do for getting out in the woods and being dry and warm.

At one point, Nick totally surprised himself, as well as Mr and Mrs Mallard, as he came upon them on the walking path. He dashed at them and was all excited as they flopped out into the water about 10 ft from shore. They weren't very scared of him, I'm sure they are used to many people and dogs around. But Nick was very confused!

Wandering among the tall trees and listening to the birds was a great way to pass the afternoon. This is the type of non-stress vacation getaway that I was looking for.

Bodies of water in the South have a funny greenish hue that we don't see in the north. I don't think it's from algae or anything because it's the middle of winter. It just seems that all the water down here kind of has a green tone to it. It looks pretty against the blue sky and the brown tree trunks.

We walked on back through the top loop of the campground. This is a beautiful city park with 41 campsites. They allow some people in the winter months to remain the entire winter. This is especially handy for people who work nearby or on a temporary job like hospitals, consulting, or even seasonal retail workers. What the city does is they allow these people to stay in the upper sites that aren't quite as pretty as the lower ones down near the water. I suppose it's better to generate some income then no income at all for the city park system. They save the lowest 10 to 15 sites near the water for visiting people like us who transition in and out maybe a week or two at a time.  Each campsite has water and electric as well as a city refuse can that they come through and pick up on a weekly basis. The shower building also has a laundry area and is heated in the winter. They even offer free firewood!

After our walk was done, it was time to get dinner ready.  Steve got out the grill to cook up some burgers while I made some salads. It felt like summer to us so it was good to eat "summery food"! We see other people bundled up in heavy jackets and hats and gloves. Not us, we are reveling in the temperatures even if it's only in the 50s.

This has been really a low-key type adventure for a winter getaway for us. I hope you're not bored reading along. But I think the biggest thing we are looking for is just warmth, sunshine, and a beautiful view to sit back in our chairs and look out at.

Steve says that having a beverage in hand after dinner is a great way to enjoy the view before the sun sets.

I totally agree, and had a glass of My Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's. (Charles Shaw wine)

I guess it really doesn't take a lot to make us happy does it?

Here's the video that goes along with today's blog:

0 miles traveled today 

764 miles total so far

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - Day 6 - Treacherous Bike Ride Into Jonesboro

Oh my, it's another one of those most wonderful weather days! We are very appreciative of each and every day that includes sunshine and warm temperatures. When you come from the North, this is so strange to have this type of weather in February. We are very much enjoying it.

It was still a little crisp and cool in the morning, but we sat inside and sipped our coffee and looked out the windows.  

We do have some moisture this morning, so we are going to get out the dehumidifier and plug it in to take care of any dampness. What is funny is that we bought this dehumidifier 2 years ago, while we were camped right here at Craighead Forest. We picked it up at the Ace Hardware store in town. It's a small perfectly sized one to take with us as we travel. Steve dug it out of the storage compartment and we plugged it in to take care of the humidity.
   

Little Nick woke up and decided that today should be a good day to play with toys. He holds this silly little reindeer in his mouth. He hauls it around like a baby. He has chewed off the tips of its antlers and it's paws. But it's one of his most favorite toys.

We told him that today was not going to be a playtime day. Today instead, he was going to stay in the camper all by himself. We were going to be leaving to go on a special errand on our bicycles and he could not go along. 

He told us exactly what he thinks of that!

Steve took out both of our e-bikes and we got ready for a journey. 

We are definitely not Urban Bike Riders. We are uncomfortable moving amongst the traffic, or even pedaling alongside on the shoulder. We much prefer riding out on bike trails or on quiet rural roads. 

So today was going to be a challenge to our skills...

Steve mounted my pannier bags on my bike. I really like these bags. They are heavy rubbery plastic coated fabric and attach on the frames of the bike on each side. They are from the Lectric company and are made for my exact bike frame.  I also have a couple bungee straps in case I need to strap something to the top of the back rack with my gloves.

Now, I didn't film anything of our journey, nor did I take any pictures. I was way too busy concentrating on the safety of our bike trip into town. It may not look like much on this little map below but it was over 3 miles one way of driving along the very edge of traffic. There was not even really a shoulder. Most of it was driving with cars at 30 to 40 mph whizzing past us as we pedaled our bikes. 

We tried to keep our tires on the edge of the pavement as close as we could. Constantly watching in our mirrors for cars coming up behind us. Every now and then one would swing wider around us if they could. Most of the traffic was four lanes, two in each direction. 

At one point we even had to cross up and over the interstate on an overpass. That was nice, because the overpass had a wide shoulder. It kind of gave us a little break before the last half mile down to the phone store. 

We were able to weave in and out of a couple parking lots to alleviate our need to be alongside of the road itself. 

We made it to Triple S Phone store, where we retrieved our Amazon package from the gal at the counter. We carefully put it in one of my pannier bags and then headed across the street to the Aldi store.  Steve waited outside with the bikes while I ran in and picked up some fresh veggies, half gallon of milk, and another dozen of eggs. We were set now for another week.

I know other people ride their bikes in the city like this all of the time. We just aren't used to it. Here are a couple Google Earth photos that I took of the street view to show that there were no sidewalks nor any shoulder to ride on...

I was pretty proud of both of us, to say the least! We made it there and back without any mishaps. We had our stash of groceries as well as the little lever to replace on our screen door.

The whole round trip took about 8 miles total. When we got back, Steve plugged in our bikes so they will be fully charged for another ride that evening around the campground.  I guess we are supposed to get between 20 and 30 miles per battery charge. But we've never pushed them that far so we don't know for sure.

Steve said he doesn't know if our butts could handle 20 to 30 miles. LOL

Now Steve opened up the package and he has another project to work on. He has to reconfigure this door latch to fit, because it's not an exact replacement for what we had. But nicely enough, it is made of metal!

It kept him busy for a while, and he got it mounted on and it works beautifully. He still has to attach the other part to the door to make them work in unison when you open the outside door. Then the screen door opens with it. He has to adjust the old latch a little bit to make it work with the new lever.

But for now, at least it's working and we don't have the screen door popping open. Thank you Steve!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nick was quite indignant that we left him home and rode away on the bikes without him. So before dinner, Steve took out his little cart and put it together. Now that is one happy little dog...

He hops right in and says let's go go go! 

We did a sweet gentle relaxed tour of three and a half miles around Craighead Forest park. Beautiful paved paths and gorgeous scenery as we pedaled along at our leisure. What a contrast to the morning's treacherous bike ride in all of that traffic.

This day had sure been adventurous for us old folks. Being in our late 60s and traveling around town on bikes is entirely new to us. We've only had them 2 years, and we really hadn't ridden many bicycles in any of our adult years previously. As kids, both of us had been glued to our bikes and took them everywhere. But now that we are grown up, this is quite a change for us. A change for the better because it gets us out and about. They may be electric bikes, but we pedal, and we only use the pedal assist at the low numbers, increasing on hills when we really need it. It's worth all the extra effort to haul them along in this little cargo trailer behind the motorhome...

Time to get dinner going...

Here's the YouTube that goes along with today's blog post: 

0 miles traveled today 

764 miles total so far