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:
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!
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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:
We must say, the sunshine streaming in just about every day is so delightful. We open up the windshield pleated shades and are greeted by this gorgeous sight.
Getting up and starting some coffee, looking out the sunny windows and thinking about what we are going to do for the day?
It warmed up, so Steve took out the lawn chairs and we enjoyed some beautiful vitamin D soaking into our skin. We have been waiting for this warmth for a long time. Just setting out in a lawn chair is a delightful pleasure in the sunshine. It doesn't take a lot to make us happy.
Little Nickydoodle has been looking forward to his walks around the campground. He also enjoys being on his rope and hanging out under our lawn chairs.
Steve said the best part about being outside this time of year is that there are NO BUGS!!
We spent most of the morning outside in the lawn chairs. Even though it was still in the '60s, it was going to reach 71 today. No complaints about that. Nick of course had various ideas of needing to play with toys or go for another walk... He gets quite persistent.
We did have a little mishap the other day. The wind had grabbed the door out of Steve's hand. This is the little plastic lever for the screen door. It serves two purposes: the first is that it allows you to open the screen door and secure it when the main door is wide open. It latches tight to the door frame. The second purpose is that it snaps tight backwards to the main door --- so when you do it open the main door the screen door comes with it at the same time. So it's a pretty important piece of equipment, but the dang thing is made out of cheap plastic! Snapped right in half.
In the meantime we have this little barrel catch on the screen door that can hold it closed. We use this if we are napping and want to keep the door securely locked from the inside but still get fresh air. It also prevents the dog from accidentally jumping up against it and popping it open. That's never happened with Nick, but with some of our other dogs in the past it has on our other motorhomes. We always install a little barrel catch just inside the screen door to keep out anybody we don't want in either... But it's not enough to keep Steve out!
Actually, we can just push the slider over and reach into unhook the barrel catch if need be. It's pretty handy.
So with the barrel catch in place, Steve removed the broken screen door latch. He took his tiniest drill bit and carefully drilled two coordinating holes. One on the lever, and one on the latch. He lined them up perfectly with a strong piece of heavy duty paper clip that snipped off with his pliers.
The next step WOULD BE to securely glue both pieces together with the metal bar. That would be IF we had our Gorilla Super Glue along! But when I removed everything that could possibly freeze last fall, I removed the glue. And that was one thing I really didn't think about when I made my list to pack back into the rig before we left. My mistake.
We also decided to hedge our bets, and look for a replacement door latch. This is a really odd one and there are no exact matches available other than going directly through the Lichtstein dealer back in Iowa. But to replace it with the plastic one again is just asking for it to break again. It's a pretty common problem. And it's quite pricey from them, including shipping. In the $50 range.
We took careful measurements and decided to try to order this one from Amazon. The added feature is that it is all metal construction! This is the first time we have ever ordered from Amazon and have it shipped to either a box or a counter of a local business. We decided to try it. We selected an address in Jonesboro that was a counter of a phone store. Triple S Phone was only about 3 miles away, we could drive there on our bicycles when the order came in!
The order came the very next day. I will write on our next blog about our bicycle ride to go and get it. Oh boy!
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In the meantime, we will finish up this day with the beautiful scenic view while gazing upon from our lawn chairs.
We ended up the evening with a tasty dinner of baked pork tenderloin, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes.
We snuggled up to watch a YouTube channel that we enjoy called:
It is about 2 artists in a converted school bus, traveling from Alaska to Argentina. They are amazingly talented and very informational about the areas they explore. From geology to history, from great photography to cinematic video displays. We really enjoy their channel.
We decided that since we were camping with electricity, we picked up this handy little popcorn popping bowl for in the microwave. Steve loves Orville Redenbacher's White Popcorn in the jar. What a great combination to cozy up and watch TV for the evening.
Nordic Ware 14 Cup Plastic Microwave Quick Pop Popcorn Popper, Red
Sometimes we just have to curl up and do normal things rather than rush rush rush from one place to another. I'm really glad we are staying here for a whole week.
Here is the You Tube that goes along with today's blog:
Ahhhhh waking up in this peaceful little campground in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The forefathers of this city really were to be commended for setting aside such wonderful grounds to become a city park for everyone to enjoy. The park contains 692 acres! There isn't even a fee to come and spend time here in any of the picnic or athletic areas or to just come and walk the paths.
There is a charge for the camping of course, but is so reasonable that I can see why it is a popular place. Although this time of year, on all the 10 sites around us, only one other site is occupied. There are 41 sites in all. Really peaceful and quiet.
Everywhere we look from all three angles on this peninsula is a gorgeous view. That's why we pulled in nose first so we could look around from the front and the side and the bedroom windows. We are facing somewhat East so we are having sun all afternoon along the passenger side of the motorhome. Then we are treated with sunsets out the back bedroom window to the West. Pretty good positioning...
We walked down by the water to enjoy the sunset
During the evening hours, the birds are still singing from every direction. It's music to our ears.
There's an abundance of Canadian geese, beautiful ducks, and even some white swans floating around on the lake.
Earlier in the morning I heard some loons. But I don't know exactly where they are. We haven't seen them yet. I think they are more elusive.
It is so calm and peaceful here, I'm glad we are staying for a week. There's no particular place we want to go. We are just looking for warmer weather, that's it.
Now that we are in warm enough weather, we were able to dewinterize the rig! Yeah! That means we can have fresh running water in our faucets and the toilet and the shower.
Although there is a water spigot at the site, we don't leave the hose hooked up all of the while. We only use it to fill our tank and then we disconnect the hose. They asked if it gets too cold at night to please disconnect all of the hoses. That's okay for us, we're from the North. We know how that works.
We poured enough water through all of our faucets to get rid of the pink RV antifreeze.
We double check and triple check all of the fittings underneath the sinks to make sure that there are no leaks from over the winter. Even with the drainage pipes, sometimes the freezing temps can make the screwed on connections back off. We'd experienced that every once in awhile with our previous rvs. It's a good idea to check that every single joint is tight and secure.
It was so good to have running water again! Washing our hands after the bathroom with real water is not just a convenience, it is also better than using the waterless hand cleaner that we have on board. Anything you touch after using that tastes kind of metallic. You wonder what the funny taste is on the sandwich or a piece of fruit it's because it was the chemical on your hands. Ugh.
The next task at hand was to move the Bluetti power station. We needed to move it from where it was riding inside of the motorhome for the last 3 days. Although the Bluetti will function below freezing temperatures, putting out power, it is not suggested to charge it up if it's below freezing. That can damage the lithium iron phosphate battery inside. And we sure don't want to risk that.
It rode safely inside behind my seat during the southbound journey. But it's kind of in the way. It's time now that the temperatures were warm enough that we could put it where it really belongs.
It rides securely in the passenger side compartment in the motorhome. It actually has three different jobs to do and that is the best location possible.
If you don't know what a power station is, it's actually a lithium battery bank along with a combined inverter unit that will allow you to run various items off of it with power cords.
It's also a charge controller for the power source coming in from solar panels. It can take all of the power from any external attached solar panel and charge up the battery housed within its unit. We have a large 320 watt solar panel on the roof of the cargo trailer. We also have a foldable solar blanket that is 400 watts, and two flexible 100 watt panels that we can set out anywhere or clip to the awning to collect the sun. That is almost 1,000 watts of solar.
The Bluetti can also be charged by plugging it in with a cord to an outlet or power post on regular household current.
It can also be charged from the generator. We have an Onan propane generator on board mounted inside of the motorhome that we could use to charge it up if we needed.
The fourth way of charging the Bluetti is actually using a special DC to DC charger unit that charges it from our engine's alternator as we drive down the road.
So this "Blue Eddie" (as we fondly refer to it) becomes pretty important to us.
We can plug in our motorhome to it when we are boondocking somewhere. It allows all of our outlets to work as well as the refrigerator or microwave or water heater etc. Most motorhomes just have what's called an inverter. It only allows some of the outlets to work, and never the refrigerator or microwave or water heater. So using the Blue Eddie gives us options. The best option is it allows us to use the electric mattress pad heaters at night if we want to. LOL
It's much more versatile than just upgrading the lead acid batteries that are stored under the stairs in our motorhome. If we upgraded those to lithium we would have to do a lot of expensive changes on our particular model of motorhome. We would have to swap out the control panel, swap out the inverter, change the charge controller unit, as well as the alternator from the engine. Even something as simple as the little charging device that keeps our engine batteries charged when parked would no longer function if we upgraded the main house batteries to lithium. Using our Blue Eddie really makes sense for us, and it's very versatile.
We can take it into our main house if the power ever goes out---- it can keep our large household refrigerator running or the Starlink or the basement sump pump if necessary.
Okay, enough about Blue Eddie.
Here is something else we took from home. A total convenience and luxury splurge to take along with us. We had upgraded our home's air fryer to a larger unit. We had this older one that I really like, and we decided to make room underneath the sink to take this along with us on our travels. Although we have the stove and oven on board, as well as a microwave convection oven, nothing can beat an air fryer in our estimation. We have adapted a lot of our recipes to use the air fryer. So of course, we were delighted when we figured out a way that we could take it along.
(It doesn't ride here when we are in in motion, it tucks away nicely underneath the sink when not in use)
Actually, our first night on the road we used it to reheat some perch fillets from a fish fry and cook up some 5-minute McCaines french fries. No grease, and a quick meal in no time.
Well, I think that's enough for this blog. It's time now to grab our gear and head up to take some nice long hot showers in the clean shower building here at the campground. We could take them right in the motor home but we are only a few sites down from the shower building. A little more room there to shower, shave and get dressed.
Here is the YouTube that goes along with today's blog post:
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