South Carolina - Arkansas
Our next leg of the trip was to cross over three more states and land in Arkansas to see Hot Springs National Park. On March 1st, we woke up, heated up breakfast and cleaned up camp, packed the dogs into the backseat and set off on another 11 hour drive. I was worried about pulling the trailer out of the campground because it was an uphill, wet, dirt road but luckily the truck did just fine even in only 2WD. We soared out of Sadler's Creek State Park and got back on 85 South until we hit Atlanta, Georgia, braving some serious downpours almost the whole way, then hopped over to 20 West. This took us the rest of the way across Georgia, through Alabama where we switched to 22 West in Birmingham, and then across the northeast corner of Mississippi, and into the southwest corner of Tennessee. Just outside of Memphis, TN we stopped at a Walmart to buy some food and batteries. It was around 7pm by this time so we cooked dinner in the back of the parking lot on out Coleman camp stove. We ate some canned soup and a bag of frozen vegetables mixed with coconut oil and hemp seeds, and mixed my favorite canned coconut milk with both the soup and vegetables. I am SO happy I have convinced Chris to like coconut foods. They do amazing things for the body and we can finally enjoy them together! After finishing up dinner, we got back on the road and struggled our way along to our campground in Arkansas. We arrived after 11pm and were listening to all these podcasts just to stay awake the last two hours. At least we learned a lot of good info about being landlords and the benefits of probiotics!
The Foster Train in the Hot Springs, AR KOA.
On March 2nd, we woke up earlier than usual to get ready and get out on our hike to make sure we finished before dark. I had a bit of a breakdown over the trailer and all of our stuff getting shaken up and disorganized but once that was settled we got our day packs together and drove over to the trail-head. Hot Springs, AR is kind of strange because the National Park lies right up the hill from the small city of Hot Springs. Because of this, the park visitor center is in town with meter-only parking and we later learned the buildings next to the visitor center are the bathhouses where you can go in the hot springs water. From my knowledge, you cannot go in any natural pools of the heated water. So while I was getting a map of the trails, Chris did a lap around town and seemingly learned where everything was. He picked me up at the building five minutes later and then drove us up the mountain behind the visitor center to a lookout tower. We passed by an outdoor water filling station that from what I understand, is for hikers and campers, but it seemed like a bunch of the locals just go fill up water jugs for their homes. I don't know what the public works system is, this is just what I observed. Oh well. So we drove up the mountain, which is similar to the Pagoda drive in Reading, PA, but Chris was so siked to be able to easily drive around since we had left the trailer at our campsite so he just wanted to go all over. I shut that down real quick because I was tired of being in the car for days and was more than ready to get on the trail! We parked at the top of the mountain and proceeded to the Shortcut Trail to get us to the outer loop the park offered. This began with the Dead Chief Trail and then took us to the Sunset Trail (there are a few other names of connector trails that I forget). We hiked the Sunset Trail through natural amphitheaters, across a couple roads, by the river, and up and down a lot of hills. We saw mostly metamorphic rocks in the form of quartzite and shist, and some sedimentary as well in the form of limestone and mudstones. We also observed many southern varieties of trees including oaks, maples, birches, and pines, and saw some birds and shiny brown lizards. We love getting to see untouched wild ecosystems.
Me and Zena at the National Park sign towards the end of the hike.
Hiking the Sunset Trail passing by some waterfalls over a dam.
The outdoor hot springs water pools at the bottom of the mountain.
Chris and Ratchet crossing a stone wall during the Sunset Trail hike.
The hike finished by bringing us back into town and then we of course had to climb back up the small mountain to get back to the truck. In total, it was 14 miles of walking and our feet were about done by that point. I am hoping to increase our hiking endurance significantly after this move, it's pretty hard to get out hiking often around Philly. At this point, it was about 3:30pm and we decided to run some errands and head back to the site to relax for the evening. We needed a few more grocery items so we found a nearby Walmart to pick them up. It was odd though because it was a "Neighborhood Market" Walmart which I had never seen before; the sign was bright green instead of blue and it was just a grocery store. Maybe these stores are only in Arkansas because Walmart started there. Anyway, we also stopped at Lowe's to get more ratchet straps to reorganize our trailer yet again.
Upon arrival back at the campsite, we were happy to see our trailer was still there and okay. It was the first time we had left it since we began our trip. Chris decided he wanted to cook dinner first and said I could shower first. He cooked some grass-fed beef burgers and we made a big salad together when I came back. It was all so delicious after that long hike. Even the puppies got a taste when they got their kibble cooked in the extra burger fats. After dinner, Chris began reorganizing the trailer yet again. I was way too stressed over it so I just hung out, helped him move a few things around, and then cleaned up the bed of the truck where we sleep. Eventually, he finally got the trailer resettled with hopefully all the falling items fixed. By this point, both us and the dogs were pretty beat, even Ratchet could barely bark at people since he was so tired! We all got ready for bed (and Chris did eventually shower as well) and watched a few YouTube videos then went to sleep. So the whole temperature regulation is interesting our our relationship. We climate control our house to 60 in the winter and 64ish in the summer. Because of these cool temps, we are generally comfortable in the outdoor temps unless it's summer. For this trip, we loaded up on blankets and have some small heaters if needed. I have been okay with just the blankets for the most part but Chris decided to start getting cold in the middle of the night. He wakes up and turns off the ventilation fan and puts the heater on which results in waking up in a very damp environment in the morning. This time it got so bad I literally woke up to drops of water hitting me in the face which of course was accompanied by wet windows and a condensation covered ceiling. That was about enough for me so I got up and started the day leaving him in the soaking room.
Chris quickly toughed up on the crisp 40 degree morning and began doing the dishes from the night before while I walked the dogs. Next was food! Chris made uncured bacon, eggs with spinach and mushrooms seasoned with turmeric, garlic, and sea salt, and we had some avocado as well. I prepped some chili ingredients for our first ever crock-pot while driving meal! We had bought chili ingredients the previous day and prepped and mixed them all together in our crock-pot which plugs into our battery power pack box to cook while we are driving. We then taped the lid on with masking tape and secured the pot in the bed of the truck. After finishing cleanup at the site, we drove off on our first journey to Texas.
Check back for my next post to read about our adventures in Texas and see how the chili turned out!
My breakfast the morning after the hike,
eaten off of the crock-pot lid to avoid excess dishes.
Super delicious!