Sunday, November 7, 2010

Indian Summer in Arkansas

The elusive target in disc golf
A high in the seventies for this coming week...no rain! Perfect for campfires, cook outs, disc golf--people are even still boating here...yesterday we went exploring by car to some other locations. We visited two corps of engineer parks a little further away....one was called Toad Suck, (yes, that is really the name of the park and the town), and Maumelle...both a little to the east of us. We were contemplating a move to one of those parks, but we've decided to stay here a while longer. The Toad Suck park is right in front of a huge cement arched bridge which looks to be under renovations and additions, and it just didn't quite have the charm of our campground here. Maumelle (Murray Lock and Dam) was a much bigger park and there were LOTS of people there. That was a beautiful park, but the sites on the river were all spoken for for the next week, and all the sites were much more closely spaced together. The sites in the woods were very nice, but just didn't appeal to us (much more heavily shaded) and so here we are, still at Old Post Road campground, feeling very comfortable and content with what we have....it's so spacious, it's like having your own backyard. Eldy stepped out the measurements of the site, lawn and all, it's over 100 feet between us and our neighbors, the concrete pad could easily hold two motor homes side by side, the cement pad is about 100 feet long....most of the sites here are that big!  We will have to move the RV to dump Monday after sitting for six days with no sewer, but we will either return to our beautiful spot we have now, or go two rows over and sit on the river for a change.....and besides, Santa is still  here!
see the target basket--w-a-a-y out there?









We visited the championship disc golf course today in Russellville. We had a ball! Uh, no, make that a disc! Two discs each, a driver and a putter. Eldy is rapidly getting better, so he is enjoying the game more. The first nine holes were in the woods! Very challenging and fun..The second nine were out in the open. There was water alongside of the course which made it even more challenging as to not lose our discs. We didn't!
What form! too bad it didn't fly straight!

If you've never tried it, you are missing out on a really fun and relatively easy way to get fresh air, some walking, and some exercise. I can't get Eldy to walk a regular golf course, but he will walk a disc course with me! Some of the distances to the holes were over 600 feet on a par 3. Eldy had fun trying overhand throws, underhand throws and working on his straight frisbee style throw.

After we finished our disc golf, we headed over to Lake Dardenelle State Park to take a free pontoon boat ride with a naturalist to see if we could spot any eagles. Good thing it was free, 'cuz we didn't spot any. It's too early in the season to be seeing them. Once the weather dips down to close to freezing temperatures, the bald eagles will be seen in great numbers in this area around December, January, and February. But it was a great relaxing ride out on the water, with the delightful temperatures today...tomorrow we're heading back to Mt. Nebo to tackle the strenuous trail!  See you then!

Our final stop today was a pontoon boat ride looking for eagles and their nests at Lake Dardenelle. The pontoon ride was FREE, which was a good thing. We didn't see any bald eagles. It's too early in the season to see them right now.....and the temperatures aren't right. It needs to be an extended period of close to freezing temperatures for them to start showing in numbers, the naturalist said.  A great ride out on the lake-- warm, breezy and relaxing after 18 holes of walking and throwing discs at the course today....we're going hiking tomorrow..see you on the trails!

2 comments:

  1. That sounds like a really nice and spacious park. I love that kind, where you aren't all crowded together. Hope you see the bald eagles soon.

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  2. I am happy to hear you are enjoying the beautiful Arkansas parks and nice weather. I moved to Fayetteville 10 years ago from Houston, TX and would not even consider moving back to Texas. I love the people here, the four seasons, and all of the natural beauty of NW Arkansas. I have traveled all over the USA and this is the best place to be retired. But don't tell anyone ....LOL

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