Are You Serious???!!!!

Off to Lake Dardenelle this morning, to rent a kayak....I've had several kayaks in the last five years that I have been kayaking, but decided that to carry two of them all the time on top of the car would be a bigger hassle than the number of times both of us would actually get to use them. Lifting them, strapping them securely, hoisting them up and down has gotten harder as I've gotten older. I had nifty saddle racks where you just have to lift one end of the kayak up against the car, then scootch the kayak forward, sliding it on top of the car. That worked great for me as a single gal, when I schlepped all over northeast Indiana and lower Michigan, kayaking on my own. But Eldy has a bad shoulder, and we were worried about theft and a number of other things with carrying kayaks all the time, so I sold my "Tupperware" river boat, and my cruisin' Eddyline....now the kayaking bug is biting again....I'm looking at inflatables...we're heading to Florida soon, and I just miss being out on the water....But for now, renting is a great option.

Since Lake Dardenelle State Park offers kayak rentals, I headed out today for a few hours of paddling pleasure on the lake. I much prefer rivers, but hey---I'll take what I can get for the beauty and the enjoyment of being out on the water..$14.00 for four hours, very reasonable....Eldy has only been out a couple of times in a kayak, and I was going to paddle hard today, so he had some other things he was going to do today (like heading to another county for some shopping? Our county we are in is one of many dry counties in Arkansas) while I'm out paddlin' a plenty. I rented a little shorty kayak, 9 foot long, and had my own carbon-lite paddles so off I went! Three hours later, in I come, happy and tired....here is what I saw while out and about on Lake Dardenelle....at least 6 great blue herons that really got ticked off when I was beneath them and near them. I couldn't quite get fast enough with the camera to capture one, but certainly got scolded with a very loud, "A-W-W-C-K, A-W-W-W-C-K!!!!" I also had an "ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!!!!" advertisement moment....you know the TV commercial where people are so absorbed in their phones that they are missing some really important moment of their lives because they are messing with their smartphones? I had my phone with me, and thought while I was floating for a moment in the kayak, I would take a break and call a friend.  After talking for a few moments, I heard the "AW-W-W-W-CK" call, and darn, if a great blue heron didn't swoop out in front of me just a few yards away...I missed the perfect camera op to capture a shot of one very close!  Aw, darn!  Are you SERIOUS??!!!  Yes, I am!

What are these? I have no clue!

What else did I see? a lot of trash on the riverbank...it was sad to see that. I wish I had brought a trash bag with me, and I would have done some cleanup. I saw a skeletal remains of some animal, probably a small mammal, saw these interesting remains as well, have no idea what they are! I also saw what I thought was a baby beaver, running along the river bank in and amongst the rocks. He would stop, look at me as if to say, "What??!! Are you still following me? Nuts to that!" and off he skampered into the rock crevices. I saw some pretty wildlflowers on the bank--maybe coreopsis, but not sure...overall, it was a relaxing way to spend some time with nature...next time, I will put my phone well out of reach, just for emergencies.....see you tomorrow...

wildflowers on the riverbank

P.S. thanks to all the people who are following our blog, we really appreciate you taking the time to read what we have to say.....Jeannie and Eldy

More About Mt. Nebo, AR

After taking it easy in the morning...isn't that what retirement is all about? We thought about returning to that beautiful mountain top state park, Mount Nebo.

We decided to drive back to hike that "strenuous" trail we found the day before yesterday. Again, we saw lots of deer wandering around at the top of the mountain. The trail really wasn't as strenuous as we thought it would be....well, maybe a little, depending on what you are used to. I know that hiking trails in New Hampshire that were labeled "easy" weren't, so we were expecting a just about impossible trail. Not really! It wasn't bad at all. You just have to be careful with your footing, that's all. We really love our hiking sticks..they are Black Diamond brand from an outdoor sports company. They extend in two places on the poles allowing for quite a few adjustments. We each have a pair, and find they help tremendously with our balance and confidence on tackling hikes such as these. Without the poles, I would seriously worry about stumbling on such a trail, or twisting an ankle. The poles really help with balance and sure footing. It was just an incredible walk alongside the mountain with breathtaking views late in the day...we chose to go around 3:00 PM for our hike, coming off the trail to make in time for the sunset at Sunset Point. That was definitely the highlight of our day today....here are some of the views....if you click on an individual photo in the collage, the whole collection will become larger and you can see the photos better. Enjoy!

Hiking Mount Nebo trails and Sunset Park

We're not sure what tomorrow brings....it's going to be hard to top what we saw today! We may explore another state park. You never know where Eldo is going to go next!  See you then......

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!