Now in Gilbert, Arkansas

Yesterday we left the Land Between the Lakes in northern Kentucky and drove - long long drive (414 miles) to Gilbert, Arkansas.  This tiny town - population 33 - sits right inside the Buffalo National River which is a national park run by the park service.  I had never heard of this river before and Dave was looking around to see what we may take in as we traveled west and south for the winter.  He saw this and I found this full-service campground (very cute, very quiet) right in the Ozark Mountains.

Bye-bye Tennessee River

Many places were drying tobacco in barns

Wondered what this was all about - huge amount of antique jeeps 

Add another state - 14 now

And the traffic picked up!

 We had camped near Memphis, Tennessee 10 years ago, the campground we were to stay at was flooded (sits right near Mississippi River) so we ended up at the Fairgrounds and had the serenade of FedEx jets taking off and landing in the wee early hour of the morning.  This time we were just driving through, saw where the Mississippi was quite low.

Hello Memphis

Click - the rain started

My brother-in-law is also called Danny Thomas - maybe this is him??

Neither of us had ever been in the Ozarks, have heard of people that vacation there, my aunt had a summer home in Mountain Home, Arkansas, but we never came this way.  The drive to Gilbert was pretty hard.  Buddy did great, no problem, I can't figure out what triggers him to get sick, but glad he did not this time.  We were driving over 8 hours just to get here, but well worth it.

Now the 15th state this summer

Lots of sand bars - very low

Knowing we had a long drive, we split up the driving time, Dave took us south to Interstate 40 which was about a 2 hour drive south on rural state roads, in and out of towns.  Then I picked up the driving on Interstate 40 westbound, through Memphis, Tennessee and then west of the city we switched back and he took it then on.

Bands of rain with high winds got us for over 6 hours

Many rivers and creeks were muddy

That does not look good - we got stopped on Interstate 40 and crept along

Lake Conway just north of Little Rock

Ozark Mountains ahead

Rut-roh

Buffeted by high winds until we got to Little Rock, and the rain squalls were numerous.  This storm system was Tropical Storm Imelda that hit Houston the previous day, dropping over 30 inches of rain on that city.  The hardest part was the wind, whoosh - pulled us into the inside lane every now and then.  But, no accidents, we did it.

Kudzu taking over in places - what a shame

Once we drove north of Little Rock, we stepped off the Interstate and followed Route 65 north, again in and out of towns.  Then, we started climbing up and over, up and down, through the beginnings of the Ozark Mountains.  They aren't high, just very scenic.

We are located right on the Buffalo National River 

We have arrived after a very long day

Will stay here a week to see the area, obviously seeing the national park.  Oh - and we are awakened in the morning by the resident rooster and his 5 girls.  Cock-a-doodle-doo!