16 October 2020 Arlington to Fredericksburg

 We bid adieu to DFW and headed for the Texas wine country. We decided to avoid Austin, so we took 377 south from Benbrook to Stephenville before getting on US281 to Johnson City and then 290 through Fredericksburg. A little bit longer of a drive but a lot less traffic and hassle. Besides which we got to enjoy the wonderful Texas countryside! The wind was kicking up and we were blown around a little, but we have been through much worse. As we drove through Fredericksburg, we could see there were a lot of people in town for the weekend. So we decided that we would relax on Saturday, after a busy two weeks in DFW, rather than deal with crowds. We are staying at The Vineyards of Fredericksburg ($47.50 a night with Good Sam Discount). They are only doing no touch check in which was basically the same as late arrival. Our site has no shade, but the Sat TV works great after having gone without it for a month. But the Internet connection is really slow! Water pressure is 60Lb! Our site is gravel and sloped but we did not have any issues getting level. The temperatures are very comfortable. Best time of the year to be in Texas!

2 October 2020 Hot Springs AK to Arlington TX

 It was a long day’s drive, but we are finally back in Texas! It is a huge relief! We have been so worried about getting caught in another nationwide lock down or in a state mandated quarantine in some distant location. So it is great to be back in the heart of Texas, close to our doctors, family and friends. We plan to spend a couple of weeks in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to visit our doctors, dentists and veterinarian to catch up on our yearly “maintenance”. But, most importantly, to visit with our close friends and family in a safe manner. Were at the Treetop RV Park ($77 per night, no discounts (Suncoast Resort)) in south Arlington. We thought we would try this RV resort since it is more central to where we want to go than the Vineyard RV Resort up in Grapevine. From here we will head for the Texas wine country for a couple of weeks and hope the wine tasting rooms are back open by then (Bars in Texas are still closed due to COVID)!

Our Welcome Home sign!!!

28 September 2020 Lake Catherin State Park

 For his 61^st birthday, David wanted to go for a hike. We researched the local hikes on All Trails and decided on the Falls Loop Trail (2.2 miles, 236 feet of elevation gain, 775 calories burned) that would takes us past several waterfalls in Lake Catherine State Park.  We figured that was a mileage that Etta could do as well so it was a family hike! The temperatures were nice and cool and the trail was mostly in the shade. There were some parts of the trail that were a bit rough which required picking Etta up and carrying her through it. We got to se a dozen or so waterfalls and enjoy a beautiful day. Back at the Wanderer, we had planned another kayak tour but the wind had come up so we grilled so awesome steaks and called it Best Birthday Ever! 

Waterfall #1

Leslie and Etta take a break

Leslie in front of Waterfall #2

Close up of Waterfall #2

Close up of Waterfall #2

Creek alongside of the trail

Waterfall #3

26 September 2020 Kayaking on Lake Hamilton

 Since we are staying along side a beautiful lake, we had to pull out the kayaks and go for a tour. We have not had them out in a while so it took a while to get back in the swing of yaking. We rowed about an hour before turning back. We managed to not dump a kayak despite the big waves from the speedboats, but David slipped and fell in the water when trying to help Leslie get out of her yak. It was a pretty day and other than the large number of speedboats on the lake churning things up, was a pleasant diversion. But it cemented David’s desire to get a different kayak that is a bit more stable. With his height and weight, it makes his current kayak a bit unstable and is constantly fighting to keep from rolling it. 

25 September 2020 Exploring Downtown Hot Springs

 Our first trip into Hot Springs we concentrated on the National Park side of the historic downtown area. This time we went to explore the shops along Central Avenue. After wandering through a few shops and picking up a few Christmas gifts, we made our way to the Superior Bathhouse Brewery. It is built in one of the historic Bathhouses along bathhouse row and is the only brewery in a national park! The use the 4500 year old hot springs water in their beer. We really could not tell much difference from other breweries and the food was not that good. But it was a fun novelty to enjoy. Before we left downtown, we dumped our hiking water bottles we keep in the truck (for spur of the moment hikes) and filled them up with 4500 year old spring water!

21 September 2020 Hiking Hot Springs National Park

 We decided to wait until Monday to go for a hike, to avoid the weekend crowds,  on the 26 miles of trails in Hot Springs NP. The trails are primarily split between the east and west mountains. But they are generally short. There is one 17.8 mile loop around the perimeter of the park, but that was a bit more then we wanted to take on. So we grouped a series of four tails together to form a 3.8 mile loop (610ft elevation gain, 1,032 Calories burned) on West Mountain (West Mountain trail to Mountain Top Trail to Oak Trail to Canyon Trail). About halfway through we saw a group of 5 deer a bit off the trail. Otherwise we were in the woods the whole way and could not see much. But the clouds were hanging low with bouts of drizzle so we were happy to get off the trail before it started raining. Afterwards we went to our Mexican food favorite for a late lunch before heading back to the Wanderer. 

Entrance Sign for West Mountain

West Mountain Trail

Deer in the woods

 

19 September 2020 Hot Springs National Park

 We headed into Hot Springs to get some lunch and get a lay of the park. We found a Mexican food restaurant with really good review and stopped in to see how it was. The front of the building is a Mexican grocery store and the restaurant was in the back. La Bodeguita was some of the best Mexican food we have had since we left Texas. We will be going back! After Lunch we perused the store and picked up some items we never see in any of the usual grocery stores. 

 

After lunch we headed into the central district. Hot Springs NP was formed in 1921. Prior to that, in 1823, it had been designated a national reservation to protect the hot springs and the surrounding rock formations. The park is like a donut with the city of Hot Springs filling the center and surrounding the outside. The Park encompasses the mountains to the north and south of the location where the majority of the hot springs are located. The area just below the hillside where the hot springs are located, is where the historic bathhouses are located. The area began seeing the building of bathhouses after the civil war. The bath spa era really took off in the late 1800s through the early 1930s. Wooden bathhouses were replaced with more elaborate buildings in the late 1910 through 1920s. The bath spa era fizzeled out by the late 1930s. In its hay day, over a million people a year visit Hot Springs for the rejuvenating hot baths every year. The roughly 100 hot springs were enclosed and the water routed to a central cistern in the early 1900s to preserve the quality of the water. All the bathhouses get the same water from the central cistern. Only one of the bathhouses is still open for bathing. Several were torn down over the years. The remaining bathhouses are now part of the National Park and have been turned into restaurants, museums, park store, and park visitor center. Due to COVID, most of the buildings were closed to the public.  

 

The water that comes out of the hot springs falls as rain in Mountains to the North East of Hot Springs where it percolates down through the rock layers to 6000-8000 feet below the surface. The water gets gradually hotter as it descends (The temperature of the earth goes up 4 Degrees Fahrenheit for every 300 feet of depth). Between 6000 and 8000 feet it begins running horizontally along a fault until it is below Hot Springs where it percolates back up to the surface. It takes 4000-4400 years for the water to percolate down to the fault line! But only 100 years to work its way back up to the surface. The water exits the ground in Hot Springs at an average temperature of 143 degrees Fahrenheit! There are almost no minerals in the water, it has an almost perfectly neutral PH and the high temperature kills off any bacteria (They have fountains where you can get the spring water to fill your water bottles). So drinking the 4000 year old water as well as soaking in it was part of the draw to the area. There are a couple of springs that are still free flowing. You can see the steam coming off the pools even on a hot day (we tested the water with our hands and it is definitely warmer than you would want to climb into). 

 

We were a bit surprised by the crowds in the central district. It was very busy. After finding parking for the Behemoth, we walked down to bathhouse row and found the park store. After getting our passport stamp, and shopping for our usual items, we made our way down Bathhouse Row, stopping to read the history behind each building, to the park visitor center. The building was closed, but they had an information desk outside, so we talked with the ranger there and got some hiking suggestions. We walked the rest of the way down the Bathhouse Row (there are 8 buildings still standing) to the green space at the north end. We climbed up the hill to the Grand Promenade, which runs along the hillside above the bathhouses, and walked it to the south end of the bathhouses. We then went back to the Behemoth and drove up to the top of the North Hill above bathhouse row and took in the views over the Ozark Mountains. Beautiful!

Entrance Sign

Bathhouse Row

Hot Spring

Hot Spring

Grand Promenade

Ozark Mountains