Our Journey to Become Winter Texans

  After a 4 day trip from Tennessee, we have arrived south of Austin, Texas. The trip over was largely unimpressive with stops in Little Rock, Arkansas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Tyler, Texas. The one exceptional stay was our first stop in Natchez State Park, located in Wildersville, Tennessee. We had a beautiful site on the banks of Pin Oak Lake with a fantastic view of the Milky Way at night.  It was a short, but sweet stay. The morning of our departure rewarded us with a gorgeous sunrise and mist over the lake-so breathtaking!

Views from my roving yoga studio at Pin Oak Campground

  The most disappointing leg of our trip was Little Rock, Arkansas.  I have never thought much of Arkansas, but my new friends from Monroe, Louisiana assure me that it is a great destination. I took a few photos of the RV park downtown, it reminded me of a prison compound. The dismal neighborhood surrounding the park didn't add to its appeal. We decided against crossing the convenient pedestrian bridge to see Clinton's Presidential library and the downtown area.

Nice view of the city 

Pedestrian bridge to downtown

Riverfront spots at the park

  Okay, so these snapshots don't represent what I was describing, but believe me, you don't want to go there in the summer.  It was still quite hot in mid October and the park is nothing but a big dirt parking lot for camping rigs.  They locked us up behind a gate after 6pm and warned us if we forgot the code to get back in, we were just SOL.

  Hotsprings, Arkansas was equally as disappointing probably because I chose another awful RV park.  The people were very nice and the bathhouse was probably the nicest one we have seen since our tour began, but the sad looking gravel sites sitting closely next to each other just didn't do it for us. The tiny park had nice amenities but zero charm.
  Because we got in so late from Little Rock, there was not enough time to enjoy any of the spas.  We will have to save that for next time.  We did however, have time to eat.  The highlight of our stay was a Vietnamese restaurant that had excellent Pho!  I never would have thought that good Asian food was available in Arkansas.
  Our first glimpse of Texas was interesting. The area around Tyler, Texas doesn't look or feel like what I thought Texas should be.  There were small rolling hills and lots of oak trees. It reminded me a lot of Georgia or Alabama, except for the increasing numbers of ranches we passed.  There were cows, cows, and more cows.