June 2017

Wow the color of the River was amazing. Took a short detour from Pineville, MO campground to the original location we wanted to camp, but there were no campgrounds. We can see why, it was so remote our GPS took us to an area it said was the entrance, and it was just a huge amount of trees, no entrance. Either way was very pretty and we saw a turtle in the road, like our TurtleTop van so took that as a good sign.

The River was along the route from Missouri to visit Denzil's Dad in Arkansas. We decided to stop along the Buffalo National River. Got a nice campground the last site along river with elec and shower for only $11 w/discount so very nice!.

From National Park Service

'America's First National River
stablished in 1972, Buffalo National River flows freely for 135 miles and is one of the few remaining undammed rivers in the lower 48 states. Once you arrive, prepare to journey from running rapids to quiet pools while surrounded by massive bluffs as you cruise through the Ozark Mountains down to the White River.'

Brenda had heard about this church from her former co-workers in Arkadelphia, AR so thought we'd take a look at it.
It is a very pretty church that you can actually rent out for an outdoorsy feeling wedding that is completely covered by glass. Would be very pretty they actually host church services here also each Sunday.

Very interesting history of a fully intact battlefield. Missouri was a Border state during the US Civil war.
Very interesting the info on Tale of Two visions for US and the difference in independence philosophies in North vs. South. Still somewhat true.

Back then whoever had control of the Mississippi River also controlled commerce. Due to several tactical errors by the Confederate Generals, they lost Pea Ridge battle to the Union (North) troops, even though the South had thousands more troops on the ground than the Union did there.
Many future battles were measured against the intensity of this battle.

We wanted to spend the night near the NW corner of AR to be near the Pea Ridge, AR Battlefield tomorrow.
Only 15 miles N of AR we noticed on Google a campground with Zip line, waterfalls, swimming, fishing, and canoeing. They have had several floods lately.

But it was very scenic & would be a nice spot for families w/ kids in the Summer. Very hot & humid so Denzil tried the rope swing into lake. We both got in the lake and waterfall, and swam, but didn't have a chance to try the zip line.