Go West Young Man, Go West!

Day 3
We left Missouri and traveled south into Arkansas. I never imagined Arkansas being such a beautiful state. With rolling farm land for as far as the eye could see, until you reached the horizon and the Ozarks rose majestically above all the landscape. Once we started heading west, we crossed into Oklahoma where the Winding Stair Mountains dominated the landscape. We entered Ouachita National Forest and crossed Black Fork Mountain. We stopped at the breathtaking scenic overlook for some much needed leg-stretching and photo ops. The rock outcroppings nearing the peak of the mountain were nearly vertical. I took a picture of some rocks that are not the most vertical that I saw, but were the only ones in a safe spot for picture taking. The evidence of continental shifting and uplift were so exciting.

Ouachita National Forest lies on the edge of Choctaw Native American Territory. The native influence was visible everywhere from large flashy casinos to filling stations to local artisans. Once again, I was surprised at the stunning beauty of the countryside. We stopped for the night at Broken Bow Inn and RV Park in Broken Bow, OK. It was by no means a place that was more than a stop over point, but the pool was clean and nice and the wifi worked great. The road traffic died at night so it was quiet.

Day 4
We pulled out early from Broken Bow and treveled south into Texas. We were bound for Burleson just west of Dallas-Fort Worth area to visit Matt's aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike in Mansfield. We arrived at the RV Ranch in Burleson and much to our delight, it was a beautiful resort with three swimming pools, shady spots, a Doggie Island (for the much needed relief of our puppies), and a friendly and helpful staff. The only downside was a lot of traffic noise from the freeway and a garbage truck that ran at 6 A.M. Nancy and Mike came by for a visit to see where we were staying and visited for several hours. It was nice to catch up. Aidan had a full audience with Matt, Poppy, and Uncle Mike watching him swim.

Day 5
Aidan and I awoke fairly early today and decided to let daddy sleep in and went to the pool for a refreshing swim. We had a great time until finally we had to get ready to leave to go to Mansfield for the day. Nancy and Mike live in a very nice neighborhood and were very welcoming. Nancy had a blender full of "lime flavored beverages" for us to enjoy. We met her cute little teacup Yorkie named Gizmo. Aidan fell in love. Then we were thrilled to see cousin Eric and his wife Amariss and their daughter Abby. What a great night we had eating Tex-Mex and visiting and laughing. Aidan and Abby got along so well and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye and prepare for the trip farther into Texas.

Day 6
We arose early (mainly due to the construction crew hard at work right outside our windows) and packed for our departure. We left Burleson and headed due west toward our destination of Odessa, TX. The lanscape changed dramatically on this trip. We left wooded suburbs of Dallas and traveled into dry mesquite/cactus groves where the flora was visibly shorter and more sparse. We traveled farther still until there was more dry ground exposed than plants to be seen and the few elevations were lined with hundreds of wind turbines slowly spinning in the desert wind. Dotting the land on both sides of I20-W were oil rigs reaching deep into the earth searching for the black gold of Texas fame. We finally arrived in Odessa where the temperature is high but the humidity is low. What a relief from the sweaty days of the past week. Our stop for the night is Midessa Oil Patch RV Park. It is a neat and clean park with a playground, pet playground, pool, camp store. The sites are shady and the breeze is fairly constant. Tomorrow's destination is Carlsbad, NM where the world-famous Carlsbad Caverns await.