At least it's not snowing here

We have been in Arkansas for about 3 weeks. It feels longer for no apparent reason. As planned, we're at Stephens Park near Mountain Pine. It's been quiet, which isn't particularly surprising when it's December. There have been a few days when we're the only campers. Today it's unusually busy: four out of the nine sites are occupied. 

Thanks to a friend of a friend who used to work for the Corps of Engineers at Lake Ouachita and knew it was possible to manipulate recreation.gov to get more time on a site than the regulation 14 days, we're not going anywhere until sometime in January. More importantly, he knew that during the off season (now) that park rangers aren't going to care about long stays unless a site starts looking like Walter White has set up a lab.

The trek down here was Not Fun. We wound up spending an extra night at the Normal, Illinois, Love's RV Spot because of high winds. According to the weather reports, the wind was gusting up to 60 mph. High profile vehicles (e.g., Class A motorhomes) were advised to stay off the road. Given that the wind was rocking us pretty good where we were parked in the RV Spot we had zero desire to venture out on the Interstate. 

We'd stayed at the Normal RV Spot before. According to Love's web site, the RV Spots were designed in collaboration with KOA. They're a good choice for RV-ers who just need a spot for one night, although I guess it wouldn't be bad for someone who needed to be in that area for longer. The drawbacks, of course, are it's neither cheap nor quiet. I did enjoy watching the semis merging on to the I-55 or I-39 (the Normal RV Spot is right at the intersection) but there was definitely a lot of traffic noise. On the positive side, you're walking distance from the Love's store and whatever fast food restaurant is with it. Not that we felt much like walking anywhere with winds consistently gusting in the 30 to 40 mph range. 

We froze in Normal. Skippy has a good furnace but even with it running close to nonstop it was cold. Skippy is not a 4-seasons camper. The beast leaks heat like the proverbial sieve. We froze the first few days at Stephens Park, too, when temps were dropping below freezing at night, but then got smart: electric blankets for the beds and a second electric space heater. If we have two electric space heaters going, one on each end of Skippy, the furnace doesn't run nearly as often. It even feels downright cozy at times. We still go through propane faster than we'd like to, but we're no longer shivering. 

After freezing in Normal we treated ourselves to a night in a motel in Pocahontas. It was interesting. Thanksgiving Day and the motel was full of duck hunters. Dudes in camo and carrying multiple long guns. Duck hunting has always struck me as a lot of work for not much reward, but there are worse hobbies to indulge in. 

I'm not sure just how much ambling we're going to do with Skippy this winter. The S.O. does not enjoy driving the beast and it gets shit mileage. Although shit mileage is typical for motorhomes, especially Class As (they're about as aerodynamic as a large brick), so that's not a good reason for not ambling. I'm more sympathetic to the not fun to drive feeling. I know it's possible to reserve at least an additional month here at Stephens Park so maybe I'll do that as a just-in-case the S.O. makes it clear Skippy isn't going anywhere soon.

I had been a bit concerned about Mr. Cribbs. He came close to being feral by the time he chose to adopt us. He wasn't used to being confined, especially in a fairly small space. As it turns out, he's like most cats. All it takes to keep him happy is a full food dish and a choice of places to sleep. When he's awake he does like fantasizing about the squirrels he can see through the windows but he doesn't bother hanging out by the door and demanding to go out. Because he was allowed outside for almost 5 years we are careful with the door. We know he'll make a break for it if an opportunity presents itself even though he no longer feels the need to go looking for love. Just squirrels and birds.