February 14 - Little Rock AR

Day One.  Awoke to a cold gale which made last minute packing and assembling the somewhat frozen rig for take-off difficult.  We had to review procedures to make it all work but were very happy when slides went in smoothly. 

We kept forgetting things and made three trips back to the house before taking off down the mountain.  The wind slowed us down.  Cheaper gasoline was welcome in Virginia where we made a shopping stop at Camping World and Gander Mountain in Roanoke. 

Stopped for a Valentine’s gift at Cracker Barrel in Knoxville and spent the night in their parking lot. 

Day Two.  Cold at dawn.  We turned on the heat as we made breakfast.  West on I-40 into the rain at Nashville that stayed with us to Little Rock.  We camped there at the lovely little Downtown Riverside RV Park operated by the city.  It is below the Clinton Pedestrian Bridge and across from the Presidential Library. 

The rain poured as we set up.  We may stay tomorrow or move southwest into Texas.

February15 - Little Rock AR

We decided to stay.  We wanted a little rest for ourselves and the rig.  Everything needed to dry out and the forecast was for sunshine.  It came but with it a north wind that remained brisk all day as we wandered about Little Rock and North Little Rock by foot and trolley.  Took lunch and a beer in town off of William Clinton Drive.  Walked past the Presidential library and through the wetlands preserve.

The Internet access was great, so we caught up on news and correspondence.  I ended the afternoon and evening working on income taxes.  Asking questions gives answers.  How could I know that the value on line 2A of the 1099-Div is long-term capital gain?  The form said nothing.  The Internet told all.  Or, an odd value on another line that apparently is not taxable but “changes the basis.”  I hope Vanguard Bank remembers that the basis has changed.  I won’t. 

The form on Social Security payments was Byzantine.   I cranked through the formulas and picked the values based on results of calculations only to discover that I must pay tax on 85% of my social security payments.  I knew that without going through the effort, but I guess it was necessary. 

Next time I have to spare I work on deductions and the like.  I still have two months to finish.  Should be enough time, but I would rather work on other things.

February 16 - Wichita Ridge Park, Geronimo OK

If not Indian Country at least it is the old Indian Territory.  It was to be a place all the Indians could commune and stay out of the way of the colonists.  Nothing is forever. Today we drove across bare forests in Arkansas and piney woods and then parklands in northeastern Texas.  A few hours before Wichita Falls TX the trees disappeared.  We entered the prairie. 

The drive took longer than expected.  We’re now in the west and the map scale is deceivingly smaller.  We arrived tired at sunset.  Then the car would not start.  Battery died on the long tow.  I’m not sure why.  Drain from the braking device, I guess.  It has not worked well ion the cold anyway.

We’re at Lake Waukula, a Corps of Engineers flood control lake.  Great camping with water and electric hookups.  With the senior discount only seven dollars a night.  Can’t beat that.  No Internet and not much telephone, but we can do with out that for a few days. 

Enjoyed meeting a local couple spotting deer as we arrived.  They gave us a jump to the car.  We were very thankful. 

The ground is saturated but the air was warm in the evening.  Cooling off now but i saw moths flying when I set up camp and will have to clean my windshield in the morning.  Trees are bare.  Saw a few Great Blue Heron in the lake. 

We will explore tomorrow and finish setting up camp.  For now we have the necessities and the inside is warm.  Still don’t have the rhythm of travel, but we’re getting there.  Turned on the water pump this morning for the first time and it didn’t work.  When Anne told me I went into the outside shower and jiggled the second switch.  Then it worked.  An easy fix. 

With electricity in the house we can watch tv.  Saw an episode of Justified.  Now Anne is to bed.  I’m tired and will follow.  Now tax work tonight.

February 19, 2017 - Wichita Ridge OK

Three days here.  First to catch our breath and set the pattern for travel.  We jogged through the campground at dawn and birded the lake shore.  We are adding many birds to the new year-list.  Always easy in January.

In the afternoon we took a ride to explore the area and fill up the gas tank in the car which had been empty since Pennsylvania.  We found fuel at the closest town of any size, Walters, which was little more than a few grain silos, the fertilizer and ammonia facility, several dozen houses, two gas stations and two restaurants. 

Coming back we stopped at a state game lands wetland area where we found a great assortment of wild birds.  Perhaps the most pleasing was the Harris’s Sparrow.  This is a handsome finch that summers far, far north (from the Hudson Bay north) and winters across a narrow band of the Midwest from Iowa to central Texas.  So, the folks along the coasts seldom see it.  Here, in shrubby woodlands, it is common as dirt.  We last saw it in Kansas in the winter of 2013 on our Rocky Mountains expedition.  Don’t know when we will see it again.

Yesterday, we drove to the Wichita Mountains, a truly scenic part of Oklahoma.  There we found American Bison and Texas longhorn cattle among the longspurs and sparrows we sought.  The latter is maintained on this refuge as “a cultural and historical legacy species.”  Go figure.

An ancient (500 million year-old) mass of granite here forms the hills in the prairie, and the cobbles that have dropped from it frustrated the farmers.  And so the prairie was preserved here.  The land became part of Fort Sill which remains an important part of the Texoma community.  I had never heard that regional name before coming here.  The Army did not really need all the land and so the area north of the fort became Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge which is notable as where the government bought a fence to protect a small group of American Bison that had been preserved in various zoos and parks.  The animals prospered and their descendants are now spread across the West.