Monday, April 9, 2018

We're in Arkansas!

We have actually crossed the Arkansas border several times as we wandered around Texarkana, since it is divided between the two states that make up its name. But we are now officially in Arkansas as we headed toward the town of De Queen.

About eight miles outside of town is Lake De Queen, with several corp of engineer (COE) campgrounds. We're staying south of the lake at Walnut Grove campground. We love COE parks, and they often have tiered camp sites with a nice table and fire ring. We celebrated being at the lake by building a fire and making smores. Sitting by that fire, Mark said he felt like he was on vacation (which is a funny thing to say from someone that is always on vacation).

The red buds are blooming, making a pretty show against the cloudy skies.

We also have whole fields of  tiny white wildflowers. Even though these little flowers are about the size of a pencil eraser, each is decorated with bright pink veins radiating from the center. Oh the beauty in the details!

Just like so many places we have been this month, Lake De Queen has flooded its normal banks. The picnic tables close to the shore are now in the lake.

Besides wildflowers, we also see other evidence that it is spring. The local news explained that tree pollen is in the extreme category. Living among the big trees, we have direct experience with this extreme pollen. The water at the edge of the lake was completely yellow from the pollen falling from the trees near the shore.

We decided to put the kayak on the lake, even though the weather wasn't perfect for that. We started on the south side, with the gentle south wind pushing us to the other side of the lake. We were surprised that the pollen was still thick even in the middle of the lake.

Sorry, but the wild life picture of the day is a sad one of an alligator snapping turtle. We thought it was curious that he didn't dive under water as we got closer. It seems that his diving days are over, as we realized he was floating dead in the water.

It's close to three miles to the north end of the lake. After the wind blew us there, we beached the kayak here at Bella Mine Campground so we could stretch our legs and look around. We noticed that this was not the boat ramp, but rather the flooded road leading to the even more flooded ramp.

At one time, water completely covered these great shore-line camp sites. The roads leading to them are still covered, and we're not sure what the water has done to the electrical connections at each site. They only have eight sites still usable, up the hill and to the right in the picture below. We took this picture, however, to remind us that this will be a great place to camp on a less-flooded year.

As we left Bella Mine campground, we saw a big bird soaring over the lake. It's not a great picture, but we caught sight of this bald eagle cruising over the water.

Our real destination is the river that flows into De Queen Lake. Even though the wind is picking up, we decide to continue further north with the wind helping us. We did enjoy the narrower channels of the river, where we could get closer to this huge blue heron.

After going about a half-mile down the river, we decided it was time to head towards home and face that wind that was now gusting in the afternoon. Those gentle breezes that helped to blow us north, were now stiff winds that were making it very difficult to paddle ourselves back south towards home. We didn't take any pictures because we were battling the wind and waves, and everything in the boat (including us) was soggy from the waves lapping over the bow. Let's just say that kayaking can be an excellent upper-body workout, and our arms should be sore tomorrow. But just to prove that we made it back to the campground, we'll end this blog with a very patriotic picture taken close to our motor home--red buds, white wildflowers, and blue skies. As we wander His wonders, we salute the red, white, and blue!

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