Surprise, Arizona

We wrapped up our summer in Michigan on September 30, 2009 and started our southward trek on October 1st. We were scheduled to arrive in Surprise, Arizona, our winter destination, on November 15th. In the six weeks between leaving Michigan and arriving in Surprise, we had RV maintenance scheduled, a new truck purchase (unscheduled), and family to visit. After making the rounds and taking care of our business, we arrived at the Sunflower RV Resort, one day ahead of schedule.

Surprise is a suburb not too far west of Phoenix. It is an outgrowth of Sun City, and the population grew by tens of thousands during the 1990's and early 2000's as retirees flocked to the area. Then you add the snowbirds, like us, that come to live here for a few months each winter, and you can imagine the congestion! It was sort of a shock leaving the bucolic and peaceful village of Hillman and landing smack dab in the middle bustling city life again. It is possible to insulate yourself from the mass confusion somewhat if you never leave the resort, but occasionally you do have to go out for supplies. And golf, which is the main reason we ended up here to begin with. Several other golfing couples we've met along the way were congregating here for the winter, so we decided to join them.

Sunflower RV Resort offers a lot of amenities in and of itself: Bingo• Bocce Ball• Cactus Ranch House Grill • Car Wash Area• Computer Center• Dinner Dances• Dinner Theater• Driving Cages• Exercise Classes • Fitness Center• Fitness personal trainer • Grand Ballroom• Heated Pool and Spa• Hiking Club• Horseshoe Pits• Kitchen• Lapidary• Laundry Facilities• Library• Massage Therapy On Site• Meeting Area• On-site Post Office• Outside Patio Area• Pet Area• Pickle Ball• Picnic Area• Ping Pong• Pitch 'n Putt Course• Pottery/Ceramics• Putting Green• Quilting & Sewing Room• RV and Boat Storage• Shuffleboard Court• Silversmithing• Social Hall for Community Gatherings and Parties• Stained Glass• State-of-the-Art Fitness Center • Three spas and a Eucalyptus Steam Room• Two Tennis Courts• Vendor Market Day• Water Volleyball• Weekly Dances• Wood Carving• Wood Shop. Okay, you get the idea…

At first I wasn't quite sure about the "tin city" we were parking in. Row after row of streets lined with mobile homes and RV's. No lawns, but a lot of rock and concrete, cactus, and palm trees. But, I figured, we are in the southwest, the dessert, and I'm sure this is the appropriate landscaping for this kind of climate and terrain. After being here for a few weeks, I have actually come to appreciate the regional approach to landscaping. Especially during Christmas it was fun to see the blending of traditional decorations with the existing flora - twinkling lights wrapped around a prickly cactus, silver bulbs placed on the tips, and palm trees sparkling decorated like a Douglass fir.

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Our visit to Fort Smith, Arkansas just flew by! We stayed for just about a week, and spent most of that time visiting with Dan’s extended family: His brother and wife (Mike and Angie), his aunts (Aunt Tookie and Aunt Jean), and cousins (David and his wife, Cindy, Lee and his wife Shelly, and Melinda). It was fun catching up with everyone, and we were able to get a few family shots along the way.

Next stop: The Nu Wa factory in Chanute, Kansas for a factory check-up on our Hitchhiker II 5th wheel.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Our first stop out of Livingston, Texas was Hot Springs, Arkansas. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and decided to stay one day to explore before moving on. First we drove to the top of Hot Springs Mountain for an expansive view of the city below. We saw many possible hiking trails, perhaps for another visit when we can stay longer. Back down to historic Hot Springs and Bathhouse Row for a tour and some history of the area.

Hot Springs takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs on the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain into the historic downtown district of the city. (And what is really interesting is that Hot Springs National Park is actually right in the middle of downtown Hot Springs, surrounded by businesses and a busy highway.) About a million gallons of 143-degree water flow from the springs each day. The rate of flow is not affected by fluctuations in the rainfall in the area. Studies by National Park Service scientists have determined through carbon dating that the water that reaches the surface in Hot Springs fell as rainfall 4,000 years earlier. The water percolates very slowly down through the earth’s surface until it reaches superheated areas deep in the crust and then rushes rapidly to the surface to emerge from the 47 hot springs.

People have used the hot spring water in the therapeutic baths for more than 200 years to treat rheumatism and other ailments, although bathing in the spring water now is available in approved facilities only. Bathhouse Row consists of eight turn-of-the-century historic buildings. Two of the bathhouses remain in operation today – The Buckstaff, currently the sole bathhouse operating in its original capacity, and the Quapaw which was reopened in 2008 in a modern co-ed setting. Another bathhouse, the Fordyce, has been converted into a museum to give tourists a glimpse into the fascinating past of the city. As I was touring the “treatment” rooms at the Fordyce, I was reminded more of visions of water torture at sanitariums than of relaxing spa treatments. I’m too accustomed to the modern Day Spa concept, I guess!

The pictures here include the exterior of Buckstaff Baths; one of the treatment rooms in historic Fordyce; the Hot Springs National Park entrance sign; Dan at the summit of Hot Springs Mountain; the Grand Promenade trail that winds around behind the bathhouses; the Hubbard Tub that was used to treat various ailments at Fordyce; a stain glass ceiling in the men’s bath at the Fordyce.

Minute Maid Ball Park (Houston, Texas)

One of our traveling goals is to visit all the Major League baseball parks, and during baseball season, so we can enjoy a game while we’re at it! Even better would be if either San Francisco or Oakland were playing at each of the ballparks we visited, but that might be asking for too much. So yesterday we caught a game at the Minute Maid ball park in Houston, Texas, between the Astros and the Cincinnati Reds. (Houston is only about 70 miles from where we are staying in Livingston, making it an easy drive there and back.) Since neither San Francisco nor Oakland was playing, we decided we would root for the home team. But, it didn’t help – the Reds won, 4-2. But it was a beautiful day to be sitting outside watching a baseball game. Temperature was in the 70’s, nice breeze, seats in the shade. The day before there were torrential rains in Houston, 7.5 inches in 24 hours! You wouldn’t have known Sunday, what a difference a day can make! This year (2009) marks the Astros 10th Season in Minute Maid Park, located in the heart of downtown Houston. You can see some of the surrounding high rise buildings in the attached pictures.

Today wraps up our stay in Livingston and in Texas this time around. Tomorrow we head out for Arkansas: A couple of days in Hot Springs; a couple of days visiting friends in Conway; then about a week visiting family in Fort Smith. We enjoyed our hiatus in Livingston, it’s a great place to stop and collect your bearings, but it’s time to get rolling again!

Big Thicket Preserve Mountain Bike Ride

Another outing to the Big Thicket National Preserve! This time a 15-mile mountain bike ride on a combination horse/hiking/biking trail in the Big Sandy Creek section of the preserve. Sounds like it would be a busy trail, but Dan and I were the only ones on it for the three hours we rode. To look at the trail, your first impression is that it will be “a ride in the park”; wide road so you can ride side by side, no obvious obstacles, shaded so no overheating, and no obvious inclines. But I guess I forgot to take the name of the trail – Big Sandy Creek – seriously! Much of the trail was outright sandy, and some of it was just pine needles over sand!! This caused quite a strain on the upper thigh. Especially on the long, steady climb out, which didn’t seem like much of a downhill on the way in at all. But it was a lovely setting, almost completely canopied over the entire route, and birds singing continuously. The information sign at the trail head warned of venomous snakes, including copperhead, water moccasin, coral snake, and rattlesnake. About half way through the ride, I saw (too late) a small (baby?) snake slither right into my path, and it looked exactly like the picture of the coral snake! I couldn’t stop or swerve in time, so I had to run right over it. That was kind of creepy! I assume I killed it, wouldn’t you think the entire weight of a human being running over a snake would squish it? Dan reassured me that it was “probably okay”. I’ll never know, and that’s okay! Later, Dan saw two adult feral pigs and three piglets. He was ahead of me a bit, so by the time I caught up, they had scurried off into the woods. On our way back, however, I was able to catch a glimpse of the three piglets in about the same area, and again, they were running like mad to get off the trail and back into the cover of the trees. Our only other wildlife encounter was when we stopped for an apple break, and I set my foot down on an ant hill. I can’t believe how quickly my ankle was covered with ants!! I only counted one bite, though. Like I said, the ride was a bit more challenging than it appeared at first glance. There were a couple of creek and muddy area crossings, and a couple of downed trees to negotiate. And the climb out seemed to go on forever (I think we need to ride our bikes more often?). But, I was glad I could still do it, even if my mountain biking skills are a little rusty. We had lunch back in the parking area and I was glad I packed us a lot of food, I was starving! Attached are some pictures of the area.

Livingston, Texas (Double Lakes and Big Thicket Preserve)

Texas is so big!! It’s not likely we will ever get to all four corners and destinations between, so we were glad to have the opportunity to stop off in San Antonio for a brief visit on our way to Livingston. Escapees, the RV club we belong to is headquartered in Livingston, a small town about 75 miles northeast of Houston. We spent a few weeks at Rainbow’s End (the name of the RV park) in November 2007 when we first retired (see blog entry http://beckylaine.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html for details). We decided to stop here again this year on our way to Michigan, and arrived on April 1st. Rainbow’s End is a nice place to just kick back and relax, or to become involved with the many daily activities sponsored by Escapees. There are a few recreational spots in the area as well. We’ve been doing a little of each – kicking back, and recreating!

Double Lake Recreation Area is in nearby Coldspring and offers a little of everything including camping, picnicking, hiking, and biking. Dan and I took advantage of one very beautiful Spring day to ride the 8-mile mountain bike trail that meanders around the lake. I love the trail – it’s through the woods, so definitely “off road”, but it’s not so rugged that I can’t enjoy it. There are enough roots, sharp turns, and changes in trail conditions to make it interesting (meaning I have to pay attention!), and the ups and downs are very gentle. But the trail doesn’t hang out over steep drop offs nor are there big boulders to negotiate, or creek crossings. My kind of trail! (Dan may have wished for something a little more challenging…)

Yesterday we drove to Big Thicket National Preserve near Dallardsville for a day hike. The preserve was established to protect a complex biological diversity of life forms, including virgin pine and cypress forest, hardwood forest, meadow and black water swamp. What is so extraordinary is not the rarity or abundance of the life forms found here, but how many species coexist. From the Big Thicket website: “Major North American biological influences bump up against each other here: southeastern swamps, Appalachians, eastern forests, central plains, and southwest deserts. Bogs sit near arid sandhills. Eastern bluebirds nest near roadrunners. There are 85 tree species, more than 60 shrubs, and nearly 1,000 other flowering plants, including 26 ferns and allies, 20 orchids and four of North America's five type of insect-eating plants. Nearly 300 kinds of birds live here or migrate through. Fifty reptile species include a small, rarely seen population of alligators. Amphibious frogs and toads abound.” Big Thicket covers 97,000 acres, so we surely only saw a glimpse of all the preserve has to offer. But we did hear a symphony of insects and birds, and the bright yellow wild daisies abounded. We didn’t see any of the four carnivorous plants that can be found here (and only five species can be found in the entire United States) – that probably explains all the bugs! There was evidence of Hurricane Ike (September 2008) along the trail, with tree tops snapped off, and some totally down.

(Pictures on this post are from Big Thicket)