Sorry for the lack of updates, we got to my buddy's, Kevin's, house around 6 last night and spent the evening just catching up after 3 years or so.
The drive through Missouri was... Interesting! We stayed outside of Jackson at Trail of Tears State Park right on the Mississippi and pretty much on the Illinois and Missouri, and had to get almost to the other side of the state and down to Berryville. The first 2/3 was pretty uneventful, the normal hills, but nothing remotely concerning. And understand, I was a little concerned, since Kevin was adamant that "This is the Ozarks, so if it's too much, you can set up somewhere and we'll come to you." He also said his road was a little tricky, so if I needed to, there was an RV park in town. After he told me that, I scouted some of the route in Gmaps and it looked pretty chill.
And like I said, the first 2/3 was fine. And then 65 got me! I don't know what's up with those grades, but they knocked me down under 25mph at least 3 times, and under 40 more times then I can count. The bus made it up each time, and fortunately, 65 was a 4 lane highway, so people could pass, but I felt horrible looking at both lanes piled up behind me (seriously, if you're gonna pass a slow vehicle, put the hammer down and get around them).
I'm really taken aback by the natural diversity in this area. I wasn't expecting the amount of pine forests we've seen through MO and AR. I was expecting more deciduous forests, like most of PA, and this really brings me back to when I lived near the coast range in OR.
Today, we went over to Eureka Springs and had a lot of fun walking around downtown and walking through the shops. Kevin was kind enough to lend us his truck, since the Struggle Bus would have been a bull in a china shop if I brought her down. Never thought a 2000s Super Duty would feel like a sports car, but here we are. It's a good thing I had his truck, because maps sent me down some crazy narrow road, and then tried to send me down what, I swear to god, was a driveway with a street name. I decided to GTFO, and backed out of the street, when my kids decided it was a good time to point out one of the residents watching us. I go to take off, and since it was on a hill, and I was used to the bus's throttle response, I may have been a little to aggressive and chirped the tires (sorry Kevin!) and the guy just loses it laughing.
But, these 'stupid' reroutes took me up a hill with a view of a mansion. If anyone knows what this place is, LMK. I couldn't find anything on maps, and the shelter the picture was taken from didn't say anything either.
After that, we headed out to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Rescue. This place takes in large cats from DOJ seizures, breeder raids, and similar situations. Many of these cats are actually from the Tiger King of 2020 fame. It's really sad to hear about the conditions these animals lived under and the crap they went through. They also don't make the animals 'perform', or handle them (other then veterinary type things). It's just a really good place. I'll be honest, with 95° temps and heat indexes in the 100s, most of the habitats looked empty. But the admission includes a drive around tour with a guide, and that area was more shaded, so we got to see a few of the cats. I honestly wouldn't have been pissed if we didn't see any, the sanctuary is so well run, and is funded by the tours and donations, that I didn't feel bad about the money going to help them.
And even with all this fun stuff, the real topper was sitting down this evening and enjoying a home cooked Puerto Rican dinner with Kevin and his family. And really, isn't this the point of all of this? And I don't mean Skoolie life, or travel in general. The real point in life is those connections we make. Sorry if this is a little too philosophical for a old gearhead, but maybe if everyone focused more on those seemingly unimportant connections, we'd have a lot less fighting over stupid crap.
I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but that's kinda the theme of this trip, I guess. Probably just a quite day since we'll be leaving on Monday. Maybe I'll record some video, I've got some from the sanctuary, including a bit that sounded like a lion about to puke. Any of you cat owners out there know that sound, just imagine with the volume (sound volume, not capacity volume... Ewww) of a lion. We have 2 cats, and we all looked at each other with a WTF expression!
From there, it looks like we're heading for mountains. Which ones? I don't know! All I know is the kids (and Crystal and I, honestly) are done with the heat/humidity down here. The Carolinas are still in the running. I kinda want to see a plantation. I've always loved that style of architecture, even though I oppose pretty much everything else about the part of our history. I'd also like to have the kids learn more about the Civil War era. While we live near Gettysburg, I haven't given it the time it deserves, and we've seen nothing of the south side of the war. So I guess we'll just play it by ear and see what happens!
Oh, and I got a comment about having seen us on the road, so i just want to throw out there that if any of ya'll see us out in the wild, feel free to say hi. Even though I'm kinda introverted and have RAF (the male version of RBF), I don't bite, and it's cool to meet people who like my stories, or just think the whole thing is ridiculous!
