We had four days and three nights to move our RV from Austin, Texas to St. Peters, Missouri. When looking for our evening stops, I usually search the state and COE parks first, and then see if there are any Harvest Host establishments on our route. This, in addition to making sure that the drive time for Cal is in manageable time chunks. I’m not always lucky on this score, but I hit the ball out of the park on this trip.

Tyler State Park marked our last night in Texas. We had been in the state for almost six months.

Our drive from Waco to this pretty spot near Tyler, Texas was on a curving state route with green woods, rolling hills and fields that were carpeted with blooming flowers in shades of yellow, pink and blue. The park itself is also hilly, in a piney woods next to a small lake. It was relaxing place to stop and unwind from the day, and take in a hike or two.

A resident raccoon ambled through now and again, scavenging for a bite to eat. Sadly for this raccoon, signs around the campground admonished us sternly not to feed the wildlife.

All is not as perfect as it would seem, however. Google directed us to the wrong side of the park, necessitating a drive the long way around on the country roads. That beautiful road in from Waco was bumpy, so many things in the trailer got jostled around. When I opened up the cupboard housing my spices, the turmeric fell out, the lid smashed, and…. well, we had a bit of a yellow floor for a little while. The shelf in my closet which has a clothing rod under it also fell sometime during the day. Hmmm…could it be I had too many books sitting on it?

As I was strolling around the campground, I noticed a stand of firewood for sale. Next to it, a Little Free Library! I had never seen one in a state park campground before. I took this as a direct message from God, the universe, whatever, and hoofed it back to our site. I filled up that Little Free Library with an overflow of unread books that I’d picked up from other free libraries and swap shelves. I was a little sorry to see some of them go, but I will always pick up more.

The rest of our trip was thankfully uneventful and Cal has since repaired my little shelf securely with several screws.

We spent the next evening at Coulter Farms and Historic Wolff Mercantile, a Harvest Host stop near Washington, Arkansas which is pictured at the top of this blog. Justice and Katie, the owners of this paradise, have moved several historic buildings, including old cabins, to their bed and breakfast establishment. The Mercantile is a little gift shop and they also sell frozen meals.

They own the cutest little Highland cow, and several goats. Justice gave us a little bag of feed to give to them.

Their dog, Abel, helpfully carried the feed bag for us, even when it was empty.

There were also curly-haired pigs to see, as well as their cat. Altogether, it is a very beautiful and peaceful setting.

The town of Washington, Arkansas is itself a state park. In the 1800’s, it was a stop on the Southwest Trail and for a couple of years served as the Confederate capital of Arkansas. Goodlett Cotton Gin, dating back to 1883, is in the front of the property we were staying on.

The post office in Washington has the honor of being the oldest facility in Arkansas, dating back to 1820. The Bowie knife also originated here.

Walking into town after dinner provided some evening’s entertainment, but all the buildings that have been restored or converted into museums were closed. In the morning, of course, we were on our way before they opened.

On our way, that is, after we had a delicious breakfast of hot and tasty egg souffle, muffins, yogurt parfait and orange juice delivered to our RV. That was a treat!

We were in northern Arkansas for the next evening’s stop at Davidsonville Historic State Park. This is another small park, easy to get to, with the full hookups that Cal likes. It is right on the edge of the Ozark hills.

This time our site came with a cat. He was very friendly and affectionate, and seemed well fed. I’m hoping that the park rangers in the visitors center across the street are feeding him and keeping an eye on him.

This park takes the visitor even further back in time than Washington, Arkansas. The old streets are here but the buildings are gone. Archaeological digs have been done here to determine where they were and to search for artifacts. Davidsonville was one of Arkansas Territory’s first settlements in 1815. There is evidence that French colonists were here even earlier, and Native Americans used the site as early as 4,000 B.C.

Ghost structures show the outline of a few buildings. Washington may have had the first postal facility, but Davidsonville had the first postal stop. It was in Adam Richey’s house in 1817. His former house is one of the ghost structures.

Unlike the way we send mail today, a letter in those days was sent without postage. When a person went to pick their mail up at Adam’s house, they paid for it at that time. Mail only ran once a month.

Davidsonville also has a pretty little lake.

A good place to stay for the night certainly makes the trip shorter and a whole lot more fun.

Next time – we arrive at “home base”