ANOTHER DAY IN MURFREESBORO

Saturday, June 25 – We took Bella on a hike this morning. It was the same trail we hiked yesterday, so new she would love it.

She was a super hiker for about 80% of the trip, then she ran out of gas. She stopped at a stream for a drink and that gave her a little energy ,but we ended up carrying her for the last 2-3 tenths of a mile.

We took a family photo…minus Kelly and Carrie.

She slept the remainder of the day....pooped.

This forest is full of Loblolly Pine trees.  These trees are very tall and very straight.  They would make good telephone poles.

We headed to the Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village. KA-DO-HA Indian village is a pre-historic site that was populated by the Mound Builders approximately 1,000 years ago.

We did not tour the village, due to the $8 fee, but did stop in the trading post. And what did we find in one of the display cases......PINE NEEDLE BASKETS made by Cherokee Indians.

These tiny baskets were no bigger than the palm of your hand and were selling in the $70-80 range.

Marsha's basket.

We made a quick stop at Miners' Camping and Rock Shop. Marsha wanted to purchase some bottoms for her new baskets. This guy had tons of rocks. These were our favorites but too big to buy.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll again real soon. Have a great day!

THERE'S DIAMONDS IN THEM THAR HILLS!

Saturday, June 25 – With DIAMONDS on our minds, we headed out to Crater of Diamonds State Park



The park offers visitors a one-of-a-kind experience, the adventure of hunting for real diamonds. You search over a 37 acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient, diamond-bearing volcanic pipe – the world's eighth largest in surface area.


This world famous site is the only diamond-producing area in North America open to the public. And, if you find a diamond it's yours to keep!

Over 75,000 diamonds have been found at “the Crater”. On average, more than 700 diamonds are found each year, including such notable finds as: The Uncle Sam - 40.23 carats, The Amarillo Starlight – 15.33 carats and The Star of Shreveport – 8.82 carats

In 1998, the Strawn-Wagner Diamond, a cut white Crater diamond weighing 1.09 carats, was graded by the American Gem Society as a “D” Flawless 0/0/0 perfect diamond. A “one-in-a-billion diamond.”

We spent about 3 hours searching for our riches.

Paul renting a screen for our adventure.


Paul looking for the "diamond in the rough."


Marsha looking for her diamond.


Some people take this really seriously. Look at the ladies position in this picture.

These people are having a picnic while they dig.


We had our choice of dry shifting…which we choose…or wet shifting. Too messy for us.


They even had a water park that was really nice. It didn't open till noon.


Marsha seemed to take it a little more serious than Paul (I guess she takes most things more serious). Look at her finds!


Here's Paul precious stone…NOT.


He's convinced there are thousands of small diamonds in the dirt he sifted at the mine. He only brought home a small sample of his sifted diamonds.  "See my diamond!"


After our diamond search, we spent some time hiking one of the trails and collecting more pine needles for Marsha's baskets. This trail was a concrete paved trail for the first half mile. It was like a stroll in the park, but we were the only people taking advantage of this hike through the forest.


At the Little Missouri River, we turned on a lesser developed trail to return to the parking lot. It was so quiet and peaceful. We were successful in collecting quite a few pine needles.




We ended the first part of the day with a treat of ice cream in a small store in town. YUMMMMM!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

MURFREESBORO, ARKANSAS

Friday, June 24 – We drove about six hours today from Livingston, TX to Murfreesboro, AR.

Bella seemed be more talkative on this trip than any of our other trips. The picture shows her giving Paul a piece of her mind. We don't think she got enough sleep last night.

Murfreesboro is located in the foothills of the Ouachitas ("Wah-chi-taw") Mountains. This area is home of many sparkling lakes, fishing rivers, mountain views.

We are spending three nights at Castle Keepers RV Resort. Why do people name these places resorts when the sites don't even have a dump?!? Any way, we were the only ones in the "resort" until this evening. We are in Site #6.

Looking on each side of us.

Everything went smoothly until we went to put out our slides. One of our main livingroom slides ground and squeaked like crazy. Fearing we wouldn't be able to get it back in, we decided to not put it out. This site is at a crazy angle so Paul is hoping that was causing it to bind and not go out evenly. We'll try it at our next stop. The good thing is if it does need adjusted or a new motor, we'll be in Red Bay – home of Tiffin Motor Homes - in two weeks and can have it taken care of then.

We drove out to see the Narrows Dam after getting everything set-up. The drive was beautiful.

Construction of Narrows dam to form Lake Greeson began in April 1947, the first bucket of concrete was poured in June 1948. The dam was finished in 1950, and dedicated on July 1951.

Narrows Dam is a gravity dam. The core is concrete. The foundation is rock. Maximum discharge is 42300 cubic feet per second. Its capacity is 600,600 acre feet. Normal storage is 279,700 acre feet. It drains an area of 237 square miles. Narrows dam is 941 feet long with a height of 183.5 feet. The Dam impounds the waters of the Little Missouri River to form 7,000-acre Lake Greeson, a prime recreational Lake in southwest Arkansas.

Little Missouri River.

This sure must be a great attraction for local fishermen and boat enthusiasts. We've seen many trucks pulling fishing boats heading that way past our campground. We followed the river for a while and came across a couple of guys putting their kayaks in the water. They said the this River was wonderful go paddle.

The River was high from the recent rains.

After returning to the campground, we collected more pine needles for Marsha's baskets. We'll have to watch when we are out and about for additional areas of pine needles. We collected and cleaned about a half of shoe box load.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!