Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee Again

Oklahoma

There is not much to report on Oklahoma. We drove just over the border on our way to Arkansas and stayed one night in Broken Bow. We found a park to cook dinner. It was a beautiful night! We were able to answer a few questions in our "You + Me" book. This book has a different prompt for each day. Each day has three different places to put answers. The idea is to answer the questions for three years and see how your answers change over time. We are a little behind, so we answer several of the prompts at a time. We love to do this while we are at the dinner table together as a way to stay grounded in our relationship - especially during the busy times! After dinner, we stayed in the parking lot of one of the oldest Wal-Marts I have ever seen. It was small and looked like it had not been updated in years!

Arkansas

Arkansas was an exciting surprise! We loved Arkansas. On our way to our destination in Arkansas, we stopped at the coolest park. Daisy State Park was right on the water and was peaceful. While T was working, I found a flier about geocaching and decided to give it a try when T was done with his work day. It is SO FUN! We found the geo, signed our name, and put it back in its hiding spot! I am glad I discovered it so early in our van life journey. It has been such a fun way to get to know different cities and parks.

Before we left Daisy State Park, we opened our couple adventure book. My sister got us this book as a wedding present and we were very excited to use it! The book has different categories of date night ideas. You find out the task after you scratch off the instructions. There are icons that tell you what to expect. As an example, we knew our date night would require driving, money, food, and would take a couple hours. The prompt we received was to go to a location 15-20 minutes away from our town and try a new restaurant. When we arrived in the city, we were to make-up a story about the city's name. (For those that know T, you will know he was really good at coming up with a bullshit story!!) We decided that Hot Springs, AK was the perfect location for our date night.

While T drove, I looked for a restaurant to have dinner. I realized that there was a Grateful Dead themed pizza parlor in Hot Springs named Grateful Head. What a perfect location for a fun date night!! I decided to keep the location a surprise from T to make it more exciting. I’m not usually a pizza gal but could not miss out on an opportunity to take T to a GD restaurant. The pizza was delicious and we fit right in. T was giddy when he found out. The general manager also let us see the downstairs that was closed. He showed us around and gave us the history of the building, which was so kind of him!

After dinner, we decided to walk around the town and stopped into a strange little bar named The Malco Lounge. There were a lot of creepy dolls around the room and eclectic decor. We enjoyed a nice little night-cap before heading back to the van. We looked around in the parking lot we parked in before dinner and realized there was not a no-overnight parking sign, so we decided to stay there! It was a fun change from our usual Planet Fitness/Walmart parking lot.

The next evening, we went for a walk and ended up in Hot Springs National Park. This is our first National Park which is so exciting!! The area was beautiful! We were just walking down the street, took a turn, and there it was! I didn’t even realize we were in the park. Although a short hike, it was pretty steep. We went up around sunset. The view was gorgeous. We were not able to go into the Mountain Tower at the top, but the view was still worth the climb!

For the weekend, we stayed at Brady Mountain RV Park. We have not stayed at very many RV parks since we do not need hookups. We have been strategic about which places we wanted to rent space, and the Hot Springs area seemed like the perfect location. The park was about 30 minutes away from Hot Springs, but was right on the water.

When we parked, we were in awe of the area. It was beautiful and we had a great spot! Once we got set-up, we made a premium camping dinner. Ramen noodles with peas, mushrooms, and steaks. It was delicious!

Cooking dinner over the fire!

Breakfast Views!

The next morning, we made a breakfast feast and then headed into the woods for a 6-miler. The weather was perfect! At the end of the hike, there was a perfect little creek to stick our toes in.

Before heading out for our hike that morning, we went to a fellow campsite to grab some firewood. Our neighbor told us the day before that the group that booked the space for the week had to quickly leave and left a lot of wood behind. We realized these people had the PRIME spot in the park and it was now left empty. We stopped the ranger and asked if we could switch our plot. WOW! What a blessing! The sunsets from this spot were magnificent! Up to this point, we had spent a lot of time in cities and were moving quickly, so our visit to Brady Mountain was the respite we needed most.

On our last morning in Hot Springs, we signed up to go to the Buckstaff Bath House. This bath house opened in 1912 and has been in business since. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect, but it was a fun experience! We felt relaxed and ready to face the next week of driving.

Before heading out of town, we stopped by the visitor center to get our first National Park stamp!! Our friends, Andrea and Carson, gave us a National Park book as a wedding gift. The book gives us space for the NP stamp and space to journal about our experience! SO FUN!!

We can’t wait to get back to Arkansas for another visit. We had no idea we would love it so much!

We stopped in Little Rock for lunch before completing our drive to Memphis.

Tennessee Round Two

The end of our first leg was quick! We planned to take several days to get back to NC from Tennessee, but at the last minute changed our plans. The beauty of living in a van!

Our first stop back in Tennessee was in Memphis. T had a business meeting, so we were in a hotel for the evening. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well, so I did not leave the hotel while we were in town. T went to his meeting the next day while I rested before we headed to Nashville!

View outside our hotel. All I saw of Memphis! ha

T is not a huge fan of Nashville, but I was excited to stop-in as I have not been in years! We happened to be there on the evening of the CMAs, so a typical Monday evening turned into such a fun night!! We did not realize the CMAs were happening until we were at dinner and I googled why there was a stage in the middle of the street. We walked around and took in the sites, and of course grabbed some ice cream! I did not make T listen to the performers on the stage, until I heard Miranda Lambert was next! We were in an alley when someone said she was going on stage, so I sprinted to see her perform! As she finished, it started to pour, so we sprinted to the van - content with the random fun we had encountered on what we thought would be a mundane Monday evening.

The next day, we made our way back to North Carolina. We almost ran out of gas in the rural mountains of NC, but thankfully found a pump that worked while the store was closed. We were nervous! It was late when we arrived at the cabin, and we were so thankful for an evening of sleeping in a brick and mortar house!

Stay tuned for the adventures of being back in our home state for a while!