Mississippi and Arkansas (and lots of driving!)

Thursday, our last morning in Missouri, we walked outside to this double rainbow over the RV.  Perfect start to the day!  We traveled from Missouri to Arkansas (approx. 2.5 hours), quickly parked the RV in our campground and hit the road in the Jeep to the Mississippi high point (another 2.5 hours away).

Woodall Mountain - our high point #36 at a whopping 806 ft!

Friday we hit the road again, in the Jeep, but this time in the opposite direction, and another 2.25 hours, to Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Let's just say that every minute of this drive was well worth it!  In one of the local shops we met an 80 something year young woman who moved here in the 70's.  She was ill at the time and the water has healed her.  She looks wonderful and we could hardly believe she is 80+ (she wouldn't tell us her exact age).

These "filling stations" were in several places in town.  Locals come with gallon jugs to fill up their regular water supply.  

Natural drinking water fountain

one of many of the springs in town

Superior Bathhouse - the local brewery in the park which makes their beer and soda from the local natural water

Marque and Jake took great care of us at lunch and Marque is the creator of the recipe of the best cookies ever!

When we first hit the road our dear friends, Brenda & Joe, bought us the best book ever, Off the Beaten Path, which we have been using to land ourselves in some very cool areas which we would not have found otherwise.  At lunch today we had the most fabulous cookie, which was created by Marque, pictured above, and found out it is featured in this cookbook, Off the Eaten Path, On the Road Again.  Well with that title how could I resist.  This book covers the southern areas of the US and now we have another reference to use to hunt down some fun places and yummy food.

After lunch at Superior we headed to Buckstaff Baths for a few hours of pampering and relaxation in these natural waters!

The first step in our relaxation was our own personal whirlpool type bath similar to below.  They had an interesting mechanism which made the regular tub like a whirlpool.

After the 20 minute bath is was onto the relaxation table for a rest over the hot packs (which was the towels soaked in the naturally hot water).  Next stop a brief sit in the steam room cabinet.  I thought I'd be claustrophobic but it actually felt great to have the steam on my body and not my face as well.

Next we enjoyed a brief soak in the sitz bath (similar to the image below), which is good for the lower back and hips.

After all of this wonderful soaking and sweating out the impurities it was time for the needle shower to rinse off.

Oh no, it's not over yet!  One more treat of a Swedish Massage and then a paraffin hand dip.  Then back to reality.  What a wonderful experience we would recommend to anyone!  We'd love to have stayed there for a few weeks to enjoy regular soaks.  I love my baths!

We spent Saturday in the RV traveling from Arkansas almost through Oklahoma to our "campground" at Wal-Mart in Elk City (about 40 miles from the Texas border).  We'll spend another day in the RV today headed to Tijeras, New Mexico where we'll spend 3 nights so that we may enjoy a few days touring around Albuquerque and catching up with friends we met there a few years ago.

Til next time...Happy Trails!