Let's Go Exploring; 13 Reservations Made

Location: Heart of Haynesville RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

I've been back at my home base for about 2 1/2 weeks. During that time, I've visited with family, had doctor check-ups, went on a couple of semi-dates with my X-wife and did a little work on Liberty. But, this time of year is the best traveling/exploring time for me because school is still in session and very few families are taking vacations right now. The weather suits me just right with highs in 50's/60's and low's in the 30's/40's. So, all I needed to do was pick a place to explore. 

I'm not looking for a long haul trip right now. That may happen in late spring so I can escape the heat of the summer. I decided to explore the Arkansas River from where it empties into the Mississippi River up to Fort Smith, Arkansas where it leaves Arkansas and enters Oklahoma. I've camped along the river at Little Rock and Russellville, but I never really explored it. 

With that in mind, I set to work planning my trip. It took about a week to finalize everything including reservations at all of the campgrounds on this large circular trip. I used my usual programs of RVParky for trip planning/organization, Allstays for potential campground locations, and Google Earth for campground and campsite final selection. I think I have chosen some great campgrounds and campsites with wonderful views and close-by exploration locations. Of the 13 campgrounds, 11 are Corps of Engineers, 1 is a National Park Service campground and 1 is an Arkansas State Park. The trip will last 40 days and Liberty will be towed about 1,100 miles. The average daily cost for a campsite will be about $13.75 which is only about $0.50 per day more than my monthly rate at my current base camp RV park. The average distance been campgrounds is about 80 miles which suits me fine. The check-in times are mostly in the middle of the afternoon and with such a short tow, I'll have to make adjustments about hitching up and leaving a campground. After thinking about, it generally makes the travel day an exploration day. No more long hauls for me (he said, with fingers crossed). I'm completely satisfied with the cost, time and location of the trip.

This is the screen shot of RV Parky showing my route and campground locations. 

The trip begins on February 20th which is the end the ending date of my current monthly rent. Even after sitting for a month, it will only take me a leisurely day to get ready to hitch up and move so I'll use the rest of the time before the trip begins to do some research about places to see and things to do. If ya'll know of anything special to see in that area, just let me know. Research is one of the overlooked things in trip planning. 

Oh well, maybe this will be the pattern of my new travel style. Travel for a month or two then return to base camp for a month or two and repeat. I can live with that.

A nice sunrise from a couple of days ago.

 

A so-so sunset while looking out Liberty's door. 

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe I'll Cya down the road.