2005/03 Deep South trip - Buffalo River |
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We took off in late morning and wandered a little before we found I-35 again, went around Kansas City and crossed the Missouri River. The river was headed east to join the Mississippi at St Louis and we were headed south to Springfield and Branson. If you think “Springfield” sounds familiar, it probably is. There’s one in every state!
Branson is a big country music destination, almost as big as Nashville, but we continued on, ignoring all the ads for famous country stars (that we’d never hard of), and crossing the border into Arkansas, Bill Clinton’s home state. Arkansas, of course, is pronounced “Arkinsaw” by the locals, including Bill. But then they pronounce a lot of other words differently too! Interestingly, people who live in “Arkinsaw” are called “Arkansans”, pronounced the way it’s spelled.
This was a pretty drive through the Ozark Mountains, more like hills than mountains, but still better than the flat lands of Iowa. We ended up at a campground at Tyler’s Bend on the Buffalo National River. Again, we were the only residents. It was a good site, just above the river, but we were disappointed that the drinking water wasn’t turned on.
Thursday March 3rd
We could see why in the morning, as the temperature had dropped to just below freezing, and we had a light frost on the grass. I had to beg a fill of water from the rangers’ kitchen for our morning tea. When I came back with the water we had a trio of turkey vultures circling over the camper. I guess it’s hard times for the vultures when the tourists leave for the winter.
We found that the Buffalo River’s gravels were full of agates so Sandie spent a happy hour filling the 
camper with rocks. I wandered up the river with my vulture friends, looking at the scenery. The Buffalo River skirts the southern edge of the Ozarks and has carved great limestone cliffs. I had hoped to launch the kayak here and maybe paddle a few miles upstream and then float back, but the river was much too fast to go upstream. Maybe do the trip some other time when I can work out the logistics of a one-way trip.
However, we did find a water tap that was turned on and managed to fill our tanks and flush out the antifreeze. Unfortunately I then noticed that one of the sewer tank straps had come adrift and I spent an hour or so fixing it. At least it was in a nice clean parking lot and a nice sunny day!
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