Day 60 of adventures! Got up early, packed up and on the road at 8am. Wild…. saw coyotes along side of the road! We stopped at 8:40 in Woodward at McDonald’s for breakfast & Diet Coke’s! 🥤Drove by Watonga Indian Reservation & fields of llamas🦙, cows🐄, & pigs! 🐖 IWatonga is named after Arapaho Chief Watonga whose name means “Black Coyote”. Fields & fields of hay, wheat 🌾 “ Amber Waves of Grain” as they gently blew in the breeze! Windmills, oil rigs, tree farms & lots of open land! Then something new….a big field of Longhorns…..horses & more llamas! Lots of 🎰 casinos in northern Oklahoma! ***Welcome to Arkansas! One state we’ve driven all around the past 40 years but never camped in it till now! Sticker added to our US map! 😍 Looking in my National Park Passport Book and noticed we were going to be passing Fort Smith…. a National Historical Site! 😱 So I immediately researched it and ……yup we stopped there for an adventure in Arkansas! ***Fort Smith was established as a western frontier military post in 1817, built to keep peace in the Arkansas River Valley between the native Osage and arriving Cherokee & also the center of fur trading. The city developed there. It became well known as a base for migrants’ settling of the Wild West and for its law enforcement heritage. 1st Ft Smith 1817-1824, 2nd Ft Smith 1838-1871. During the Civil War both sides used it as a Supply post. 1865 the tribes signed treaties with the federal government. Federal Court 1872-1896 had jurisdiction over Indian territory. Over 24 years hundreds of US Deputy Marshalls rode out from the court into Indian Territory to maintain law & order. Judge Isaac C. Parker “ the hanging judge”, presided over one of the largest, deadliest, and busiest federal court districts. He heard over 13,000 cases (344 were capital crimes for murder or rape)! Of the 160 he sentenced to hang, 79 faced the gallows! It was really eery to see the gallows & to walk under it! We were able to go into the Commissary Building which was built in 1838 which is the oldest standing building at Ft Smith. We then walked a few trails but it was time to get back to traveling. Arrived at Crystal Springs Campground about 6:45pm. 445 miles for the day! Beautiful, big site for Memorial Day weekend, on the lake! Unpacked & had dinner around the campfire! Beautiful night on the lake, stars above & so relaxing that we enjoyed it till 11:30pm! 🌟 Crystal Springs Campground and Recreation Area is on Lake Ouachita. There’s a marina, boat ramps, small beach area and playground here and with plenty of trails & shade from the Forest. We felt a little out of place not having a pontoon boat & I think we were the only, non locals there! Arkansas people are the friendliest people….within 15 minutes of being there everyone around us came over to say hi and checked on us every day, to see if we slept ok, needed anything or to just to say hi! 🙋🏻♀️ Next morning off to Hot Springs National Park! I had booked us our very first couples event at The Quapaw Bathhouse! 🧖♀️ 🧖♂️ Started off with robes & slippers then a private bath 🛀 in warm mineral spring water, tranquility room with peppermint cool cloths and cucumber water drinks, 30 minute Swedish massages (Tim’s first ever massage) followed by 30 minute foot conditioning & scalp massages! Then relaxation room with coffee & tea! 3 hour treat! Who wants to hike now?! Not us but we chose to hike to another bathhouse, The Superior Bathhouse, that was converted into a brewery in 2012, using hot spring water in its beers and spirits! 😍 Perfect way to celebrate such an amazing adventure! Beer, wine, beer cheese dip and a pretzel! 🍺 🍷 🥨 While there we learned that Arkansas does not sell beer, wine or alcohol on Sundays…. so we stocked up on the way back to the campground for the rest of the trip! **** Hot Springs Reservation was initially created by the United States Congress on April 20, 1832 to be preserved for future recreation. Established before the concept of a national park existed, it was the first time that land had been set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation. This national park is the nation’s oldest, predating Yellowstone by 40 years. The hot spring water has been popularly believed for centuries to possess medicinal properties, and was a subject of legend among several Native American tribes. It was believed the waters benefited diseases of the skin and blood, nervous affections, rheumatism and kindred diseases, and the “various diseases of women”. Incorporated January 10, 1851, the city was known in the early 20th century as the home to Major League Baseball spring training, illegal gambling, and gangsters such as Al Capone, horse racing at Oaklawn Park, the Army and Navy Hospital, and 42nd President Bill Clinton. The area was established as a national park in 1921. Since Hot Springs National Park is the oldest park maintained by the National Park Service, it was the first to receive its own US quarter in April 2010 as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters coin series. The hot springs flow from the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain, part of the Quachita Mountain range. The park includes portions of downtown Hot Springs, making it one of the most accessible national parks. The entire Bathhouse Row area is designated as a National Historic Landmark District; it contains the grandest collection of 8 bathhouses of its kind in North America, including many outstanding examples of Gilded Age architecture. The row’s Fordyce Bathhouse serves as the park’s visitor center and has been historically renovated to its original state in 1989, which was really cool to be able to walk through all 3 floors and imagine what it was like in the 1800’s. Buckstaff and Quapaw are the only facilities still operating as bathhouses. Buckstaff Bathhouse has been in continuous operation since 1912 and is one of the best-preserved structures on Bathhouse Row. The Ozark is now the Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1929, prices for single baths ranged from $1 to $1.40, while a course of 21 baths was $16 to $24.The thermal springs are situated in the Ouachita Mountains of central Arkansas. The springs emerge in a gap between Hot Springs Mountain and West Mountain in an area about 1,500 feet by 400 feet wide at altitudes from 576 to 683 feet. The springs predominantly are composed of hot water from thousands of feet underground mixed with some shallow cold ground water. Currently, there are 47 thermal springs in the park that are presumed to be flowing. Thermal water from 33 of the thermal springs is collected and monitored at a central reservoir, which distributes the combined discharge for public use and consumption. The stores sell plastic gallon jugs that people buy and then go fill them up with this water. 💧 The heat comes from the natural heating of rocks as depth increases. The composition of the water indicates it is heated rainwater which has not approached a magmatic source, so no volcanic action is involved in the formation of these hot springs. The result is the mild alkaline, pleasant tasting solution with dissolved calcium carbonate. 🌞Sunday we took the Hot Springs Mountain Drive. Winding, switchbacks up through the beautiful lush green forest. 🌳 Stopped at the Mountain Tower. The Mountain Tower, a 216-foot high observation tower built of lattice steel on Hot Springs Mountain opened 1983. The tower is the third to be built on the mountain. We took the elevator up to the top, amazing panoramic view of the Quachita Mountains, Hot Springs Mountain & Diamond Lakes! We had a picnic lunch in the Park the headed back for a nice relaxing afternoon at the campground. We enjoyed the boaters going by, had a nice fire and dinner. Since we are about to have long driving days, I got out the Instapot and made lunches & dinners for the next few days to make it easy! Early day planned for tomorrow! 😴
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