Ark-La-Tex

We said goodbye to Lake Lincoln and headed to an area of Louisiana that I was not very familiar-the northwest corner. We lived in the southeast corner of Louisiana for many, many years and loved it there. The opposite side of the state is a whole different world. It has influences from Texas and Arkansas, and has been given the nickname Ark-La-Tex. The name suits. It really felt like a blend of the three states. Think Duck Dynasty, but not quite the exaggerated level of the show. Good, hard working honest people who love the land, love to hunt, work hard and live a small town life. We had planned to stay in the Kisatchie National Forest at the Beaver Dam Campground for two weeks. Two weeks is a long stay at a campground for us; we usually move every week. Aaron and I were looking forward to a two week stay. The weather the first week was rainy and chilly every day. The second week was forecast to be sunny and warmer, and we were excited to explore what the national forest had to offer when the weather cleared up.

Aaron had to go to a job site most every day, Murphy and Lola did not get to play and run outside very often due to the weather. This was the first time I got a little stir crazy in the camper. We did go for chilly, damp walks that the dogs enjoyed. I did a lot of cleaning, reading, and no picture taking. I had to look in my SnapChat to find a couple of pictures for the blog.

It was Mardi Gras season and, of course, we had to have some king cake! Aaron picked one up at a local grocery store. The baby for the cake was larger than normal, green, not in the cake, and butt up in the box. Kind of strange, but the cake was good. He looked like a Buddha Baby. We did get a second king cake, and it was the same baby but purple.

We ended up at Tom Merrill Campground at the Bodcau Dam in Benton, Louisiana. We were just outside of Shreveport, but it felt very remote. For almost the entire week, the campground host, a car camper, and us were the only people staying there. The weather was good, and the dogs were happy. They had a great time playing in the water.

Water being released from the reservoir.

For a long time, I was a very routine oriented person. During our stay at this campground, I realized that I actually am starting to miss some routine, structure. There are some routines, walking the dogs, cooking dinner and cleaning up after, making sure the blog is ready for Tuesday, but not enough. This journey has made me realize that I need some sort of routine, or I do not get motivated to get up and move. So, over the next month, I am going to try to set myself some sort of loose routine with taking pictures, editing pictures, more exploring the area we are staying. I’m not sure if staying at our homebase for so long dulled my “get up and go”, or if I have just become complacent. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I really don’t want to squander it because I am lacking self motivation and self discipline.

Next week, back to Iowa to take Dad to his doctor appointments for the month and have some more quality time with Mom, brother, sis-in-law, and my nephew. Poor Aaron will be on his own dealing with two dogs, moving day, and work. I think I got the easier end of that!