Category: NomadicLife

Exploring White Cliffs Recreation Area in Southwest Arkansas

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

Aaron was able to take some time away from the new field office in Texas, so we decided to head out of Texas into southwest Arkansas for a couple of weeks. We did not go too far, because we would have to make our way back to the Dallas area. I was excited because Arkansas was a state we had not yet wandered into during our travels. There is a ton of outdoor recreation in the state, and I look forward to eventually exploring further than the southwest corner. But for now, I am happy to have the ability to explore this small piece of Arkansas.

We set up house at White Cliffs Recreation Area, run by the Army Corps of Engineers. The campground sits next to the Little River, and alligator warning signs are scattered throughout. There were a few other campers around, but none close to our site for almost our entire stay.

We were a little concerned when we first arrived, as the river was high and the road behind our site was flooded. We were nervous that we would have to move sites, like we did when we were in Oklahoma a few months ago.

Fortunately, the river was receding and not rising, and by the next day, the water was almost completely gone. A few days later, we woke up to another surprise. A huge branch had fallen at the site next to ours. It made me very thankful for our good fortune and grateful that we were not at that site.

Fallen tree branch in a campsite with an Airstream trailer and a black pickup truck parked nearby.

After the start, there was no more drama created by nature, and we really enjoyed our stay. Murphy swam, there were wild flowers, we did some very minor exploring, and Aaron was working from home again. I do not think he liked commuting to the office like a normal person. It is much more comfortable to work from home, avoid fighting traffic, and have Murphy there to assist with writing emails.

As usual, Murphy and I spent a lot of time down by the water so he could swim and play. He really enjoyed splashing and kicking up muddy water. While he was making a mess, I was enjoying the plants and a pretty little dragonfly.

I am not sure what type of plants the ones above are, but I don’t need to know their names to appreciate their beauty. My favorite picture, taken on the bank of the Little River, is the one below of the lily pads. I took these with my phone, and it got me inspired to pick up my camera again. I have not pulled out my camera in quite a while, and it was time to get to using it again.

Lily pads floating on calm blue water, reflecting light.

Murphy and I also enjoyed watching boats go by.

Due to the alligator warning signs, I kept a vigilant eye on the water, making sure Murphy and I did not have an alligator encounter. The last time I took him to swim, one was floating by in the middle of the river. I got Murphy out of the water, on his leash, and we started heading away from the riverbank. I ever so briefly considered taking out my phone and getting a picture, but that was a stupid thought. The dog and I returned to the camper safe and sound. On a different day, Aaron and I drove around the campground and came across another alligator. I had my camera with me, and we stayed near the truck in case we had to retreat. I got a few snapshots of the gator coming in to investigate us.

He decided we were not that interesting and swam away. We did keep the dog in the truck so that the alligator would not want him for a snack.

The White Cliffs

White Cliffs got its name from the cliffs in the area that are made from white chalk. At one point in Earth’s history, Arkansas was at the bottom of an ocean. When marine algae and other tiny marine organisms died, they sank to the bottom and formed what is called an ooze. This is made primarily of calcium carbonate, which will eventually form chalk, a type of limestone. Of course, Aaron and I wanted to check out the cliffs.

The viewpoint was actually at the top of the cliffs, and we had to look down the cliff to see them. It was also a really nice view of the river.

At the viewpoint, there were examples of the marine life that eventually turned into chalk. There was also a stinging caterpillar, and, of course, we had to see if the chalk was really chalk, so we wrote our names. Since it is chalk and will wash away, I didn’t really think of it as vandalism. You can see the piece of chalk we picked up off the ground to the left of my name.

Close-up of broken snail shells and small debris on a concrete surface.

Murphy had a great time running around while I paused to take some more wild flower pictures.

I even caught a spider in one shot and a bee in another without knowing until I was editing the pictures!

Close-up of a white flower cluster with tiny blossoms and green background.
Close-up of yellow flowers with a bee gathering nectar among the petals, surrounded by green leaves.

We had a really interesting stay in Arkansas. We avoided flooding, falling tree branches, stinging caterpillars, and curious alligators. We also learned about the natural formation of chalk and enjoyed our time on the Little River. I cannot wait to return and explore more of Arkansas. I do not know when that will happen, but that is part of the beauty of our life; anywhere is possible, and the unknown is guaranteed.

Thank you all for coming along with us and reading about our wandering life.

Everyday RV Life: Challenges and Joys

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 2 Comments

Due to the location of the new field office Aaron is getting up and running, we have been bouncing around northeast Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas. I must say, towing the camper in a hectic suburban environment has been both educational and challenging for me. I am glad to have the experience under my belt, and I now have a lot more confidence in my towing and driving skills.

To be honest, I have been struggling with what the blog should be about this week. Our stays and travels have been pretty uneventful the past few weeks. It seems very repetitive to keep posting pictures of Murphy playing in a lake, but that has been our life on the road recently.

We stayed at Hickory Creek Campground on Lewisville Lake for a week, and I didn’t even take any pictures. We had been there before, I think in 2023, and nothing had changed. It is a lovely campground that is very popular with the locals, and seems close to full quite often.

The most exciting day of that week was the day we arrived. We got to the campground an hour before check-in, and we could not go to our spot, because they were full, and the people in the spot we had reserved had not checked out yet. That was OK- it was a chance we took arriving early. The gentleman kindly gave me directions to a Walmart where we could wait. We needed to grocery shop, so it worked out well. As I was parking the camper, I noticed a Domino’s Pizza across the parking lot. Pizza sounded so good. WE did the shopping, and while checking out, Aaron ordered us some pizza. By the time we had the groceries put away, the pizza was ready. That was probably the hottest and freshest pizza I have had in over a year. It was five minutes from when it left the oven until we started feasting in the Airstream.

After a week at Hickory Creek, it was time to head to Lavonia Campground. This campground sits on Lavon Lake, and we were ready to settle in one spot for two weeks. We pulled up to the site, and the driveway was narrow, and there was a ditch on each side. I am not ashamed to say, I hopped out of the truck, and let Aaron back into that spot. I am not great a backing the truck by itself, and trying to avoid ditches and thread the trailer onto a narrow drive was not a challenge I was up for. Aaron happily backed the trailer into the spot.

This was probably the most challenging campsite we have had in terms of trying to get the trailer level. The driveway had a considerable slope, so it caused the front to be much lower than the back. We were able to get it level, but it did not look pretty.

In the next 2 pictures, you can really see the difference in the heights of the rear and front of the camper.

We had a pretty view of Lake Lavon from our site.

One thing about campgrounds is that they need to be maintained. Grass needs to be cut, things like that. I have no problem with that. When we arrived, the campsite itself did not have very long grass, but the surrounding area was covered in very high grass. I don’t mind the high grass; it usually has beautiful wildflowers growing with it. Murphy likes running through tall grasses.

What I do mind, is when the grounds keeper is careless when they are mowing and weed-eating. We have visited numerous campgrounds where they take care not to spray the grass and debris towards the campers. This time, the landscaper did not care. I am very grateful that no rocks hit and broke any of our windows. It sounded like hail was hitting the trailer while he was mowing. And he left a huge mess behind when he was done. I was not happy.

We spent the two weeks catching up on some spring cleaning. Our big task this stay was washing the curtains. We did not want to harm or shrink them, so we hand-washed them and then hung them out on a clothesline to dry. They were quite dirty from our time in the desert, and Murphy rubbing against them to peek out of the windows. My friend Karen had given me the clothesline as a gift before we began this journey, and I thought about her and thanked her for it as we dried the curtains.

Honestly, this has not been the most exciting part of our journey, but it does offer an honest glimpse into our everyday life. Not every week is going to be some grand adventure, but every week is another week we are so appreciative that we get to travel and experience so many beautiful places, even the quiet ones by a lake where the dog gets to swim every day.

We have at least two more weeks in Texas before we get to move on to other adventures. So, he next blog will probably be more pictures of Murphy and a lake. But who knows what may be waiting for us at the next campground? Maybe some excitement, or perhaps just some more calm, uneventful time by the water.

If you have any questions about our life and travels, please leave a comment here. Alternatively, if we’re friends on Facebook or Instagram, feel free to ask a question or two there, and I’ll answer them in my next blog. Thank you for joining us on our adventure!

Three Lakes in Three Weeks from Texas to Oklahoma

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 2 Comments

We left Lake Colorado City State Park and made our way to northern Texas. Our first two-week stay was at Clear Lake Campground on Lavon Lake east of Dallas, Texas. It is run by the Army Corps of Engineers, and it was a lovely place to call home for a time.

The sites are very nicely spaced apart, and we had a pretty view of the lake. Wildflowers were blooming in the field on the other side of the Airstream. Murphy and I spent most of our days walking to the shore of the lake so that he would swim and wear himself out. The park was not crowded or full during the week, but it would get very busy on the weekends. That is OK with us, as we usually do our laundry and shopping on the weekends, and our recreation during the week.

Close-up of a yellow wildflower blooming in a grassy field.
A dog standing by the water's edge, looking out at a lake under a partly cloudy sky, with grass and plants in the foreground.

Murphy photo bombing my picture.

A small plant with reddish leaves growing on a grassy bank by a lake, with calm water in the background.

This was the shot I was aiming for.

I swear the dog is part dolphin. It is near impossible to keep him out of the water.

There were a few rainy days, but that is expected in spring.

The day before we were supposed to check out and move to our next stop, we got a phone call from the state park we had booked for the next 2 weeks. Lake Texoma State Park was experiencing very high water levels, and the site we had booked was closed due to flooding. They did have other spots available in a different part of the park, so we went ahead and took the offered campsite.

Since Aaron had a company truck, I had to do the towing of the camper. I don’t tow it very often, so this was good for me. If ever Aaron were not able to drive, I need to be comfortable towing and parking the rolling house. I will say, driving through and around such a metropolitan area as Dallas was a bit intimidating. My nerves were shot, but I did a good job. This picture is from my Snapchat story.

I was excited for our new spot, It was in Floyd’s campground in the state park. My grandpa’s name was Floyd, so I thought it was pretty cool to park here for a few weeks.

This was the view from our site. As you can tell from the trees in the middle of the water, the lake was crazy high. And it only continued to rise.

We stayed in that spot for 2 nights before the park called us again. They were worried that our site was going to flood and asked if we could move to another site, still in Floyd’s, but up a hill and further from the water. We semi-packed up and moved across the street, up the hill.

A shiny Airstream trailer parked under lush green trees with a black truck nearby in a campground.

I still took Murphy down to the water, considering his part-dolphin heritage, but didn’t really let him swim. There was so much trash washed up from the lake. I was really mad about it, too. People use the lake for boating, fishing, and swimming, but do not respect it enough to take care of it, and throw away their trash. It really frustrates me! It won’t be a beautiful place to spend time if it is abused and trashed.

Close-up view of a muddy area with scattered debris, including plastic cups and sticks, along with patches of green grass.

We stayed in our new spot for 2 days, and then got another call. We would need to move sites again for the night and would have to leave the park the next day by 2 pm. The park was closing due to rising water levels. Aaron was at the new office trying to set it up, so I was scrambling to find us a new home for the remaining week and a half we were supposed to be at Lake Texoma.

I found 1 spot available about 30 minutes away at Murray Lake State Park in Oklahoma for the rest of the week. It was a lovely state park, but the campground was very crowded. We were very grateful we had somewhere to go, and Murphy, as usual, enjoyed swimming in the lake. I was getting more towing experience than expected, and it was a good reminder to always have a plan B in mind, in case of something like flooding occurs.

I was also able to reserve a spot for us at Hickory Creek Campground in Lewisville Lake, just north of Dallas, for the following week.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who reads and follows my blog. I will be back in a week or two with more Texas adventures.

Exploring Texas: A peaceful week at Colorado Lake State Park

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 6 Comments

We said goodbye to New Mexico and made our way into Texas. Our first stop in Texas was near the oil fields at Colorado Lake City State Park. After we had made the reservation, Aaron and I realized that we had stayed at this particular park once before for about 3 days in 2023. We stayed there for the same reason: we were on our way to the Dallas, Texas, area for Aaron’s job. This time, though, we will be in Texas a lot longer.

We spent a week here and saw almost no one else. When we arrived, our campground was almost completely empty and remained that way throughout the week. It started filling up on Friday for the weekend, but that was OK. We had fun during the week when we had the place virtually to ourselves.

A white dog on a leash explores a grassy area in a state park, with trees and picnic shelters visible in the background.

It was nice to see trees again, but it was still somewhat like a desert. There were cacti, and there was plenty of sandy dirt. But, there was the lake, so I spent most of my time taking Murphy down to Lake Colorado for a swim. Murphy does not like water to have sticks, branches, or debris in it, so he does his best to bring all those things onto shore. The little cove I took him to for swimming had lots of sticks and branches to keep him very busy while he swam.

A white dog wading through shallow water, playfully carrying a twig in its mouth, surrounded by sparse vegetation and water.
A view of a lake with muddy water and sparse vegetation, including tall, thin plants and a large rock in the foreground. A dog can be seen swimming in the water.

It was a nice spot to spend our afternoons while Aaron worked.

After a week, it was time to keep heading northeast towards the Dallas area. Our next stop -Lavon Lake, northeast of Plano, Texas, at the Clear Lake Campground.

A silver Airstream trailer parked in a green, grassy area with trees and a clear blue sky.

A Long Time Spent in Arizona

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 5 Comments

The holidays were over, and things quieted down for Aaron, Murphy, and me. Aaron still had a lot to do to get the new field office in Phoenix up and running, so we knew we had a lot more time to spend in the desert. He and I also discussed how much time we planned to spend in Arizona. We came to the conclusion that we will probably spend some time in the area each winter. We also researched the region’s population growth, increasing property values, and future business growth. We decided to start looking for an undeveloped piece of land that we could use to park the Airstream while we are there, and eventually sell as an investment.

We set up house at West Pinal County Campground again and began a property search. We spent several Saturdays and Sundays driving around Pinal and Maricopa counties to find the right property at the right price. Quite a few were inaccessible with our F-250 4×4 truck, so we knew we would not be able to get our camper onto the property.

We found 9 acres in the Sonoran Desert that fit our needs and wants. We started the ball rolling, hoping the seller would accept out offer.

In the meantime, I had another trip to Iowa planned for the end of January to assist my mom with recovery from knee replacement surgery. I was in Iowa for about a month, spending some quality time with my mom, taking my dad to a doctor’s appointment, and spending more quality time with my younger brother, nephew, and sister-in-law. I did not take many photos while I was there. We were busy with physical therapy and recovery. Once Mom was far enough in her recovery to have visitors, both her brothers came to stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful for her, and for me to get some extra time with my uncles. When those three siblings get together, there is always lots of laughter, great stories, and love. Unfortunately, they are not able to get together very often due to living so far apart. I am so grateful I was able to be a part of this.

The Burns Siblings-Cheryl, Darrell, and Steve

Once Mom was on the mend, it was time for me to fly back to Aaron and Murphy. After a cold month in Iowa, it was wonderful to feel the warm sunshine of Arizona. Things had been moving along with the property, and it was time to close the deal.

Once I got back to Arizona, Aaron, Murphy, and I spent a few more days at Pinal, and then it was time to move our rolling home onto our piece of the desert.

Our oldest son, Gage, who lives in Phoenix, went out to the property with Aaron and helped clear a driveway for us to use. Then, it was time to park the trailer and settle in.

As we explored the land, we noticed some fox and rabbit burrows. Of course, Aaron decided to set up a trail camera to see what critters we were sharing the desert with. We got pictures of a fox, a rabbit, and a coyote.

There were also quite a few kangaroo mice around, but we never could catch a good picture of one.

Of course, there were things left behind by others from who knows when. We cleaned some of it up, and will have more to collect and clean when we go back.

A rusty bucket

A party keg

An old Dr. Pepper bottle

We found several rusty old cans, including one that had not been opened. We decided not to open it, keeping its contents a mystery.

I have two favorite things about this property. One is that there is a saguaro cactus there. Native Americans view these as sacred beings, guardian spirits, and ancestors. They are beautiful, and I am honored to have two there.

The other thing I love about the property is all the rocks! Everywhere I walked, there was quartz. There are large and small stones scattered everywhere! We found more than enough to create a fire pit and to use as a border for Aaron’s cactus garden. We also found quite a few pieces of petrified wood scattered around. I started quite the rock collection.

These are a few of my favorite finds.

This is one example of the petrified wood we found. I did spend a lot of time collecting and cleaning rocks. It was fun, and gave me something to do since we were in one place for quite a while.

These are just a few pictures of rocks scattered everywhere. It was tough for me not to pick up everyone I saw. When we did leave, I left a considerable pile of rocks that I will revisit when we return. I hope to have some polishing tools by then, so I can pretty them up even more.

We had one day of rain. Aaron and I were excited! It had been a long, long time since we had seen, heard, or smelled rain! Also, since it rained, we could use our fire pit at least once. The property is covered in creosote bushes, and when it rains, they give off a not-so-pure scent. They have an almost chemical smell when wet. That was a new experience, the not-so-fresh smell of rain. The raindrops made a beautiful sight on our bedroom window during sunset.

I did a lot of sky watching and daydreaming while enjoying the views. Poor Aaron was working while Murphy and I played.

While we were there, Gage had to go out of town for work, so we got to have Lola stay with us for a week. She and Murphy were very excited. Lola had fun wandering around the desert with us.

We spent the last of February and the entire month of March on our small piece of the Sonoran Desert. I honestly think I did not post anything to this blog while we were there because, as much as I enjoyed being there and enjoyed the beauty and the rocks, I felt stagnant. We had been in the Phoenix area for a total of 4 months (3 for me since I spent a month in Iowa), and it was time to wander again. Plus, it was starting to warm up in the desert, and I do not mesh well with desert temps in the spring and summer.

Aaron needed to start heading towards Texas for the next new field office to get set up, so it was time to say goodbye to our Arizona landing pad until sometime this winter. It was moving day again! Watch out, New Mexico, we are headed your way next!