Day 4

This morning’s wake-up call was delivered at 7:30 by two lumberjacks and a chain saw taking down one of the 100 foot pine trees in the campsite across from ours. We were happy to realize that the rain hadn’t started yet and the temperature was in the low fifties. We packed up the camper and headed into Hot Springs. We drove two scenic mountain trails that we happened upon before finding the Hot Springs Visitor Center, which was just across the street from the National Park boundary and “Bathhouse Row”. We left the camper and truck parked in their lot, which had bus/RV spots, and walked down the row. There are still 6 or 7 of the bath houses, with only two still doing “Baths”, one as a modern spa and the other, with a more traditional set up, run by the National Park. Another of the old bath houses is now the Visitors’ Center and has self-guided displays on all three floors. After viewing the 15 minute video about Hot Springs and visiting all three floors, we took the sidewalk down the block a bit further, then went up to the Tufa Terrace Trail, where we could see some of the springs in their “natural state”. The water comes out of the ground at about 143°F! At the end of the trail we took the brick Grand Promenade, imagining ourselves as upper crust nineteenth century gentry, walking in our finery and schmoozing with the social elite. As we returned to the truck the temperature was dropping and we headed south. We went around Texarkana and then dropped down to Shreveport. By the time we arrived the temperature was up to 65°! After checking into a Super 8, we looked on Google maps and found a walk-able restaurant called Brothers Seafood that sounded interesting. It had great Louisiana food and we both ordered the Red Beans with Sausage. The huge platters were plenty for our lunches tomorrow, too. It had been another full day and we were now in our 7^th state.