Bluegrass Retired Chick: May 2026

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Day 32: Sallisaw, Oklahoma to Willow Beach Campground, Arkansas

Day 32: Sallisaw, Oklahoma to Willow Beach, Arkansas

Left: 9:25AM. Arrived: 1PM
Miles: ~192 miles
Weather: Windy & sunny, highs upper 60s, lows in upper 40s

I woke up around 4AM listening to the trains go by. So many trains. I eventually fell back asleep for a bit & woke up around 6AM. Coffee first, then washed hair. Best showers of entire trip! The private baths even had timed heaters so you could warm up the room on a cold morning, which I did. We had a short driving day of ~3 hours so I made omelettes for breakfast. After cleaning up, we took dogs to Kamp K9. The sewers were fixed late afternoon the day before so we were able to dump at our site before getting on the road. We didn’t unhook again last night so we were able to get on road by 9:30AM.

Once on the road, Sammie did a small duty again so we stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center to make sure everything was cleaned up & give her more time outside. While there, Steve went into the camper & noticed water on the floor. One of the water line couplings had vibrated loose. The trailer really takes a beating on these bumpy roads. Everything with a screw top will eventually come unscrewed! We will add to the break down list to relieve water pressure from the lines before we get on the road.

We made one gas stop ($3.39 / gallon) then got to Willow Beach campground at 1PM. Checkout for this campground isn’t until 3PM but there was no one at the gate so we drove to our site. No one was in our site so we got settled in. As we were pulling in, there was a Casita pulling out. We have seen several Casitas on this trip.

We unhooked the truck but didn’t move it. Once setup, we had lunch at camp. It’s a beautiful campground that is on the Arkansas River. Our site backed up to the river. All the sites were nicely spaced & had electric & water. We didn’t hook up the water but did plug in. Some of the sites had a cover over the picnic table but ours did not. The sites were good & level.

Willow Beach Campground

After lunch we took the dogs for a walk to the boat ramp. The campground is on the Trail of Tears & there were a few signs reflecting the trail along the river. Steve then did some birding & I took the dogs for a long walk around the campground. There are 3 loops & several picnic areas. Only one loop was occupied for the off season. Of the other two loops, one was electric & the other had no hookups. All were on the river. There was a bathhouse at the end of our loop that had 4 private toilet / shower combos. They all looked pretty clean & were heated. Willow Beach is another Army Corps of Engineers campground.

Belle walking herself. This side of the campground was empty

Other loops were closed for the off season

Arkansas River Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears

Sammie enjoying the ride

For dinner we made TJ’s cheese ravioli & smoked salmon. It was an easy & good meal. We sat outside to eat & watched our neighbor pull in with a big Class A. It was actually pretty impressive how fast he was able to set up. Once he plugged into electric the rig auto-leveled, put the slide out & who knows what else it did. Considering the price of these big rigs it's not surprising that a lot of the setup is automated.

There was a nice sunset over the river. The campground isn’t far off the interstate but was super quiet overnight. We did pack the few things we took out before we went to bed since the forecast was calling for a slight chance of rain overnight.

Sunset

Chilling

Lodging: Willow Beach Campground

Rating 5/5

Army Corp of Engineers
Campsite: F8
$13 / with senior pass discount
Electric & water hookups

Super quiet overnight

Shower / toilet combo was acceptable.

Road conditions: BEST ROADS of trip so far are in ARKANSAS!

Friday, May 1, 2026

Day 31: McLean, Texas to Sallisaw, Oklahoma via Gentry Creek

Day 31: McLean, Texas to Sallisaw, Oklahoma via Gentry Creek

Miles: ~295 miles
Left: 8:40AM, Arrived: 1:25PM at Gentry Creek Campground
Miles: ~50 miles
Left: 2:30PM Gentry Creek, Arrived: 3:15PM KOA Sallisaw, OK

Sunrise is after 7AM in central time, just like home. We both slept pretty long with no sunrise to wake us up. We made coffee, had a quick breakfast & then made another pot of coffee for the road. We didn’t unhitch the previous day so getting on the road was quick.

Sammie had another rough day of travel. Another small duty & later she puked. I didn’t feed her breakfast thinking it would help with the poop situation but believe it made it worse. She sometimes pukes if she doesn’t have breakfast. She is really struggling with rear end control of her legs & sometimes her poop habits. Poor pup, poor us.

We made a couple of stops to pee, get gas & buy a couple more gallons of water. We arrived at Gentry Creek campground around 1:30PM. There was no one at the gate so we drove into our site. Our site was on the water but there were so many trucks & boat trailers parked next to the site. This is a lake for fishing & this loop was for fishermen who wanted a place to camp near their boats. They had electric sites but that section was closed for the season. The app said there were showers but now believe they were in the other loop & also closed. All we saw was a pit toilet.

We decided to take a break here to let the dogs walk a bit & have lunch. There was so much fishing line along the shore. Sammie found a bit of fish with a hook still in it that she tried to eat. This was not going to be a nice place to camp even if all the boaters left by the end of the afternoon. We decided to drive up the road to stay at a KOA. The nearest one was about 50 miles east on I-40 in Sallisaw. I booked it on the app as we drove out of Gentry Greek.

We arrived at the KOA about 3:15PM. This KOA has two distinct areas - one area older with mature trees & another area was just an open lot with various big rig sites. They originally put us over in the big open area but Steve went to the office to be asked to move to the older area. They were having sewer issues on that side of camp so they were putting anyone new into that area but they let him move on condition of not hooking up the sewer.

Out of all the KOAs we have stayed at during this trip, this one was the nicest. It had 2 Kamp K9’s, lots of stuff for the kids, and the best showers. They had the regular bathroom / shower house which was really nice plus they had two private shower/bathrooms in the laundry room. I decided to take a shower in the late afternoon than do a couple of loads of laundry. We took the pups to the Kamp K9 and then made leftovers for dinner. At sunset, I took Belle for a walk around the campground & then called it a night.