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.
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| Willow Beach Campground |
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| 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 |
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| Other loops were closed for the off season |
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| Arkansas River Trail of Tears |
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| Trail of Tears |
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| 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.
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| Sunset |
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| Sunset |
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| Chilling |
- Lodging: Willow Beach Campground
- Rating 5/5
- Army Corp of Engineers
- Campsite: F8
- $13 / with senior pass discount
- Electric & water hookups
- Shower / toilet combo was acceptable.
- Road conditions: BEST ROADS of trip so far are in ARKANSAS!
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