The month of June started with us landing in the Fayetteville, Bentonville, Bella Vista area of Arkansas. We camped at Hog Valley RV & Treehouse Park near Fayetteville which is about 10 minutes south of Bentonville. Our first day there was the 2023 Bike Fest, a mountain bike festival in Bentonville. It was a collection of Bicycle and bike parts vendors galore along with food vendors. There was a jump park setup where riders could exhibit their level of jumping and airborne tricks. There had been a cyclocross race just prior to us arriving along with a short mtb race. Trials riders were practicing their craft on man made obstacles of rocks, tree stumps and tree logs. If you’re not familiar with trials riding, it is very different. The bikes look like small BMX bikes, something your pre teen would ride. There is no seat in most cases or the seat is attached to the frame. The riders do not sit on the seat, they stand the entire time. The object is to navigate the course of obstacles without falling off the obstacle or the bike in the shortest amount of time. These riders would jump their bike from the ground up onto a log that was 4 ft in the air, traverse the log, come to a stop and hop over to a rock, landing on 1 tire, stand there until they had their balance and hop to another obstacle. Their skill is amazing. There was to be an international championship event the following day, but we did not attend.

My first mtb ride in this mountain biking mecca was on Mt Kessler. I consider myself to be an intermediate rider and mainly ride the blue (intermediate) trails. Bentonville takes blue trails to another level. The blue trails on Mt Kessler would have been black diamond trails in the west. It was a great ride and workout. While I was riding, Teri was hiking. She found a turtle that needed some assistance before it got run over on the trail.

As we said previously, life doesn’t stop because we are on the road. My doctor had requested that I get some lab work done so we arranged for that. The windshield on the Jeep had cracked from the cold weather and snow in Colorado, so we got the glass replaced.

The Phat Tire bike shop has 4 different shops in the region. I stopped into the one in Bella Vista. The 2 guys in the shop were super helpful on describing some awesome places to ride. The next day I rode the Back 40 in Bella Vista. This was a 25 mile loop, blue trail that was more in line with the type of blue trails in the west.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include Sarge in the activities. He eats breakfast as soon as we get up which is usually between 5 and 6 am. Then when it’s light outside, we’ll let him out to wander. If we don’t let him out, he whines for half an hour. Typically he will check back in about every 1-2 hours. Sometimes we have to track him down. While we were here, he caught 2 baby bunnies. They did not appear to be injured and we released them into the woods at the park. In the evenings, Sarge will crash on the floor while we watch TV, or work on the blog. When he’s ready for bed, he is a pest. He crawls up into Teri’s arms or crawls across the dining table to put his face in my face. If I’m working on the computer, he will walk across the keyboard so I can’t work. Then it’s bedtime and he curls up on the bed with us.

On another day we hit the trails. Teri completed an 8 mile hike while I was riding. As I was nearing the last couple of miles on this 25 mile loop, I came across a couple who were hiking with their dog. As I started to pass them, I realized that I recognized the male. I stopped and immediately realized it was one of the guys from the shop from the day before. I chatted with him and his wife for several minutes before moving on. (I’m sorry I don’t remember your name if you’re reading this).

This was the 2nd longest stop in our travels as we were there for 2 weeks. What did we do? Well, bike, hike, fish and sightsee. We toured the downtown areas of Bentonville, Fayetteville and Bella Vista. We drove out to Beaver Dam and Beaver Creek. We tried to fish Beaver Lake and got poured on when it started raining. We took a drive to Devils Dam which is a rock dam built by the CCC. There was some amazing architecture to see and we got rained on. We then sought out Natural Dam, again a rock dam which provides a water play area for the locals. Lee Creek was a hike, bike and fish destination. Of course we also got our scheduled workouts done so we could keep Kevin happy. My last mtb ride before we left the area was Centennial Park. The park was designed to increase tourism and was built upon hearing it would be the host for the 2021 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup. The 2022 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup and the 2022 UCI World Cup races were both held at this location as well. Having the opportunity to ride on some internationally acclaimed trails was a treat for me.

Several days before we left the park, we finally met our neighbors. They are very active as we are so our paths did not cross until this time. Kenny, Natalie and 2 daughters and Maggie (their labradoodle) are from Florida but are in the area as Kenny is working here. We had a great time visiting with them our last few days and wished we could have met them sooner.

We decided we really wanted an opportunity to fish before we left the area, so we booked a site at the Town of Beaver RV park located at Table Rock Lake. All the routing maps I use which show RV friendly routes said there was a weight limit and low clearance trying to get to the park and our motorhome was too heavy and too tall. A phone call to the park confirmed that we could get there by following a specific route as the park was before the restricted bridge. As we turned onto the road that led to the park, there was a sign that told trucks and RV’s to turn around due to the restrictions. Confused, we turned around and drove back to the nearest development. I checked the routing maps again and still could not see how to access the park. Another call to the park and they confirmed that the park entrance was prior to the restricted bridge. We turned around and retraced our path. We eventually got to the park but not without some concerning moments. While driving the extremely narrow and twisting road we hit a tree branch that was hanging down into the road. How this had not been knocked off prior to us passing under it, I don’t know. We did not sustain any damage fortunately. Then there was a sign across the road indicating the low clearance of 11 ft 6 inches. Our motorhome is 12’10”. Yep, the sign is the clearance height of the bridge and we hit that with a loud clang. Again, no damage fortunately and we were able to roll into our site for the next several days.

We pulled out our fly fishing rods and waded into the lake/river to fish. The water was surprisingly warm. I was amazed to see some type of building foundation sitting under about 2 feet of water off the bank. I never did learn what had been there. We learned that one of the best places to catch trout was at the Beaver Dam tailwaters. These are the river waters below the Beaver Dam. As the water is coming from several hundred feet below the surface, the water is cold and perfect habitat for trout. We put our waders on and wandered out into the river. After a couple of hours, we had caught several fish but couldn’t keep any. As they are trying to build the trout population, any fish between 13 and 16 inches have to be released back into the river. Can you guess how many of our fish were in the slot? Yep, all of them. But we had fun. Then the warning horn sounded indicating that the TVA (TN Valley Authority) was going to be releasing water out of the dam to generate power and we had about 15 minutes to get out the river before the water started to rise and the CFS increased dramatically. The water will typically rise 4-6 ft when they are generating. As we left, we decided to stop in at the Beaver Dam Store to stock up on some flies and get more local information on fishing. We learned the clerks name was Carl Caso and that he was a guide. On a whim, we asked if he’d be able and willing to take us out. He said if he could find someone to staff the store for him on Sunday, he’d be happy to guide us. It all worked out and we met him at 630am Sunday morning. We loaded into his boat and he took us up river to several places where we got out of the boat and waded in the water to fish. By noon, we had caught our limit (10) of trout and had released almost as many. Carl not only knew the locations to find fish, he provided hands on instruction on casting, tying flies and lots of other instruction. As you’ll recall we had Connor to guide us in NM on the San Juan and we thought he was fantastic. Carl was just as fantastic as a guide and we had a great time.

The height and weight restrictions? That was a single lane bridge with a 10,000 lb weight limit and an 11′ clearance. The ‘road’ was still wood planks set on steel beams. We were a bit nervous driving over it in the Jeep but there were no mishaps. There is no way the motorhome would fit. As I said, the motorhome is over a foot taller than the bridge height and 30,000 lbs heavier than the restrictions. The bridge spans Beaver River and Table Rock Lake.

Eventually it was time to leave. As we drove out of the park to retrace the 5 mile drive back to the highway, we drove very slow. The road was very narrow, twisting with blind corners and no shoulders. Several times Teri thought we were going to drop the tires off the pavement as she looked out the window. As we drove, cars started to pile up behind us and there was no way for them to pass and no place for me to pull over. As we approached the intersection of the state highway, I saw a pull off on the right as we rounded a corner. There had been a lot going on as we approached this corner and I became distracted. As I pulled to the right to pull off the roadway to allow the cars to pass, the passenger rear dipped hard to the right and we felt a hard bump. I looked in the mirror to see the jeep bouncing onto the shoulder. As we stopped, the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) started beeping loudly and continuously. I got out of the motorhome to see what had happened. The rear tires had dropped off the pavement and there was a lip of about 4″ that became a small gully. In coming off the pavement and into the gully, the bead of the outside rear dual tire had broken and now the tire was no longer inflated. Worse, the aluminum wheel was badly bent and no longer usable. 4 hours later, we were back on the road. JD from Natural State Towing was one person we talked to who said he’d be able to help if Josh could not help us. Josh from J&M Mobile Tire Service was able to source a wheel and tire for us and drove out to meet us and fixed everything. This incident really hurt my pride as the entire situation was of my doing and allowing distractions to override my concentration. But as with all of our adventures, everything worked out and we are still traveling and exploring.

Our next stop was at the RiverTime RV Park in Van Buren, MO. A very small community but very welcoming. As we pulled into the park Treva and Terry met us and guided us in. Terry and Treva are the owners of the park. They currently have 15 RV spaces and plans for another 15. I met up with Terry the next morning and he explained that he and Treva had just purchased the property about a year ago and were in the process of building it. He described his vision for the park and Teri and I provided some initial thoughts. The park will be the primary location for the town’s July 4th celebration this year. They told us we needed to check out Big Spring before we left, so we did. I couldn’t believe the amount of water that was flowing from underground and out of the rocks in the side of the hill. The entire river water was supplied by this underground spring. We tried to fish the Current River in the area but it was flowing too fast.

As we rolled eastward, the agriculture and the landscape changed from fields of grass (hay) and soy beans to corn. There were fields of corn as far as the eye could see. We also found ourselves following the Trail of Tears Auto Route. We learned more about this later but knew basically that this was the trail the Cherokee Indians had travelled when they were removed from their homes and marched westward.

As we drove to our next stop, Elk Harbor RV Park in Cumberland City, TN, we established our landmark for the week. 4 towering smoke stacks that are about 1000 ft high with steam coming out of the top of 2 of them. These columns shot the steam exhaust from the Tennessee Valley Authority steam powered power plant. I believe these stacks were the tallest in the state. The TVA provides the power and electricity for the state. There were several signs in the area advising of hot water waste being discharged into the Cumberland River. However, there was a designated fishing area alongside the power plant. We didn’t try it. Our RV space was large but the ground was soft. When I put the stabilizer jacks down, they merely sank into the ground creating a hole about 6 inches deep. I retracted the jacks and put 5 1 inch tall 12×12 inch square plastic blocks under the jacks and tried to level the coach again. It was better, but the blocks sank as well. When it was time to leave, I couldn’t pull the blocks from the ground. There was a small forest of trees behind the coach and Sarge had a great time roaming through it. This park is not on our list of favorites. We fished several areas but didn’t catch any fish. In our travels, we came across the Loretta Lynn Ranch. There was a Jeep event going on that weekend and there were Jeeps all over the place. Topless, doorless, lifted, stock they had everything. Some were covered in mud, others clean. Everyone looked like they were having a grand time. We saw signs for various events, such as hill climbing, mud bog and others. We did not partake. We also toured the Ft Donelson Battlefield. It was interesting that the walls of the fort were a mound of dirt that was 12 ft high on the outside. The Confederate Army decided to save money and time by not building a log fence. The tour was an auto tour, where you drove to the various stations and listened to the narration on your phone. The amount of property that was encompassed by the fort was amazing. The last stop of the tour was the hotel where the Confederate Army surrendered the fort and relinquished possession of the fort to the Union Army. We also took a side trip to Dunbar Cave State Park. A natural cave in the rock provided 60 degree air conditioning going back to the 30’s. This became a hangout for folks on the hot muggy nights to sit, visit and dance in ‘air conditioning’. Some big name acts performed here as well as the Big Bands from that era.

I was able to get a mtb ride completed in nearby Clarksville, TN but found there weren’t a lot of riding in this area. There was not any gravel riding and the roads were not made for safe riding.

Then it was time for our reunion with my cousins. As we made our way into the Sevierville (say severe ville, not seever ville) and Pigeon Forge, TN we were met with a sea of traffic. 3 lanes each direction with cars stacked as far as the eye could see. Along the sides of the road were amusement parks galore. It was sensory overload as you inched your way along the highway with the jungle of amusement parks. It remineded us of the Las Vegas Strip. Only later did we learn that this is an amusement park destination and we were here during summer school break. We spent a lot of time searching for fishing spots and found beautiful scenery but no fish. Are you starting to see a pattern? The cousins rolled into town, Rob and Donna from TN, Aunt Gladys and Teresa from TN and VA, Bethany and Aunt Gloria from NH. We missed those who couldn’t attend. The log house they rented was amazing. It was huge with 3 stories set in the forest. We had a great time visiting, catching up, sightseeing and just enjoy the company. One of the trips we took was the Cades Cove Loop road. This is a one-way road that loops through the forest with opportunities to see wildlife. At one point we stopped and could just see a glimpse of the back of a bear in the distance. We also stopped at a site called The Sinks. The road into this area had once been a railroad for the timber and lumber industry. The Sinks is a spot on the river that had been blasted open to float logs downriver to the mills. In the course of blasting the rock, a waterfall was created and below that a swimming hole. As we watched, folks would jump from the cliff about 20-30 ft above the water into the deep, cold water. Again, we enjoyed watching but no way was I jumping. We also stopped at a historic church. There were several cars in the parking lot and a group of 3 men standing near the door of the church. I asked if there was a private event happening and the one young man said there was a wedding. I asked if it was his and congratulated him when he said it was. He was called away and I was left with another young man who I assumed was the best man. We began talking and found out that he had worked for Mesa PD but after I had left Chandler. He currently works for the state of TN. I didn’t get his name but wished him a safe career in TN. Later, he contacted me through Instagram as I had provided him with our non-business card.

After a long weekend, it was time to say goodbye to the cousins with promises of future meetups. One thing I found disappointing was the fact that there was no bike riding in the area. No mtb, no gravel, no road. I could have gone to the top of Ober Mt to ride the ski trails but it was highly recommended that riders have a full face helmet and full pads (elbow and knee) and a bike with a lot of suspension. I don’t normally ride that style as I am considered a cross country rider (XC) and not a downhill rider so I don’t have any of that equipment and my bike isn’t built with that type of suspension. It was disappointing to be in such a beautiful area and not be able to ride it. But that is what drove us to our next stop, Ellijay, GA.

Part of our drive to Ellijay was along the Ocoee River on US 64. The road is narrow with no shoulders and very twisty. On one side is the mountain and on the other is a drop to the river. There are warning signs that vehicles may cross the centerline. We did see a tractor-trailer that had the rear axles of the trailer in our lane as it wound it’s way along the road. I was nervous as we made our way around the blind corners and was especially cautious when 18 wheelers came our way. Eventually we arrived in Ellijay, GA. Ellijay is considered the mountain biking capital of GA. I stopped in at the Cartecay Bike Shop and the fellows there were extremely helpful in identifying areas to ride mtb. If we’re ever back in the area, I will surely stop in and see them again. We had the opportunity to ride and hike several trails in the area and really enjoyed our time there. We jumped on a train for a 1 hour ride from Blue Ridge to McCaysville,GA/Copperhill, TN. These 2 towns are separated by a blue line through the center of town. Teri and I tested out a long distance, multi-state relationship for a short time as we were separated by the state line. Copperhill was established to support the copper mining industry in the area. We expected a town full of history but instead found a tourist attraction. Bars, restaurants, boutique and souvenir shops galore. We did stop into the Taccoa River Outfitters. As we entered the store, I heard a voice welcome us in. I didn’t see anyone. Then the young man stood up from behind the counter. As I stepped closer I saw what he was doing and asked if he was tying flies. He said yes he was. We told him we were just there to look through the store so he sat down to work on the fly. I asked if he minded if I watched and he graciously allowed me that pleasure. I asked several questions as he finished tying this fly. I could see a fly box on the counter and asked if he was a guide and he said he was. I presumed he ties his own flies for his guiding trips and he confirmed that. He then handed me the fly he had just finishing tying. It was exquisite. I asked if he sold them and he pointed to the display of flies in the store. I asked if he sold any such as the one he had just made and he said “No, but that one is for you”. After our 2 hour layover in town we boarded the train back to Blue Ridge. Another side trip had us on the Taccoa River Swinging bridge. This is a steel cabled suspension bridge over the Taccoa River. Across the bridge is a local favorite swimming hole. Our last stop of the day was at Expedition Bigfoot. Teri is a huge fan of Sasquatch so we had to check this out. Much like our stop in Roswell, NM where the stories of aliens make you think about other inhabited planets, the research and stories of a Sasquatch also make you think about creatures here. It was quite an interesting tour.

Before we left the area we drove to Collegedale near Chattanooga for a bike ride and hike. Afterwards we met my cousin Rob and his wife Donna for lunch before returning “home”. The drive home was on the Trail of Tears and also the Georgia Federal Highway which was used during the Civil War. As we returned back to the coach, the skies opened up and dropped buckets of water.

The Ellijay and Blue Ridge and southern Tennessee areas are ones we want to return to and spend more time. We drove out of Ellijay further south to Claxton, GA but that is a story for next month.

Stay Safe.