Middle America by Motorhome (2012 version)

Cats on Motorcycles!

So...is life tough when you're a cat and living on the road in an RV with two humans and two big dogs? Do you get overlooked? How is your quality of life? What do you do with your time? Other than walking on docks, I mean. Do you just sit around and lick your butt all day??

Nah! You ride motorcycles, man! I mean, c'mon!! Duh!

King of the Road

A man, his bike, and...the cat

Riding

Tracky talks a lot when he's happy, and he's always happy when he's riding with his dad.

Alive.

Father-son time

Just a boy and his dad

Yeah, they're famous. I'm sure they're up on Facebook and YouTube, but it's not because I put them there! Everyone else has!!

But if you saw this duo riding by, you'd run out with your camera too, wouldn't you? Can't blame this pretty young girl for doing what all of us would do!!

And it's not all about Tractor! Scratty gets in her time too, riding around on the pillow like a little Princess. In fact, she NEEDS her motorcycle rides. She gets in a Zen Zone while riding and is mellow the whole rest of the day. But neglect her ride, and you'll hear about it ALL day!

AR: First stop = Hot Springs

On June 5th, we set down in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We stayed at Catherine's Landing RV Park, on what else but...

Lake Catherine.

The kitties get to practice their dock-walking - it's been a long time! They've forgotten about managing the unstable surfaces and have lost their confidence! But they quickly regain it with a little coaxing...

They get to do a lot at Catherine's Landing...

Beaver's Bend State Resort Park and...raccoons!

Another reason we were in that part of OK was to see this park, and like the byway, it did not disappoint!

This park consists of Broken Bow Lake and the Mountain Fork River below the dam you see here in the distance. My favorite part was the river area and around the dam.

I think these are cypress trees. I'm not sure, but I love them! They look like the typical southern swampy trees. Aren't they pretty??

With sunlight...

With cloudlight...

And...a guest appearance! Unfortunately, this guy was a bit too far away - on the other side of the river - and I didn't have my long lens with me! Darn!!!! So these are pretty heavily cropped, and he still looks awfully small! But can you see him? Isn't he cute?!!

So what's he doing? Do you know?

He's fishing! Fishing with his feet! Raccoons can feel around under the water for some of their food - frogs, fish, and freshwater crustaceans like crayfish,... They are very omnivorous and usually nocturnal, but this one is obviously taking advantage of a good situation here and now!

A couple of pretty wildflowers...

Back upstream, at the dam.

A deer friend we ran across on our way to another part of the park.

Toys at the lake.

Toys in use!

A great beach.

And a little sun doesn't hurt the swimming opportunities!

Paddling out.

The problem with this place is there just isn't anything to do, and it's such an ugly place for not doing all those anythings!

Talimena Scenic Byway

One of the reasons for our visit to this area was this scenic byway, which runs from Talihina, OK, to Mena, AR.

This sign is actually from the Arkansas end, but they didn't have a pretty sign at the Oklahoma end (at least I didn't see one!).

A cool green critter at our first view stop, which was...

this!

And another one, looking at the road ahead. As you can see, it runs along a ridge top.

Surrounded by this sea of green, I could've sworn we were driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway!! Just beautiful! And can you imagine how pretty this will be in the fall?! (I was secretly hoping we'd make it back for that somehow...and we just might yet!)

A quick stop at the Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena. I had looked at us staying at this park, but one of the main attractions (the very pretty lodge) was closed for renovations. They were still running their cute little train ride though!

The Rich Mountain Lookout Tower.

The view from the Rich Mountain Lookout Tower!

Train Depot at Mena, AR.

One of the neatest things we saw in Mena I didn't get a photo of. We met a man who was one of the very few (91 total, I think he said?) people who has flown the SR-71 Blackbird!!!! He had the SR-71 on his baseball cap, so that got the whole conversation started... Amazing aircraft, amazing man.

Pretty pastoral scene on the way back home.

Southeastern Oklahoma

OK, back in time again... On June 1st, we moved down lower in OK, near a teeny-weeny town called Muse. We stayed at nice little RV park called Big Cedar.

The good-hearted folks there had just taken in a poor beaten-up little dog that came their way. Here, "Pup" is on his way over to check out Tracky.

The "huge" post office in "downtown" Muse.

A "store" in Muse. Well, maybe not a store. But they can supply you with firewood and eggs and...chihuhuas! (hey! that doesn't look like a huahua to me! OK, they were over on the other side...)