Left the coach today at 7- and drove about 80 miles to Harrison, Ark. which is the Headquarters building for the Buffalo National River- they had the two stamps there they were supposed to- so I was off to a good start.
I had originally been told that only one of the three visitor centers would be open- That turned out to be bad information- turns out Pruitt Ranger station would be open, since the Rangerette was back from vacation, today was her first day back.
To explain, this is a long, narrow park, centered around the Buffalo River, the first National River in the program. The park is like over a 100 miles long, and there are no direct roads to the various visitor centers... so if you visit here, be prepared to drive a lot.
I drove the 19 miles or so down to the Pruitt Information building, and got a pin and two hiking medallions, and a nice view of the River.
Also got the Pruitt site specific stamp here, which was a good thing, since this is the only place it is located in the entire park....
Then, I had to drive about 45 miles or so over to the Tyler Bend Ranger Station, which is the main Visitor Center for the park- Got the Arkansas Sesqui stamp here, and everything else was a duplicate, so in three stops, I got the four stamps for this park.
Got back to the coach about 230. About 250 miles for the day trip!!!
Since it was sort of on the way back from Buffalo River, I stopped in at Pea Ridge to snag the 25th Anniversary stamp that I missed yesterday- so now the set is complete for Pea Ridge.
I had visited this park only last October, when we flew out to visit Fred and Sherry at Lake Of the Ozarks. I realized though, I had forgotten to get two stamps, so I got one of them today, but totally forgot to get the 25th Anniversary stamp, which I will now send for- I did get two nice hickory walking sticks here, they were not expensive to begin with, and I got a 15% educators discount, so they were cheaper than at a flea market!!!!
I had originally stopped here on the 2009 trip, briefly, and went back today mainly to get the Civil War Trading cards, and the new Arkansas Civil war Sesqui stamps. Got em!! Also did the movie, and toured the buildings a bit. Had to do the actual Junior Ranger program to get the cards, so I was proud of myself, got a patch too!!!!
I had last visited here in April of 2009 when we were on our way home from the Kingston Trip to Texas. The school is still open and active, so you have to make do with a very nice Visitor's Center which has some very nice exhibits about the desegregation of the school in 1957.
There was supposed to be a new bonus stamp here, but it had been broken, and was not available. Got the other two there.
I had actually been here before, with the Kingston's, but didn't count it as a true visit, since we only sort of skirted the park, and did not get any stamps, or pins, or what ever.
As the name implies, this was actually a resort town, famous for its hot springs, then gained notoriety as a gambling/prostitution den, then faded away as every one left I guess for Vegas.
We didn't do any spa treatments, the skies were a bit threatening. Did get two of three stamps (no 25th anniversary) and a pin.
This park is kind of out of the way, so if I was going to get it, I had to commit, so we did, driving about 112 miles away from our target for the evening, Hot Springs.
We actually parked the coach at Dumas, Arkansas, a town of about 5900 folks some 18 miles away, and then I headed off to the park.
The "Post" was if you will, a trading post, first under the French, then the British, then the Confederates, then the River changed, and then the railroad came and the post wasn't important anymore, and then the Post rotted away, and that's the story of this park. There are no ruins to see, just a 20 minute movie, which does do a good narrative of the history of the place, which is rich, but sadly, there isn't anything to see. The Arkansas River, which was a key part of the location of the Fort, was very full, and I thought I detected some low lying flooding around.
I did get a very nice pin and a pretty hiking medallion here today- and I got 4 stamps, including the 25th Anniversary that wasn't supposed to be there. Huzzah!!
My RVing pal Dan Kingston and myself visited this site in 2008, before it was a National Park. The revisit today was a much better experience- the tour was led by a Ranger, not self directed, and full of interesting anecdotes about each room and many of the photographs within the home.
Got the three stamps for this location that were listed, plus a couple of pins, and a hiking medallion.
