Day 3 - Arkansas

Day 3, October 19

        Dear Miss Smith,
    What a day we have had here at Cane Creek State Park. Ah, the delights of a clear day, the pleasures of cool weather, the joys of nature all combined to give an ambiance to our adventures which will fill you with an envious wish no doubt to have been with us. However, as that could not be (Imagine what the dogs and cats would have done to the house! No, on second thought, don’t imagine it, for it is much too terrible to even think of.), I will write about it to you.
    Since we had parked the RV at the state park we were right where we needed to be with no driving this morning.

    As the day was delightfully cool and we had both risen early, Amy and I decided to take a walk over to the nature center first before deciding what we would do to start our day. I put on my favorite hat before I stepped outside. You remember, the one with all the flowers, ribbons and feathers? Well, Amy then pointed out that it was rather large for wearing on trails in the woods. So, I put on a smaller hat. This one, alas, had netting “streamers,” as Amy called them and the first tree I passed under snagged them. I was quite at a loss about what to do, for after examining my hats, not one of them would do for the woods; even my new hat was too wide brimmed and I would not go from the RV without a hat. At last, dear, sweet Amy came to my rescue by offering me the use of one of her hats. It had no flowers, feathers, ribbons or “streamers”; in fact, it was just a plain, rather ordinary hat. And I must confess that by the end of the day, I rather liked that hat. When I first put it on, I was almost afraid to look in the mirror, so accustomed have I become to my own hats, but would you believe it, it gave me a new stylish look.
    “Just the thing,” Amy declared and off we set, after I had made sure my pearl necklace was on and I had my larger glasses, leaving the dogs at the RV.
    After a visit to the nature center, it was decided that since the morning was cool, we would go for our first bike ride. Feeling rather adventurous we chose the longer, more difficult trail of 15.5 miles rather than the one slightly over two miles. I was longing to ride over the suspension bridges.
    Back we tramped to the RV where we exchanged our hats for helmets (a necessary precaution on all nature trails), unstrapped our bikes, filled our water bottles, fixed our lunches and this time, taking the dogs with us, having discovered to our delight that dogs were allowed on the trails as long as they were on leashes and under control, we set off on our first real adventure of the day.
    Quite pleasant it was as we rode among the trees with the morning light shining down through the still mostly green leaves above us. Though it is October, the trees haven’t really begun to exchange their summer garb for their autumn finery. Up little hills and down, twisting and turning we followed the trail. Penelope rode in my bike basket. I wish you could have seen her, Miss Smith, her ears were blowing in the wind and it was obvious to all that she was thoroughly enjoying herself. As for Timber, he ran the entire time beside Amy’s bicycle. He was on a leash but he didn’t need it.
    Those suspension bridges were a pure delight to ride over. After having crossed the first one, we took a break and walked back over the bridge to admire it. It was over a gorge which was surprisingly quite deep with a full stream at the bottom. Oh, the quiet, the stillness, away from the noise and busy rushing hither and thither of the city.
    At last we set off on our ride again. Two other suspension bridges were crossed but these we neglected to examine. The trail led us around the lake and we saw some wildlife, but I fear most were frightened away by the dogs. Really, Miss Smith, that first ride of the trip was well worth it. We took a break to eat our lunch only to discover afterwards that had we continued to ride another ten minutes we would have made it to the end of the trail. Ah, well. The picnic was enjoyable.

    It had warmed up considerably by the time we got back to the RV. Assisted by Amy, I strapped our bikes back in place and tidied up our room a bit. I had to put my hats away and, oh Miss Smith! There were seven wrinkles on my bed! I am unsure how they came to be, but just think, wrinkles on my bed! I do like things spick and span. I did allow Timber to sleep with Amy last night though he hardly fits in the room; however, I am afraid he and Penelope will be banned from the bedroom if I discover that they were the ones creating wrinkles on my bed.


    Our next adventure came about when we ventured forth upon our very first kayaking experience. Would you believe it, Miss Smith, they have a “trail” for kayaking! I have climbed the mountains in Switzerland, crossed the desert in Egypt by camel, traveled by plane, train and automobile, but never had I been kayaking. Though Amy’s brothers have taught her how to canoe, she had never been in a kayak either. This made our first experience quite entertaining.
    At first we thought a tandem kayak would be delightful so we started out in one of those. I’m sure the man who rented us the kayak must have been laughing in his sleeve to see us.
    When I tried to go forward, Amy was paddling backwards, or perhaps it was the other way around. And when Amy attempted to turn right, I tried to go left. We never went anywhere except in circles. But I did lose my hat! Actually it was Amy’s hat. I was wearing it again upon Amy’s advice. A breeze suddenly came up and without so much as a by your leave, it took the hat off my head. Thankfully Amy was able to catch it before it became a boat or a fish. Then she proceeded to show me how to wear it backwards! Can you imagine, Miss Smith! Me, Priscilla De Silvosa wearing a hat backwards! Well, as I am sure that your imagination is not equal to the task, and mine certainly wasn’t, Amy has kindly taken a photo of me wearing her hat backwards which I am enclosing especially for your benefit.

Wearing a hat backwards!

    When we did manage to return to the dock, the man offered us two separate kayaks since the tandem wasn’t working. Things went much smoother this time only there was something wrong with my paddles half the time. Amy finally gave up trying to stay dry for I couldn’t keep from splashing her time after time. Eventually I got the hang of the craft and after that we made good time. We were not required to stay on the “trail” which was marked by yellow blazes on the trees and yellow floaters in the water. Were we to do it another time, I might venture forth upon unmarked waterways, but this first time we remained on the trail.
    We passed right by several beaver dams. Large ones they were too. Quite fascinating also. We didn’t catch any glimpse of the inhabitants and architects of those intricate dwellings, but we did spy a bald eagle riding on air currents far above us.
    “They shall mount up on wings as eagles,” I murmured with my eyes fastened on the king of the air.
    In silence we watched him until he disappeared behind some hills. Then we ventured forth again. We discovered a bald eagle’s nest in the top of a large old tree. And though we looked, we never saw the osprey’s nest which we had been told was at the mouth of one of the streams. There are many streams feeding this man-made lake so it is possible that we were looking in the wrong place.
    Since it was by that time growing rather late, we paddled back to the dock and slowly, enjoying every moment of quiet, we strolled back to the RV.

    The dogs were wild to see us when we arrived, and Amy took them for a short run while I made supper. It did turn out well, Miss Smith, since all I had to do was pull the pan from the freezer and put it in the oven. We decided not to drive on tonight.
    “Amy,” I said over supper, “it is your turn to drive. Would you rather drive tonight or in the morning?”
    Looking somewhat flustered, my companion replied, “I’ve never driven an RV.”
    “Well, you can’t learn any younger. That is what my father always told me. And I’ll tell you right now that I am not going to drive this RV the entire trip. So, to get back to the question, since you are the driver, would you rather wait until morning or drive at night?”
    Amy decided to wait. Thus it is that we are spending a second night here at Cane Creek. Tomorrow we head for the diamond fields. Originally we had planned on spending at least part of tomorrow in Camden visiting the McCollum-Chidester House Museum which was built in 1864, I believe, by slave labor and served as headquarters for a southern general during the civil war; however, unfortunately for us, the museum is closed at this time, therefore we will not be stopping. I did jot it down in my notebook of places to return to.
    Amy has gone to bed and Timber has followed her. I sincerely hope he doesn’t snore as he did last night. Good night, Miss Smith. I hope everything is running smoothly at home.

With love,
Priscilla