The Travels of LynDen Haus: Piney Woods and Bayous

Friday, 16 November. Today was strictly a travel day for us as we headed for our Thanksgiving Holiday in Branson, MO. We left Lake Charles, LA, around 10am this morning, and picked up I-10 East for about 12 miles. At that point we turned north on LA Hiway 165, which would be our road for today's entire trip north to our overnight campground in West Monroe, LA, Pavilion RV Park and Campground right on I-20. For the most part Hiway 165 was good road, mainly four-lane divided highway, with some sections of two-lane traffic. Scenery was predominantly piney woods that lined the road with an occasional bayou within sight distance. We passed thru what seemed like one small town after another -- which kept our speed down (and we indeed spottted small several of LA's finest, either state trooper or sheriff) -- with each small rural burg showing its own identity. The small towns soon became a blur as we continued north: Kinder, Oakdale, Glenmora (sounds more like a Highland single malt scotch), Bosco, Olla, Riverton, and Richwood to name a few -- and the one large town of Alexandria, that actually had a bypass around the town center. We certainly saw a little bit of small Americana on today's drive into the northeast corner of LA. Our campground for our overnight stay turned out to be right across the street from a big truck stop where we filled up with diesel for tomorrow's travels.

Saturday, 17 November. Today started out with some "minor" issues with both the motorhome and in hooking up the Saturn to the RV. Nothing major, just little nitnoy inconveniences that don't get the day off to a good start. But start we did, and picked up I-20 West toward Shreveport. We turned north again at Ruston, LA, picking up LA Hiway 167 toward the small rural town of Bernice, which, we learned, is the home town of New York Knicks basketball great Willis Reed. Once we hit Bernice, 167 became a very nice four-lane divided highway all the way into El Dorado, Arkansas. Hiway 167 would have taken us all the way into Little Rock, but we turned west at Sheridan and picked up AR Hiway 270. AR 270 took us to I-30 where we headed north to Benton and our overnight stay at J.B.'s RV Park and Campground, that advertises a "quiet, country setting." J.B.'s is indeed very quiet - almost too laid back - and sits right off I-30. The park has a small fishing lake, lots of trees and large campsites. While the restrooms and laundry (which we took advantage of) are clean and well-maintained, there is little else in the way of amenities. The park is situated just south of the town of Benton, clearly out in the middle of nowhere. I looked on the Internet last night for a nearby restaurant, and nothing is listed except for Malvern (just south of us) and Benton, to the north. Will let y'all know where we end up eating dinner tonight. I'm betting there'll be a story there.

From here we head north on I-30 tomorrow morning for Little Rock where we'll bypass the city via Loop 430. We'll leave 430 as it continues to encircle Little Rock, and pick of I-40 as it heads northwest toward the Oklahoma border. We leave I-40 at Conway, and head north all the way to Branson, MO, on AR Hiway 65. We're looking forward to spending a few non-travel days in Branson over the Thanksgiving Holiday and taking in a few shows. But that's another story for another day.

Sunday, 18 November, at J.B.'s campground turned out to be a WONDERFUL fall day. Cool, but not uncomfortable temps, with plenty of sunshine. We put some laundry in the campground's washers and headed out for a short hike to the fishing lake. I took my Canon along and took a number of pics, which I share with you now. I think we just missed the really brilliant fall colors, but the park sure look mighty purty! Enjoy -- hope they show the rural setting of the campground and how nice the day was.