Another Flat Tire

It happened again – we got another flat on the trailer.  But, again I can’t complain about how things have gone.  As we left the campground in Eureka Springs headed here to the Ozark Folk Center, Alan thought the trailer hitch was sounding a little funny so he pulled into a gas station just a quarter mile down the road.  Can you believe it? – they had free air in a convenient location to pull up the trailer.  This never happens!  The air is usually tucked into a back corner somewhere where you can’t get the trailer in or out.  So, Alan decided to check the air pressure on all the tires.  One was low and then he spotted the nail. 

Well, it turns out that the tread was almost completely separated!  If we had gotten out onto the road it would have been gone for sure and believe me, there are not any good places to pull over on the backroads of Arkansas!  Alan changed the spare out and I called around (using my very handy iPhone to search out tire centers along our route.)  No one had our tire in stock, but the Good Year Tire Center in West Memphis (our next stop) ordered one for us.  The tire should be there by Friday when we get in!  Someone is definitely looking out for us while we are on the road! 

Alan thinks we should name this trip “An iPhone Goes to Arkansas”.  I’m open to other suggestions if you have them!

Kitties Everywhere

It started at the Quigley house.  There was a cute little black and white cat hanging out in the garden.  She was very friendly and wanted you to pet her (well me anyway – I’m not sure she was too keen about Alan.) 

Then we spotted the cat that was travelling with our neighbors at the Wanderlust Campground.  They had this little calico with them in their trailer.  She would sit at the screen door and then they would let it out on a leash!  She just kind of hung around and played in the grass and watched all of the dogs go by.  I got to talking to the lady – or listening to her would be more like it.  She had more stories to tell!  I heard all about her life story in no time flat!  FYI – the cats name was Flo-Flo. 

Quigley’s Castle

I thought this place sounded interesting after reading the brochure that Alan picked up at the campground so we took the few mile drive to check it out.  It is listed on the National Register of Historical Places!  Well, the family of the woman that built it is still giving tours and it is definitely an interesting place.  There are plants growing inside and the whole place is covered with random rocks and other things like marbles.  Mrs. Quigley herself had been collecting the rocks for years!  Although she had lots of collections, including butterflies, arrowheads and different kinds of glass – the house really didn’t feel cluttered.  Another family that was touring with us said that when they had been at the house in the mid-80’s Mrs. Quigley was there in the house sitting in a chair reading her bible.  She must have been a real character to dream this up and then spend all of that time cementing rocks together!  

You can read more about Quigley Castle here:  http://www.quigleyscastle.com/

Mrs. Quigley also found time to quilt.  They had her quilts displayed on all of the beds and one hanging on the wall.  She said that she had a hard time quilting because the lye in the cement made her fingers rough and they caught on the thread! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This whole area of Arkansas was really beautiful.  Here is a view out the back of the Quigley property.  

World’s Largest Tuned Musical Windchime

On our second full day at Eureka Springs we headed out to Quigley’s Castle (more about this in another posting) and passed the World’s Largest Tuned Musical Windchime.  We had to stop and take a picture although we did not get out and pay the $1.00 they charged to ring it!  We know it must really be the World’s Largest Tuned Musical Windchime because Wikipedia says so:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Largest_Tuned_Musical_Windchime

Eureka Springs

We’ve enjoyed the last several days at Eureka Springs.  The weather has been absolutely fantastic – though I hear it has been raining back home (this is probably good news for our lawn).  Yesterday, we toured around the downtown shopping district.  It is really quaint and cute with a lot of interesting shops.  I would have to say it is much better than Hot Springs but without the authentic bath house to tour. The roads are all narrow and curvy.  On our way out of town back to the campground we followed our GPS right onto a dirt road.  There are a lot of really nice homes next to what I will loosely call “shacks”.  I argued that the shacks were probably occupied by starving artists – Alan thought hippies was a better description.    

They didn’t have a decent quilt shop in the whole town, though.  They did have a couple of those places selling (much too) cheap chinese made quilts.  Unfortunately, I caught one of them in this photo of one of the historic buildings:

 

 

They have a lovely central park area where the first of the Springs was discovered with a fountain and a band shell.  We even saw some “young people” playing hacky sack and a monkey doing tricks.