Thursday, April 28, 2011

Arkansas

We left Mississippi on Sunday and headed to Heber Springs Arkansas for the workamper rendezvous. All was going smoothly until we were stopped at a stop light and heard an explosion behind us, it was a tire on the 5er blowing out.
Here we are on Easter Sunday and who knows where with a flat. I called AAA & Camping World, AAA said sorry you don't have coverage on the 5er and Camping World said see ya in 3 hours. Within 20 minutes a local tire repair guy happened to drive by, stopped and within 1/2 hour we were good to go. How lucky were we? We could not find a new tire so we drove off to Heber Springs with our fingers crossed.
We found a site deep in the woods on Greers Ferry Lake.

The rendezvous did not start until Tuesday so we took it easy and did some shopping. While at WalMart I decided that we needed a weather radio, since there was a call for severe storms starting Monday afternoon. We were so glad we bought that radio, both Monday and Tuesday night we listened to the radio and watched the radar on the Internet as the storms moved toward Heber Springs. Monday night two tornadoes passed within 15 miles of us and seven people were killed about 40 miles south of Heber Springs. Tuesday night was just as nuts and we came very close to heading over to the concrete bathroom building. Two trees fell in the campground and one rig was glanced and had its roof ripped. Everything with us is okay and today was gorgeous sunshine. The sunrise was beautiful this morning. The lake is up about 6 feet since we arrived and it has rained over 10 inches since Sunday.
The rendezvous has been great, we have learned a lot that we will use daily while RVing. The event was in the new Heber Springs Community Center. Last night we had a group barbecue on the water. Unfortunately the wind was blowing and it was 50 deg., still almost all of the 160 attendees showed up. We ate fast and left early; you can see why when you looking at the picture of Sherri.
The rendezvous ended this evening with a dinner at the Catfish Barn. We begin the drive back to Albuquerque tomorrow and should be in to the Central KOA by Saturday evening. Saturday May 7 it is off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for 5 months.

5 comments:

  1. So, would I be correct in assuming that the rendezvous for workkampers was a central gathering for KOA workkampers and that all the participants would be working in various KOA's around the country?

    While it might have been cool, at least you've not experienced much damage except the blown fiver tire. Good luck with the rest of your trip.

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  2. Glad you two are safe and sound...so much bad weather around the country.

    We enjoyed getting to know you at the RV-Dreams Rally and will be following your adventures at the Grand Canyon. We have never been to the North Rim, so we look forward to learning all about it.

    Safe Travels and Happy Trails.......

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  3. Glad you are both okay. Thankfully you were stopped when the blowout happened. The weather radio is a must have. Stay safe on the rest of your trip!

    Dave and Max

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  4. I'm jealous! Workkamping on the north rim would be so cool. Our time will come!

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  5. Terry,
    Workamper.com is company which matches RVers with seasonal jobs. The jobs vary from camp hosts to national park jobs. KOA does not use workamper to find hosts, I believe they have their own network.
    Workamper caters to all facets of full-timing,those just thinking about it, RV maintenance, writing resumes and job postings from thousands of employers.

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