Day 66, May 7, 2023, Sunday.  Cave Springs, Arkansas (Bentonville) (143 miles)

We departed Bartlesville after a fun three days and left Oklahoma. We arrived at the Creeks RV Resort (FHU and good wifi) in Cave Springs in mid-afternoon and just chilled for the rest of the day. 

Day 67, May 8, 2023, Monday.  Cave Springs, Arkansas (Bentonville) 

What brought us to Bentonville was the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Outside the museum is 120 acres of Ozark Woods with 5 miles of paths. The museum buildings are quite interesting having been designed by the world renowned Israeli architect, Moshe Safdie. The museum was founded by Alice Walton and general admission is always free due to the generosity of Walmart. After spending some time walking the paths in the morning and eating our picnic lunch, we went inside to the art museum to see the permanent collection. There were many well known artists and many more that were not familiar. In the afternoon, we toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House. The museum acquired and relocated this house to the museum property from New Jersey. It had a very familiar feel to it as we have seen many of Wright’s houses in our travels. Alas, no interior photos allowed. After the house we went back into the museum to view its special exhibit, Diego Rivera’s America. The collection had many of his paintings but also many of his preliminary sketches. I am no art expert but the sketches had much clearer detail than the paintings, especially the faces.  We spent almost all day here but still had time to drive around downtown Bentonville. There were many Walmart buildings in Bentonville, the town of Walmart’s origin.  We even drove past the Walmart Museum which we chose not to visit.

Day 68, May 9, 2023, Tuesday.  Mountain View, Arkansas (160 miles) 

We departed Bentonville and checked into Whitewater RV Park (FHU) in the Ozark Mountains. The drive was a mostly wiggly, narrow two lane road up and down hills/mountains. After check in, we drove to the Dulcimer Shoppe where Rosemary bought a few new picks for her dulcimer. The Shoppe had a window to a work area where two people were building dulcimers. I watched them while Rosemary was perusing the Shoppe merchandise. Mountain View hosts a major folk festival each year with lots of dulcimer players but we did not visit during the festival. Next we drove downtown and walked around.  Mostly antique shops and touristy gift shops. Half of the stores downtown were vacant, and many of those that were not were closed even though it was only around 4:00. Mountain View which has a population of about 2,900 seems pretty dead. 

Day 69, May 10, 2023, Wednesday.  Mountain View, Arkansas 

The Ozark Folk Center State Park was open 10:00 to 5:00 and we were there for almost the entire time. The Park is dedicated to perpetuating the music, crafts, and culture of the Ozarks and presents the opportunity to watch artisans at work and to hear Southern mountain music. The artists worked in many mediums each one had their own work studio (including pottery, glass, copper, paper, leather, blacksmith, wood carving and turning, quilting, printing, fiber arts and more). Each artisan was very friendly and explained the process of their craft while demonstrating it. Dave Smith was the musician who played six 30-minute sets over the course of the day. We enjoyed him so much that we attended three of his mini-concerts. I even asked him to repeat one song at the end of the day, River Run by James Keelaghan.  I had never heard this song before and it really hit home at my present age. Another fun song was The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife the lyrics can be found at https://robingreenstein.com/iow/lyrics_devil.html and a version of the song at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMUPo69DRDM.  A really enjoyable day. We left about 4:45 so we could return to the Dulcimer Shoppe before it closed at 5:00 as Rosemary decided to buy a tee shirt she had liked the day before.  It bears 3 images of Kokopelli playing dulcimers and offering flutes for sale.

Day 70, May 11, 2023, Thursday. Red Bay, Alabama (308 miles)

A travel day to Red Bay, home of Tiffin Motorhomes.  I had inquired earlier about staying in the Tiffin campground but was told it is now only for coaches that are less than one year old. We arrived about 6:00 and parked in the gravel employee parking lot for the night across the street from the Tiffin campground which was not full. The purpose of our visit to Red Bay is to obtain some parts for the coach in the morning.

Day 71, May 12, 2023, Friday. Rossville, GA (Chattanooga, TN) (206 miles)

Got an early start and walked to the Tiffin parts building and opened the door to find an empty room. Found out the parts desk had moved into the center of the service area. I was first in line and brought my list of 11 parts that I needed. I had some of the old parts with me and others that I had photos of. Most of these items are small stuff but I have been unsuccessful in getting the correct parts by phone orders. The exception was the rear rock guard which Tiffin wanted $650. I was quoted $450 plus shipping last fall when I made other arrangements. Unfortunately, the other arrangement did not last. I declined the $650 option as I do have another option back in Tampa. Of the other 10 items, 5 of them are no longer available. I did get the other 5 items and bought extras. The process was slow as the Tiffin helper had to search online for the part ands then had to go search for it in the warehouse for it. We finally hit the road about 10:30. We arrived and checked into Holiday Travel Park of Chattanooga (FHU) which is actually in Rossville, GA, about 6:00 now back on Eastern time.  The campground is located on a civil war battlefield.