Our Welcome to Tornado Alley

We entered tornado alley today. And, while we have not quite made it to Kansas, our first few minutes in Oklahoma were somewhat of the white knuckle variety. Just a mile after we crossed into Oklahoma from Arkansas, the skies opened up and a tornado warning for our immediate vicinity was broadcast over the radio. Luckily, we were only a mile from the state visitor center so we were able to get off the road and dash into the building for safety. We watched the wind and torrential rain for about 45 minutes before it let up enough for us to get back on the road. No official tornado was sighted but if Oklahoma is like this, we can't imagine what lies ahead for us in Kansas.

An Afternoon at the Spa

During it's heyday in the 1920s, Hot Springs had 10 working bath houses and drew thousands of visitors by train seeking the healing effects of the hot mineral water. Today, there are only two active bath houses, and only one offering traditional bath. We had the traditional bath at the Buckstaff bath house which included a hot tub soak, sitz bath, steam chamber, needle shower, massage, and Lufa scrub. A thoroughly relaxing experience that we highly recommend if you are ever in the area.

Mississippi crossing

We drove across the I-55 bridge at Memphis Monday morning. Man, the river is still raging. The water was up to the roadway for miles on the Arkansas side. A lot of exits going a few hundred feet then disappearing under the muddy water. It's still up to the power lines in many spots. We are in historic Hot Springs, Arkansas , where the city provides free fill ups of the thermal spring water from several stations along the main street. Just bring a jug.

Starting the Trip With a Bang

And not just as a matter of speech. A real, live, "what the hell was that?" bang. Fourteen miles up I-75 from Gainesville, the rear passenger-side tire on the trailer shredded to pieces. Luckily, I was able to quickly steer the rig to the side of the road without doing any damage to the rim. About an hour later, the roadside assistance truck arrived -- Town Tire from Gainesville. The guy was friendly enough, asked us where were from. I think he expected us to say that we were from some far away locale. When we told him "Gainesville," he laughed and said "Didn't get very far, huh?" We did make it to our planned overnight in Mobile, AL, without any further incidents, and other than some cosmetic damage to the trailer, everything seems to be working fine. They say you haven't earned your RV stripes until you've experienced your first blowout. Hopefully, we won't earn any more stripes on this trip.

The Waters Have Finally (De)Parted

Here's a photo of I-40 in Arkansas between Memphis and Little Rock. Taken last weekend, it shows the overflowing White River that caused one of the country's busiest commercial links to close. It also happens to be on our route to our first camp spot -- Hot Springs National Park. For westbound travelers like us, the detour around the flooded section turned what normally is a drive of just over an hour into a 6-8 hour ordeal. Thankfully, the weather has been dry over the past few days and the White River is finally receeding. Arkansas DOT re-opened I-40 yesterday, so our original route is still intact, as long as they don't have any significant rain between now and Monday.

Check in on us this summer

Well, we've finally taken the leap to blogging rather than sending multiple e-mails during our annual summer RV trip. Of course, it all depends on what kind of internet connection we have as we make our way to some pretty remote parts of the country. But, we'll do our best to keep you posted on our whereabouts and slap a photo or two in there to prove we are actually on the road and not blogging from our living room.