Doug and Argie have been keeping us hopping. Friday we were all over the place even into Crestview, FL. What a day and it ended with dinner and a large gathering of Doug's family. Friday night we got back to the RV site and what a surprise we had neighbors and boy were they the ones you really don't want. They had so much company that they were parked just out side our door and I mean just. I should have taken pictures but it was all I could do not to loose control. I went up to see Ms Sara who runs the place and asked her to please have them move there trucks and told her that I really did not like to hear music over my air conditioners and TV so could the turn it down. Well we made it through the night. Saturday brought on the large Howard Reunion. Cooking started early by CJ and Doug, they had the smoker at the park going by 0600 and boy did they turn out the meat. Ribs,and chicken, the lady's of the clan did a wonderful job of all the trimmings and deserts. Plenty of great food. The turn out seemed to be real good. The Parade down town was nice and hot but it was a sight to see and be able to say you saw.
If all go's well Donna and I will be off for Gulf Haven RV Park on the beach for the next week.

Day Two went well we made it to Florala, AL by around 2:15 pm found the Big R RV park and got set up. The Big R is very small but real clean and has Elect, Water and Sewer. that makes it home for us now.
Doug & Argie are staying in the Bed and Breakfast up the hill from the park run by the same people. We got together and all went on a tour of Florala, guided by Doug who grew up here. He showed us lots of neat areas around the town. The lake that is a block away from us is real nice and full of people. The Howard family will have their reunion at the lake on Saturday. At about 5:10 Doug and Argie took us to dinner at one of the family members house's. CJ and Annie were our hosts for the evening meal and WoW!! what a great home cooked meal is was. CJ & Annie live way out in the country on the back side of 120 acres a real nice home place. As well as CJ and Annie there was Doug's brother Howie and his wife Fannie along with their two grown son's Chuck and Ricky. Ricky brought two of his grandsons. Almost for got CJ and Annie's son Michael and his son were also there. Great evening with Doug and Argies family.

We made it to Byram, MS by 3:00pm and had a pretty much uneventful trip until the steps on the RV came out and we were going across the Mississippi river bridge between Lake village, AR and Greenville, MS. We just bumped the bottom step on the bridge and did not do any real damage.(The door switch was ajar from the bumpy road) We stopped at the Welcome center and had lunch and for desert I just fixed the steps, saved calories and money. I have to admit that when they hit It was real hard to keep my cool but you know me.(Mr Cool) The RV park is nice and the Mexican restaurant that was within walking distance is GREAT!!!! Off to Florala, AL in the morning ,hopping to get there early afternoon.

The way I see it one must just be a little crazy to live were it is as HOT as it is. We are pretty much ready to head out to Florala, AL and Eglin AFB, FL tomorrow. With the heat the way it is not real sure this is a good move or not but made the plans so off we go. Just need to scrub down the RV and the Dakota tonight and should be done. Doug and Argie Howard our good friends from here are going to leave in the morning at around 4:00am and drive straight through to Florala, AL. I just don't have that in me either, we are driving to Byram, MS to the Swinging Bridge RV park for the night and then on to Florala the next day. We will spend until Sunday with Doug and Argie and then they are heading back home and we are going to try and get a site at the Eglin AFB FAMCamp. on the beach.
I will try to keep up with the trip and post pictures also.

We left Pea Ridge and headed to Beaver Lake, Hickory Creek camp grounds. We had just pulled in when Amy drove up, what good timing. We got backed in and hooked up to the electrical and then set things up for our stay. We Grilled steaks and had baked potatoes and a nice salad for dinner. We all sat around fishing for the evening. All of us were able to catch at least one small fish with Donna catching two one of which was a 6" catfish. We had fun and just sat around and talked a real nice evening. Saturday morning we got up and just relaxed around until breakfast. Donna fixed a great one. We all decided that it would be nice to rent a party barge and spend the day on the water so to the Marina we went and as luck would have it they were all rented out. (We tried) So we just enjoyed the sun for a few hours. Amy & Donna both did just a little to much enjoying and both got pretty RED and tender. Next Amy and I went to Sam's and Wal-mart, Donna and I had decided that we wanted some Lg recliner lawn chairs and maybe a screen cover for the outside area. Amy and I did well, we got two recliners and found a real nice screen tent. Back to the RV boy it is HOT!! We set up the chairs and then set the screen tent up, not to bad, it went up easy. After all the setting up we fixed dinner and ate in the screen tent at the picnic table, real nice no bugs and also no air it was almost to hot to eat but as you may have expected we did eat. Inside to cool off and do the dishes. Back outside to take the tent down as Amy made smors for the two of us. Sunday morning I got up with Cooper at 5:15am and then after making coffee stared to gather things up and pack all the outside goodies. We got around to having oatmeal for breakfast and decided that we would not make church. We went to Mimi's restaurant and had a wonderful lunch. (Great Choice Amy). Back to Hickory Creek and finished up the loading and ready to pull out. Amy headed home and Donna and I left the park at about 3;00pm and headed home also. We had a very nice visit with Amy and it was great to spend Fathers Day with her. Looking forward to the next trip to NW AR.

We headed north to the Pea Ridge area and made our way to our good friends John & Tammy Smith's house. We had set up with John to surprise Tammy and I think we did a good job of it. When we pulled in the drive John had seen us from the field and was pulling in on his four wheeler at the same time. He pulled up beside me and said honk the horn, so I did he then headed to the porch just as Tammy came out the door saying Who in the world is lost in that big thing. She then told John that this could only be Donna & Barry! She was sure surprised for sure but, as only Tammy could do she started to worry right away about just how clean the house was and what are we going to fix them to eat. Donna tried to put Tammy at ease by telling her we had made sure to cover John's _____ by trying to bring plenty to eat. John and I got things decided about the best spot to park the RV and went about doing that and hooking it up as Donna & Tammy went about ??? We had a wonderful visit that evening and some pretty good roast beef Bar BQ for dinner. Cooper had two great friends to play with as John & Tammy raise Basset Hounds and have two they keep at the house. The three dogs just ran and rolled all evening until they were just completly worn out. We spent the next day eating icecream and doing the Fle market thing we had a great day and some great ice cream. Friday we got up and had another wonderful breckfast by Tammy and just sat around and told story's (OK they just lisened to me tell story's) We started to gather things in around 1:00 pm as we were going to meet Amy at Beaver Lake for the weekend and Fathers Day. It is always just great to see John & Tammy and real hard to leave as we have so much fun with and around them. As always we pleged to see them again sooner that the last time and Donna & I are going to see that that happens this time around. About 3:00 we rolled out of the drive waiving out good byes.

It has been awhile since the last post, we have been just doing the good old home stuff. Mowing the grass, working on the mower's, cleaning up after the storm, just the usual things. Now we are getting ready to head out again, we are off the Pea Ridge, AR on the 17 of June, to see some very good friends John & Tammy for a day or so and then stop by and spend a few days and Fathers Day with Amy and see what kind of trouble we can all get into. We plan to come home from that trip and stay two days just log enough to ( you guessed it ) mow the grass and clean up. Then we are off to Forala, AL. the 24th of June, with some other very dear friends Doug & Argie for a few days. We are just hopeing that good old Doug does not get us into any trouble, he has been known to do that. Ha Ha!! We are going to spend some time on the beachs around Pensicola and Ft Walton, hope to stay on Eglin AFB, then heading home around the 6th of July. It is nice when everything is fluid and our trips don't have to be in stone so that is just our plans so far we will see what happens.

Sunday morning we left Stagecoach RV park in Branson and headed home. BUT!!! as we got close to Tyler Bend on the Buffalo river we both thought it would be nice to stay the night there. We pulled in and found a pull through site that seemed pretty nice. We got set up and then walked with Cooper down to the river. Lots of canoe's and people but we found a spot and got settled in for a couple of hours or so. I fished and Donna read while Cooper just rested. We went back to the RV and OMGosh!! it was hot hot hot the RV was directly in the SUN and not going to get any relief until dark. OH did I forget to mention that we were (Boondocking)camping with out any Hook ups Electric, water or sewer. I mean we were roughfing it big time. We ran the generator for two hours and were able to get by. I grilled burgers and Donna fixed the fixings. The dark brought cool and we were able to get a great sleep listning to all the birds etc. Monday we got up early and sat around and drank our coffee (Perculator) and just enjoyed the beautiful morning. We walked Cooper around the park and I spotted a site that would work real well for the camping we were doing. We unhooked the Dodge and moved the RV to the new location, set up and then went and payed for to more nights. We also went around and picked up fire wood that had been left at other sites. We ended up with quite a bit of wood. Then we loaded up the truck and back to the river for the afternoon. We went back to the RV and around 4:00 pm we started the Generator again charging the batterys and cooling things down. We made Ham and Sweet potato hobo meals that I cooked on the grill. Very very Good. Then we sat out till around 10:30 pm by the camp fire great day and wonderful evening. Tuesday brought an other wonderfull morning I sat out at the fire and had coffee. We just rested during the early morning and around 11:00am we headed back to the river,more of the same for us all with the exception of me and my close and I mean close encounter with a SNAKE not one but two they actully ran me out of the river. Well we were tired and headed back to the RV for our afternoon cool down and to get dinner ready. We once again had Hobo meals this time with Ground beef, potatos, corn and onions. Grilled to perfection. We ate and then took Cooper for a walk, as we were walking I noticed a truck with an Escapees sticker on it and when the gentilman spoke I asked if he had been at the Escapade in Sedalia the week befor and as things go he was and not only was he there he had helped Dale and I when we pulled Dales RV out. What a small world. Then back to camp for a relaxing evening around the fire again. Wedensday morning we got up had coffe and headed home. We arrived home around 10:30am and while Donna did laundrey I mowed the yard.