I took a few days off from posting here and simply enjoyed camping out at Mulberry Mountain. Our plan had been to leave Saturday morning, but Melissa got an unexpected new job while we were away. (It’s good to stay connected to the outside world, even on vacation.) It’s more money, a much better work environment, and puts her on a standard Monday through Friday work schedule, so we decided to stay an extra day through Sunday morning instead. Much to our surprise, we remained the only campers in the entire “primitive area” for our entire stay, including the weekend. While the RVers crammed into the section with hookups, we had an entire section of forest all to ourselves.
Not a whole lot happened that I didn’t already write about in my previous post. A herd of deer visited again, but this one was much bigger than the three who greeted us when we arrived. There were so many, and they were so spread throughout the primitive camping area, that I lost count of how many there were. They didn’t stick around long, but it was fun to see them.
Our butterfly friend continued to visit us regularly. Here, it’s hanging out on Melissa’s water bottle. It even landed on our hands from time to time. I’ve never encountered such a friendly butterfly before. I’ve also never seen as many butterflies in general as I have here in Arkansas.
Lister’s final antibiotic treatment was on Friday. As you can see, he’s very much back to his old self and old shenanigans. In typical cat fashion, he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be in or out. So he decided to be both at the same time. Yes, I’m still using the same $5 curtain as a bug screen that I bought a year ago!
We attempted to have a campfire on Friday and Saturday nights. I say “attempted” because we’ve discovered an exciting new development in camping safety: flame-retardant firewood! The wood we bought at the camp store absolutely refused to ignite. It would char and begin to disintegrate, but nothing short of a propane torch or dousing with gasoline (both of which were in my trailer, which we didn’t bring) would get this wood to burn.
Melissa got particularly persistent Saturday night, gathering whatever twigs and branches she could find on the ground in the surrounding area to try to get it burning. Even though these had been outside through the recent rain, they still ignited, unlike the firewood we’d paid money for. She got a good fire going with scavenged wood, but even then, the wood we bought would not ignite under any circumstances.
The bad firewood was the only bad part of our three-night stay and didn’t matter compared to the overall visit. We had a lot of interesting conversations, much like the first time we camped together at Imperial Dam. Melissa’s new job will enable us to go away for weekends pretty much anytime we want, which will be great while we sit still for a while working, looking for work, and doing other projects. It should help prevent the onset of “Itchy Feet,” which, as travelers, both of us are prone to.
I’m also pleased to report that the new shelf worked perfectly and took absolutely no damage on its shakedown cruise, despite a lot more shaking and vibration than intended with the mostly dirt route Google took us there. We took Route 23 all the way back to town, stocked up on supplies, and sprayed the mud off the bottom of the van at a car wash before heading back to her place. We celebrated Mother’s Day with her sons and daughter-in-law, yummy food, Cards Against Humanity, and video games.
Smokey Da Van 