Arkansas

Last weekend Danny and I took off work to drive up to Bismarck, Arkansas and meet my dad and Cheryl with the mules. We started our trip early Thursday morning and finally got there that afternoon. It was beautiful when we left Dallas, then once we hit the Arkansas state line the clouds rolled in and it rained on us until we drove into the drive way of the Bar Fifty Ranch.

We worked hard to get the mules in their pen, trailor unhooked, dad's camper and our tent set up. Very soon afterwards the boys were on a hunt for wood to make a fire.

As you can see below Dad and Danny's team work had us warming up to withstand the chilly temperature.



Dad and Cheryl got the steaks and green beans prepared for the fire. MMMMMMmmmmmm...... we all had full bellies afterwards!



The next morning we were up early. The tent was chilly over night... and we found out we had small leak in our blow up mattress. Over the next few nights we were up to blow it up every few hours.

Andy was excited to have some morning breakfast of oats!

We were finally off riding down the trails before noon! Follow the leader........ Dad on Buster, Cheryl on Kate, Danny on Lilly, and April on Andy!

We took a little break to make sure we were on the right trail and caught a great picture with everyone smiling and ears forward!

We all had sore bums after a couple of hours riding.

After a little snack on Dr. Pepper and peanuts near a stream we all layed down for a bit. Dad took a little nap... and even snoored a little.

After the nap we were back on the trail. Doesn't Danny look like such a cowboy! heheheheheee..



I caught a great shot of everyone as they were about to cross one of the many streams. It was my favorite part! Danny was busy every stream trying to find some fish.

That afternoon we were back at the camp. Everyone had specific tasks. I took Andy and Lilly to the watering bucket where they took their turn for a cold drink like nice mules!

Dad was busy cutting up meat for our kabobs that night.

And Cheryl was on poop duty. She was the greatest pooper scooper ever... although by the next day she turned that duty over to Danny!

This was a hilarious shot of Cheryl shaving dad's neck by the fire. We were all about to head down to the wash rooms to clean up but Dad forgot his razor. He needed a good neck shave so Cheryl was very willing to help! I'm sure the mules didn't mind her using their water bucket to clean off the razor!

The next morning we were up cooking bacon, eggs, and coffee on the fire!

Saturday we got to go to Oaklawn in Hot Springs for the horse races. Danny and I won 4 of 9 races and were happy campers!

We walked down "Bathhouse Row" to read about the history of Hot Springs. Here's a shot of the boys at the Fordyce Bathhouse.

We took a walk up behind the springs to take a few pictures of ourselves.

The water was steaming hot coming out of the ground.

One last shot of Danny and I overlooking Bathhouse Row!