We left you as we were about to cross the border to Tennessee.   We drove along miles of flooded cotton fields and continued on into clearer weather in Arkansas. A cold front made us change our plans slightly and instead of Eureka Springs, we drove straight to the warmer city of Hot Spring.

Hot Springs NAtional Park

Hot Springs National Park takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs and Hot Springs Creek.  The 143 °F (62 °C), calcium and magnesium-rich ancient water flow from the springs and creek; the creek flows in a tunnel beneath the 19th and 20th centuries bathhouses that form Bathhouse Row .

It was a 19th century destination

with a promise of cure for different ailments, mostly in style.

The jewel in the crown was the Arlington Hotel and Spa.

We stayed in the National Park’s campground around the corner from Bathhouse Row and the next morning drove up mountain tower.  The roads curve tightly and vehicles over 30′ are prohibited.  Yay for Class Bs!  You can catch a glimpse of the road curve and angle through the trees in the photo below.

We filled up our empties with spring water from one of the cold springs.  Will it help us get over this flu?

The observation tower was closed, but the we still managed to get a view of the Ouachita mountains and the town below.

The Fordyce Bathhouse houses the park’s visitors center and museum offers guided or self directed tours.

Some of the gadgets and apparatus in this place made us shake our heads in disbelief

You don’t want to know…

This does not look very appealing.

Nor does this

How would you like to sit in this with only your head sticking out?

All these interesting contraptions were surrounded by grand architectural elements

art

and of course the labour of many who made it possible for these genteel people to indulge in luxury while they are getting better.

We left the museum with no desire to take a soak and walked some of the trails around town.

Those were constructed during the hay days of the bathhouses as another way for the infirm to get stronger.

Most of the springs are capped now.

But there are still a few springs along the trails

It was still cold out and the hot springs were really tempting.

Maybe a quick dip?

Back in town, we wandered into some of the buildings that were open and tried to imagine what it would have been like when it was a mecca for the infirm and a playground for gangsters and politicians.

Above and below are some of the rooms in the Arlington Hotel

Below is the verandah of the Arlington

This small sobering plaque showed the other 99%.  The hopeful poor in tent cities hoping for a cure.

Time to move on and our next stop was the Crater of Diamonds State Park.

Somewhere along the way we hit the 30,000km mark!

Crater of Diamond State Park

What a place!

One can come and dig, sift, or walk and look for diamonds.

One can keep the diamonds one finds.

Since we arrived about an hour before they closed the park, we just went with the field walking method and searched the surface for diamonds

a large area in the park is “ploughed” and we were only able to walk a small portion of it.  We spent a lot of time on our knees examining the rocks.

We found lots of Jasper.  No diamonds. Maybe next time.

We decided not to stay at the state park’s campground and try and get south (AKA out of the cold) as fast as we can so we booted it and headed south to Texas.

Now, when we say “booted it” we don’t mean that we sped, except for the one time that we actually did because our GPS lied to us.  The flashing lights behind us and the young officer made it clear that we were speeding as we passed him.  He disappeared in his cruiser for a really long time and when he came back he handed us our papers and let us off with a warning: “y’all drive safe for me now” he said somberly.

How cute is that?

We spent the night at Boles Field Campground at the Sabine National Forest.  An electric site for $6 a night.  What? We should have stayed longer, but Texas and warmer temperature were calling.

Next stop, Sea Rim State Park, Texas.

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