Winding Stair

From Hot Springs we drove west to Oklahoma through the Ouachita Mts. National Forest on Route 270.

Ouachita is an Indian word given a French spelling. It means “good hunting, good fishing.”

It would be an especially pretty drive in autumn.

Once inside Oklahoma we continued west on Route 1, Talemina Scenic Drive through the Winding Stair National Recreation Area.

We thought we would be safe driving it.

The route follows the ridgeline of the mountains and reminds me a lot of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Like the Parkway it has many turn offs with scenic vistas.

Interpretive signs explain what you are seeing.

I found this interesting about the price the National Forest paid for all this land.

There’s a nice National Forest campground with beautiful views.

There was nobody staying there. We would have stayed if it wasn’t so hot....guess that’s why no one else was there too.

So we came down out of the mountains and found a nice COE (Corps of Engineers) campground on Sardis Lake. Here’s our site on the water.

We watched a colorful sunset.

Bandit plotting his course back to the rv so he won’t be seen by those people in the next campsite. He’s such a wimp.

Now where am I supposed to sleep?

Geese gliding by in the morning.

I'm behind in posting pictures, but we are currently heading into Colorado. Next post will be our trip across Oklahoma and NE New Mexico.