No bath

We think Arkansas is under-rated. It is a very pretty State. We began our day with a lovely drive through the Ouachita Mountains headed toward Hot Springs. We stopped at a CCC camp and wondered why the government ever stopped this program. From what we read on the markers, it was a very successful program. We also noticed the increase in song birds. How good that sounded to our ears. We hadn't realized we were missing them.

Because we were headed toward a National Park our expectations of Hot Springs was much different than the reality of what we found there. The Park is actually the town itself. There is a row of bathhouses that date back to the 1920's that have all been commercialized. In spite of my considerable persuasive powers I was not able to convince Jim to lay down $30.00 for a bath. I even offered to throw in a massage for another $30.00 but to no avail. He didn't even have to worry about bad hair afterwards, so I really don't understand what his problem was.

We hiked paths behind the bathhouses and took a scenic drive up the mountain directly behind them in search of a hot spring. What we found were springs that have all been capped off to benefit the commercial bathhouses. We finally found one small natural spring, and the water definitely was hotter than we could stand to touch. We remain puzzled as to why this town was designated a National Park.

We had originally planned to stay in Hot Springs for the night, but decided to move on toward Louisiana. I love hearing the "ya'll's" and "yes, sir, yes ma'am".