So Tuesday we planned on heading to Missouri. We got side tracked. My lovely wife noticed we were not all that far from Hot Springs Arkansas. So we did a little detour and checked it out. We accidentally checked out the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. I was looking for a place to park -not easy with van towing a boat. Then I was looking for a place to turn around.
Suddenly I found myself on the road to the tower. There's a warning that vehicles over 31 feet long are banned from the road. Well, the van with the trailer is more than 31 feet, but since it's articulated at the hitch I thought it might work. The road was incredibly steep and twisty, but the van and trailer handled it just fine. There was even room to park at the tower.
My lovely wife is prone to vertigo and didn't think the tower was a good idea. I went up alone and took some photos. Great views, even if it was a cloudy day.
The elevator to the top has a glass wall so there's a clear view all the way up. This is a quick shot of my van and boat. Notice the solar panel mounted on the van roof?
After the tower we were running pretty late so we decided to stay at the Federal campground at the park. It's a nice little campground with some good hiking trails.
We didn't do much hiking as we still had a drive ahead of us. We took the long and winding Rt. 7 up to the Missouri border. It's slow going due to hills and curves, but the views are stunning. It's an amazing drive.
Our timing was good as we arrived at the in-laws just in time for dinner.
-Sixbears
My wife is scared of heights and I love mountain roads makes for animated trips. I call it legal spousal abuse.
ReplyDeleteHa Ha! My lovely wife whimpered a bit on rt. 7.
DeleteThat looks kind of like a fire tower here. I always wanted to get a job in a fire tower after I retired, but when I called the forest service and offered to work as a volunteer they said people don't work in those anymore, they just have web cams in them.
ReplyDeleteThere's a fire tower just a few miles from my house that's open to the public. Great views. Too bad that job no longer exists.
DeleteHarry, perhaps consider moving down here to the land of Oz. We still have fire towers in service and they are invaluable during the summer fire season. Getting a job on one aint easy but one of my younger brothers managed this while he was studying forestry. He found it a bit lonely stuck up there all day.
DeleteSixbears,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nice drive to Missouri. My husband loves driving fast on the mountainous roads, just scares the crap out of me. The last time we went down to southeast Oklahoma on those roads hubby was driving a tad faster than the speed limit. Our truck came up to the top of a hill off all 4 tires and back down, scared the crap out of both of us.....he finally slowed down.
The van isn't the best thing in the corners, so I take it easy. I thought it would be a blast on a motorcycle.
DeleteWhen I was a kid, I had two relatives that were in the forest service and spent a lot of time up in a fire tower. Later, I climbed up in some but the enclosure on top was locked. Even so, I still got a beautiful few of the area while I rested to get back down.
ReplyDeleteBefore they were closed down the local fire tower spotters took great pride in almost always spotting fires before the air patrol.
DeleteGreat views up there.