Ft. Smith, AR and More

Monday afternoon we arrived at Springhill COE in Barling, AR, just outside of Ft. Smith, AR. Our site is right on the river and there is occasional barge traffic. I haven't taken pictures yet, but will. You can see the river from our site, but there are a lot of trees, so it's not a full view. This is a really nice COE park. The "B" loop which we are on is 50 amp and water. The other loop is 30 amp and water. Those sites are actually closer to water, but not the river, but more of a small bay area off the river.

When we arrived we were greeted by friends, Brenda & Roger Cyrus. We first met them when visiting our son in New Iberia, LA several years ago. It's really great catching up with friends you meet on the road!

Since they are originally from this area, on Tuesday they where our tour guides and took us up in the mountains north of here. It was a really nice ride with lots of pretty views and scenery.

We passed the new dam (forget the name) then went on to Devil's Den State Park. This park is very nice with a really nice campground, swimming pool, waterfalls, fishing etc. I just wouldn't take my motorhome in the way we went - very narrow road with lots of hairpin turns. Roger said that there is another way in for larger campers.

From there we did some back country dirt road riding, but saw no wildlife. I think it was a little late in the day. Our next stop was at Natural Dam. Very interesting as the dam was nature made even though it looks man made. Made a nice little waterfall that was very scenic.

Seeing that it was getting close to lunch time, we headed back toward Ft. Smith and found a BBQ place to stop for a sandwich. I had the pulled pork and it was delicious. Roger had the same thing and Brenda and Dean had tamale's - can you believe it at a BBQ place!

After lunch they took us to the site of Fort Smith. Most of the original fort is now gone and is close by the river. The Visitor Center is housed in the second fort area in the old building that was the barracks, courthouse and jail. This is where we went. It was just to hot to do much outside walking - temperatures where in the 90's. There is a lot of history in Fort Smith and I'm not going to cover everything I learned here. Just some of the more interesting facts:

...The Second Fort Smith was established for political & economic reasons shortly after Arkansas became a state.

...It initially served primarily as a commissary storehouse for troops stationed farther west, for the transcontinental railroad survey parties, the '49ers heading for California's gold rush and soldiers fighting in the U.S. Mexican War.

...It was transformed in 1872 into a Federal Court using one room as a courtroom and other rooms as offices for the clerk, U. S. Marshal and U. S. Commissioner. The basement became a primitive jail.

...Judge Parker (The Hanging Judge) presided over the court from 1875 to 1889. During this time he heard more than 13,000 cases, of which more than 12,000 were criminal in nature. Of these, 344 involved the capital offenses of rape and murder, for which United States law demanded the death penalty upon conviction.

...160 convicts where sentenced to hang. Only 79 were actually hanged. Only a few critics ever noticed the tremendous case load or the savage nature of the crimes committed by those sentenced to hang.

...This was one of the major outposts for the U. S. Marshals.

The museum is very interesting and quite worth a visit if your in the area.

Later in the evening we had a cookout with hamburgers, sausage, baked beans, and macaroni salad. Then we sat around and chatted until we decided it was time to go in, cool off, clean up, and go to bed.

Wednesday morning Roger wasn't feeling well, actually it started yesterday, so Brenda, Dean and I headed to the casino for lunch buffet and a little slot playing. Don't ask how we did - that way I won't have to tell a lie - LOL!

I'll be posting pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos if you care to take a look.

We will be here until Monday morning and not sure what else we will do, if anything. Probably just relax and catch up on laundry and cleaning. But you never know, so check back often.......