Truck Camping in Arkansas

My parents decided they wanted to buy a pickup camper this winter, and offered to let Molly and me borrow it. Since we usually need a break from winter by this point in the year, we decided to try it out for them by heading to Arkansas, a state that Molly hadn’t been to before and one that I’d only visited briefly for work. It was a great way to pandemic-travel: since we carried our bed, kitchen, and bathroom with us, we really only had to come in contact with people when getting groceries and going to the thrift store, which is pretty close to our level of interaction when we're at home. 

Friday, March 12: Lake Park, Iowa to Nevada, Missouri

We drove from Minneapolis to my parents’ the night before, got up in the morning, loaded the camper, and hit the road. We stopped in Sioux City to visit my sister and then continued on to Nevada, Missouri, where we stayed in an RV park. It rained all night, which would've made for a rough night if we'd been tent camping, but it was just kind of loud in the camper. 

I can't recommend the scenery along the drive from Sioux City to southern Missouri on the interstate (29 to KC, then 49 south from there) very highly, but at least we made decent time.

Saturday, March 13: Nevada, Missouri to Fayetteville, Ark. 

It was still raining pretty hard when we left the campground, but it cleared up by the time we got to Bentonville, Ark., home of the Crystal Bridges art museum (brought to you by Wal-Mart). Molly always like to see James Turrell's work whenever she gets a chance, so we checked that out on our way through. Molly made us some sandwiches in the camper, and we pulled out our lawn chairs and tailgated in the spacious overflow parking lot before walking around and checking out some art. It was a perfectly nice thing to do for free. There are only so many free things available, and it's accessible and appropriate for all ages. Somehow, I was able to not take any photos of any of the art, but here's a selfie of us tailgating: 

Tailgating at Crystal Bridges

Afterward, we picked up a snack from Flying Fish, which was pretty good, especially the key lime pie. Bentonville was not that cool, but it has a lot of bike trails. We stayed at the world's trashiest RV park in Fayetteville, within a stone's throw of five bail bonds businesses and a Tyson chicken processing plant. 

Sunday, March 14: Fayetteville, Ark. to Fort Smith State Park, Ark.

Stonks

We packed up the camper in the morning and tooled around Fayetteville (home of the main campus of the University of Arkansas) for a bit. We picked up some egg sandwiches from Farmer's Table, which were huge, and the biscuits were really good. Downtown was pretty dead, probably because it was spring break for the college. There were lots of good thrift and vintage stores, but everything except Goodwill was closed with it being Sunday, so we got groceries at Harps - the Arkansas Cub equivalent - and headed to Fort Smith State Park. It started raining hard as we left Fayetteville and didn't really let up until after dark. The park facilities and campground are super nice, but we didn't get to see a lot of them yet. 

Monday, March 15: Fort Smith State Park and Devils Den State Park, Ark.

Devil's Den big rock

Weird erosion patterns at Devil's Den

We drove to Devil's Den State Park, which is about 45 minutes from our campground. We went on a really nice hike on the Devil's Den Trail, which was about 1 1/2 miles. There were lots of rocky outcroppings and unusual erosion, and wild fissures between huge rock formations. 

Both parks are in a very rural part of the state - no stores or churches or gas stations anywhere in between or for miles in any direction. 

Tuesday, March 16: Fort Smith State Park to Crystal Vista to Mount Nebo State Park, Ark. 

Crystal Vista senior picture

Glad to see this sign after weaving down some country roads

Quartz seam in sandstone at Crystal Vista

Crystal Vista outside of Mt. Ida was awesome - an old quartz mine at the top of a steep path where you can search for crystals just lying on the ground. Molly has now gone full rockhound. 

We're staying at Mt. Nebo State Park tonight and tomorrow night, and it's quite the setting - a tabletop mounted surrounded mostly by flat ground. It's an interesting camping situation because the road to the park has ridiculous switchbacks and up to an 18% grade, so there's a strict limit on the size of the RV allowed. So, it's mostly tent campers and small trailers, and it started storming at about 3 a.m. Yay! 

Wednesday, March 17: Mount Nebo State Park and Russellville/Dardanelle, Ark. 

Waffle House visit #1 is delightful

Mt Nebo overlook selfie

Our campsite at Mt Nebo State Park

We went to Russellville for Waffle House, groceries, and some thrifting. None of the thrift stores were great and it didn't seem like there was much else to do, so we headed back to the park. Fortunately, the Waffle House was excellent and there was Cheetos mac & cheese available at the Kroger, so it was a good day. 

The wind was blowing like a hurricane all night and there weren't many trees to stop it. The camper was rocking back and forth pretty firmly, and it was difficult to sleep. There were still a couple of tents in the campground in the morning, and I have no idea how they made it work. Nebo is really nice, but it seems to get some wild weather. 

Thursday, March 18: Mount Nebo State Park to Petit Jean State Park, Ark.

All over Arkansas, rocks are just poised to crush you

Majestic Cedar Falls viewed from a remove

Arkansas state parks continue to be impressive, and the trail markings are the best either of us have seen. We drove about 40 minutes to Petit Jean (pronounced Petty Jeen) State Park, where we stayed for one night. It's a larger park with more than a hundred campsites, but it didn't feel crowded. We planned to do the Cedar Falls trail, but it was closed, so we did Cedar Creek instead, which was really pretty. 

Friday, March 19: Petit Jean State Park, Ark. to Pomme de Terre State Park, Missouri

#shittyarmadillopicstakeone

#shittyarmadillopicstaketwo

Arkansas is redneck, but charming, and their state parks are fantastic (sample size = 4). Missouri is redneck, but boring, and their state parks ain't shit (sample size = 1). We picked up some Arkansas beer in Morrilton and drove a few hours through Branson and other Ozark splendor to get to Pomme de Terre State Park. It was almost completely empty and had a post-apocalyptic feel to it, but at least there was an armadillo? And the electric hook-ups worked, so we could run the furnace in the camper, because it got down to about 30 degrees overnight. 

Saturday, March 20: Pomme de Terre State Park, Missouri to Lake Park, Iowa

Waffle House visit #2 is transcendent

This was a long driving day, highlighted by a Waffle House stop in suburban Kansas City. 

In summary, I have to say that if your parents want to buy a camper and let you use it, then you should take them up on that.