Happy Trails III

We had pulled the car hauler up this time with plans to use it as a place to store the tractor when we leave so the first order of business was to back it in to a spot where it could be parked with easy access for loading and unloading the tractor.

Accomplishments over the next two weeks include:

• Roundup sprayed on driveway weeds around travel trailer;

• Bush hog property;

• Toilet in storage cabin installed and hooked up to septic line;

• Backhoe and Bulldozer work to move dirt from dirt mound from the pond excavation to a spot next to the storage cabin for a campsite;

• Dump truck of road gravel spread over area for campsite and driveway into the site;

• Moved travel trailer to new site next to storage cabin;

• Built narrow desk along the side of the travel trailer so we could reach grill and outside cooking area;

• Spread fescue seed and straw on dirt next to campsite;

• Bought portable antenna and receiver for “Pay As You Go” Dish Network service; bought a fixture and installed an external cable hookup for Dish antenna cable;

• Built bridge over stream so back section of property can be accessed with the tractor and bush hog;

• Built steps on storage cabin porch;

It was a pretty spur of the moment decision to go. When we arrived in Missouri this time we found that the beautiful fall weather we were expecting was elusive to put it mildly. Temperatures at night were in the 40s and during the day were barely into the high 50s, low 60s – pretty chilly! On Sunday, October 2nd the weather report called for a sunny week with considerable warming and temperatures expected to be in the high 70s to low 80s. We decided to pack up and take advantage of the opportunity for some good touring weather.

We left our Missouri home mid-morning and took the following route to Fayetteville, AK to begin our scenic drive down US 71 to Fort Smith, AK:

• US 65 south to I44

• I44 west to US 160

• US 160 south to US 413

• US 413 west to US 60

• US 60 west to MO State Rd 37

• MO State Rd 37 south to AK State Rd 94

• AK State Rd 94 west to I540

• I540 south to Fayetteville, AK and US 71 south

Once we reached Fort Smith, AK we got on I40 west to Sallisaw, OK where we set up camp for a couple of nights.

We stopped for lunch at the lodge in the Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

Unfortunately it was an overcast day and we are just a couple of weeks early for the fall foliage colors. But it was an enjoyable ride none the less.

Before the tragedy of the Trail of Tears in the 1830s when the Eastern Cherokees were forcibly relocated from the southern Appalachians, some members of the Cherokee tribe, known as the Western Cherokees, were already living here in Oklahoma. With the arrival of the eastern branches they created a constitution modeled after the US Constitution. They also had a written language and published a newspaper, the Cherokee Advocate, with articles in both the Cherokee language and English.

We learned these and many other facts about the Cherokees and their history when we visited the Cherokee Heritage Center just south of Tahlequah. There we toured the Cherokee National Museum, a re-created village depicting life in the 1500’s, and a small frontier town called Adam's Corner from the 1800’s. The Museum was fantastic. There is so much history preserved here. They have the printing press and actual papers published by the Cherokee Advocate in the 1830s.

The Cherokees were active participants in both the Confederacy and the Union sides of the Civil War. In fact, the last Confederate General to sign the armistice of the Civil War was a Cherokee, General Watie. The Museum has an entire area devoted to the battles fought here in Oklahoma. It was very interesting.

There were numerous busloads of school children in the re-created village where Cherokee descendants led hands on events at different stations including things like basket weaving, blow gun target practice, Cherokee ceremonial dancing, pottery, bow and arrow demonstrations, stickball games, etc. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

After leaving the Cherokee Heritage Center we drove to the nearby Murrell Home, a stately mansion built in 1843 by a man married to one of the Cherokee leader’s niece, Minerva Ross Murrell. This was one of only a few of the antebellum houses that survived the Civil War destruction in the Cherokee nation.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we continued our drive north on Rte 82 into the town of Tahlequah, OK. This is a college town, home of Northeastern State University. We were long overdue for lunch so we stopped at an Italian Restaurant, Napoli Restaurant. Now who would think you could get excellent Italian food in a small town in Oklahoma? But we took a chance and it paid off! In fact, lunch was so delicious that we came back again the next day for pizza.

After our late lunch we continued our drive turning off of Rte 82 onto scenic Rte 10 which follows along the route of the Illinois River. As we drove we kept passing signs for float trips so before heading back to the campsite at Pettit Campground we stopped in at one called Sparrow Hawk Camp. A deer darted across the road as we drove down a long rough gravel road following signs to the camp. It was still a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid 80s and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. After talking to the folks at the camp we decided that we would check the weather report and if tomorrow is to be as nice as today, we will stay and extra night at the campground and come back tomorrow and do the 6 mile float trip in kayaks.

It was another gorgeous day with temperatures still in the low 80s. We took our time, drifting with the current where we could. It was a little windy in some sections and we would actually go upstream if we didn’t paddle pretty hard. It took us a little under 4 hours to paddle the 6 miles. We saw lots of large fish as we floated along. The scenery was spectacular! I took way too many pictures but I just couldn’t help myself. LOL