Van Camping in Arkansas
Travel blogging. RV Influencers. Fulltime Families. Families on the Road.
Is's all like driving down that road you used to live on, remembering a past life.
While our mode has changed since our fulltime RVing days, the desire to get out, away from the daily grind, and be in nature more persists.
It takes more planning now. MsBoyink and I are both back "in the office." PTO is a thing - submitting synchronized requests, making sure the dates all line up, then doing all the pre-work for being gone for a week.
Out of office messages for office phones. Auto-replies for work emails. I added to the stress by scheduling our week off right after the crunch of a publication week, which ends with uploading a just-completed issue of the magazine I edit. That's normally stressful enough, but this month we'd also switched to a new printer. I worried that the printing, mailing, and shipping all would go off without a hitch. I left emergency contact information - just in case.
And we're spoiled campers yet - we don't like making reservations. We enjoyed our years of going where the wind blew us. But it's prime camping season here in the south. Weekends book up at popular parks. So I made weekend reservations, leaving the middle of the week flexible.
Destination: Arkansas
We overnighted on the Talimena Scenic Drive last year and thought it worth a revisit. North of that, we'd daytripped to the Buffalo River area when we lived in Missouri, but had never camped there.
Those two points became our bookends, and I made reservations to ensure we'd have a spot coming and going.
Van Solar Reconfiguration
I had a new-used inflatable kayak I've been itching to get wet. The Buffalo would be a perfect place for it.
But I didnt have room for it in the van (I have a rule that nothing travels on the bed except bedding).
The only other option was carrying it on the roof. I had a soft-sided cargo carrier I'd purchased for the Suburban project that would work well. But it meant the fixed rooftop solar panel had to go.
Not much regret there - the cheap eBay "300W" panel rarely put out more than 120W in use - it was actually a downgrade from the name-brand 200W panel it replaced.
I've had my eye on solar blankets for a while, so pulled the trigger on a Renology 400W version (note - prices on these fluctuate a lot so watch it for a while before buying).
Using an extension on the blanket's power cable, we could park in the shade while it sits in the sun. When not in use it folds up and stows under the bed.
So the fixed panel came off the van, and I reset the crossbars to box in the soft-sided carrier and give it natural tie down points.
The deflated kayak and related gear all fit in the carrier without a problem. While getting into and out of the soft carrier is a bigger pain than a hardshell would be, I appreciated how the overall profile of the soft carrier adapts to the load you are carrying. We didn't have it nearly full and with it all cinched down didn't see any impact to our fuel mileage. We didn't hear much from it besides an odd strap that had to be tightened.
Campgrounds
We ended up four different campgrounds:
Buffalo Point was a one night and done - very busy with families and sports fans blaring the game on outdoor speakers. We love to see families out camping and kids playing pick up games, riding bikes, and climbing trees, but at the same time don't prefer to be around them all day. Our primary goal for this trip was a lot of quiet time. Plus - this wasn't the park we'd daytripped to years ago so wasn't what I expected.
Tyler Bend was the campground we'd daytripped do. We really liked camping there - the sites are spaced out, paved, but with no hookups. This setup attracts a different, quieter type of camper. We heard generators running here and there but overall had a lot more of the vibe we were after.
Lake Dardanelle is actually two parks in different counties. We choose the smaller park further away from Russellville, AR and enjoyed it as well. It was quiet with a nice view of the water.
Cedar Lake was our favorite. We only had a night there, but it gave off vibes of one of our all-time favorite campgrounds - Ludington State Park back in Michigan. Cedar Lake isn't a natural lake but with pine groves and a small beach it felt more natural than other OK bodies of water. We hope to return and splash the kayak there.
Kayaking the Buffalo River - Oh Noes!
The plan was simple - we'd find a local outfitter who offered livery service, and get us & our kayak to the river.
We found Buffalo River Outfitters right outside the campground, learned instead of livery they will just drive your vehicle to the pick up point. All good - we booked the service for the next day, bought firewood, and went back to our campsite.
In the morning, I decided to get the boat prepped as much as I could before getting to the launch. I put the paddles together, got the life vests setup, and made sure we had sunscreen.
And that's when I realized in my rush of getting out of Tulsa, I had forgotten the kayak seats.
Blarg.
After all the roof prep and fuss, we couldn't use our boat.
Double blarg.
Well, I wasn't giving up on our kayak adventure so decided to buy my way out of the situation. We returned to the outfitters and added a tandem kayak rental to our bill.
Which, in the end, turned out OK. The river was low in places and while our kayak is a nice Sea Eagle inflatable, I'd rather put all that rock rash on a rental boat.
After getting over the blarg, it was a gorgeous day on the river. Perfect weather, and we had long stretches of water to ourselves. When we did have company it was a friendly group of Mennonites from Indiana. We chatted back and forth, accepted help with a small portage, and shared their pizza at the pickup spot.
Jiggety Jig
Our week ended with a family get-together in Joplin, then a couple hours back home to Tulsa.
Kayak issues aside, this was one of our better camping trips. The weather was perfect, we had lots of quiet time reading while sitting outdoors, and we've solved a few more small frustrations with our camping setup.
My worries about work were all for naught - the new printer worked out, and the new magazine issue came on time. There was a bit of catch-up to do otherwise, but we're already scheming another stay at Cedar Lake. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Tulsa, so doable for a weekender.
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