A Short Move to an Adjacent Neighborhood

We are now at the Blue Heron Campground, right outside of Cotter, AR located on the White River.  It is 18 miles downstream from the Bull Shoals Dam and the White River State Park we blogged about in the last posting.  The owner and his wife (Terry and Marilyn) are extremely nice and accommodative.

Here we are

View upriver towards the north

View downriver towards the south

When we pulled in, he met us and told us about the layout of the park.  He also told us to pick out our spots and come see him when we were set up.  We did as requested and told him about some water hookup issues.  He took us to his office to get some basic information and said we can just run a tab instead of paying for our spots right then.  It has been a long time since I heard anyone use that phrase and meant it.  Then he immediately got up and came to address the water hookups.  This is great personal service from a really nice guy.

He has a grandson visiting him that lives in Madrid, Spain.  The young man is 12 years old and has never been out of the city to live a rural lifestyle.  Grandpa is teaching him the ropes and he seems to be having a swell time.  Interestingly, this young man can speak four languages (Spanish, French, Russian and English) and is interested in completing his education (high school and college) in the U.S.  I think Grandpa would like that just fine.

Bibi and Sophie made a side trip to Wal-Mart for provisions while David and I made the move from the state park to this private campground.  They made it back with a lot of food.  We are not suffering or feeling deprived in any manner whatsoever when it comes to feeding times.  They are great cooks and see to our needs.

For example, we have homemade chocolate pie (ala Sophie with David’s help) and Bibi brought the ice cream maker so we have homemade ice cream.  This ice cream freezer is just the perfect size; it will make enough for four helpings.  This works well in that we can eat and be satisfied but not eat and be miserable.  See, all our needs are met!

David and I wasted no time in continuing our fishing experience.  We saw examples of fish (big fish) being caught right off the bank at this campground.  Terry showed us pictures he has saved on the computer of catches by previous guests.  We must be doing something wrong for neither of us have had a nibble thus far.  We watch the fishermen in boats and most of them go to the other side of the river but we have not seen anyone catching fish yet, regardless of where they are fishing.

Gran gives it a try - aahhh but no success yet.

Even Bibi wets a hook every now and then.  Seems the fishing bug has bit her.

Since we are downriver a considerable ways, the change in water levels still occur but at much different times.  It takes the water released from the generators about 3 hours to reach this location.  You can get right to the edge of the river and watch it gently but steadily rise.  We estimate about a 4 to 6 foot rise in the water level from its lowest point to the highest point.  That is a lot of water.

That is a boat with fishermen in it hidden by the fog from the river, can you see it?

Not only is it a lot of water, it is still cold at this location.  One of our favorite activities is to borrow chairs from the campground patio and carry them about 60 feet to the water’s edge.  The difference in air temperature is significant between these two points.  It has been much warmer here in the past few days as the one heat wave of the summer has set in.  Daytime temps reached 100 degrees for the first time this year one day.

In fact, this hot day required a meeting of most of the campground residents at the water’s edge.  An interesting time and we met some folks we had only waved at prior to the meeting.  One couple is living in a fifth wheel while building a home on Bull Shoals Lake.  Another couple actually live in Harrison and are friends with the owner.  They had been in Mountain Home looking at travel trailers to begin either an extended travel routine next year or possibly begin full-timing.  So they stopped for a visit.

There were lots of conversations and funny stories told.  The funniest we heard came from this lady from Harrison.  She says a friend of hers works in a supermarket in Harrison and actually overheard this exchange.  This story was told after Terry discussed his grandson coming into contact with chiggers for the first time in his life.  It seems a man, in a similar predicament as the grandson, came in and asked the lady in the checkout stand adjacent to the friend’s, ‘How do you kill chiggers?’  Well the lady misunderstood the question, thinking he said ‘chickens’ and proceeded to explain by answering, ‘Oh that’s easy hon, you just wring their little necks.’  Well this perplexed the man to some degree so he commented, ‘that sounds pretty hard since they are so little.’  To which the lady answering him replied, ‘Oh no, you have to wait till they get to about a pound before you kill them.’  At this response, the poor man just looked towards the floor and shook his head slowly as he contemplated the size of the chigger he would have to kill.  He then turned around and walked out of the store still shaking his head without saying another word and left.

Some of our new neighbors

These guys like to play together and come to the river to drink in the evening

More neighbors

We took one day to visit the Ranger boat factory in Flippen.  Some of you may know the name Ranger when it comes to Bass boats.  They have a reputation of being one of the most sought after, stable, unsinkable boats on the market.  The operation is still family owned and employs several hundred people in the area.  They offer tours of the production facility.  Something we have a hard time passing up is a good ‘ole factory tour.  There are no pictures available for the factory tour, they do not allow cameras.

When we got there, we awaited our tour start time by perusing a couple of boats in the lobby of the administrative office.  Interestingly one of the boats had a number of cutouts in it so you could see inside the construction that is not usually seen on a finished boat.  Then we watched a short video presentation showing this same boat in the water (both moving and not moving while being fished from) and it not sinking.  Pretty impressive to see a boat with holes in it and water collecting yet not sinking while being used as intended.

When it came time for the tour to begin, we were directed to drive down a couple of buildings to meet Butch (with a bald head) out front of the production facility.  We made the move and located Butch (as described) and after some quick introductions began the tour.  Butch also provided us with some quick tips about safety since we were going into a live fiberglass production facility.  Then we headed into the factory.  The minute I opened the door and smelled the gel coat, resin, fiberglass mixture a bunch of memories flooded over me from my time in a similar factory from my college days.  David, having worked in a similar place more recently, remarked it did the same to him.

Butch was a former truck driver for the company until age and health took their toll.  Now he is in security and part time tour guide for Ranger.  He showed us both of their fiberglass production lines, one for the hull and one for the deck/platform as well as the area where the two are joined together.  They had a really cool robotic machine that uses water to cut out areas in the platform for livewells, storage, etc.  It works very fast and uses a minimal amount of water at very high pressure.  All of this was in a non-air conditioned part of the plant.  He then took us into the final assembly area where all the finishing touches, onboard equipment and motors are added to the boats.  If I worked for Ranger in the production process, this is definitely the building I would want to be in due to the cleanliness and air conditioning.

They do not build a boat unless it is already sold, either to an end customer or a dealer for inventory.  The choices involved in ordering one of the boats are staggering.  Everything from colors to electronics to motor, not to mention the model of the boat have to be decided.  The normal rate of production they strive for is 20 boats a day.  Pretty ambitious since they are producing specific orders.  Everything has to be coordinated.  I bet we saw over 200 boats on the production floor in various stages of production.

After leaving the factory tour, we spied a Pizza Hut with a buffet just around the corner from the barber shop David visited earlier in the week.  We gave into the hunger pangs and satisfied our appetites once again.  When we travel, besides preparing our own food, we attempt to sample the locally owned restaurants.  We visited a local authentic Mexican restaurant in Mountain Home and a local BBQ restaurant in Gassville.  Both were gastronomic pleasers.

Even with all the available activities and things we have done, the most pleasing one while at Blue Heron is our daily pasear del rio.  We will be moving soon to visit one of my favorite places to visit.  So keep your eyes open for the next blog to find out where that adventure takes us.