Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Travel Day to Petit Jean

Sunday May 8 – Mother’s Day
Petit Jean State Park
Site #109
Morrilton, Arkansas

The day started out GREAT!!
Carrie called at 7:30 AM to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.
We talked for 80 minutes.  We never seem to run out of things to say.

After that, it took us until 10:15 in the morning
to decide
that we would drive on to Petit Jean State Park. 
We actually were at the dump station by 11:15.  AMAZING!!

We stopped for gas at $3.699 at the convenience store on the Park road to Little Rock.
We had to swing wide to get out of the parking lot
and couldn’t clear one of the cars parked in front of the store.  
The owner came out but he had locked his key fob in the car
and had no way to open his car to be on his way.  
The debating about what to do took forever
and finally David decided to just back Winnona up
so he could make the turn
and avoid the man’s car. 
But of course Winnona pulls a car dolly
with my Honda Accord on it. 
And in backing up,
her turning radius is much better
than the dolly and the result
was scratches from the dolly on both sides of my car. 
Not much of a Mother's Day Present.
:-(
I was NOT PLEASED.

That added at least an hour to our time
so that it was 4:00
by the time we had got to Petit Jean
and talked with the really helpful Derrick
at the Visitor's Center.


There are 4 campground areas
and each is slightly different and can
'accomodate different types of camping
from tents to the biggest rigs.
From water front to fairly deep woods.
The very personable Derrick, at the Visitor's Center,
marked every available site on
the park map and off we went
to check them out.

We decided we'd come here to
slow down after the hectic pace of the
last week with Opry on Tuesday,
Graceland on Thursday and
Hot Springs on Friday.
So we were going to treat ourselves to
a waterfront site, #19.
BUT when we got back to the center,
someone had JUST called and reserved it for tomorrow night



We weren't into setting up for one night
and then moving
so we chose site #109
in the more heavily wooded area.
Also VERY nice, plenty of room and
no concern about rising waters.
With our “senior discount” we paid $19.78 for
two nights.  That rivals all COE prices we’ve seen.
And waterfront is only $2 or $3 more.

The waterfront sites were nearly filled while
here in the woods, there was only one other camper on the entire loop.
Nice and quiet.
Another plus!



On our trip around we saw that Petit Jean
also has Rent-A-Camp and Rent-a-Tepee
These include everything you need to camp
other than a sleeping bag.
AND they come with canoes for $50 a night.
Sleep between 4 and 6.
Really cute I thought and water front.


We are becoming VERY impressed with
Arkansas and their conservation and litter policies. 
They designate part of their
sales tax revenue specifically for conservation
and their state parks. 
Loved this anti-liter slogan.


There is a very nice boat dock and boat house. 
Sure hope we can get out in the kayaks
while we are here


Petit Jean is Arkansas' first state park
and nearly all the buildings were done by the CCC
It is a very nice park and has
what look to be a variety of
excellent hiking trails and
the lake for kayaking.
The restrooms are exceptionally clean with great showers.
David always checks those out.
He has a boondocker's state of mind.
:-)

So here we are for now. 
After the past week with so much going on,
I need some good down time and hope to get it here.

2 comments:

  1. Sorry about the damage to your car :o((

    Glad you arrived at Petite Jean SP safe and sound. It really looks like a nice place and we can't wait to see what fun you get into.

    I was beginning to think you two were following the unsuccesful Mills Fulltime Model of 2000-2001!! Glad to hear you are slowing down and enjoying things at a more leisurely pace!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks like a really nice park and you sure can't beat that price!

    I will have to put it on our list :)

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the best part of this blog for me.
I LOVE hearing from you!