Sunday, June 25, 2017, Move to Ozark, AR

A mile down the road from the fairgrounds on the way to I-40 we found diesel at the lowest price we've seen since we have been motorhome owners - $1.959/gal. Fortunately, it had been a while since we had fueled up, so we were able to take advantage of that great price.

Joani has really been making life easy for her driver and today was no exception. We drove a nice laid-back 193.6 miles (83,160.2 miles total) to Ozark, AR.

We usually do a Walmart or Flying J / Pilot truck stop for just an overnight-and-hit-the-road type deal.  But Arkansas had so many fantastic Corp of Engineer parks that were, of course, half price to geezers with a National Park Pass.  That was $10 for an on the river site with a view of the barges coming through the locks, and full shade.

While traveling to the Aux Arc Park (Corp of Engineers park located on the Arkansas River), Joani did a little googling to find out the back story on the name.  We had been pronouncing it Ox-Ark - wrong.  "Aux Arc" is a name that originated with French explorers when they mapped the territory. The term meant "the big bend" or "to the bow," describing the bend in the Arkansas River. Google translator sounded more like "oos-aurck" (said with a heavy French accent). Over time, the name was simplified to "Ozark," thus the name for Ozark Lake near the park.

Corp of Engineers' parks always have dams nearby. This one was only a short walk to the end of the park, but it was surrounded by chain link fence and not very interesting.

We spent a beautiful, relaxing, cool evening watching the geese frolic on the lake shore while an endless parade of barges cruised up and down the Arkansas River and through the locks at the dam.