Monday, August 16, 2021

Summer 2021 Friends & Lakes Tour - Rogers, Arkansas

Prairie Creek Campground – Aug 3 – 16

Beaver Lake - Rogers, Arkansas

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Vrj3rUwCsPGsZR759

 

We moved a little further south to Rogers. This area is a busy extension of the Bentonville area. This campground is one of a few surrounding Beaver Lake, which is a very large reservoir lake. Upon arriving, we discovered the campground is in a forested, steep mountainous area which lies a few hundred feet above the lake. So disappointed that there were no lake views from the campground. However, we were able to ride around the campground and find a couple of empty campsites where there was a limited view. While here we did visit a few mountain bike trails and also hiked. There were a few breweries that we visited and enjoyed some good beer. Some of them served very good food, which we enjoyed. We made the best of what we had, but this area was not as fun as Bentonville.

Next we are heading east to the Buffalo National River. We stayed there in 2013 and the kayaking was awesome, but we were informed the river is very low, so we may not be able kayak. Hoping for the best.

Summer 2021 Friends & Lakes Tour - Independence, Kansas

Elk City Lake State Park – July 29 – Aug 2

Independence, Kansas

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4iRqwRPhjrxDFqoYA

We next headed to Independence, Kansas. We visited longtime friends here in the area where Kurt lived on a farm as a teenager. We first visited his best buddy and wife, Rusty Wood and his wife Debbie. We did see them in Tampa FL in 2017. It was so wonderful to see them, been since 2013 we were in Kansas. We also visited the farm of his buddy Rob and Gigi. Luca had a blast watching the cows and playing with their dogs. The extreme heat wave continued here for a couple of days until one night when a storm front moved through and it really cooled down. Next we headed back to NW Arkansas.