Best weather day so far in NW Arkansas. Temperatures in the high 80's and almost no humidity. No clouds, no rain, no worries. MLA & I took the Harley out to explore the Beaver Lake area. This lake is a very different from many of the lakes we have seen elsewhere, most of which are back east. Different at least on the portion of Beaver Lake we have explored so far...
One, Beaver Lake is not very developed. Large parcels are owned by the government and kept as parks/conservation areas. There are a number of homes tucked into the woods however overall it is does not seem crowded. Nor do the hotels & campgrounds seem very busy except on weekends. There are many homes and building sites for sale in the area. MLA & I found one development of building sites called The Escarpment. All of the waterfront sites are sold. Absolutely one of the best views of the lake I have seen so far however the lots sit high up on a hill with a very steep descent to the water.
Also, the road system into many of the tributaries/coves has not been fully developed. Once you get off the main roads the roads near the lake are mostly narrow, poorly maintained roads, many of them turn to gravel as they near the lake. Gravel roads are no fun on a motorcycle, especially a heavy motorcycle, so each time we hit a gravel road I would have to stop, have MLA get off and turn the bike around. You know what a three point turn is right? Well on these narrow roads I would have to do a 20 point turn -- back & forth, back & forth until I got the beast turned around. No joy!
I will try to get a few more pictures of the lake. My camera was not working today due to 'cockpit error'. I plugged my charger in last night and I put the camera in the cradle. Sounds good huh? Grabbed the camera as we were leaving and when I went to take a picture -- no juice. Turns out I forgot to ensure the power cable (which I plugged in) was connected to the cradle (here's your sign).
Next time we go property hunting we'll take the car or even better, go get a real estate agent to drive us around. Didn't realize how much I've come to depend on the GPS. With that little device you can drive on all the back roads and it always shows you where you are in relation to the lake, plus you can always get back out the way you came in. No way to use our GPS on the motorcycle; it's too big with it's 7 inch screen. Perfect for the RV and OK for the car, it's a 'no go' for the bike.
In any case, we'll keep exploring the area and I'll get you some additional pictures of this beautiful lake. There are many places where the shoreline is a cliff or bluff. Not sure of the exact difference -- lets just say the rock walls go straight up from the water line for 25-75 feet in many locations. Tough to get to your dock on those sites unless you excel at cliff diving. In other places the land rises gently from the waterline and private docks/boat houses are the norm.
Christopher suggested we buy a lake house here. He generously offered to come over from Tulsa occasionally, stay at the lake, run the boat, etc., just to make sure everything is working.
He wasn't too pleased with my counteroffer -- I told him to buy a place here with enough property for MLA and I to park the RV occasionally. Heck, I'll even pay to have the RV utilities installed. Am I a good guy or what?
The weather forecast is for warm and sunny with no rain for the next 7 days. As we all know you can't put too much stock in a weather forecast however it does sound promising. Perfect weather for riding the bike.
Campground cleared out on Sunday; we'll watch it slowly fill back up this week and by Friday afternoon it will be full. You should see the long, sad faces as people pack up their stuff on Sunday and head back home for another week of work. You get lots of funny looks when they realize you are not packing up and will still be enjoying the lake when they are back at work.
I try not to gloat and to keep the silly smile off my face at least until they disappear around the corner -- but it's not easy....
See Ya!
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